Data Center (Russian Market) Commercial Data Centers

Data centers of Moscow

Main article: Moscow data centers

2024

Only 4% of free racks and 30% price increases. How the data center market is developing in St. Petersburg

At the end of September 2024, experts from the data center (DPC) market in St. Petersburg noted a critical shortage of free capacity and a significant increase in prices for services. The share of free stands in the city has decreased to 4-6%, and the cost of services has increased by more than 30% over the past two years.

According to the Kommersant newspaper, Konstantin Yurganov, director of strategic development at MONS (Korus Consulting Group of Companies), said that the optimal share of free standing places in the market is 14-16%. At the beginning of 2023, this figure in St. Petersburg fell to 6-8%, and by the end of 2024 it reached a critically low level of 4-6%.

Only 4% of empty seats and an increase in prices by 30%. How is the market for data centers in St. Petersburg changing?

Igor Sitnikov, General Director of Miran LLC, notes that in 2024 two new commercial data centers were commissioned with a total capacity of 350 server cabinets. However, this is not enough to meet the growing demand.

According to Andrey Guk, CEO of Obit, it is still possible to rent one rack, but it is almost impossible to find ten or more racks. In early 2024, Obit launched Data Center No. 1 in the center of St. Petersburg and plans to invest in the construction of a new facility in the north of the city.

Experts predict a further increase in demand for data center services. Konstantin Yurganov expects an increase in demand by 20-25% by 2026 compared to the beginning of 2023, which will lead to an even greater shortage of empty seats and an increase in prices for services.

Despite strong demand, the construction of new data centers remains an expensive and lengthy process. Associate Professor of the Department of Economic Theory of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Yuri Shvets notes that the construction of one megawatt of capacity can cost from $5-10 million. Director of Public Relations of the 3data Data Center Network Dmitry Prede estimates the average payback of the facility at seven to ten years.

Andrei Guk emphasizes that inflation and rising prices for equipment, especially import-substituted components, affect the cost of construction. The technical shell of data centers has become more expensive due to the limited choice of manufacturers.^[1]

Gazprom wants to establish a heat exchange between data centers and gas distribution stations

PJSC Gazprom took the initiative to organize a mutually beneficial exchange of thermal energy between data centers (DPC) and gas distribution stations (GDS). This became known in October 2024. This proposal is aimed at improving the energy efficiency of both types of facilities and reducing the cost of their operation.

According to Interfax, Nikolai Varlamov, First Deputy General Director of Gazprom Promgaz JSC, proposed using the excess heat generated by data centers to heat natural gas at the gas distribution station. In turn, data centers could receive cheap electricity generated at expander-generator units (DGAs) of gas distribution stations.

Gazprom's establishment of heat exchange between data centers and gas distribution stations

According to Gazprom's experts, the cost of electricity generated by DGA when using heat from the data center for the needs of GDS may be less ₽0,5 per kVt⋅ch. This is well below average energy rates and will significantly reduce data center power costs.

Varlamov noted that such a solution is not only economically profitable, but also environmentally safe, since it does not lead to additional emissions of harmful substances into the environment. An integrated approach to energy supply will achieve higher energy efficiency and provide energy resources with their own needs for both data centers and gas distribution stations.

Gazprom's proposal is especially relevant in the light of the large-scale plans announced by Russian IT companies for the construction of data centers in the regions of Russia. Data centers consisting of a large amount of computer technology consume significant electrical power and require efficient cooling systems to maintain a given temperature.^[2]

Russia lacks the capacity of data centers. How this problem is solved - TA opinions

In Russia, there is a shortage of data center capacities. Market participants told TAdviser about this in September 2024. In their opinion, the problem is being solved, despite all the difficulties faced by the business.

According to Ideco director Dmitry Khomutov, the main problem in the Russian data center market is sanctions against the Russian Federation and China, creating difficulties in purchasing equipment from abroad. Approximately 10-20% of the equipment for data centers has been purchased by domestic organizations from friendly countries in the past few years, the TAdviser interlocutor noted.

The shortage of data center capacities in Russia was due to several factors, among which sanctions played a key role

Oleg Kim, Director of the Axoft Hardware Systems Department, calls the departure of foreign cloud providers and equipment manufacturers, as well as the active digitalization of various sectors of the economy, the key reasons for the shortage of server racks in the Russian Federation. This caused a sharp increase in demand for domestic data centers, while Russian companies simply do not have time to expand their capacities on the right scale, he explained.

The change in suppliers and equipment has led to the need to redesign the data centers under construction and revise plans to create new facilities, says Maxim Vyaznikov, CEO of Intelion Cloud.

In some cases, alternative solutions proved unavailable, leading companies to experiment with what they have. This, of course, delayed the launch of new capacities for several quarters, - said Vyaznikov.

He also drew attention to the decree of Roskomnadzor banning the use of foreign data centers: it limited the amount of available resources within the country and provoked a decrease in available capacities.

Arseniy Fomin, Project Manager of Linx Datacenter Data Center, agrees that the increase in the number of locations in data centers does not keep pace with the growth of business needs, hence the shortage of capacity. At the same time, as the expert specified in a conversation with TAdviser, the capacity of data center equipment is still growing at some speed. Therefore, by September 2024, we can already talk not so much about the lack of physical space in data centers as about the shortage of their useful capacity necessary for the operation of IT equipment.

Sergey Paukov, director of the department of engineering and multimedia systems at CROC, believes that the option of using existing sites for a small corporate data center is simpler, cheaper and faster than to be included in capital construction. But if the tasks are larger - for example, the active use of AI technologies, full-scale construction cannot be done without, he added.

Anton Tursunov, Operations Director of Nubes Data Center, sees the problem not in the shortage of racks in data centers, but in the desire of customers "to buy them very, very cheaply and reserve them for free for many years."

It does not beat the interests of data center operators. Therefore, there are stories about the lack of cheap racks of data centers, - explained Tursunov.

Denis Gasilin, Marketing Director of C3 Solutions (manufacturer of IT equipment for data centers), points to a trend in which companies strive to create their own IT infrastructure instead of renting racks. In modern conditions, more and more companies are becoming aware of the urgent need for data security and business process protection, he added.

To eliminate the shortage, new data centers are being actively built throughout Russia. According to Oleg Kim from Axoft, both large market players, for example, Rostelecom and Selectel, and medium-sized companies, are involved in the process. Dmitry Khomutov from Ideco says that Russian corporations have also begun to build their own data centers, but the first results will not be noticeable until 3-5 years later. It takes so long to run one classic data center.

Experts interviewed by TAdviser expect consolidation to be one of the main trends in the Russian data center market, since the creation and maintenance of such facilities require serious investments: it is easier for large companies to provide large investments and sustainable development.

The cost of building data centers is measured in billions or tens of billions of rubles. Not many companies on the market are ready to invest such funds and, moreover, for a high percentage under which they issue loans to businesses. As the general director of the Miran company (engaged in the design, construction and operation of data centers) Igor Sitnikov told TAdviser, the objects built until 2022 fit into a business model with a rack cost of 100 thousand rubles. And data centers, which are being built by 2024, can only fit into a similar model at a cost of 140-150 thousand rubles per rack, he said. The expert listed several steps that are being taken to solve the problem:

• targeted subsidies for data centers, both for land and connection to electrical capacities, are being considered;
• various solutions are implemented that save on the daily costs of the data center, such as friculation, various cold walls;
• work is underway on import substitution of engineering equipment, but it will be visible at a long distance.

According to forecasts of iKS-Consulting analysts , by the end of 2024 the number of racks in commercial data centers will grow by 17% compared to the same period in 2023 and will reach 82.4 thousand units. Of these, 62.5 thousand racks will be installed in Moscow, 7.67 thousand in St. Petersburg and 12.22 thousand in other regions of the Russian Federation.

We can say that the market has reached a different level of development - if earlier the number of racks increased by 5 thousand, and all of them were sold, now there are more of them by 10-11 thousand, and they are also sold out, - said Stanislav Mirin, a leading consultant at iKS-Consulting, whose words are quoted in a study by an analytical company.

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to launch a data center for artificial intelligence in Yakutia

On September 20, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to submit proposals for the creation of a data processing center (DPC) in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The corresponding report should be sent by October 1, 2024.

It is assumed that the capacity of the site will be used to solve resource-intensive problems related to artificial intelligence. According to Putin, with the introduction of AI into science, education, health care and other spheres of life, humanity "begins a new chapter of its existence." AI tools simplify and make many everyday processes more convenient. These technologies are increasingly used in the field of public services and public administration.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

The significance of breakthroughs in the field of artificial intelligence is colossal. The rivalry between the states is just fierce. The place of Russia in the world, our sovereignty, security and viability of our country depends on what results we achieve, "Putin says.

According to the President of the Russian Federation, the ability of Russia to solve the problems of the economy and industry at a qualitatively new level also depends on the development of AI. Against this background, Putin instructed to ensure the training of world-class development scientists in the field of artificial intelligence in the country.^[3]

Agreement on the construction of 15 data centers for 35 billion rubles in Komi

On September 13, 2024, the Komi authorities announced a large-scale project to build 15 data centers (data centers) in the region. The corresponding agreement was signed by the head of the republic Vladimir Uyba and the general director of LLC UK Energoresurs-K Alexander Istomin. The total amount of investments in the creation of data centers is estimated at 35 billion rubles. Read more here.

Large companies in the Russian Federation do not have enough computing power on the market, so they started building their data centers

Russian large companies began to actively build their own data centers (DPCs) due to the lack of computing power in the market. This became known in September 2024. This trend became noticeable after the owners of commercial data centers were unable to meet the growing needs of banks, industrial enterprises and marketplaces.

According to the data provided by the analytical company iKS-Consulting, since 2012, there has been a decrease in the number of corporate data centers under construction, but in 2024 this trend has changed. Dmitry Zheltkov, director of the IT Solutions commercial department at Systeme Electric, said that companies are beginning to actively build their own centers - from large to medium-sized - and modernize existing sites. The growing interest in the development of its own infrastructure was confirmed by representatives of such companies as Wildberries, Gazprom, Sber and Severstal.

According to Vedomosti, the representative of Wildberries noted that the market for commercial data centers cannot cover the needs of the company, so it was decided to build its own data center in Elektrostal, as well as two additional facilities in Dubna and Naro-Fominsk, the launch of which is scheduled for 2025. The construction of its own data centers turned out to be more profitable from an economic point of view than renting, which is due to a constant increase in the cost of renting due to a shortage of capacity.

According to a representative of Gazprom, the company also does not use commercial data centers and is building a large center for 5,000 racks in Veliky Novgorod. This approach, in their opinion, provides greater flexibility and efficiency in the use of computing power, which is especially important for industries with a high load on the IT infrastructure.^[4]

Rosatom became the leader in the volume of construction of data centers

In 2024, the state corporation Rosatom became the leader in terms of commissioning new racks in domestic data centers. The demand for data center services in Russia is growing, which is associated with the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), interest in data centers from investors, technology parks, development companies, as well as the continuing expansion of the cloud services segment. This is stated in a study by ComNews Research, the results of which were published in early August 2024.

During the first and second quarters of 2024, ROSATOM fulfilled its annual plan to deploy 4,890 server racks. Their total number at the operator reached 6570. In second place in terms of volume constructionsdata centers is Rostelecom DPC the GC "," which in 2024 will put into operation 2058 racks. Half of them (1024) will appear in the cluster "-Moscow Ostapovsky," another 820 - at the site "Udomlya," and 214 - in. Yekaterinburg Closes the top three LLC "Ixelereit" with plans to install 1990 racks. Next come (Filanko LLC 1206 racks), Stack Telecom LLC (309), (72), LLC "Imaqliq" etc.

The state corporation Rosatom became the leader in the volume of commissioning of new racks in domestic data centers

In general, during 2024, commercial providers in Russia intend to commission approximately 11.7 thousand new racks. Thus, their total number will be about 76 thousand. Higher growth rates, as ComNews Research notes, were recorded only in 2023, when more than 13 thousand new racks appeared. The leaders of 2023 were Rostelecom DPC LLC (5824 racks), DC 3Data LLC (3863) and Ixelereit LLC (836).

Arseny Fomin, Project Manager of the Data Center of Svyaz VSD LLC (Linx Datacenter), emphasizes that AI and cloud services segments are increasingly influencing the Russian data center market. Daria Aleksankina, CEO of C3 Solutions LLC, calls increasing demand for flexible and scalable solutions an important growth factor^[5].

In Russia, the shortage of data center capacities is increasing

In Russia, the shortage of data center (DPC) capacities is growing due to the active development of artificial intelligence and the growth of digital services. The data economy requires an increasingly powerful infrastructure for storing, processing and transmitting large amounts of information, said Evgeny Abakumov, director of information infrastructure at Rosatom State Corporation, in July 2024.

According to RIA Novosti, the current data center deficit is already significant and, according to forecasts, will only increase. The rapid growth of digital services and artificial intelligence technologies requires more and more computing and cloud power. The development of the data economy needs a reliable infrastructure capable of ensuring data security and stable development of the IT sector.

Data center capacity deficit intensifies in Russia

Evgeny Abakumov stressed that projects for the construction of data centers around nuclear power plants can have a positive impact on the development of the data center market. In such centers, large data processing objects can be concentrated, which is necessary for solving artificial intelligence problems. Such tasks include text and voice processing, as well as generative artificial intelligence in the design and construction of objects. This can become a driver of the growth of the data center market and lead to its multiplier increase.

