TAdviser Interview: Experts of TerraLink about development of infrastructure business of the company

Dmitry Mironov: By data for 2016, turnover in the direction of infrastructure solutions makes about 34% of a total turnover of the company, including Kazakhstan. If to estimate a share of infrastructure business in TerraLink portfolio in the Russian market, then it is higher – about 64%.

Dmitry Mironov: Till 2014 – the 2015th years banks and financial institutions acted as main customers of infrastructure projects. Now the situation changes – the financial sector not willingly invests in development and upgrade of IT infrastructure and prefers to use already constructed computing powers. Therefore the share of the financial sector in the general segment of the Russian IT market was significantly reduced. We note positive dynamics of demand in the industry, in the field of construction of large social and sporting venues. The competition in the market grows due to market falling. At the same time, there are new niches in which presence of large players is not so noticeable.

Dmitry Mironov: First of all, it is connected with double depreciation of the ruble two years ago. The capital equipment used by us in projects – the western production. Many enterprises conducting planned economy were not ready to such increase in IT budgets. All had to adapt to a situation.

Dmitry Mironov: Yes, we change our policy in the choice of the producer if that is demanded by the customer. However we do it with caution, calculating the technological and logistical risks arising at cooperation with producers of the countries of Asia and the CIS. For example, we separate large producers of China with the representations in Russia and Europe adapted for the European consumer, and local suppliers, business communication with whom is complicated by an enormous difference in mentality.

Selecting the equipment, we are guided, first of all, by the quality close to the western analogs. Worthy replacement manages to be found in those areas where producers of the countries of Asia traditionally take strong positions – ADP equipment, servers, DWH, telecommunication solutions. However, in a segment of heavy, industrial equipment – cooling systems, regular power supply, distribution of energy, etc. – the quality of the equipment still did not reach the level of the western producers, such as Schneider Electric, Bosh, Schtulz, etc.

Dmitry Mironov: In the company we select the general direction of the engineering systems to which SCS, security systems, power supply, conditioning and scheduling belong. Increased requirements of fault tolerance, performance and technological effectiveness are imposed to them.

The second the direction, important for us, are audiovisions, this historically strong TerraLink direction. It includes complex equipment of meeting rooms and conference rooms, implementation of congress systems and VKS, the solution for management of flexible office and so forth.

The separate directions provide also telecommunications (telephony, data transmission systems) and computing solutions (servers and DWH).

Andrey Mikhaylenko: In general the market of AV solutions now actively develops. Among innovations, first of all, it is necessary to mention a format of video 4K. If some time ago it seemed a certain marketing mix and was not perceived seriously, then now it is de facto the standard of modern audiovisual complexes and is actively used by customers. I will remind what 4K is the image format following later Full HD giving four times bigger quality of the picture. The main driver of distribution 4K – continuous growth of information volume on monitors. Thanks to the new standard it became possible to bring more information to big monitors at the same time. Especially it is demanded in the situational centers, dispatching offices, the project organizations, but the technology already gets also into normal business.

As one more innovation direction I would select integration of software and hardware environments within the organization of a video conferencing. Before we had two different stories, the first – the corporate VKS constructed on the expensive equipment of serious brands, and the second – messengers and video calls of consumer level, such as Skype and Hangouts or Lync (Skype for Business) in business market. For today the border is erased – within one session of a video conferencing users from the workplace or from the mobile platform can participate as employees from the meeting room and a conference room with the equipment of the high level, and. It belongs to most of producers - all try to be the most open to the customer, are ready to integration with a huge number of the systems of other vendors presented at the market and which are multiplied in geometrical progression.

Andrey Mikhaylenko: Flexible or the agile-office is a new concept of office space. It is defined by the changed working conditions – the modern employee faces a large number of the tasks requiring absolutely different environment – from zones for informal communication and places for work in a private situation to rooms of a video conferencing and spaces for creative activity. Considerable emphasis is placed on the growing volume of internal and external communications and requirements for data visualization. Proceeding from the aforesaid, the main objective of flexible office – to give to the employee an opportunity to work with the maximum comfort in that environment which is required by the task solved by it at present.

Our solutions allow to help with two main activities at the organization of flexible offices. On the one hand, we are ready to make such offices the most comfortable for work. In it complexes of a video conferencing and Unified Communications, the solution for work on the concept of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), a system for joint work with documents and data visualizations, solutions of masking of a sound help with open-speysa and others.

On the other hand, we propose solutions for performance management of use of such resources. Here it is possible to mention booking systems of meeting rooms and jobs which not only simplify and systematize access, but also allow to increase percent of their real use considerably. Together with similar solutions it is possible to apply also the special analytical systems allowing to analyze in details efficiency of use of office space.

Andrey Mikhaylenko: The market moves towards integration of IT and AV solutions. In several years we will come that these directions completely will integrate. The first systems allowing to transfer and switch audio-and video flows of high and ultrahigh definition on IP practically without delay are already provided. Distribution of these technologies, on the one hand, will make audiovisual solutions the most flexible, and with another – will finally erase border between AV and IT.

Andrey Mikhaylenko: One of the main categories of our customers is a corporate sector. We give an opportunity using AV solutions to increase productivity of joint work in the company and also to make office the most friendly to employees and visitors. Here we have many interesting solutions – from armoring of meeting rooms and jobs to the systems of telepresence.

Show interest in advanced office systems and state (and quasi-state) structures, but so far it is only first signs because traditions of "room" work and "corridor" communications are still strong. The main directions which are interesting to such customers it is conference halls, educational audiences, a corporate video conferencing. It is separately possible to select interest in the equipment of the situational centers.

There are also unique solutions. For example, we created for one of 3D state corporations - the laboratory allowing to visualize design solutions in three-dimensional space. To understand solution scale, I will give one fact: in laboratory it is possible to show models of the size of the car in scale 1:1, at the same time it is possible to manage display (to turn, bring closer or delete the image) in literal sense the movements of fingers of hands.

Retail is in audiovisual solutions actively interested. In particular, we see demand for the solutions allowing to interact actively with the buyer such as digital and interactive show-windows and also Digital Signage systems (content management systems on a distributed network of monitors).

Dmitry Mironov: If to consider what amount of information each employee should process daily, and to consider the fact that volumes of transmitted data grow and will continue to grow, it becomes clear that cable systems on the basis of the twisted pair cable slowly but surely consign to the past. It is especially right if to speak about technology difficult projects, such as data centers, switching nodes, etc. Perspective technologies in this segment are the optical SCS conforming to standards 40 and 100G, the systems of parallel communication of data.

Cable systems – a product which we implement in close technology cooperation with the producer and the customer. Similar approach allows to increase a system lifecycle without its upgrade, to simplify transition to standards of "tomorrow". Without deep understanding of industry technologies it is impossible to issue to the customer result.

Dmitry Mironov: For last year we implemented a number of projects in Russia and Kazakhstan on creation of complexes of the engineering and multimedia systems for such companies as AVITO, McKinsey, BASF, KazMunaiGas, etc. For the first time state examination on one of the executed projects was undergone in our practice that allows us to expect its further implementation next year.

Dmitry Mironov: Our task for the next and next years we see forward increase in a share of highly intellectual services in a project portfolio of the company. Modern IT technologies avoid supply of iron to the sphere of provision of services – technology consulting, drawing up and approval of regulating technical documentation, design, implementation and project management. However, in the Russian market and in the CIS countries the IT level and technology equipment of objects still remains heterogeneous therefore we offer our customers all range of infrastructure products and services - from hardware upgrade and before implementation of complex projects on subjects to federal appointment.