What happened last year: No.1 on IT services in the country, 2000+ projects, a lot of engineering stories

Happy new year to you, friends! The fact is that we traditionally sum up the results of 2016 in April, when everything has been calculated to the smallest detail and annual reports have been submitted. And now, at the start of the holidays, there is an opportunity to look back again and tell not about the results, but rather about the trends from the observations of our experts. It so happens that from the modest position of the integrator №1 among the IT service providers in the country (rated by the PA Consulting group). At the end of 16, we had 2,174 people in the state, and we made more than 2,000 projects worth 28.5 billion rubles. We see, if not the entire ICT picture in the country, then its main part is accurate.

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So, oddly enough, last year the intensity of the fight against spam decreased. The share of spam in email traffic dropped significantly last year, in particular, according to Symantec, its figures are comparable to the 2003 level. More precisely, spam has become smarter, phishing emails have become part of targeted APT attacks, especially on banks. They are massively sent a cool RTF, which creates a no less steep exe-file, and then everything else needed from payload is placed.

From the important - the transition to domestic solutions is felt everywhere.

In the field of information security this transition is felt especially acutely. In addition, the focus was on the protection of strategically important industrial facilities and their automated process control systems (APCS). In particular, this is stated in the version of the new Information Security Doctrine. Threats of impact on the critical information infrastructure of the Russian Federation and enterprises of the military-industrial complex are among the most pressing at the global level. There is also a tendency to move towards an integrated approach in the field of information security (perhaps only in our practice). Customers strive not just to eliminate the problem, but to act within the framework of a single concept, which is based on an audit of the IT infrastructure and business processes. To minimize the threats of targeted attacks, integrated monitoring of network and IT resources is used, as well as tracking user behavior.

Much has changed in outsourcing. Already, some of our customers are considering the possibility of introducing an integrated system that will automatically monitor the life of office equipment, upload and update software needed for specific employees and their functions in the company. And if now employees are engaged in it (it does not matter - insourcing or outsourcing), then soon it can become a managed service that is fully automated and saves employees time and prevents the occurrence of unexpected breakdowns and production downtime.

The business analyst continues to be just as relevant - no one yet knows what to do with the accumulated data (they are used for a few percent of the possible), but we have already done a couple of very funny things. Alas, I can not tell, there is a very hard NDA.

The Internet of Things is increasingly gaining popularity and applicability. Last year, they even launched the IoT Development Roadmap until 2020. The presence of an expert community and a state-supported roadmap in itself suggests that the field is evolving. Planned revision of the rules for the use of frequency bands. In the end, it was because of this legislative basis that the terminator cat suffered - we initially deployed a trigger video surveillance system, when an event involves business processes in the system.

In a sense, the sphere of electronic document circulation turned over. It became clear that the user must become a person. Commercial companies are gradually moving to collaboration and document storage environments like social networks. We have been using the corporate social network for several years now, which replaces quite a few internal services: an internal corporate portal, a knowledge base, specialized content management systems, and a media portal. An old problem of reconciling documents from mobile devices has also been removed - there are tools that allow you to encrypt data on mobile devices or store the electronic signature key on a special device that can be connected to a smartphone or tablet safely. Another trend of the SED market is the availability of case-management capabilities in the system, that is, at the same time storing regulations and working on them. BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) notation is almost de facto supported by different platforms, especially new systems. As for CMMN (Case Management Model and Notation), it has not yet received such a breadth of distribution, but slowly penetrates into the system almost on a par with DMN (Decision Management Notation).

Infrastructure solutions. We are waiting for shifts in favor of the software-defined data center, although very few people know what it is. Here you can see one of our latest thoughts on this.

From the point of view of import substitution in the field of software - a complete rainbow. In 2016, the Unified Register of Domestic Software appeared, FZ-188 began to operate on preferences for Russian software manufacturers. Of course, import substitution could lead to the loss of a certain share of the Russian market by foreign companies, but so far this has not entailed much losses. However, the developers of industrial versions of competitive products have some advantages - in particular, 1C, Red Soft, Kaspersky and Positive technologies, cloud products, infrastructure solutions for creating cloud services, for example, based on OpenStack, as well as office applications MyOffice.

In the area of ​​computing infrastructure, import substitution is also flourishing. Asian manufacturers are especially pleased: Huawei, Lenovo. Their equipment is not inferior to Western counterparts in performance and computing capabilities. These are mainly x86-based solutions that banks, retail chains, logistics companies and industrialists are eyeing.