We have already implemented a number of similar projects - our first, flagship data center is located at the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Udomlya, Tver Region, and now it is actually 100% full, "Abakumov added.

He stressed the need to move towards the construction of a data center around nuclear power plants and synchronize the development of power for the construction of nuclear power plants and data centers.^[6]

32.1 billion rubles were allocated for preferential loans for the construction of data centers in the budget of the Russian Federation

Within the framework of the national project "Data Economics," the federal budget of Russia for the period from 2025 to 2030 provides for the allocation of 32.1 billion rubles for concessional lending to the construction of data processing centers (data centers). This became known on July 5, 2024 from the presentation of the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation.

According to Interfax, this funding is part of the federal project "Support for new developments of software solutions and their implementation in the sectors of the economy." In addition, the project involves the allocation of 36 billion rubles for soft loans to developers and customers for the implementation of domestic software solutions, as well as 20.3 billion rubles for the provision of soft loans for the development of specialized capacities in the field of artificial intelligence and grants to developers for access to them.

The federal budget of Russia for the period from 2025 to 2030 provides for the allocation of 32.1 billion rubles for concessional lending to the construction of data processing centers

The Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Maksut Shadayev previously noted the need to provide preferential loans for the construction of data centers. This solution is designed to stimulate the development of domestic infrastructure for data storage and processing.

The initiative to create a national project "Data Economics" was put forward by President Vladimir Putin in September 2023. The government was instructed to approve the project for the period until 2030, with the preparation of the main parameters by June 1, 2024.

iKS-Consulting experts note that the implementation of comprehensive measures to support the data center industry will increase domestic demand for data storage and processing infrastructure, as well as increase the investment attractiveness of the Russian sector. At the same time, market participants express hope for maintaining market principles for the development of the industry and ensuring healthy competition.

The development of the domestic infrastructure of data centers has acquired particular relevance in the context of global disruptions in supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, as well as subsequent local problems in Russia associated with the departure of Western companies and the introduction of sanctions in 2022. These factors led to a disruption of the established system of equipment supply through the network of distributors. As a result, there was a transition to a parallel import system and an increase in the share of equipment from Russian and Chinese manufacturers.^[7]

The companies building data centers in Russia faced problems of ROI. All due to high refinancing rate

In early July 2024, it became known that some private data center operators intend to freeze the commissioning of new facilities in Moscow. The reason is the problems with the return on investment in the relevant infrastructure.

President of the Association of Industry Participants TsODIgori Dorofeev says that operators and investors have begun to suspend new projects from November 2023. Due to the high refinancing rate, the construction of data centers for borrowed funds becomes unprofitable. In particular, Konstantin Nikolsky, Development Director of Filanko Group of Companies, told ComNews that there are no plans to launch new data centers in 2025. The company will put the next facility into operation no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2026, and the financial model "includes prices for services somewhere 80% higher than the level of 2024."

Some private data center operators intend to freeze the commissioning of new facilities in Moscow

According to Dorofeev, the situation may begin to change for the better in two scenarios. One of them assumes that data centers will receive preferences - for example, they will be equated with IT companies or make preferential lending rates. The second scenario is to increase the cost of data center services amid a shortage of capacity.

On the other hand, a number of data center operators do not plan to stop the construction of new sites. This was stated in [[ |МТС]], а в компании Selectel reported that in the second quarter of 2024, the active stage of development of the Yurlovsky data center complex began. Andrey Aksenov, General Director of the operator of the Ixelereit network of commercial data centers in Moscow, said that the expansion of the IXcellerate data center network is carried out at the expense of personal and borrowed funds.

There are no construction stops and/or plans to freeze new facilities. They did not apply for a request to the regulator at the refinancing rate, "Aksenov emphasized.[8]

The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation will extend preferential crediting for construction of data centers

At the end of May 2024 Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation , they announced plans to extend preferential lending to the sphere. constructionsdata centers More. here

2023

The Russian data center market grew by 25% over the year and reached 100 billion rubles

At the end of 2023, the market for commercial data centers (data centers) in Russia reached almost 100 billion rubles. This is 25% more compared to the result for 2022, as stated in the materials of iKS-Consulting, published on June 19, 2024.

The Russian industry of data centers is actively developing, which is explained by several reasons. This is the departure from the Russian Federation of foreign companies against the background of the current geopolitical situation, the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies and the growing need for high-performance computing (LDC). Other drivers include the transition to digital services, annual growth in the volume of stored and processed data, as well as an increase in the need for cloud services. There is growing interest in the market of commercial data centers from investors representing technology parks, development companies, industrial and power enterprises.

The market size of commercial data centers reached almost 100 billion rubles

It is noted that in 2023, in the total cost in the Russian data center segment, approximately 56.7% fell on cloud services, another 42.9% - on colocation. Growth in these areas on an annualized basis was recorded at 28% and 21.2%, respectively.

According to iKS-Consulting, the leader in the number of put into operation in 2023 is RostelecomRTK-DPC the "/" group of companies, among the key facilities of which is the NORD data center complex, Moscow I-V, the capital's traffic exchange center MMTS-9 and the new data center. " Medvedkovo By the end of 2022, it accounted for about 15.64 thousand racks, and by the end of 2023 - about 21.41 thousand. In addition, the rating of leading data center service providers in Russia includes,, DataPro,, Ixcellerate,, 3data, Selectel MTS Oxygen Rosatom Lunxdatacenter and Stack Telecom. In general, in 2023, the number of racks in Russia reached 70.3 thousand, an increase of about 12 thousand units compared to the previous year.

In 2020-2023, the development of measures to support the IT industry, including commercial data centers, continues. However, there are a number of difficulties. One of them, as noted by iKS-Consulting, is associated with a shortage of equipment: due to the worsening geopolitical situation, the operation of a transparent and fairly reliable system for supplying servers and components through a network of distributors was disrupted. It took the introduction of parallel imports, and companies began to switch to solutions from Russian and Chinese manufacturers. As a result, the waiting times for equipment deliveries increased. Another problem that arises during the construction of new data centers is associated with the search for funding. The return on investment cycle in such projects is up to 10 years, while quite a large amount of money is required for the construction of the necessary structures, the purchase of equipment and engineering systems.

It is expected that the number of standing places at the end of 2024 will amount to 83.8 thousand, an increase of about 13.5 thousand compared to 2023. Their overwhelming majority will continue to be concentrated in Moscow - 76.1% (63.6 thousand) and in St. Petersburg - 10.7% (7.6 thousand), while the regions will account for 13.2% (12.6 thousand). Moreover, the largest concentration of regional data centers is observed in Bashkortostan, Tver and Yaroslavl regions, Khabarovsk Territory and Sakhalin. As Stanislav Mirin, a leading consultant at iKS-Consulting, notes, Russian regions are beginning to develop more actively: growth rates in 2024 will exceed Moscow and will reach 12-13%. However, for the implementation of projects of such data centers, according to the expert, the support of the municipal authorities is necessary.^[9]

Increase in the number of standing places by 20.9% to 70.1 thousand units

The total number of stands in Russian data centers by the end of 2023 reached 70.1 thousand units, an increase of 20.9% compared to the previous year. This is evidenced by the data of the analytical company iKS Consulting, published in April 2024.

According to the study, 11 thousand new headquarters appeared in Moscow data centers in 2023, 0.4 thousand units in St. Petersburg, and 0.6 thousand units in regional ones. The growth rate of the capital's data center market has increased sharply: in 2021, 2.8 thousand racks were launched in the city, in 2022 - 4.5 thousand units.

According to experts, most of the new capacities of data centers, put into operation in 2023, were intended for large customers who need to lease large sites, sometimes these are dedicated operator rooms for several hundred standing places.

Analysts note that the sanctions imposed against Russia violated a transparent and reliable scheme for the supply of IT equipment through a network of distributors. Parallel imports came instead. In addition, supplies of Russian and Chinese devices increased sharply.

Another problem faced by projects in the field of data centers is the search for funding. The return on investments here is up to 10 years, while quite a lot of money is required for the construction and purchase of equipment for engineering systems of data centers. However, after February 2022, the flow of foreign investment in Russia decreased significantly, and the initiators of the construction have to rely only on resources within the country.

Despite the identified problems, market players continue to build new data centers. There is also growing interest in the market of commercial data centers from investors representing technology parks, development companies, industrial and power enterprises, the study says.

One of the trends in the Russian data center market is called its consolidation. The share of market leaders increased sharply after the merger of the two largest Russian commercial data centers - Rostelecom DPC and DataLine - at the end of 2019. If by that time the leading five accounted for 44.1% of the total standing places in data centers, then in 2023 this share rose to 62.2%. The increased concentration of the market is also facilitated by the more dynamic growth of large data centers relative to the general data center market, experts add.

Rostelecom/RTK-DPC group remains the leader in terms of the number of counters commissioned in 2023, including the NORD Moscow , I-V data center complex, the capital's traffic exchange center MMTS-9 and the new Medvedkovo data center. By 2023, the company "/Rostelecom RTK-DPC "accounted for more than 21.4 thousand standing places, which is three times more than the company occupying the second place (DataPro 6553 pieces). The leading three is closed by IXcellerate, which by the end of 2023 had 6,279 racks.

In 2023, the leaders in the supplied capacity are the data centers Rostelecom DPC and IXcellerate. Their total market share in this indicator is about 43%. The top five, which also includes 3data, DataPro and MTS, took a 62% stake in 2023.

We are at an interesting milestone, when the period of shortage of high-quality stability places in the colocation market can be replaced by a period of oversupply and a new cycle of decline in construction and a new deficit will be launched, or the market will move to the next stage of development with a higher level of consumption, which will allow introducing new stability places with confidence in their rapid implementation, - said Stanislav Mirin, leading consultant at iKS-Consulting.[10]

Prices for data center services in Moscow increased by only 2% to 107.4 thousand rubles

At the end of 2023, prices for data placement and rack rental services in commercial data centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg increased by 2% (to 107.4 thousand rubles) and 13% (84.1 thousand rubles), respectively, compared to a year ago. This is stated in a study by 3data and IKS-Consulting. Excerpts from the report were published in mid-January 2024.

As explained to Kommersant in 3data, significantly more server racks were commissioned in Moscow in 2023 than in St. Petersburg: about 9 thousand against 400. At the same time, there is a shortage of supply in both regions.

Moscow and St. Petersburg are still the main locations of the data center, but we are seeing an increase in demand in other regions, "said the representative of 3data, whose words are quoted by the newspaper.

Rostelecom DPC believes that the demand for data placement and rack rental services in commercial data centers in 2024 will continue to outstrip supply: consumers either finally refuse to independently build their data centers or postpone it.

It will be more difficult for companies to compete in the efficiency of infrastructure ownership with large data center operators because of their cost, "warned the company's technical director Alexei Zabrodin (quoted by Kommersant).

At the same time, the general director of Uralenergotel Alexei Belsky (the company is building data centers to order), on the contrary, believes that customers who need data centers are aimed more at creating their own IT infrastructure, and not at using external data centers.

These are large costs, but at the same time the potential for demand for 10-15 years is laid, he believes. We are talking about industrial enterprises, banks, technology companies, etc.[11]

The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation will enter the mechanism of support of operators of data centers

On November 23, 2023, it became known that the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation sent proposals to the ANO "Coordination Center for Data Centers and Cloud Technologies" to introduce a new mechanism for supporting data center operators. The agency, in particular, proposes to introduce preferential lending for the purchase of Russian-made engineering infrastructure - fire protection systems, climatic equipment, uninterruptible power supplies, etc.

In Russia, in the current geopolitical situation, the demand for data center services has sharply increased. However, operators of such sites face a number of difficulties that prevent modernization and expansion of capacity. One of them is an increase in prices for equipment necessary to maintain the operability and fault tolerance of data centers: these are diesel generator sets, UPS, cooling systems, etc. Market participants note that during the year (by November 2023) such decisions have risen in price by an average of one and a half times. At the same time, domestic equipment in some cases turns out to be 30-40% more expensive than similar equipment from China. In addition, raising funds for the implementation of new projects is hindered by increased interest rates on loans.

The new support mechanism is expected to help data center operators accelerate the introduction of additional capacity to the market and make it more accessible to customers. It is assumed that companies will be able to receive soft loans at no more than 5% per annum. For comparison: as of November 2023, the rate reaches 20%.

However, the implementation of the mechanism will require major regulatory changes. The problem, according to experts, is that in Russian legislation there is no definition of a data center operator in itself. Thus, Alexey Zabrodin, technical director of Rostelecom DPC, believes, for example, miners can call themselves a "data center operator" and ask for large volumes of electricity at a low price.^[12]

NTV channel decided to make money on its own data centers in the new television center

In October 2023, the NTV television company announced its decision to make money on the capacities of its data centers. According to the general director of speaker Aleksei Zemskoy, "this is the demanded and fastest growing segment of the market." Read more here.

In St. Petersburg, places in data centers have practically run out

By the beginning of October 2023, only 130 stands remain free in the commercial data centers of St. Petersburg, or 2% of their total number. This is stated in a study conducted by analysts at iKS-Consulting together with the telecom operator Comfortel.

