ICL at Kazan Digital Week 2023: Advancing IT import substitution

The inauguration of the forum for ICL was marked by the unveiling of a joint booth with Astra Group in the exhibition area of Kazan Expo IEC, spanning over 4,000 square meters. The booth aimed to introduce the forum attendees to Astra Group's software ecosystem and ICL's products for computer hardware import substitution, including proprietary laptops, all-in-one PCs, monitors, motherboards, as well as solutions for migrating IT services and software.

ICL Services Head Ruslan Vagizov introduced the booth to the Russian Minister of Digital Development Maksut Shadaev, Head of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, President of Tatarstan's Academy of Sciences and Chairman of the Digital Development Assistance Association Council Rifkat Minnikhanov, and other government representatives who highlighted the company's crucial role in IT solutions and equipment import substitution as part of Russia's digital advancement.

On the first day of Kazan Digital Week, Ruslan Vagizov also participated in the Digital Industry 2.0 session organized by Atomdata-Innopolis, the central data processing hub of Innopolis.

In his presentation, Ruslan shared ICL's own experience of urgently migrating from Microsoft services to the Yandex 360 platform, a strategy that the company is already successfully implementing in projects for its clients,

"In 2022, some vendors started announcing various sanctions and blockades, others talked about exiting the market, and some announced significant price hikes. As Microsoft product users, we too were susceptible to these risks. This led us at ICL to consider domestic platforms and tools for communication and collaboration."

ICL and Astra client day: what sustains IT in business in 2023

The roundtable kicked off with a presentation by Ilnur Ibragimov, lead system architect in ICL, on the company's strategy for controlled migration to Russian Linux systems and managing a heterogeneous environment. 

"During the transition, several factors require immediate consideration: the process of transition, the migration of workstations and software, and how to acclimate users to the new operating system. For these tasks, we suggest three practical approaches," he said.

Vasily Tuzov, Director of the Service and Technical Support Department at ICL, continued the discussion on import substitution, elaborating on multivendor equipment support.

"Up until 2022, all interactions with vendors for equipment and software product support were fully controlled: clear game rules, authorized partners who provided turnkey solutions, and accessible service contracts. In spring 2022, everything changed: the vendors departed, and we had to devise strategies to replace vendor technical support with an equivalent that could be implemented in-house."

Anastasia Spirkova, Deputy Marketing Director of the company, shared Astra Group's expertise in developing the domestic Astra Linux OS, 

"Local solutions are taking over from western developments, and we understand that just one OS is not sufficient. So, a few years back, we considered that it would be beneficial for a client to receive all solutions from a single vendor, through one support window. Today, we have the capability to replace any fundamental IT infrastructure."

Andrei Razin, Deputy Executive Director of ICL Astra Services, shared the joint venture's experience of ICL and Astra groups in the realm of software and hardware based on Astra software. 

"During import substitution, constant questions arise about how company employees can operate in a new operating system when they are accustomed to Windows, or how to precisely select quality hardware for the new software to function on. The answer to such questions is most often a switch to a software and hardware complex,"[1] Andrei believes.

Ildar Vagizov, Commercial Director of ICL Techno, concluded the meeting on a positive note. Ahead of the inauguration of Russia's largest motherboard surface mount factory, he shared the company's experience in replacing imported equipment,

 "Currently, the proportion of domestically produced equipment in the overall Russian IT market is extremely low. However, we are on a growth trajectory and I am confident that Russian computer manufacturers will soon take center stage."

The packed client day program concluded at the ICL Technopark. After touring the office and the new motherboard manufacturing plant, the guests engaged in informal discussions with the heads and leading experts of ICL, Astra, and ICL Astra Services. Topics included IT outsourcing, service provision, information security, computer hardware production, and software development and support.

[1] A software and hardware complex refers to application software designed for business tasks. It includes systems like 1C, infrastructure software, data base management system produced by Astra, and equipment from ICL Techno.