Contact centers are getting smarter. The focus is now on personalizing services, improving the quality and speed of their services, reducing costs. The topic of customer experience management is becoming highly relevant. The operator of the contact center can trace the entire route of the subscribers' calls online: when, with whom, on what issues and through which channels (voice, email, SMS, chat, social media, IVR) he interacted. The history of relationships also allows analyzing the emotional loyalty of clients, competently responding to complaints and complaints, and selling better.

Software defined networks. The practice of gradual adaptation of SDN and strategic planning of full virtualization of ICT infrastructure is developing. Attention to the subject of SDN riveted huge, and the market continues to grow. Leading analytical agencies give very optimistic estimates: Gartner has already included SDN in the TOP10 of technological trends in the industry for several years already, and IDC and Infonetics Reseach estimate the potential of the SDN / NFV market by 2018 at $ 8-11 billion with an annual growth of about 90%. Market players see SDN as a way to save and increase service profitability. Analysts at Infonetics Research are confident that the cost of maintaining the telecommunications infrastructure may decline by 48% per year, and capital expenditures - even more than 50%. The essence of the software-defined network is in the possibility of centralized control of network equipment, where a special SDN controller performs the function of a “brain”. This requires a smaller number of service technicians and makes it possible for 20–30% more efficient to distribute the load on resources between different parts of the network. In other words, the benefits of implementing SDN today are obvious, but so far in complexity it resembles mathematical analysis. To simplify the implementations, we opened a laboratory of SDN solutions, where you can try everything and play.

Monetization of IT solutions. Any crowded facility such as a stadium, hotel, shopping center or airport can be turned into a source of additional advertising revenue. Well, or broadcast something else useful to buyers, buyers, passengers. Or students - in the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, we have installed the Digital Signage system.

Given that 60% of customers are actively using mobile services, it is logical to assume that Wi-Fi will soon take over the function of a unifying platform that will effectively attract customers. There is, for example, a solution for Wi-Fi analytics of customer behavior based on the Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences (CMX). It monitors all Wi-Fi signals in real time, collects and combines information about the location of mobile devices and user behavior in the network, including demographic data from social networks. The solution tracks the movement of visitors and in real-time generates heat maps, thus determining the most visited areas and traffic routes. In addition, users connected to Wi-Fi can offer specialized content to their devices, earning additional advertising revenue. In general, if you did not pay for Wi-Fi - you are the goods. And they will count you!

Telecom operators have a high interest in the revenue sharing model. The idea is that the operator does not need to create its own infrastructure for each service; the developer or integrator is involved in this. The task of the provider is to ensure the delivery of the service to the consumer (“transport”) and the sale channel (sales channel). After the service is launched and offered to consumers, the operator and his technology partner receive a percentage of the generated additional revenue. As our experience shows, Revenue Sharing model is becoming more and more popular, regardless of the sphere in which it is applied. In the case of mobile operators, we already have good experience in 10 countries .

By directions

Now I’ll tell you a little more about our departments in order to give examples of projects that are relevant for various businesses in Russia.

Soft

The guys from DIT do everything that can not be thrown into the wall. For example, modernize the IT subsystems of ships in Russia ( example ), stratify “drunk” databases, recognize faces and cats. 518 projects per year, 119 of them are above 10 million rubles.

In addition to these projects, it is worth noting the introduction of 1C in Khrunichev, and how they implemented the IAM system in DPD in Russia, and the consulting project - the introduction of the KPI system in the Russian light. The most memorable project of the year, of course, was looking for a cat-terminator in the warehouse with the help of video hunting and how the trolley was different from the foreman . Made a portal + kiosks for personnel tasks in Phosagro . The most successful and large-scale project of this year is the creation of a single information space that ensures the effective interaction of hundreds of agencies from different countries within the framework of a large international organization. His goal is to simplify operations and procedures that begin in the territory of one state, and end in the territory of another. About this, too, while talking in detail can not be on the NDA.

Telecommunications

Division DTC - it is communications and networkers. From their point of view, any environment, if it is properly “built”, is suitable for transmitting packets over the network without delay. In 2016, DTK had more than 400 projects, there are very interesting and complex ones. For example, our engineers continued to upgrade the Tele2 contact center. By the way, this KC is already 10 years old. All this time we have been providing round-the-clock technical support. Modernized KTs VTB24 , there appeared a smart IVR. Almost like a chat bot, just an answering machine. At Neiva Bank, we have created a full-featured contact center: according to their assessment, the efficiency of operators has increased by 20%. An interesting project was with Aeroexpress , where we upgraded the data network without stopping business processes. Previously, there was no separation into layers of the network, and there was a dependency on providers. Now everything is much better, plus p2p telephony has appeared.