As Vedomosti writes with reference to this report, by the beginning of October 2023, the volume of the St. Petersburg data center market is about 7 thousand racks, of which 30% falls on Selectel (a little more than 2000 racks). The group of market leaders also includes Rosenergoatom (984 stands), Linxdatacenter (840) and Rostelecom DPC (800).

According to Dmitry Petrov, General Director of Comfortel, the shortage of standing places was immediately due to several factors. Last year, many foreign vendors left Russia, and with them there were difficulties in supplying equipment for the construction of new infrastructure. The cycle of commissioning new sites has lengthened. At the same time, in St. Petersburg, according to him, in 2022 there was a massive transition of customers from the services of foreign providers to Russian ones, which increased the demand for colocation (a service for placing client equipment in data centers) from cloud providers and led to an increase in domestic demand for data centers.

The general director of the company Upholstered"" Andrey Guk in a conversation with the newspaper confirmed the shortage of data center capacities in St. Petersburg and estimated the share of free racks at 5%. Speaking about the reasons for the current situation, Guk noted that in St. Petersburg, in contrast, data Moscow processing cents are launched as single projects that are not designed for a large number of racks. Roman Blonov, head of Proptech Solutions, explains that in St. Petersburg the construction of commercial data centers for 1000 or more places is unprofitable for companies due to the lack of sufficient demand and therefore long occupancy.^[13]

The capacity of Russian data centers increased by 21%

By mid-September 2023, the capacity of Russian data centers reached 70,300 standing places, which is 21% more than a year earlier. This is evidenced by the data of the analytical company iKS-Consulting.

According to experts, about a third of the market by mid-September 2023 falls on Rostelecom DPC (21,408 stable places). Next are IXcellerate and DataPro (just over 6,000 racks each). Also notable market players are 3data, Selectel, MTS, Rosenergoatom, Oxygen and a number of other companies, each of which has more than 1000 racks, Vedomosti writes with reference to iKS-Consulting materials.

Experts include cloud (cloud services), colocation (placement of client equipment in data centers) and other services to the Russian data center market. In the structure of the Russian data center market, 55% of the volume in monetary terms falls on cloud, 40% - on colocation, the remaining interest is divided by telecom and other services. According to the forecasts of the leading consultant of iKS-Consulting Stanislav Mirin, in 2023 the direction of colocation in money may grow by 20-22%, and cloud - by 30-40%.

The figures of iKS-Consulting are true, the founder of DiSi Square, Alexander Martynyuk, confirmed to the newspaper the findings of analysts in mid-September 2023. In the last year, the market has seen an increase in prices for services due to the fact that the cost of components has increased by at least 10%, he said. But unlike 2022, in 2023 there was clarity with the equipment for creating data centers - for example, a Russian alternative to some products appeared. However, problems with computing and network equipment remain, which partially slows down the filling of data centers.

In general, there are two obvious trends: an increase in the total number of racks and an increase in value, which will lead to market growth in monetary terms, believes Alexey Zabrodin, technical director of Rostelecom DPC.

The price cannot remain at the same level, since there is inflation, an increase in construction and equipment costs. In addition, most suppliers and manufacturers have changed recently, which has also led to an increase in cost. In this regard, the growth of the market in money will exceed the growth in the racks, "he said.

By the end of 2023, data center providers are going to commission about 12 thousand new server racks in Russia, said Anna Legochkina, head of sales at cloud provider Linx. There is demand, which means there will be supply, so data centers will develop and build new ones, despite problems with the supply of equipment, she said.

Data centers are investment-intensive projects, while credit funds are allocated for them on a general basis at high interest rates, said Yuri Lokhin, director of information technology at Alias Group.

The domestic market of data centers lacks stimulating programs and subsidies, concessional financing or lending. The state primarily supports companies that are engaged in software, while organizations that provide engineering IT infrastructure remained aside, he concluded.

According to iKS-Consulting estimates, in 2022 the Russian data center services market increased by 28.1% to 89.1 billion rubles. Data for the past periods of 2023 by September 15, 2023 analysts do not lead.^[14]

In Russia, the "boom" of the construction of data centers. 'Never built that'

Russian integrators note an unprecedented increase in requests for the construction of data centers in 2023. TAdviser at the end of August found out opinions in a number of large player companies about the reasons for this trend. Several reasons were voiced, while the interviewed experts agree that deferred demand played a significant role here. Read more here.

Large Russian companies began to transfer critical information from Moscow to data centers beyond the Urals

At the end of July 2023, it became known that large Russian companies began to transfer critical information from Moscow to data centers beyond the Urals. Sources among hosting providers told Kommersant about this trend.

According to them, before the business, operating even in the regions of the Russian Federation, sought to centralized storage of information and consolidated it in the Moscow region, since the main business activity takes place here. In "Rostelecom" the publication confirmed the growth of demand for the services of data centers in the Urals.

According to the hosting provider, RUVDS which the publication cites on July 26, 2023, over the past year, the increase in the number of customers in data centers has Yekaterinburg Vladivostok Novosibirsk exceeded 80% compared to about 17% in the European part of the country. According to sources, "" and KommersantRussian helicopters diamond mining "" were transferred to the Urals ALROSA

The interlocutor of the newspaper on the market connects the duplication and redundancy of critical data and information systems by companies in the Urals and Siberia with drone attacks on Moscow and the Moscow region and the "unstable political situation."

Now customers are increasingly interested in deploying solutions at remote sites so that "in the event of physical attacks, the second backup object will not suffer," said Dmitry Prede, a representative of the 3data data center network.

With the emergence of a new physical threat, the aspiration of companies to the Urals is logical from the point of view of greater catastrophe tolerance, - emphasized in the company "Informzaschita."

According to Stanislav Mirin, a leading consultant at iKS-Consulting, there is practically no free capacity beyond the Urals in commercial data centers by the end of July 2023. The expert recalled that several data centers are planned to be opened in 2023 in, Yekaterinburg,, and Novosibirsk Vladivostok Tyumen on. Sakhalin^[15]

Minstroy has developed rules for the design of data centers

On July 17, 2023, the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation (Minstroy) published a set of rules "Buildings and structures of data processing centers. Design Rules. " The document was developed in order to increase the level of safety of data centers and reduce their negative impact on the environment.

The set of rules applies to the design of buildings and structures of data centers, as well as data center premises in buildings for other purposes. At the same time, the document does not affect non-capital modular and mobile buildings of data centers. The document solves the problems of improving the technical regulation system, in particular:

• adoption of new regulatory and technical documents in the construction sector, necessary for the phase-out of the use of outdated technologies by designers and builders;
• increase of safety level of works on design, installation, start-up, commissioning and commissioning and maintenance of internal engineering and technical support systems of DPC buildings and structures;
• energy efficiency;
• reduction of the level of heat loss in buildings and structures and optimization of technical solutions when developing designs of internal engineering and technical support systems for buildings and structures.

It is said that when designing a data center, depending on class and capacity, additional rooms and facilities may be provided in addition to process areas. These include service and technical rooms, IT equipment preparation rooms, auxiliary and warehouse premises of spares (spare parts, tools and accessories), premises of operating and dispatch centers, administrative, office and household premises for personnel.

When placing a data center, according to the rules, it is necessary to exclude harmful effects on residential premises. At the same time, the buildings of data centers themselves must be located taking into account protective distances in relation to neighboring enterprises or other facilities with technological processes that are sources of emissions of harmful corrosive, unpleasant-smelling substances or dust.^[16]"

The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation relies on mini-data centers

In May 2023, the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation, together with the largest telecom operators, presented a strategy for the development of the industry until 2035. Among other things, the document talks about the prospects for the development of small data centers in Russia.

We are talking about small data centers, which, unlike corporate and commercial data centers for tens of thousands of servers, can be installed together with base stations near residential buildings or industrial enterprises, as well as in crowded areas. At the same time, by May 2023, Russia does not yet have a well-formed market for mini-data centers, as well as the established definition of "mini-data centers" or "micro-data centers."

As Vedomosti writes with reference to the project "Strategy for the Development of the Communications Industry in the Russian Federation for 2024-2035," by the end of this period of time, mini-data centers will account for 30% of calculations in Russia. By the end of May 2023, this share is about 2-3%, says the general director of the large operator of mini-data centers GreenMDCFedor Klimenko. According to him, the volume of this segment in 2022 reached about 1 billion rubles. According to Mikhail Mysov, head of the data center construction project office at Linxdatacenter, such data centers perform 5-10% of calculations.

The authors of the development strategy of the Russian communications market believe that the mini-data center market will grow due to an increase in the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and the volume of Internet traffic.

The need to optimize the processing of the growing volume of data received from IoT devices and reduce delays in data transmission will lead to a gradual shift in computing power towards the network boundary, the development of "foggy" calculations, a reduction in the distance from the terminal to the nearest data center and, as a result, an increase in the demand for mini-data centers, the document says.[17]

The definition of the data center will be enshrined in Russian legislation

On April 12, 2023, it became known that the State Duma of the Russian Federation is going to adopt a bill that introduces the concept of data centers (data centers) into the legal field.

The document under consideration was prepared by the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media (Ministry of Digital Media) in 2021. It involves amendments to the federal law "On Communications." The essence of the initiative is that data center operators, who are currently forced to be telecom operators, will be able to abandon licenses for the provision of communication services and receive their own code of foreign economic activity, the introduction of which is planned after the entry into force of the bill.

The document aims to close the existing gaps in the regulation of the data center industry. In particular, as stated in the recall of the Commission on Communications and Information and Communication Technologies of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), the new rules will extend to data centers the benefits for technical connection to energy supply, as well as optimize the registration of rights to land plots. The law will make it possible to include the data center infrastructure in the existing regulation in the field of land, urban planning legislation, power legislation, etc.

According to the Vedomosti newspaper, the document was submitted to the State Duma in June 2021, and in April 2022 it was adopted in the first reading. After that, the bill went for revision to the State Duma Committee on Information Policy with the participation of the Ministry of Digital Development. The second reading is scheduled for April 2023.

All data centers are covered by the bill. Classification of data centers will make it possible to distinguish between owners of data centers and owners of server rooms and other non-specialized technological sites. The register of data center operators is planned to be made publicly available, - says the website of the Ministry of Digital Development.[18]

National Data Center Technical Concept Standard Approved

In January 2023, the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rosstandart) issued Order No. 5-st on the approval of the new national standard of the Russian Federation GOST R 70627-2023 "Data Processing Centers. Engineering infrastructure. Documentation. Technical concept. Requirements to composition and content. " Read more here.

2022

Market growth for 5 years 2.5 times to 87.5 billion rubles

The volume of the Russian data center market in 2022 reached 87.4 billion rubles, an increase of 24.7% compared to the previous year. Relative to 2018, there was a more than 2.5-fold increase in data center revenues. This is evidenced by data from BusinesStat analysts, which were released in May 2023.

Commercial data centers in the Russian Federation provide services for the placement and rental of server equipment, as well as data processing, analysis and management services. As noted in BusinesStat, data centers play a key role in ensuring data security, reliability and availability. One of the main reasons for the rise of the market is the rapid growth of data volumes. This is due not only to the increase in the number of Internet users in the country, but also to the development of the digital economy, as well as to the growth of data generated by business and the state, the report noted.

By the end of 2022 Russia , 80 commercial date centers, both local and foreign companies, were operating in. The largest market players include Yandex"," Rostelecom",," and IXcellerate. DataPro Selectel Most of the Russian data centers are concentrated in three cities:, and. To Moscow St. Petersburg The share in Nizhny Novgorod terms Moscow of areas data centers exceeds 70%. The capital has the main facilities of cloud and colocation service providers.

It also follows from the BusinesStat report that the sanctions introduced in 2022 by the EU and the United States reduced the dynamics of market growth, due to the departure of a number of foreign IT companies from the country, as well as restrictions on access to foreign service products. Despite these difficulties, even in 2022 the market is significant. The shares of foreign players were occupied by local players, and problems with equipment were resolved by changing supply chains and reorienting to Asian suppliers, the researchers noted.

The market showed the largest growth in 2021, when turnover grew by 34%. This year, the largest operators of Russian data centers launched more than 5 thousand racks into commercial operation, which led to an acceleration in growth rates. According to analysts, the growing demand for data centers from large and small businesses, new state laws on the storage of personal data and security supported growth throughout 2018-2022.

BusinesStat calculates the turnover of the data center market as the total revenue of operators from renting out space for racks or selling cloud capacities, as well as other payments for using services (commissions, recurrent payments, subscriptions). The market turnover is not a cumulative result, but for a specific period.

According to experts, previously data center service providers were reluctant to share plans for business development - announcements of the launch of new sites were postponed until the last moment. This was explained by the regime of commercial secrets, the desire to get ahead of competitors in some areas of development, etc. But in 2022, the situation radically changed - sharing plans for the development of data centers, be it the creation of large data centers, the construction of small sites in different parts of the country for the development of a cloud platform, or renting capacity from other providers, has become a new sign of the time on the market. This is done primarily to attract customers at an early stage of the project, which is especially important in a situation where demand is ahead of supply and the practice of reserving capacity in advance is actively used, "at the pit stage," including in the regions, experts indicate.^[19]

The number of standing places increased by 10.8%

The number of put into operation stands in Russian data centers at the end of 2022 amounted to 58.3 thousand units, which is 10.8% more than a year earlier. Basically, additional capacities were introduced Moscow region in - 4.5 thousand. This was announced on April 11, 2023 by analysts. iKS-Consulting The president agrees with these assessments. Data Center Industry Member Associations Igor Dorofeev

The market was growing and growing. Before the start of the SVO [special military operation], the annual rate was 10-15%, now they have slowed down to 7%. I think that we will reach an annual increase of 10-15% by 2025, - quotes Kommersant as saying Dorofeev.

