Leg in step with telecom

This is a kind of post a la “Hi Giktayms”, but in somewhat large volume. Since we came here, we should have met before you establish fruitful communication. Under the cut history of the company "NAG" in summary. It would be honest to say that our history is closely connected with the history of telecom in Russia, and if “NAG” does not appear on the horizon, the industry itself could be a bit different.


The names of famous brands and huge corporations are often surrounded by a slight halo of legend, which tells how it all began. With the company "NAG" the situation is about the same. They say that it all started with a banal resale via the Cisco switch Internet. Since then, as they say: "it started." That entrepreneurial seller was Pavel Nagibin - the founding father of the company, which today plays a prominent role in the telecommunications market in Russia and the post-Soviet space. But first things first.
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Pavel Nagibin takes the first word at CROS 2016

“At first there was a word” ...

Yes! It was the word that became the basis of what “NAG” is today. Rather, the place where the word was published. In 2000, Pavel Nagibin launched an information portal dedicated to telecom, where he published both his own reviews of the main trends and problems of the industry, as well as articles of outside specialists. The name of the resource was given by the first three letters of the creator's last name. Nag.ru has evolved, overgrown with sections and traffic. In the future, in addition to reviews on the portal, he earned a news block, a product catalog and a list of Internet providers. It was arguing, the site moved to a new engine. Communicative ties were established with providers, and sales grew with them.

As sales grew, so did the number of employees. If initially the company consisted of several people who were personally acquainted with each other, then as the development progressed, the staff of employees, who, of course, were more than just colleagues. These were people with their heads immersed in the new, not only for themselves, but also for the country, business.

In 2004, “NAG” began to master the Chinese direction, which later became the main activity of the company.

“China, at the time, was still terra incognita.” But the potential was obvious, the main thing was to understand what you need to pay attention in the first place. Build connections, debug contacts and work out logistic schemes. As a result, in three or four years, China has become a large developed area. The staff included the first purchasing managers. At the same time, the current structure of the company began to take shape smoothly: a director who deals with very general issues, the sales department and product managers , ”says the company director Dmitry Samodelko.

The company grew rapidly, spudding the unpaved field of the telecommunications market. “NAG” was becoming a recognizable and sought-after industry. But this was not enough.

CROS

Only a decade or so ago, the Internet, whose distribution has now reached inconceivable proportions, was the lot of a relatively small part of the Russian business community, which was no less keen on their work than making money. Naturally, all these people needed a kind of get-together where they could get together and talk with people of similar views and hobbies, touching upon problems of a purely professional nature. For Nag.ru, the organization of such an event would be another reason to declare oneself not only as a virtual companion of all providers, but also as a hospitable host, whose doors are open to everyone. So it was decided to organize a Conference of Russian Telecommunications Operators ( CROS ). The year was 2006.



As one of the organizers of the first CROS, Dmitry Samodelko, recalls, the idea of ​​creating the first conference was born out of a desire to gather people who were at the origin of Russian telecom.

“KROS was born from our decision to gather colleagues, people who were at the origin of telecommunications. Now these people are the leaders of large companies. But why not collect them by the old memory, to discuss business, prospects, just to talk about life. Actually, it was the opportunity to discuss common problems in an informal setting, and became the impetus for holding our first meeting , ”says Dmitry.

The first KROS took place on one of the Sverdlovsk camp sites, where about a hundred people came - representatives of providers. The event was a great success, the guests were satisfied, and the next year everyone wanted to get together again.

"It was fun. And we decided to meet in a year. Spent the second, third, fourth, fifth. Every year the number of participants increased. We knew that these people would be interested, we knew that we could act as organizers. We have taken this niche and that's it. Actually, we continue the tradition, because we like to unite people around us, we like that they receive pleasure from these meetings. They will stop receiving, we will stop collecting, or we will change the format , ”says Dmitriy Samodelko.

KROS acquired enormous popularity, precisely because of the special format of the event, which provided for a certain informality of communication between providers. This allows them to collectively discuss the problem that is relevant to all, and even solve it through a “brainstorming session,” says NAG product manager Andrei Shepelev.

Today, the history of CROS has ten successful years changing the look of the event time and again - not only the number of participants changed, but also the topics of the reports. If you trace the topics that were discussed at the conference from year to year, you can determine how it changed, and what worried the Russian telecom over time.

