The Information technology sector in Russia employed around 300,000 people in 2012,
and contributed 1.2% of the country's GDP in 2015.
The sector is concentrated in the cities of
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
and
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
.
History
The Russian IT sector drew comparatively little from Soviet-era institutions.
Russian IT companies were started in the early 1990s by founders with an academic background seeking to find a place in the new market economy.
Piracy was widespread in the country, with an estimated 90% of all software in Russia being pirated in 1997.
In the 1990s, companies such as
Vist began assembling computers out of foreign-made components, targeting small businesses and families who could not afford foreign brands like
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
and
Compaq
Compaq Computer Corporation was an American information technology, information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced some of the first IBM PC compati ...
.
DVM Computer gained some traction in the laptop market with its RoverBook brand. The Russian Computer Association (Российская компьютерная ассоциация) was the trade association representing the sector. In 1997
Yandex
Yandex LLC ( rus, Яндекс, r=Yandeks, p=ˈjandəks) is a Russian technology company that provides Internet-related products and services including a web browser, search engine, cloud computing, web mapping, online food ordering, streaming ...
was established in Moscow.
In 1999
MCST developed the
Elbrus 2000 processor, which was initially hyped as an
Itanium
Itanium (; ) is a discontinued family of 64-bit computing, 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture (formerly called IA-64). The Itanium architecture originated at Hewlett-Packard (HP), and was later jointly dev ...
killer, but the project was hampered by a chronic lack of funding.
Over time, Russian companies moved to software development, an activity which enjoyed higher margins.
Local companies cater to the specific needs of the Russian market, such as
ERP software developed by
1C Company with a focus on Russian accounting rules.
Kaspersky Labs
Kaspersky Lab (; ) is a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and operated by a holding company in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1997 by Eugene Kaspersky, Natalya Kaspersky and ...
is described as the flagship company of the Russian IT industry. Exports of software and IT services from Russia reached $7 billion in 2015, up from $2.8 billion in 2009.
In 2012 MCST launched the
NT-ElbrusS, a rugged laptop for military applications.
After the start of the
War in Donbas
The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...
and the
Russian annexation of Crimea, the Ukrainian government banned a number of Russian IT companies from conducting business in the country.
In June 2015 the Russian parliament passed a law to establish a preference system for software developed in Russia.
Worsening relations between the United States and Russia have led some to advocate a purge of Russian software.
Largest Internet companies
List of the largest
internet companies based in Russia, according to the local version of
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
:
See also
*
List of Russian IT developers
References
External links
Federal registry of Russian software
Database "Suppliers and manufacturers of technical equipment" - russianelectronics.{{Economy of Russia
Information technology in Russia