In his opinion, the number of data centers will increase due to the demand of government agencies, as well as the digitalization of business. At the same time, sources of the publication in the industry believe that most of the state order for placement in data centers, which provides a significant share of demand, "will traditionally be taken by Rostelecom, which builds in advance for state orders."

According to market participants, there are no problems with the supply of server equipment to the Russian Federation by April 2023, since the company's components and equipment themselves are received from European manufacturers who continue to work with Russia, as well as from China and Turkey. Therefore, the construction of data centers has resumed. Thus, Yandex announced the construction of a data center for 3.8 thousand racks in Kaluga, the launch of the first zone is planned in the first half of 2023. Atomdata-Innopolis plans to introduce 1,000 racks by the end of the year, Rostelecom has commissioned 512 racks in a new data center in Moscow, and another 512 are planned to be launched by the end of 2023.

There were problems with foreign climate equipment, but now we are stably receiving both components and the equipment itself: from China, Turkey and from European companies that continue to work with Russia, a source in the industry told the newspaper.

According to the agency's leading consultant Stanislav Mirin, the cost of building data centers has increased due to the lack of components included in the projects. In May 2022, the Association of Data Center Industry Participants predicted an increase in these expenses.

Due to the inaccessibility of uninterruptible power supplies, cooling systems, etc. included in the projects, it was necessary to redo the projects for other equipment, which led to an increase in the total cost, "Mirin said.

Russian companies have doubled the prices of components for data centers due to the lack of competition in the market, as well as the obligations of state corporations to buy only domestic solutions, explained Pavel Kulakov, founder of the data center and cloud provider Oxygen. He predicted an increase in the cost of foreign equipment by another 20% in 2023 due to an increase in the dollar and inflation.

The situation at the beginning of 2022 significantly influenced the development of the data center market according to the new scenario. There was a closure of global markets in terms of exports and cross-border interaction, a restriction on the availability of special software and platforms, a restriction on the required amount of computer equipment, engineering equipment, components and spare parts. All this forces data center operators to choose new, more flexible digital solutions for their customers, says Sergey Lysenko, CEO of Atomdat. - In my opinion, the second vector of development is the most realistic: the transition to digital cloud solutions will continue in the next 2-5 years. This will give a powerful impetus to the development of domestic IT products.[20]

In Russian data centers, there was an acute shortage of resistant places due to high demand

In Russian data centers, there was an acute shortage of server racks. The company iKS-Consulting announced this in November 2022.

Dmitry Isaev, director of the cloud solutions department of Softline Group of Companies, in a conversation with Vedomosti, confirmed the problem and clarified that data center operators have difficulties if they need to place tens or hundreds of racks within Moscow or, conversely, far beyond the Urals.

Dmitry Gorkavenko, Development Director of iKS-Consulting, noted that many companies purchased servers in reserve, and not for simultaneous placement. As a result, they ended up in warehouses, but there is no infrastructure for deployment.

The companies formed a stock of equipment for 2-2.5 years. However, the number of locations in commercial data centers by the end of 2022 will increase by only 6%, to 55,700.

According to Gorkavenko, since February 2022, the situation with the supply of Western IT equipment has become critical, and large infrastructure owners have placed requests for the purchase of servers before the start of tightening sanctions.

Anastasia Gonchar, director of the management consulting department of DRT, says that due to the departure of foreign manufacturers, companies began to transfer their decisions to the data center infrastructure, which led to an increase in demand for cloud services.

According to analysts at iKS-Consulting, by the end of November 2022, there are simply no reserves of equipment for the engineering infrastructure of data centers. Russian and Chinese manufacturers are trying to occupy the niche. Thus, DKC, Impulse, Parus-Electro, Entel, Ippon, Kehua, Delta, Huawei products enter the market, and Refkula, Huawei, TiCA, Borey in the segment of cooling systems.

In iKS-Consulting, in the server rack segment in 2023, the share of Russian manufacturers may increase from 50% to 80% compared to 2021.^[21]

The third standard in the series GOST R "Data processing centers. Engineering Infrastructure "

On June 2, 2022, the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rosstandart) issued an order (No. 445-st) approving the national standard of the Russian Federation "Data Processing Centers. Engineering infrastructure. Classification. " This was announced on June 7, 2022 to TAdviser by representatives of the Association of Data Center Industry Participants (Data Center). Read more here.

There are few free data center capacities left in the Moscow region

By May 2022, there were few free data center capacities in the Moscow region, which has not happened since 2018. We are talking about free 800 racks against 2.86 thousand units in the first quarter of 2022, analysts at iKS-Consulting said.

According to the report referred to by Kommersant, Moscow and the Moscow region account for 72% of the entire Russian colocation market (placement of the customer's equipment on the contractor's premises). According to analysts, all operators of commercial data centers have revised plans to introduce new capacities, some of the previously announced large projects have been paused.

According to the publication, prices for the colocation service among operators of commercial data centers by the beginning of May 2022 increased by an average of 25% since the beginning of the year and will continue to increase. By June 2022, the rental of standing places may grow by another 30-35%. The rise in prices is associated with the decision of domestic companies to transfer data storage infrastructure from foreign services to the country after foreign cloud service providers left the Russian market.

At the same time, the lack of equipment for building new and maintaining old data centers is aggravated due to the cessation of cooperation between manufacturers and companies like Schneider Electric, Stulc, Vertiv. Many Asian factories operate under Western licenses, so they are forced to join the sanctions, and Russian manufacturers are not always ready to provide decent alternatives.

According to the director of the network of Moscow data centers 3dataIlya Hala, if the situation with the UPS is "not bad," then "the worst thing now is with refrigeration equipment - chillers and freon systems. There are very few of them in the market, and they lag behind in characteristics from high-quality foreign ones. " At the same time, deliveries stretch for six to nine months.^[22]

Completed First Edition of New National Data Center Standard

On January 26, 2022, a working group under the patronage of the Association of Data Center Industry Participants completed work on the first edition of the draft national standard "Data Centers. Engineering infrastructure. Documentation. Technical concept. Read more here.

2021

Cloud services bring more and more revenue to Russian data centers

Cloud services in 2021 brought Russian commercial data centers about 42% of revenue against 41% a year earlier. This share continues to grow steadily, according to data from analysts at GuideMarket, released in March 2022.

According to experts, the share of colocation services in the total revenue of data centers in Russia continues to decline (in 2021 it amounted to 51%), and the trend is spurred by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, which spurs demand for cloud tools. In addition, two factors contribute to this trend:

higher revenue per rack. If the profitability, obtained from one standard rack provided for rent, is in the region of 50-120 thousand rubles/month, then the rack occupied for clouds can bring up to several million rubles per month; high level of demand from customers. Choosing between cloud services and colocation services, customers often prefer virtual resources.

A particular factor driving demand growth in the short term, analysts said, is the massive migration to the companies' virtual servers, which continue to move employees to remote work. This forced measure will allow companies to assess the advantages of virtual infrastructure, and some percentage of such companies will remain in the cloud even after life returns to normal, the study notes.

Experts believe that an increase in the cost of services is inevitable. Moreover, the rise in prices is determined not so much by high market demand and capacity deficit as by the economy. More than 70% of the cost of operating the data center is produced in foreign currency, and with a change in the euro/dollar exchange rate, the cost of overhead costs changes upwards.^[23]

Departments in Russia will be obliged to use commercial data centers

On March 17, 2021, it became known about the new measures prepared by the Russian government to support the data center market. In particular, it is proposed to introduce a ban on departments for the construction of data center infrastructure using budget funds without "proper justification."

Such measures are included in the roadmap for supporting the IT industry, which by March 17, 2021 is under approval in the office of the profile Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko. Kommersant, having familiarized itself with this document, writes that ministries and departments will have to mainly use domestic cloud services and commercial data centers. Operators of such data centers will be able to receive land for construction without bidding and at cadastral value. They will also make it easier for them to join energy networks. The necessary regulations are planned to be developed by September 2021.

According to the deputy head of the Ministry of Finance Andrei Chernenko, the use of private infrastructure will help save budget funds, since departments will not have to invest in non-core assets. At the same time, it is not planned to abandon the existing state data centers.

Also, the operators of the centers will be able to receive land for construction without bidding and at cadastral value. In addition, they will be simplified to join energy networks. The development of regulations governing the process is planned to be completed by September this year. The implementation of these measures could be an impetus for the development of the domestic IT industry, Chernyshenko's office said.

The proposed innovations can help accelerate the launch of new data centers and reduce the cost of their operation, said MTSOleg Motovilov, director of the cloud business.

For example, the funds saved on the purchase of land can be redirected to the launch of more energy-intensive data centers with a higher rack density, "he explained to the publication.[24]

3data plans to build data centers in residential buildings

In early March 2021, it became known about the plans of 3data to build small data centers on the territory of commercial and residential real estate. To do this, the company, according to its general director Ilya Hala, is negotiating with large developers, including Samolet, Pioneer, MIC Group, Etalon, Landmark, FGC Group, Coldy and PNK Group. Read more here.

2020

$1.38 billion invested in Russian data centers

By the end of 2020, the volume of investments in Russian data centers reached $1.38 billion, according to research company ResearchAndMarkets. The data were released in November 2021.

We are talking about the costs of maintenance of data centers, power, cooling and general construction. Cost sources include large cloud providers, colocation service providers, and commercial companies.

A study published in November 2021 states that Russia is a large data center market in Eastern Europe and one of the fastest growing markets worldwide. Over the past 4-5 years, the market has grown significantly due to the development of hyperscale projects.

The report included 68 data centers already built in Russia, as well as 13 facilities that were in the process of either construction or design at the time of the study.

Most of the Russian data centers are concentrated in three cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod. Moreover, the share of Moscow in terms of data center areas exceeds 70%. In the Russian capital there are facilities of large providers of cloud services and colocation services. In July 2021, Huawei opened its data center in Moscow, the Chinese company used equipment based on ARM processors developed by Huawei Intelligent Computing Systems Department.

Experts note that fast-growing investments in 5G networks contribute to an increase in the volume of stored and processed data, which, in turn, has a positive effect on the data center market. It is expected that fifth-generation commercial networks will start operating in the Russian Federation in 2022-2023. The Internet of Things and cloud computing are considered other strong drivers of data center market growth.

It is noted that on the part of the business there is a clear request for the availability of data centers. In particular, such a request comes from small and medium-sized businesses, which rarely afford to create their own IT infrastructure or buy solutions from large data centers.

The popularity of data centers, including for medium and small businesses, was influenced by the lockdown of last year. While demand was falling rapidly in many other industries, the data center industry began to develop at an accelerated pace.

About a third of large Russian companies place their equipment in outsourcing data centers, and another third use cloud solutions. As a result, the lockdown affected the fact that almost 10% of companies that previously did not use the services of outsourcing data centers plan to start cooperation.

Analysts also pay attention to the trend towards the transition of data centers from the periphery to the urban environment. For many customer companies, this will provide additional opportunities when transferring or creating an IT infrastructure with a third-party contractor.

In 2020, the shortage of available racks, which was observed over the previous years, increased, but became especially noticeable at the height of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Demand for IT resources has grown, while there is practically no opportunity to balance it with the commissioning of new capacities in the market.

In 2020, there was an active increase in customer demand for ready-made IT solutions. Digitalization pushes companies into serious investments in IT infrastructure. And often business chooses ready-made and powerful solutions for development.

According to analysts at ResearchAndMarkets, investments in data centers in Russia will grow by an average of 6.56% annually and reach $2.02 billion by the end of this period of time. During this time, the area of ​ ​ objects will increase by more than 111 thousand square meters.Russia^[25]

Russia ranked 15th in EMEA in terms of data center capacity

In 2020, the Russian market for data centers grew by 19% compared to 2019 and is located in 15th place in terms of the total capacity of data centers among countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East (EMEA). This is evidenced by the data of Knight Frank analysts, released in September 2021.

The total volume of existing, under construction (at the time of the study) and planned capacities of the Russian market (taking into account the actual IT load, as well as the capacities of the machine rooms under construction and planned for launch) is estimated at 245 MW.

Rostelecom was named the leader of the Russian data center market, which in Rostelecom of facility capacity was far removed from its competitors. You can learn more about the balance of power among players from the table below:

According to experts, the market for data centers in Russia in 2020 remained small, but the activity of the state, which invests in digitalization and seeks to create an information storage system independent of foreign companies, makes it possible to predict high growth rates of the segment in the future. Researchers also noted a trend towards decentralization of new projects that are increasingly appearing outside the Moscow region: in Ryazan, Samara, Yekaterinburg, etc.

Objects in the data center market are classified, in addition to the readiness stage criterion, into corporate and commercial. If the former are created by companies in order to meet the needs of digital infrastructure and their own capacity needs (Yandex, MTS, Sber, etc.), then the latter are offered on the market to external companies (Rostelecom, IXcellerate, DataPro, etc.).