Ten years is a milestone, and it is wonderful that they were held in the homeland of the hospitable host of “NAG” - in Yekaterinburg. Over the years, not only the company has grown, the industry has grown, and large companies need a large platform. Therefore, CROS-2016 was held in Sochi.





The number of participants in the first days of registration exceeded five hundred, and the scope of the conference exceeded all previous scales.


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“We have been holding a conference in Yekaterinburg for 10 years. But once they realized that they were overgrown with many problems that could not be solved in Yekaterinburg. We have been growing all these years. We were limited by the fact that we could not accept more than 400 people. General directors, technical directors arrive. Good successful people dear to us. And they do not have enough space in the hall. Well what is it! Therefore, we are forced to limit the number of invitees. And we decided to look for a new collection point. As a result of a long search, our choice fell on Sochi , ”the head of the company notes.

From outbid to own developments

Measuring the shooter will never give time to stop. It goes away permanently, giving us a chance to get something in return. “NAG” did not miss its time, becoming the organizer of a popular conference of providers and one of the main suppliers of products for telecommunication workers. However, the company gains weight when it begins to create its own product ... Gradually, everything went to just that. Here again, the notorious “feedback” between the seller and the buyer, which “NAG” tries to maintain constantly, played its significant role, making the client not just a source of profit, but also a friend.

At the root of the reincarnation of the company from the seller to the manufacturer was Dmitry Polyakov, today occupying the post of head of the development department. The first product developed under the brand name SNR was the device under the working name ERD .

“Telecom operators have a need for a device that would allow remote monitoring of the network and identify faults. There was practically no information about something similar in access. It was necessary to invent everything from scratch, and not to go along the already trodden path. In essence, this is how the first version of ERD appeared. Already in the future, the device has become a device that allows you to restart the network remotely. That is, if previously the hung equipment had to be “brought to life” manually, then when ERD appeared with the operators, there was no need to go to the facility to reboot the equipment , ”said Dmitry Polyakov.

Versions of the device were constantly improved, and their production was already measured in thousands, which led to the emergence of a new department in the NAG structure. Now the department has several people who are constantly busy testing, improving and developing new solutions. ERD has become a device that is in demand in many areas. Over the years that have passed since its appearance on the market, clients of various sizes have been able to use ERD in their work: from serious government agencies to large-scale telecom corporations.

Today's Day

Today NAG is positioning itself as a high-tech system integrator and the largest supplier of telecommunications equipment in the Russian Federation and the CIS countries. The company promotes to the market both its own products, manufactured under the brand SNR, and equipment of other well-known manufacturers.

During its life, the company seems to have overgrown its own production facilities in Russia, China and South Korea, where equipment is produced under the SNR brand, which, after several years of successful market promotion, is making a worthy competition to big names. The secret of success is trivially simple - this is primarily a guideline for a constant increase in product quality, and not the “stupid” pursuit of profit.

In addition to the production "NAG" opened several offices in the territory of the Russian Federation. Now the company has offices in Yekaterinburg, Moscow and Novosibirsk. In the partners of “Naga” there are such big names as: Juniper, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Siemens and others.



If you ask the question “What is“ NAG ”today?” It is difficult to give an unambiguous and brief answer to the observer from the outside. In this matter, it is better to trust a person who has been in the company almost since birth.

““ NAG ”today is a thoughtfully, anxiously formed team of like-minded people. Here are people who aspire to something in life. Our story is a story of ups, ” - says Dmitry Samodelko.

Independent analyst ratings also speak about constant growth. According to CNews Analytics, in 2015, NAG strengthened its position in the ranking of telecommunications equipment suppliers in Russia, rising by 4 steps.

A look into the future

You always want to see the future as bright and promising. That is how it should be presented to the company, which for more than a decade’s history showed only annual growth, winning back all the new “territories” of the market. Of course, a niche played by the company and, directly, the industry itself, which in recent years has only accelerated into its own development, played a role here.

Postskiftum

Honestly, we reflected for a long time before deciding to start a blog on Geektimes. After all, to broadcast on this site you need to have a clear idea of ​​what you want to convey to the audience. Here we will talk about what worries us - about the events taking place in telecommunications and will try to give them an expert assessment. Do not forget to periodically notify our subscribers about what is happening in the company, as well as describe in more detail about our projects and solutions.