Rostelecom's IT ecosystem has grown to several dozen companies. Key Asset Map

TAdviser studied the reporting of Rostelecom for 2023 and on its basis, as well as on the basis of the company's announcements in 2024, compiled a map of its main IT assets. It includes, among other things, companies that develop solutions and provide services in the field of information security.

Among the largest companies in terms of revenue for 2023 are RTK Digital Technologies (23.7 billion rubles), Restrim Media (19.3 billion rubles), Rostelecom Information Technologies (13.3 billion rubles), RT Labs (7.8 billion rubles), "Rostelecom-digital Regions" (4.1 billion rubles).

RTK Digital Technologies, in particular, is positioned as a universal provider of cloud and system integration services for government and corporate customers. This legal entity is part of the RTK-DPC group of companies and specializes in creating solutions and services based on cloud technologies; implementation of support and application services; unification and replication of cloud IT services; Provide IT design, implementation, and maintenance services throughout the lifecycle.

Rostelecom IT is engaged in the design, development and implementation of software solutions. In 2023, Rostelecom called this company the "heart of the IT cluster," where they are engaged mainly in commercial development in the interests of the B2C, B2B segments and to a lesser extent - B2G^[1]

B2G for Rostelecom is a large area associated, for example, with the development of Gostekh, with the infrastructure of e-government : public services, SMEV, ESIA. And in 2023, RT Labs was called the "heart of development" for state customers in Rostelecom, despite the fact that the aforementioned two large companies in terms of revenue also perform part of the work in the field of B2G. In addition, the BFT company also performs a set of projects in the interests of government agencies.

Another company with a large turnover is Restrim Media. This is a joint venture NMG STS with and in the field of distribution of media content, a developer of a multimedia platform. Wink

Among other largest IT assets, for example, the company "Tsifromed," which was created in 2019 as a center of competence for the digitalization of healthcare at the federal and regional levels. At the end of 2023, its revenue amounted to more than 5.8 billion rubles.

There is also a company Rostelecom-digital Regions with a turnover of 4.1 billion rubles for the period under review. Its focus is integration projects for state authorities related to the Safe City agro-industrial complex, photo and video recording, intelligent video surveillance, weight and size control.

It is worth noting that not for all IT assets it is possible to trace which legal entities of Rostelecom currently own them. Some companies operate in the form of joint-stock companies. In the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the owners of joint-stock persons are not disclosed, but sometimes the data on them are reflected in accounting or in explanations to the accounting of the company. However, current legislation allows in some cases to hide business owners from public bases and in the case of legal entities created, including in the form of a limited liability company, allows them not to publish their accounts openly. Apparently, Rostelecom also took advantage of this in relation to some of its companies.

Both in 2023 and in 2024 Rostelecom continued its course towards strengthening and developing the IT direction. In March 2023, for example, he acquired the Russian developer of anti-fraud systems "Fuzzy Lodge Labs." The company implements comprehensive IT projects to organize secure transactions, counter external and internal fraud, as well as money laundering.

In 2024, one of the companies included in the Rostelecom circuit was the developer of virtualization systems Rustek, acquired by Basis, a joint venture of Rostelecom, Yadro and Rubitech. Note that the infographic above shows the consolidated revenue indicator of Basis, which also takes into account the indicators of Rock Software and Digital Energy before the merger, which ended in mid-2023.

The efforts made to transform into a provider of digital products and services were reflected in the financial results of Rostelecom. According to the company's reports, since 2019, the share of promising digital services in revenue has doubled and reached 22% in 2023, becoming the second most important revenue item after mobile communications. In 2023, the company expanded its presence in such segments as data centers and cloud services, information security, and digital regions. Thus, at the end of 2023, revenue growth in the data center segment and cloud services, in particular, exceeded 44%, the cybersecurity cluster showed a 38% increase in turnover compared to 2022.

And in August 2024, the company announced the creation of a commercial IT cluster that consolidates expertise and advanced developments of IT subsidiaries and offers the market more than 60 ready-made IT solutions^[2]. They cover a wide range of tasks of digitalization and increasing the efficiency of business processes, according to Rostelecom. The new division was headed by David Martirosov as senior vice president for commercial IT products at Rostelecom. He previously served as vice president of IT Operations and Infrastructure.

The emergence of a commercial IT cluster completes the reorganization of Rostelecom's IT direction, which now includes two independent units. One of them, the IT unit under the leadership of Senior Vice President for Information Technology Dariya Khalitov, is focused on a large-scale transformation of the IT landscape, including the introduction of AI technologies, complete import substitution and the implementation of strategic projects, including of national importance.

Under the leadership of Darius Khalitov, a new IT cluster strategy is being developed until 2030, given the dynamic development plans of the entire Rostelecom In an interview with TAdviser in early December 2024, he said that this is a continuation of the previously taken course, but now the emphasis is being revised towards more effective and intensive further growth and development. The company is on the verge of a new strategic cycle - continuing digital transformation at a more advanced level with more mature technologies.

And the commercial IT cluster under the leadership of Senior Vice President David Martirosov works as a vendor of software products for external customers, delivering IT solutions to the market.

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Фото: Rostelecom

The main strategic priorities for the development of Rostelecom's IT cluster include the introduction and commercialization of its own IT solutions in the market, the achievement of product leadership positions in its segments, as well as the expansion of the cluster through the acquisition of IT companies. We are interested in destinations that will complement and strengthen our current product and service portfolio. We regularly conduct market research and analyze potential opportunities for expanding the IT cluster, - said TAdviser in Rostelecom.

At the same time, information security solutions are allocated in the "Rostelecom" loop into a separate cluster. The subsidiary on the basis of which it was formed is developing in three areas of business: the provision of commercial cybersecurity services, the development of its own technologies and system integration in the field of protection against cyber threats.

The company is an architect of comprehensive cybersecurity, providing solutions to protect more than 850 of Russia's largest companies in key sectors of the economy, including to ensure the security of the Public services portal, and offers services to the commercial center for countering cyber attacks, an ecosystem of managed information security services and a line of its own products. Other areas of activity are training specialists in cyberthreat protection skills, incident analytics and investigation, and improving the digital literacy of the population.

The investment portfolio of the information security cluster is more than 22 billion rubles. The funds are used to develop its own technologies and expand the cluster's share in the information security market by acquiring promising companies and developments.

Note that in addition to developing IT solutions in the loop of the Rostelecom group of companies, Rostelecom is also working on IT solutions together with external IT partners. So, for example, in June 2023, Rostelecom "1C" signed an agreement on the beginning of the development of an industry-wide enterprise resource management platform ERP based on domestic. software

Another example is that in September 2023, Rostelecom and Innopolis University joined forces to develop a domestic project management platform, Yaga, which is the core of the future Lukomorye development platform, covering the entire life cycle of software development for large and medium-sized IT teams.

Also, in partnership with leading vendors, Rostelecom has created turnkey IT solutions - import-substituting software and hardware complexes for a stationary, server and mobile workplace.

It should be mentioned that some companies in the Rostelecom circuit, although not engaged in IT as the main activity, are also developing IT solutions. Here you can look at Rostelecom Contact Center, one of the largest outsourcing contact centers in Russia, as an example. The development of digital products for customer service is one of its areas. In September 2023, Rostelecom Contact Center completed the digital transformation and introduced the brand of the IT product line for external customers. Among them: a knowledge management system, a solution for building omnichannel automated communications with a client in voice and text channels, speech analytics, etc.

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