For the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), they implemented a complex that allows for videoconferences with a large number of participants from different countries, working together with them on documents and efficiently managing meetings. Great job, 10 full subsystems.

In October, they completed a project to create the IT infrastructure of FC Krasnodar , which will be discussed separately later. Together with colleagues from the Department of Intelligent Buildings (DIZ), we designed and implemented at the stadium 45 low-voltage systems, including security systems, television, telecommunications, multimedia, as well as automation and dispatch systems for engineering systems. I note that FC Krasnodar is the only stadium in Russia equipped with high-speed High Density Wi-Fi. Usually due to the large number of fans who are at the same time at the match, the stadiums are technologically unable to provide high-quality cellular communications and wireless Internet. Our solution allowed us to provide 100% coverage of the stadium bowl. Thanks to HD Wi-Fi, fans can always stay in touch and share sports content on social networks during the match. The created football club's mobile application will allow you to view the best moments in the “immediately after the goal” mode, comment on the game, see the squad and team placement, participate in contests, receive news and alerts.

Building stuffing engineering

DIZ projects are the most chic of engineering romance. To build a boiler room with a specific controller inside, then reconstruct the court building, then build a data center, then a generation center for RNO-Alania, then something else. And even on Aldan to drive away - to fix something with your hands, at night to bend the cable on the roof of the bank, in the winter at –50 antennas in the north to repair. Only once got into heat: a telescope was installed in the mountains of Chile.

This year there were 493 projects. The most interesting are the aforementioned stadium in Krasnodar (together with the DTC), the CSKA stadium, the ALROSA smart office (together with the DTC), the arbitration court in the Smolensk region. We have just started the project of equipping the stadium in Yekaterinburg, in the middle of summer we are planning to close the project for the construction of the Stavropol Auto plant.

General trend - energy-efficient innovative solutions with a reasonable price are in demand. More and more vendors are opening up production in Russia to stop holding back exchange differences.

Well, we have got our own staff of architects. And among us there are already people who have designed both skyscrapers and several metro stations.

Highload

These are the projects of the internal combustion engine, in fact - infrastructures and cloudbrokers. They have the most “quiet” work - routines for moving and configuration are many, and all the news is quiet. Well, yes, in nuclear power now fail-safe calculations, nothing anywhere zhahnet. Well, it did not go away before. And so on. In just one year, 770 projects were implemented as part of the ICE direction. The coolest are Rosagro in the cloud, VR solutions for DeLaval, virtualization of the computing infrastructure for Svyaz-Bank , did a lot of interesting things for East-West, raised hyperconvergent solutions for Zelgros .

The general trend - everyone goes to the cloud, and more and more power is needed. Even the most conservative bankers began to transfer more and more services to cloud environments, and this is becoming the norm in the market. Needs are a little ahead of what Russia now has to offer, and it’s difficult to scale to the West. Plus, HPC has become needed at remote sites. Often you need the “secure cloud as a service” service. The demand for cloud services is growing, and with it the requirements for ensuring their security are formalized. We offer Security-as-a-Service on the basis of FSTEC and FSB certified tools for proper protection of PD.

More projects - one atomic company provided trouble-free operation of the file system and the system of resource-intensive computing in the conditions of lack of its own resources for their deployment - moved to our Uptime Institute data center with the Tier III Gold Certification of Operational Sustainability level. About flash arrays: we see that bankers and retailers want to do more calculations in RAM - and performance is many times more, and the number of simultaneously processed transactions increases by orders of magnitude. “Castorama” - corrected the mistakes of the previous contractor from India, reconfigured everything, did the monitoring of the systems, the customer is satisfied. Well, and migrated to the cloud IT systems " Unistream ". We made a distributed platform for bankers and an elastic infrastructure, ready for peak loads and testing.

Total

Everybody has a crisis, and in IT it's a crazy race. In the 16th year, everything was wildly saved, so I had to think a lot and look for unconventional solutions to problems. For example, banks began to switch from RISC-machines to x86 (an unheard of case before) and in-memory computing to implement, administrators of large networks began to deal with SDDC and SDN-technologies (this is something like the secret steps of mathematical analysis for a regular admin), plus now many interesting developments (including from the open source) began to be made domestically. And this year is even more fun, but more on that next year in April. Or June.