The corporate segment, in turn, includes three main groups of companies that form the existing capacities of this type: hyperscalers (the largest sites on the basis of which multi-cloud systems are created), data centers of financial companies (they themselves create and manage their data centers, have high security requirements) and telecommunications companies (mobile communications, Internet and others).

The commercial market segment is divided into retail (within the framework of one power complex, many users are offered) and wholesale (oriented for delivery to one user or created in BTS format).

The commercial data center market is 123 MW (only built facilities), of which only 22.81 MW were vacant at the end of 2020. Thus, the share of free capacity in the Russian market was 18%, which is a low indicator (in the period 2016-2019, the vacancy was at the level of 25-35%). In the supply structure of the commercial market, most of the capacity (79 MW) falls on wholesale data centers and 45 MW - on retail ones.

The active development of the data center market forces investors to take a closer look at this type of assets. It is worth noting that by analogy with warehouse assets, data centers turned out to be resistant to the negative effects of the coronavirus crisis and showed growth virtually around the world last year. The Russian market, which grew by 19%, was no exception, "said Alexey Novikov, managing partner of Knight Frank.

According to the general director of IXcellerate Andrei Aksenov, whose words are given in the study, the growing demand for the capacities of digital giants in the field of e-commerce and banking, as well as the general tendency to digitize the processes of the social sphere and the economy, contributed to the noticeable growth of the Russian data center market during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The global crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has become a driver of growth in certain segments of commercial real estate, which additionally helped the data center market.^[26]

iKS-Consulting: the growth rate of the Russian data center market has been reduced to 10%

On November 10, 2020, the iKS-Consulting consulting agency published an analytical report "Russian Market for Commercial Data Centers 2020."

In the context of attracting customers, the total level of income of Russian data center service providers during 2019 reached 34.9 billion rubles, which is 27.8% higher than a year ago (28.5 billion rubles). In currency equivalent, this indicator by the end of 2019 increased by 20.2% - from $455.7 million to $547.7 million. In connection with the updated average dollar rate predicted by the Ministry of Economic Development in 2020 at 72.6 (in 2019 - 63.7 rubles per dollar), the market growth rate in 2020 was reduced to 10%. In 2021-2023 market growth is expected at the level of 21-25%. In addition, a further qualitative update of the infrastructure basis is expected, which, in particular, involves the withdrawal of uncompetitive companies from the market.

According to iKS-Consulting, in currency terms, 2017 remains a record year in terms of industry development over the past few years. This is due to the active increase in lost profits by data centers, whose input was delayed for a while crisis, and with the fluctuation of the dollar. In ruble terms, the dynamics of industry development remains quite stable, but at the same time there is a noticeable increase in the component of income from the cloud direction, which has become even more active since the introduction of quarantine measures.

In the second half of 2020, the development of the cloud market in Russia will take place even more actively. Companies will not only increase the consumption of classic IaaS services, which will allow them to reduce financial costs, but will also begin to more actively use PaaS services. Thanks to this approach, you can efficiently and quickly Transform enterprise IT systems, adapt them to the cloud, and reap real economic benefits and accelerate the launch of new products and services.

During 2019, the number of locations intended for commercial operation (colocation) in Russia increased by 12.3% compared to 2018 - from 39.3 thousand units to 44.1. At the end of 2019, among the leaders in terms of rack growth were noted: data center of MTS Avantage, IXcellerate, Rostelecom-DPC Group Rostelecom DPC.

Among the main events on the market in 2019, the majority of experts surveyed noted the merger of two Russian commercial data centers: Rostelecom DPC and DataLine.

The coronavirus has an indirect impact on the demand for cData Center services. At the same time, factors of both the positive and negative impact of the pandemic on the kData Center market were highlighted.

Factors of positive influence:

Measures of social and political restrictions (closing schools, restrictions on movement, closing businesses in the service sector, etc.) aimed at combating coronavirus infection have become a powerful incentive for the transition to remote (digital) business formats.

COVID-19 and the restrictions caused by the pandemic forced to self-insulation, which logically contributed to the development of remote interaction systems in business, public and private spheres. This determined the need for remote access to corporate mail, corporate databases, the use of various online communication and business tools (for holding conferences and meetings online with audio, video and document collaboration tools), the organization of virtual workplaces for employees, and the use of information security tools.

All of these technologies require significant computing resources, which in turn require a physical data center infrastructure.

Factors of negative impact:

On the other hand, in the context of economic recession and uncertainty, production in most industries is declining. Many companies have faced falling revenues.

According to the forecast, in Ministry of Economic Development 2020 industries the decline in will be 5.2%, according to the forecast - Ministry of Industry and Trade 8.6%.

This in turn can have an impact on the demand for physical infrastructure for data storage and processing. We assume that in 2020, in the structure of ICT budgets, the main costs fell on basic IT equipment (laptops for employees), Internet access services, software for organizing remote work and interaction, and security tools.

The undisputed leader in the number of put into operation racks in 2019 was the Rostelecom DPC group of companies, including Dataline, among the key objects of which is the complex of data centers Moscow I, II, III, as well as the capital's traffic exchange hub MMTS-9. It accounted for 28% (11,497 stances) by the end of 2019.

In second place is the network of IXcellerate data centers - 3,315 racks with a share of 8.1%. In third place is DataPro with a share of 5.8% (2,400 racks). In fourth place is the Avantage data center, which introduced about 1,680 racks in 2019. The total capacity as of the end of 2019 is 2,240 racks. The fifth place is taken by Selectel, which placed 1,889 racks in six data centers located in Moscow and St. Petersburg, 4.6% of the market volume.

It should be noted that in terms of growth for 2020, Rostelecom DPC Group of Companies is in the lead, in

The company plans to introduce about 1,958 racks, IXcellerate plans to introduce an additional no more than 100 racks, DataPro and Selectel 1,100 racks, respectively.

Moscow historically prevails in the regional structure of the data center market in Russia - it accounts for an average of 70% of the total number placed in Russian commercial data centers. According to the calculations of iKS-Consulting, by the end of 2019 this figure increased to 72%, since the growth rate of Moscow data centers exceeded the growth of the market as a whole.

At the same time, the company notes a rather restrained growth rate of the data center market in, St. Petersburg where the main companies betting on the quality of supply are companies, Linxdatacenter Selectel, Xelent and "."Miran

In 2017, there was a tendency to intensify the pace of commissioning of additional areas at the regional level. This is due to the development of mega-projects in which the cost of electricity and cooling becomes significant. 2017-2018 passed under the sign of large projects in the Central Federal District: large data centers "Udomlya" and "Mendeleev" were opened in the Tver region and data centers "Vladimir" of Yandex in the Vladimir region. Extensions in 2018-2019 affect both the Moscow region and such cities as Yekaterinburg (GC "Rostelecom DPC") and Bratsk (mining farm Bitriver in the Irkutsk region).

Creation of a network of data centers in the north of Karelia

At the end of October 2020 Russia Vladimir Putin , the President approved the Development Strategy of the Russian Arctic zone Federation, one of the components of which was the creation of a network in the north of Karelia. data centers More. here

Data center operators ask Sobyanin to remove them from the decree on removal

In mid-October 2020, the Association of Data Center Industry Participants sent a letter to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, in which it asked to withdraw data centers from the decree on the mandatory transfer of 30% of employees to remote work. According to the head of the association, Igor Dorofeev, most data centers are key infrastructure facilities that should operate 24/7 without interruption.

The decree on the mandatory transfer of part of the personnel to the remote did not include organizations involved in the aircraft industry, healthcare, nuclear, space and defense industry. The owners of data centers are asking the mayor of the capital to extend the exception to their industry, the Kommersant newspaper reports.

As the head of the network data centers Oxygen Pavel Kulakov told the publication, 10% of employees transferred data center operators to remote work. These are mainly accountants, HR specialists and marketers, and engineers and technical personnel continued to work on the ground, since they cannot do this from home, he explained.

According to Igor Dorofeev, a break in the work of the data center even for a few seconds can be fatal for an enterprise whose IT resources are located in it.

These are non-working bank cards, cash desks in stores, Internet and applications in phones, document management systems of enterprises, transport. In terms of criticality, this can be compared with a nuclear power plant, he said.

MTS believes that the implementation by the data centers of the decree of the mayor of the capital on the transfer of a third of employees to remote work will be in question if we are talking about large data centers with a large number of racks and servers. As the company representatives noted, the maintenance of this equipment requires the presence of all members of the technical team at the workplace.^[27]

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications will oblige data centers to transfer data on equipment and tariffs to Roskomnadzor

At the end of August 2020, it became known about the decision of the Ministry of Communications to oblige data center operators in Russia to transfer data to Roskomnadzor within the framework of the law on the "sovereign Internet."

As Kommersant writes with reference to the bill, which the department published on the federal portal of draft regulatory legal acts, the ministry proposes the transfer of information on the land plots occupied by the data centers, the number of locations, their workload, capacity, data storage system parameters (DSS), services and tariffs to the Roskomnadzor Monitoring Center.

It is assumed that Roskomnadzor will disclose this data to other authorities to use state IT systems and ensure the availability of communication services and control their quality.

By August 31, 2020, it is not clear whether all data centers will be affected by the bill, but it is already clear that part of the information collected refers to commercial secrets, Dmitry Gorkavenko, chairman of the ANO Coordination Council for Data Centers and Cloud Services, told the newspaper. The information that will be collected is extremely sensitive for business and can be of great commercial interest, Boris Edidin, a member of the Russian Bar Association, confirmed to the publication.

According to the technical director of Qrator Labs, Artem Gavrichenkov, most of the data on data centers (except for tariffs) that the Ministry of Communications intends to collect are in the public domain. The expert was alerted by the requirement to provide DSS parameters, which may include information about the manufacturer, updates and settings, and, accordingly, system vulnerabilities.

Collecting and storing such information about all data centers operating in Russia in one place can be dangerous, such information may be interested in the special services of other countries, he warns.[28]

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications has developed requirements for data centers and their owners

At the end of August 2020, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications developed and presented requirements for data centers and their owners. The bill also introduces into the federal law "On Information" the definitions of the data center and the data center operator:

• Data storage and processing center - a specialized facility with its own engineering systems to accommodate equipment that provides storage, processing and access to data, with guaranteed levels of availability, security and manageability;

• Data Center Operator - an organization that operates and operates a data center as a primary activity.

As for the requirements, among them there is the following: the operator of the data center in order to create and operate state information systems is obliged to provide the following types of information in electronic form to the federal executive body:

• on land plots, buildings and structures on which the process site is located;
• on the number of hardpoints and their loading;
• on power supply parameters;
• methods and parameters of connection to the public communication network;
• on the amount of computing power;
• about parameters; storage systems
• about the services provided and about tariffs;
• on compliance with the certificate, classification level;
• Storage and Data Center Prospects for Next Year.

The federal executive body, which is entrusted with the functions of organizing the creation of a federal GIS for monitoring and managing a public communication network, provides other authorities with access using an interdepartmental electronic interaction system to information provided by telecom operators and necessary for these authorities to exercise their powers provided for by federal laws or acts of the Government of the Russian Federation. ^[29]

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, on behalf of Putin, will provide data centers with preferential electricity

On August 6, 2020, it became known about the measures developed by the Ministry of Communications to provide data centers with preferential access to electricity. The agency issued a draft decree of the government of the Russian Federation in accordance with the instructions of President Vladimir Putin.

According to TASS, citing an explanatory note to the document, the key issue for the development of the market for commercial data centers is the charging of their power supply, which directly affects the cost of services provided, since the purchase of electricity accounts for up to 40% of their operating costs.

The ministry considers additional actions to reduce electricity costs in data centers:

• application of various pricing mechanisms;
• optimization of the data center territorial location in the immediate vicinity of power generation facilities;
• using the climatic advantages of the northern regions of Russia;
• development of trunk data transmission lines to consumers;
• power reservation by using modern energy storage, "is noted in the explanatory note to the document.

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications proposes to amend a number of acts of the government of the Russian Federation, in particular, on pricing in the field of tariff regulation in the electric power industry, as well as the rules for the technological connection of energy receiving devices of consumers of electric energy, to the rules of the wholesale market for electric energy and capacity and the rules for the complete and partial restriction of the mode of consumption of electric energy.

It is noted that the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Communications and the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia will need to monitor the implementation of this resolution if it is adopted and report on its results to the government of the Russian Federation by July 1, 2021. The start of providing preferential access to electricity to data centers is scheduled for January 1, 2021.^[30]

Rosstandart published two GOSTs for the data center industry

On April 1, 2020, it became known that Rosstandart published two GOSTs normalizing the design and maintenance of the engineering infrastructure of data centers in the Russian Federation. Read more here.

Two national standards for the data center industry have been approved in Russia

On February 19, 2020, Rosstandart's orders approved two national standards in the field of data centers. This was announced to TAdviser on February 28, 2020 by Media Grus. Read more here.

2019

Market growth of 12.4%. Leaders

According to the consulting agency iKS-Consulting, in 2019 the volume of the Russian market for commercial data centers in terms of the number of put into operation racks reached 44.1 thousand units, an increase of 12.3% compared to 2018.

Among the main events on the market in 2019, analysts call the merger of the two largest Russian commercial data centers: Rostelecom DPC and DataLine. Thanks to this deal, Rostelecom strengthened its market leadership with 11,497 racks.

