George Amaro

George Amaro was responsible for the connection of Roraima (Brazilian Amazon) to the Internet.

He started his first experience of data communication on the state of Roraima, in 1985. He connected an Apple II microcomputer in the service of "Video Texto" of Telesp and a microcomputer TRS-80 in "Projeto Cirandão" of Embratel.

At Embrapa Roraima, made the connection of the first corporate local area network of the state in 1991, in a client-server architecture (a 386/DX 33Mhz server with 8MB RAM and 80GB HD MFM connected through a network Amplus to 3 12 MHz PC/XT).

He was responsible in 1992 for the introduction of free and open source software in the state of Roraima, and set up, initially, the first Intel 386 PCs running Unix (SCO), which then became the first Linux server.

Also in 1992, he made the first Internet connection and Web access in Roraima, with the support of Embratel, using RENPAC 2000 and implementing TCP/IP on a PC. The scheme used was to create a TCP/IP tunnel over RENPAC, connecting a PC at his home to a minicomputer at Embrapa Informática Agropecuária (which was connected with FAPESP) for, from there, access and download web pages.

Together with two friends, Marcus Vinicius Quintella and João Claver, he was responsible for the design and implementation of the first Internet Service Provider (ISP) of the State of Roraima, TechNet, in 1996, with servers based entirely on open source software. He left the company in December 2004, but all that has been built yet kept working.

With TechNet, he had the opportunity to configure and operate the first Internet-connected servers in the state of Roraima (web, ftp, email), besides being the author of the website (home page) of the State of Roraima in 1997.

Embryos arose from social networks, through the services of online chat and thus he was responsible for creating the first IRC server of the State of Roraima in 1997, connected to the Brasnet network, with the first channel chat about the state, the well known then Canal Roraima (#Roraima). The online games were also starting in scene, with the creation of the first Quake server Roraima in 1999.

In 2001, it was him and his colleagues that designed and implemented of the first wireless (WiFi) network for public access in the State of Roraima, initiating the first broadband connections.

With the evolution of the Internet and the possibility of creating dynamic sites, he was the creator of the first information portal of the State of Roraima, in January 2002, based on PHP and MySQL.

Certainly the Internet would come to Roraima. However, it was because of the entrepreneurial and pioneering spirit of someone like George that things happened quickly. It is worth remembering that many people contributed with him, but only one had the courage to start over.