In second place is IXcellerate (3315 stands), which in October 2019 introduced a new site for 1480 stands, rose from fifth place in 2018 to three positions in the ranking and took a share of 7.5%.

The three leaders of the Russian data center market were closed by DataPro (2400 racks), which is increasing the network of data centers in Moscow and the Moscow region. At the end of 2019, the company introduced 400 new stalwarts, taking 5.4% of the market.

General Director 3dataIlya Hala considers the digitalization of many industries to be the main driver of the development of the Russian data center market, including thanks to the Digital Economy program. Recent international events will accelerate the introduction of digital solutions, including the development of models of remote presentation of services in traditional industries: education, trade, entertainment, etc., he noted.

Russia is distinguished by centralization and the desire of state customers to use state capacities to meet IT needs, "says Olga  Sokolova, CEO of Linxdatacenter. - However, even in these conditions, we can talk about the existence of many areas for productive cooperation between commercial data centers and the state in the framework of solving the problems of digitalization of the national economy. First of all, this is the exchange of competencies and experience in implementing complex technical solutions based on data centers.[31]

The Ministry of Energy decided to introduce a fee for energy not used by data centers

At the end of December 2019, participants in the Russian market for commercial data centers (data centers) asked the Ministry of Communications to exempt information infrastructure facilities, including data centers, from the need to pay for an unused energy reserve.

Dmitry Bederdinov, General Director of ANO "Coordination Council for Data Processing Centers and Cloud Technologies" (it includes companies that account for about 65% of the capacity of the Russian market for commercial data centers), sent a letter to the Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Konstantin Noskov.

Earlier, the Ministry of Energy proposed from July 1, 2020 to introduce a fee for consumers for an unused reserve of energy capacity. According to RBC, according to the draft government decree, which is under approval on December 26, 2019, all electricity consumers, excluding citizens, will have to pay for the unused reserve if they used less than 60% of the connected capacity.

The ANO "Coordination Council for Data Processing Centers and Cloud Technologies" believes that due to such an initiative, the following may happen:

• increase in the cost of basic data center services by 50%;
• reducing the investment attractiveness of the industry;
• failure to fulfill the tasks of the national program "Digital Economy" in part of its section "Information Infrastructure."

As Dmitry Bederdinov explained, the introduction of fees for the unused electricity reserve will significantly raise the costs of companies for electricity. Those participants in the data center market who are in the process of development, have not yet reached the project levels and have significant reserved capacities will suffer the most from this, he said in a letter.

The vector of the project for the introduction of fees for the reserve of electric grid power is directly opposite to the goals of the national program, "agrees Vidia Zheleznov, director of strategy and marketing communications at Rostelecom - DPC.[32]

"Rostelecom" asks for state support for the data center market. Player Measures and Assessments Review

Rostelecom disclosed to TAdviser the details of state support measures developed to increase the domestic and export potential of data center services. The company was engaged in their creation, being responsible for this according to the national program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation." In addition to Rostelecom, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Rostelecom Federation is indicated in the national project as responsible for the development of a set of state support measures for the data center.

On November 28, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) for the digital economy has already recommended Rostelecom to send a developed set of measures for approval to the Russian government. However, the company does not exclude that it will approve only some of them.

According to Rostelecom, the state support measures developed by the company will create a reliable infrastructure of computing power, double the number of racks in commercial data centers and stimulate the threefold growth of the market in money by 2024. In addition, Rostelecom sees the results of the implementation of state support measures as the emergence of two or three large players who have formed the organizational competencies of work on the international market, as well as an increase in the share of commercial racks to 20% in their total volume.

A set of measures was developed by Rostelecom on the basis of the competence center of the federal project "Information Infrastructure." Representatives of business and the expert community, including specialists from the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Lomonosov Moscow State University, as well as iKS Consulting, also took part in the development of measures.

According to Boris Glazkov, head of the Information Infrastructure competence center, vice president of Rostelecom, all state support measures are grouped in three key areas. Among them - guaranteeing and increasing domestic demand, stimulating structural changes data center infrastructure, as well as ensuring investment activity and faster pace of creation of computing infrastructure. download presentation

Guarantee and increase of domestic demand

The first direction of state support measures, designated as guaranteeing and increasing domestic demand, according to information provided by TAdviser Rostelecom, includes the following list of measures: sending part of the budgets of national projects to the commercial data center market; change in the norms and regulations for spending the annual ICT budgets of federal government bodies; strengthening requirements for the use of Russian physical infrastructure.

To implement these measures, Rostelecom proposes to develop and approve rules for spending funds from the budgets of national projects on computing resources and data center infrastructure when creating, developing and operating information and other IT systems, safety requirements and the level of quality of the infrastructure used. Another proposal of Rostelecom is to expand the list of information subject to mandatory localization in Russia.

Rostelecom also proposes to amend the law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection," forming unified approaches to the generation, digital documentation and use of digital data for the purposes of their integration, enrichment and further use.

Driving Structural Market Change

The second direction of state support measures aimed at stimulating structural changes in the data center infrastructure, in addition to changing norms, regulations and spending regional ICT budgets, provides for the elimination of uncertainty in the interpretation of economic activity in the data center area and subsidizing the credit line for exporters.

In order to implement these measures of state support, Rostelecom proposes to amend the Government's decree on priority areas for the use and development of ICT in FNIVs and management bodies of state extra-budgetary funds - in the part of the document that regulates the spending of budgets for the purchase of computing resources, construction and maintenance of data centers. Rostelecom also proposes to extend the action of this document to informatization programs for regional and municipal authorities.

Ensuring investment activity and faster pace of creation of computing infrastructure

The direction of state support measures, the purpose of which is to ensure the advanced pace of commissioning of the data center infrastructure, includes subsidizing the credit line, differentiated by the number of racks; reimbursement of part of capital expenditures; application of reduced insurance premium rates; reduction of depreciation period of fixed assets.

Rostelecom proposes to implement these state support measures by adopting the rules of state financial support for the construction of a data center and approving accelerated depreciation rates for fixed assets of data center operators. Rostelecom also proposes to make such changes to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation that would ensure the possibility of applying reduced insurance premium rates for industry organizations. Another proposal of Rostelecom is to remove the uncertainty of the regulatory definition of the data processing and storage center and the types of its economic activities.

Effects from the implementation of the package of measures

The main effect of the state support measures developed by Rostelecom, Boris Glazkov, indicates a reduction in the payback period for investments in the construction of data centers. This payback, according to him, in the current conditions reaches 12 years. Glazkov also sees a reduction in operating costs as an equally important effect. In addition, he notes that all the proposed measures, as the calculations of experts show, will pay off due to the growth of the taxable base, the increase in jobs, the contribution to improving the efficiency of business and the state.

Commercial companies with experience in foreign markets should participate in the implementation of measures

According to Pavel CROC, head of the Kolmy chek data center network, the state support measures developed by Rostelecom are quite effective in increasing domestic demand. Regarding foreign customers, he noted that they "more often choose commercial data centers.

Kolmychek also added that the implementation of state support measures for "Rostelecom," for example, during the construction of a data center, will be more effective with the participation of at least three to five contractors. Moreover, half of them, according to Kolmychek, should be commercial companies, preferably with experience in foreign markets. This approach, as the expert noted, allows you to create competitive solutions, thereby increasing the quality of the final service.

Thanks to the implementation of measures, departments will use the clouds more actively

In the opinion of Sergei Samoukin, head of the cloud solutions department at Softline Group, the set of state support measures developed by Rostelecom will make it possible to generally assess the number of investments in clouds and will contribute to their more active use by departments.

This set of measures will generally affect the entire cloud market in Russia. The country lacks standardization that would allow players to increase the level of services and services provided in the cloud market. After all, without starting points in the form of standards, each player builds services according to his own understanding. The Russian cloud market is constantly growing, the rules are more established by the market itself and regulation by the state in the future will positively affect the growth and development of local cloud services, "Sergey Samoukin told TAdviser.

Measures will lead to monopolization of the market by state-controlled companies

According to Dmitry Yashin, General Director of ActiveCloud in Russia, the measures developed by Rostelecom are likely to lead to the monopolization of the market by a number of large companies actually controlled by the state.

Moreover, they will do this not due to superiority in the technological level of services and the ability to work with client experience, but at the expense of taxpayers' money (state subsidies), - Dmitry Yashin told TAdviser.

In his opinion, instead of forming rules for spending funds at the federal and regional levels, it is necessary, on the contrary, to provide state customers with freedom in choosing solutions and approaches necessary to provide services to citizens optimal in terms of price/quality ratio. And already within the framework of this paradigm, it is necessary to form a list of requirements for the infrastructure of state information systems that most of the current players in the Russian profile market will be able to fulfill, and not just pre-approved state-controlled players who will be included in a specially developed register for this.

In order for current players to invest more in the infrastructure that meets the requirements, the state must give guarantees that if a service provider has such an infrastructure, it will be able to apply for the placement of information systems of authorities and budgetary institutions within the framework of unbiased tender procedures, and that the developed requirements will be reasonable and constant, - said TAdviser Dmitry Yashin.

If Rostelecom's measures are approved, he said, working in the infrastructure market for information systems of authorities and budgetary institutions will become more difficult for current players who will not be included in the list of "appointed" infrastructure champions.

In the absence of competition, the technological level of Russian data processing and storage services will increasingly lag behind global suppliers, and the constant feeding of subsidies by large companies, actually controlled by the state, will prevent them from becoming competitive in the global market and at the same time will displace some experienced commercial players from the market who previously managed to be effective without subsidies. With a high degree of probability, this process will be irreversible, - said Dmitry Yashin.

He also drew attention to the fact that Rostelecom's measures emphasize the development of a national network of data centers, while the task of placing equipment is secondary to placing information systems directly. The modern situation, according to Yashin, is such that service providers achieve a very high density of placing commercial customers on their equipment without compromising the quality of services, while the equipment itself becomes more capacious every year. The need for a large number of server racks, as the expert pointed out, largely arises from the inefficient use of infrastructure by many government customers. At the same time, with the transition to the plane of public clouds, in his opinion, this need can be significantly reduced.

The list lacks measures to update educational programs and reform the training of IT specialists

According to Georgy Megrelishvili, executive director of SBKlaud, Rostelecom's desire to focus on the basis of cloud infrastructure - data centers, their construction and development, is quite understandable.

But the proposed measures do not take into account an equally important component of the market: companies that develop and provide their own cloud services. As a rule, they do not build data centers and do not own them, which means that they will not receive benefits from the proposed initiatives. However, certain preferences could be provided specifically for such Russian companies, especially if their cloud solutions are based on their own developments, and not on proprietary products, including foreign ones, - said TAdviser Georgy Megrelishvili.

According to him, they could be not only tax and credit benefits, but also, for example, the priority of developers and providers of cloud services in tenders for renting computing resources and purchasing IT equipment. Including domestic, since the creation of its own hardware base is necessary to increase competitiveness. Support for developers and cloud service providers, as noted by Megrelishvili, would provide an incentive not only for the development of the domestic cloud service market, but also for solving such an important problem as the growth of Russian IT exports through ready-made services and products.

In addition, in IT, like in any other industry, the quality of human resources matters. Therefore, the list of proposed measures for the development of the cloud industry - the driver of the IT market - will be clearly incomplete without measures to update educational programs and reform the training of IT specialists. So Rostelecom's initiatives can be considered the first and very important step in a systematic approach to the development of the cloud market in Russia, but it should be followed by other steps that take into account the needs of all IT market participants, "Georgy Megrelishvili told TAdviser.

Data Center Market Situation

Speaking with TAdviser about the modern situation with the data center market, Rostelecom noted that it is developing at a rather rapid pace and without state support measures.

However, the national program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation" set ambitious goals for the growth of both the domestic market and its share in foreign markets. Without state support measures that will accelerate market growth and investment in the construction of computing infrastructure, it will be impossible to achieve the laid goals, TAdviser was told in Rostelecom.

Pavel Kolmychek drew the attention of TAdviser that the data center market feels the lack of not only qualified personnel who must ensure the work of the data center and clouds directly.

Many consumers of data processing and storage services often choose a data center based solely on the price factor, without thinking about the quality of the service provided. This encourages players in the data center market to compete in the issue of price, and not in matters of improving the quality of services and creating additional services. Therefore, it is also necessary to think over a set of measures aimed at improving the quality of education, creating a system of courses and special educational programs, - said Pavel Kolmychek.

According to the general director of 3dataIlya Hala, the market for data centers and cloud services in Russia is developing, on the whole, not bad.

Growth rates are among the best among the sectors of the Russian economy and are higher than world ones. However, the market volume is small and concentrated in Moscow and St. Petersburg. State support measures will dramatically increase volumes and develop the regional market. Commercial companies don't waste time either. A number of major projects have been announced this year. For example, our company has launched a data center franchise for the regions. State support measures will serve as a catalyst that will multiply the effect of investment, - said Ilya Hala.

"Rostelecom" asked 129 billion rubles of state support

On November 21, 2019, it became known about the preparation by Rostelecom of draft proposals to increase the domestic and export potential of data processing and storage services and cloud services. To ensure the growth of exports of data center services to 50% of domestic consumption by 2030, state subsidies and benefits in the amount of 42 billion rubles in the inertial and 129 billion rubles in the baseline scenario are required, the state operator estimates.

According to Rostelecom, state spending will pay off through additional tax revenues. The company proposes to subsidize loans for the construction of data centers, reimburse part of capital expenditures and establish reduced insurance premium rates.

The draft report will be discussed on November 26, 2019 in the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) and "after the required improvements by the end of 2019 will be submitted to the government," which will determine the sources of financing, Rostelecom said. In addition to the telecommunications company, the Ministry of Economic Development is responsible for the development of proposals within the framework of the national program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation."

Yerkozha Akylbek, head of practice for working with companies in the technology, media and telecommunications sector of KPMG in Russia and the CIS, confirmed the lack of capacity of data centers and explained it by the rapid growth in demand for Russian cloud services.

Akylbek associates the growing sales of cloud services with the general process of digitalization and "domestic political events" - the "Spring Law" and attempts to restrict access to Telegram, which led to the blocking of foreign cloud services. The trend will only intensify in connection with the recent entry into force of the law on "sovereign runet," the expert believes.^[33]

2018: Growth by 29% to 28.5 billion rubles - iKS-Consulting

The total revenue of Russian operators of commercial data centers in 2018 reached 28.5 billion rubles, which is 29% more than a year earlier. This is evidenced by the data of the analytical company iKS-Consulting, released in early August 2019.

In previous years, the market in question grew at a similar pace: in 2017, its volume was measured at 21.9 billion rubles, exceeding the level of 2016 by 26.9%, analysts calculated.

The main growth factors are:

• Opening of new sites for commercial data centers
• Migrating business-critical applications to the cloud
• Improve resiliency of own resources
• SaaS
• 152-FZ

Factors for further growth:

• Big Data Analytics
• HybridCloud and MultiCloud, seamless integration
• Container Virtualization
• Adapting networks to 5G
• Serverless-solutions

As Stanislav Mirin, a leading consultant at iKS-Consulting, told Vedomosti, the cloud segment of the Russian data center services market showed higher growth - 47%.

According to analysts, about 70% of the costs of services for commercial data centers in the Russian Federation fall on state-owned companies and departments, and foreign companies also support high demand.

Selectel CEO Oleg Lyubimov disagrees with the iKS-Consulting data and estimates the growth of the Russian market for commercial data centers at 20-25% at the end of 2018.

Selectel itself increased revenues from commercial data center services by 33%, to 2.1 billion rubles. Rostelecom has increased such revenue by 30%, and the operator hopes to maintain such growth rates until 2023.

iKS-Consulting did not name the number of server racks on the market. According to the rating of the largest data center service providers compiled by CNews Analytics, in 2018, compared to 2017, the number of commercial racks launched by the 20 largest data center providers increased by 19% to 26.7 thousand. Experts note that growth is a record in recent years - in 2017-2018. several large operators (Rostelecom, DataLine, IXcellerate) expanded their sites at once.

Accenture Managing Director for Russia and Kazakhstan Maria Grigorieva expects the Russian market to grow by 30% in the coming years. The reason is that a number of companies do not have the opportunity to expand their own data centers, she said.^[34]

2017

TMT Consulting: Sales reached 23.6 billion rubles (+ 10.6 %)

TMT Consulting analysts estimated the Russian data center market in 2017 at 23.6 billion rubles, which corresponds to an increase of 10.6% in annual comparison. Forecast for 2018: further growth of data centers by 9% in terms of the number of persistent companies and by 13% in terms of income.

iKS-consulting: key indicators of market development

Number of racks in operation

According to iKS-consulting estimates, at the beginning of 2016, the number of racks used for commercial activities was 28.7 thousand units. Of these, 14% were located at sites certified for compliance with Tier III, 44% - at sites that did not have a certificate, but were ready to guarantee the availability of services at least 99.98% (Tier III declared). The company cites such data in a report on the results of a study of the Russian market for commercial data centers (kData Center), published in August 2017.

During 2016, this figure increased by 1.8 thousand racks and by the end of December amounted to 30.5 thousand racks, of which 17% were located at sites certified for compliance with Tier III, 41% - at sites that did not have a certificate, but were ready to guarantee the availability of services at least 99.98% (Tier III declared). According to forecasts of iKS-Consulting, in 2017 the share ratio will increase towards the racks confirmed by the Tier III certificate by 10%, while the number of "Tier III declared" racks will decrease by 6%, and "others" - by 4%. This indicates that data center owners increasingly consider it appropriate to confirm the quality of their sites with official status.

The priority of Moscow in the regional ratio in terms of number remains consistently high (73%) - in the coming years, a significant redistribution in the regional structure is not expected, even despite the consistent implementation of a number of large projects outside the capital.

Data Center Market Leaders

Consolidation of the resources of three major participants in the data center market SafeData-; MMTS-9 The Mendeleev data center in Udomla - under the management of a company (RTK-DPC subsidiary "") created at the end of 2015) Rostelecom led to a change in the composition of leaders both in terms of the number of racks and in terms of revenue. However, the company retained the first line of both ratings in 2016. DataLine

Data Center Commercial Market Revenue Growth

According to iKS-consulting estimates, the profitability of the commercial segment of the data center market is showing positive dynamics - in 2016 this figure amounted to 16.8 billion rubles, which in foreign currency terms is equivalent to $250 million at an average annual exchange rate of 67.19 rubles per dollar - and this is more than a year earlier, by 21% in rubles, and by 11% in foreign currency. According to analysts, large players in the market for commercial data centers came out of the crisis and, in general, the "bottom" that came in 2015 was passed.

Since 2014, there has been a noticeable increase in the share of cloud services. The trend is expected to intensify in the coming years. So, in particular, in 2017, the projected percentage of income of commercial data centers in this area will be at least 28%, while until 2015 it did not exceed 20%.

Forecast

According to analysts' forecasts, during 2017, if the planned plans are implemented, the placement of positions in the top 15 will undergo changes - Avantage will be among the leaders in terms of the number of racks (commissioning of a new data center in Lytkarino near Moscow for 2,240 racks) and IXcellerate ( by the end of the year, the company's data center in Altufyevo will be increased by 1,100 units and its capacity will be 1,835 racks).

The results of 2016 reflect the generally positive development of the domestic market for commercial data centers and its overcoming of the difficult stage caused by the global financial crisis. In the most advantageous position - both in terms of flexibility towards customers and in terms of their own viability - were the owners of large fault-tolerant data centers, which had the resources to form competitive offers.

According to iKS-Consulting, the further development of the kData Center market will take place according to a moderately positive scenario.

The Ministry of Communications intends to unite data centers in a consortium and create a Russian system of their certification

In order to ensure the availability of data storage and processing services throughout Russia for the state, business and citizens, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications proposed a number of initiatives that were reflected in the draft program "Digital Economy of Russia." The document at the end of April 2017, Minister of Communications Nikolai Nikiforov sent for approval to the department.

In particular, according to the draft program, in 2018 it is proposed to develop a general scheme for the location of data centers, taking into account plans for the development of energy and telecommunications infrastructure, as well as to create a consortium of data centers.

The purpose of the consortium is to coordinate the development of the data center, organize the work of the situation center to monitor and promptly eliminate failures in their work, and organize interaction in the process of eliminating threats to the operability and safety of the data center.

Also, one of the tasks for 2018 is to create a distributed data center system that ensures the availability of their services in each federal district.

In addition, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications intends to determine a simplified procedure for access of data center operators to the energy infrastructure, and for operators of large data centers to determine the possibility of access to the wholesale electricity market.

Technical regulation of the data center is also to be improved, according to the draft program "Digital Economy." The goal is to ensure the sustainability, safety and economic efficiency of their functioning.

In particular, in this regard, it is planned to establish requirements for the classification of data centers, ensuring the stability and safety of their functioning, as well as to create a data center certification system for an objective assessment of the quality of their services. The plan involves implementing these initiatives also in 2018.

Are commercial data center providers ready to join a consortium? What benefits can market players get from the emergence of such a consortium? With these questions, TAdviser turned to providers.

If you look at the market as a whole, there are a lot of data center providers who are ready to unite in a consortium. But with a high probability we can say that these will be small players. Large data centers are unlikely to be interested in the advantages of such cooperation, or to a large extent they have already been achieved due to the total volume of provider services, "said Pavel Kolmychek, head of the company's data center network CROC

The market for data centers in Russia is in the consolidation stage and small players are leaving the business, adds Kolmychek, so there will most likely be no high interest in creating such an association.

Simplified access to the energy infrastructure will help reduce the time for commissioning new facilities, but today, during the market slowdown, this is not entirely relevant, the representative of CROC is sure.

Access to the wholesale segment of electricity is not closed even now, many large players in the data center market have already reached it, including the network of data centers "CROC"

The expert is not sure about the need for a domestic certification system for the data center. Such a certification system will not have clear technological advantages over existing international ones, he said.

International standards are enough for commercial companies, so Russian certification may be more relevant for state customers. For them at the moment, certification is far from the most important issue when transferring infrastructure to a commercial data center. Along with it, there are a number of other urgent tasks - budgeting, changes in areas of responsibility, etc.

The most common in Russia, we recall, is the Uptime Institute certification system.

2016

TAdviser: The market volume grew to 13 billion rubles (+ 15 %)

State of the market

The Russian market for commercial data centers shows positive dynamics from year to year. According to TAdviser, at the end of 2015, the market grew by 15% and reached 13 billion rubles. In 2016, growth continues: by the beginning of 2017, its volume may reach 14.5 billion rubles, which is 11% more than last year's indicators.

First of all, the development of the segment was influenced by the entry into force of law No. 242-FZ on the processing of personal data of Russian citizens in the country. Since September 2015, the companies have been obliged to store personal data of Russians on servers geographically located in the Russian Federation. As a result, many organizations had to change the provider of data center services from foreign to domestic.

Directly or indirectly, this law is called the reason for the migration to our outsourcing data center and cloud of dozen of new CROC customers. These are mainly companies with foreign origins, - explains the influx of clients this year Andrei Tishchenko, Deputy Director of the Computer Systems Department of CROC.

The second factor that increased the attractiveness of Russian commercial data centers was the crisis. As noted by Anton Gruzdev from EMC, in the context of an unstable economic situation, companies, as a rule, begin to actively optimize infrastructure costs. It turns out to be more profitable for firms to outsource the data center instead of maintaining a full-fledged infrastructure on their own.

Of course, the crisis cannot be called an exclusively positive factor. On the one hand, the difficult economic situation is turning companies towards outsiders - the demand for commercial data centers is growing. On the other hand, data center service providers face a number of problems: currency fluctuations inflate prices for foreign equipment and, thereby, postpone the launch of many large-scale projects.

However, this does not indicate stagnation, says Andrei Tishchenko from CROC, there are fewer projects, but companies still initiate new implementations if they see that their business will be less competitive without productive computing equipment. In addition, traditionally organizations try not to save on backup solutions either.

Experts are confident that the domestic industry of commercial data centers has matured enough to painlessly survive the crisis.

The Russian market for commercial data centers has matured seriously over the past few years; The largest data center operators have strengthened their positions, expanded the portfolio of offered services and are ready to offer customers really high-quality solutions, - said Mikhail Lukovnikov, director of TrustInfo data center (under the management of Servionica, I-Teco Group of Companies).

According to Ekaterina Kukanova, regional director of Linxdatacenter in St. Petersburg, the demand for cloud and other virtual services is now growing, but the share of requests for colocation remains high.

The number of projects related to the transfer of business-critical services to virtual redundancy is increasing. One of the current market trends is the expectation by customers of professionalism and a large range of knowledge even from data center service providers, the provision of a set of additional services, the principle of "one window" is becoming more and more popular. Products are becoming more complex, services are growing rapidly, so a consulting approach is in demand, says Kukanova.

There are opinions that the negative impact of the crisis on the sphere of domestic data centers will stop in the next few years. According to IDC forecasts, by 2019, the negative impacts associated with the devaluation of the ruble will cease to significantly affect the revenue of data center operators, and revenue will begin to grow at double-digit rates.

Linxdatacenter notes that in mid-2015, the process of "defrosting" the data center market and returning to previously postponed projects began.

If we talk about specific firms providing data center services in Russia, the picture is as follows. The Ai-Teko Group of Companies (Servionica), which owns one data center in Moscow, made revenue of 1.404 billion rubles in 2015. This is 4 million rubles more than in 2014. But the CROC the Inc. company in 2015 increased revenue from 3 of its metropolitan data centers by 25% compared to 2014 and brought the figure to 1.742 billion rubles.

In Russia, not only business is showing interest in cloud technologies - government departments also seek to gain access to the "clouds," but for a number of reasons they cannot use the services of commercial data centers. In this regard, five years ago (in 2011), the construction of a national cloud platform began. This year, finally, the first results of the work appeared - the Ministry of Communications and Mass Communication of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as federal agencies for fishing and subsoil use joined the pilot project of the national cloud.

According to the Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media Ilya Massukh, the state data center will not compete with commercial structures. Its goal is to provide cloud services to the public. Each citizen of the Russian Federation will be able to access cloud services in the field of medicine, power, housing and communal services and much more.

What customers expect from commercial data centers

"High-speed" service

The speed of service delivery is becoming one of the main competitive advantages for data center operators. "Today's customers are looking for different opportunities to build and launch an IT infrastructure as quickly as possible," emphasizes Anton Gruzdev (EMC). In order to increase the speed of infrastructure deployment, data center service providers take various steps, such as implementing converged solutions.

Capacity lease

Building your own IT infrastructure becomes too costly, and companies are looking to optimize this item in any way. Most often - through the outsource of data center services. "No industry can actually discard the need for IT today - everyone is somehow tied to new technologies, especially banks, telecom and retail. But at the same time, now for them there is an opportunity to abandon large capital expenditures for the purchase, and use IT for rent according to the payment model for the resources used, "explains Andrei Tishchenko (Krok).

Comprehensive services

Despite the relative youth, the market of domestic data centers is quite mature, because commercial customers data centers are becoming more demanding and are not ready to pay for "unnecessary" services. Consumers want to receive a set of services "for themselves." Companies meet the requirements of their customers through the creation of subscriptions with various tariff plans. "The main directions of development will be concentrated in the field of comprehensive class//AaaS services IaaSPaaS. Gradually, such services will become attractive not only for the small and medium-sized business segment, but also for large companies with high and sufficiently personalized IT infrastructure requirements, "says Anton Gruzdev (EMC).

Alexey Sevastyanov, First Deputy General Director of DataLine, notes that customers want a more comprehensive approach from the data center: only one physical or virtual infrastructure is already few, support and administration of information systems are needed.

Prospects

The domestic industry of commercial data centers has been developing dynamically over the past years. Reports from consulting agencies paint only optimistic pictures. This year, several factors contributed to the growth of the sector, firstly, a natural increase in the number of customers, and secondly, the entry into force of the law on the storage of personal data of Russians on servers located in the Russian Federation. Thanks to the latter circumstance, many domestic data center service providers "received" clients of their foreign colleagues.

The crisis has had a positive and negative impact on the industry at the same time. The weakening of the ruble sharply raised prices for foreign equipment, forcing data center service providers to abandon many large-scale projects. However, at the same time as the data center operators, other business representatives refused to deploy their own infrastructures, "turning" towards leasing IT capacities. Thus, due to the tense economic situation in the country, the demand for the services of commercial data centers has sharply increased.

Some experts see the consequences of the crisis as a huge plus: circumstances forced the business to overcome the fear of using third-party data centers to keep their corporate "secrets." For a long time, distrust of commercial data centers has been a significant deterrent to the development of the industry. The need to rent IT power has refracted this situation. As soon as the consequences of the devaluation of the ruble cease to have a serious impact on the sector (and according to forecasts, this will happen in 2-3 years), the industry is waiting for explosive growth.

CNews Rating "Largest Data Center Service Providers"

Data center consolidation is a global trend. The consolidation of data centers and the unification of sites under a single management allow you to reduce operating and management costs, achieve more favorable prices for the purchase of equipment (economies of scale), and increase the "density" of the use of data center resources. This trend is characteristic of both commercial data centers and private and state sites^[35].

The main changes in the Russian market for commercial data centers in 2015 were associated precisely with the consolidation of the industry. According to the CNews rating data, a new leader in the number of racks put into operation has appeared in the domestic data center services industry - Rostelecom (3900 racks). This result was achieved thanks to active actions in the field of mergers and acquisitions.

2015

IDC: The total number of racks decreased to 27 thousand units

On August 18, 2016, IDC analysts presented some results of a study of the Russian market for commercial data centers (data centers).

IDC reported an increase in data center space in 2015 due to an increase in demand for third-party supplier services amid the ongoing digital transformation of the business. At the same time, in dollar terms, the market "significantly decreased" (the magnitude of the decline is not specified) due to the general economic situation in the country and the tightening of competition, accompanied by a drop in prices and in rubles.

In 2015, the total number of racks in Russian commercial data centers decreased to less than 27 thousand units. At the same time, the total number of racks did not fall so much compared to the volume of occupied racks, stimulating the growth of excess supply. The release of data center capacities, the price war and changes in legislation made it possible to attract new customers, which somewhat compensated for the decrease in the percentage of rack utilization, the study said.

According to the results of 2016, a moderate growth of the Russian market of commercial data centers is predicted. Operators' revenue will begin to grow faster only in 2017, which will be facilitated by the planned commissioning of new capacities and media events in 2018.

After adapting to a significant change in conditions, the Russian market for commercial data centers will continue to grow, says Mikhail Popov, senior analyst at IDC Russia. - However, data center operators should prepare to extend the payback period of projects and plan the next stages of development based on the current high credit rates and the possible unavailability of infrastructure solutions of foreign manufacturers.

Experts expect that in 2016-2020, the growth of the Russian market for commercial data centers will be stimulated by the digital transformation of the business, but restrained by economic factors and the development of corporate data centers.

TAdviser Survey on Key Market Trends

In April 2015, TAdviser interviewed a number of Russian companies providing services based on data centers in order to find out their opinion on key trends in the data center market and how currency changes affect it. This article is available here.

The market volume grew by 16% to 13.9 billion rubles

In April 2016, iKS-Consulting published the results of a study of the Russian data center market. Its growth rate in rubles, as experts found out, decreased by more than 40%, and in dollars there was an accelerated fall.

According to iKS-Consulting estimates, in 2015, the total revenues of service providers of commercial data centers in Russia amounted to 13.9 billion rubles, which is 16% more than a year ago. In 2014, the market grew by 28% to 11.9 billion rubles.

In dollar terms, the domestic data center market began to fall more: if in 2014 its volume decreased by 14%, then a year later the decline increased to 18% to $205.4 million.

Analysts say that the differences in ruble and dollar dynamics are due to the economic crisis and the subsequent sharp fall in the ruble and GDP by 3.8%.

The complicated investment climate significantly slowed down the development of the data center market, fourfold reducing the absolute increase in the number of racks compared to 2014, the study notes.

By the end of 2015, the number of racks in Russian data centers reached 28.7 thousand, which is 8% more than a year earlier. In 2014, there was a 29 percent rise.

It is worth noting that the situation on the Russian market of data centers worsened despite the law that entered into force on September 1, 2015, obliging to store personal data of Russians in the country. The law contributed to the growth of the business of commercial data centers even before the official entry into force: many Western companies were forced to take care of the placement of equipment in Russia in advance.

iKS-Consulting experts estimated that by the end of 2015 there were 93 providers of services for their own data centers in Russia, and the number of commissioned sites increased to 196.^[36]

2014

TAdviser

According to TAdviser estimates, the Russian market for services based on commercial data centers (kData Centers) in 2014 amounted to 11.35 billion rubles, an increase by 2013 of about 20-25%.

In 2015, due to the positive inertia of the market and the commissioning of those areas whose investments in the construction were made in previous years, the kData Center services market in Russia will maintain positive dynamics. The beginning of the law No. 242-FZ on the processing and storage of personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation in the country from September 1, 2015 will play a small role in this. This creates an additional incentive for the growth of demand for the services of domestic service providers.

The market for kData Center services in Russia remains strongly consolidated around the largest providers, despite the fact that more than a hundred players provide data center-based services in Russia. Thus, the eight largest kData Center operators, which provided data on their revenue from services based on data centers in 2014, accounted for 60% of the volume of this market in monetary terms. The trend towards consolidation will only intensify, since in the current conditions only large players will be able to afford the investments necessary to commission new space.

Revenue of large service providers based on commercial data centers

№	Company	Revenue from data center-based services in 2014, thousand rubles	Revenue from data center-based services in 2013, thousand rubles	Revenue dynamics 2014-2013,%	Revenue from cloud services, 2014, thousand rubles	Revenue from cloud services 2013, thousand rubles	% Cloud Services in Revenue 2014	Cloud revenue dynamics 2014-2013,%
1 |DataLine*	2 560 000	1 496 265	71,1	358 400	194 515	14,0	84,3
2	Ai-Teko Group of Companies (Servionica)	1 400 000	1 046 390	33,8	nd	nd	-	-
3	CROC	1 305 000	1 013 000	28,8	nd	nd	-	-
4 |Linxdatacenter	753 964	556 064	35,6	14 504	3 648	1,9	297,6
5 |Beeline Cloud (DataFort)	370 000	242 000	52,9	132 000	21 000	35,7	528, 6
6 |Softline	266 000	190 000	40,0	266 000	190 000	100,0	40,0
7	BSTelecom	208 200	150 800	38,1	8 000	3 400	3,8	135,3
8	Sirius	135 870	181 540	-25,2	nd	nd	-	-
	Total	6 999 034	4 876 059	43,5

* The amount for 2014 is forecast, since revenue is calculated based on the results of the financial (March 2015), and not the calendar year. Revenue for 2013 is based on the results of the 2013 fiscal year
. TAdviser Center, 2015

In terms of revenue from services sold on the basis of kData Center, the largest service providers in 2014 are DataLine, Ai-Teko Group of Companies (Servionica), CROC, Linxdatacenter, Beeline Cloud (DataFort), Softline, BSTelecom, Sirius.

File:Doli servisprovaiderov uslug kTSOD v Rossii 2014.png

One of the most important trends in the kData Center market in 2014 was a change in the structure of services provided by service providers: for example, cloud services have already occupied a quarter of the kData Center services market, or 2.87 billion rubles. Gradually, this will lead to a decrease in the share of services from colocation and hosting in the portfolio of service providers to about 50% (now - up to 70%). Active transformation will take place in 2016-2017.

In the table above, you can see how much faster revenue from cloud services is growing than revenue from IT service companies as a whole. If the average revenue growth in 2014 was about 30-40%, then in the cloud segment - some players accounted for hundreds of percent. There are providers whose business is completely built on the provision of cloud services (Softline).

More about trends in the Russian kData Center market: Trends in the Russian data center market

PMR

On January 28, 2015, the analytical company PMR released preliminary results of a study of the Russian data center market. Its volume, as experts found out, has grown by about one fifth.

According to experts, in 2014 the volume of the market for commercial services of data centers in Russia reached 11.7 billion rubles, which is 20.4% more than a year earlier. This rise is associated with the rapid development of the domestic Internet economy and the growing volume of data in corporate IT systems.

In addition, the demand for such an expensive service as colocation increased in 2013-2014, when the provider places the client's equipment in the data center, connects it to electricity, provides service and connection to communication channels.

Banks that use commercial data center services to back up data and duplicate IT systems account for more than 50% of their colocation costs. Financial institutions tend to lease space for 5-15 racks. According to DataLine for 2013, banks rented an average of 8 racks from this company in data centers.

By the end of 2014, PMR counted 175 commercial data centers located in the Russian Federation. During the year, 10 new objects were launched. In 2012, the number of data centers in Russia was 154, a year earlier - 140, in 2010 - 114, in 2009 - 110.

File:Screenshot 2015-01-28 in 13.42.08.png

In 2014, 10 new data centers were launched in Russia

In 2014, telecommunications operators launched only two data centers in Russia, while in 2013 MegaFon and Rostelecom were involved in the opening of 9 out of 11 new data centers in the country.

The PMR report also reports that by the end of 2014, almost 70% of the total area of ​ ​ Russian data centers falls on Moscow and its region. The share of St. Petersburg is 18%.

File:Screenshot 2015-01-28 in 13.42.18.png

70% of the area of ​ ​ Russian data centers is located in Moscow and its region

IDC

On October 12, 2015, IDC experts released a study of the Russian data center market.

According to experts, in 2014, the total revenue of commercial data center operators decreased slightly, but from the point of view of the area of ​ ​ the facilities, the market remained stable growth - up to 83 thousand square meters. This rise was facilitated by economic factors (devaluation of the ruble, an increase in the cost of credit and capital outflow), as well as technological (development of cloud computing and infrastructure virtualization).

In 2014, the total number of commercial data centers in Russia increased and reached more than 28 thousand units. At the same time, in small data centers, the workload of racks was weak due to the migration of customers to large data centers. Large occupancy also remained low due to higher service costs and oversupply.

The study notes that more than 50% of Russian commercial data centers are still concentrated in the Central Federal District, and about a fifth of them in the Northwestern Federal District.

Commercial service providers account for less than half of the area of ​ ​ all data centers in the Russian Federation. Local companies still prefer to independently control their IT infrastructure, but technological advances and the economic situation are pushing them to use third-party data center services, analysts say.

"Despite

the difficult economic situation and the reduction in investment in the country, the Russian data center market continues to have great investment attractiveness and grow at a rapid pace," said Mikhail Popov, senior analyst at IDC Russia.^[37]

Earlier, IDC expected moderate market growth in 2014 - at 7.5%. At the same time, the expected cumulative average annual growth of the commercial data center services market in the period from 2014 to 2018 will be 14.3%.

iKS-Consulting

According to the study "Russian market of commercial data centers 2014-2018" conducted by iKS-Consulting, in 2014 the Russian market of data centers grew by almost 30% and amounted to 11.9 billion rubles (against 9.3 billion rubles in 2013). One of the key factors in the growth of the market was the commissioning of new data center capacities in the Russian Federation. In 2014, the area of ​ ​ machine rooms increased by 17.5 thousand square meters, and the number of racks - by 3.5 thousand. Thus, at the end of 2014, the total area of ​ ​ machine rooms of commercial data centers in the Russian Federation will reach 86 thousand square meters (36.5% growth), and the number of racks - 25.5 thousand (28% growth).

As the study showed, there is an increase in competition in the market of Russian data centers, including by reducing the price offer. The services of commercial data centers in the Russian Federation are provided by more than 180 large and medium-sized commercial data centers. The 10 largest data center operators account for about 50% of the market in terms of the number of racks commissioned.

All top 10 operators of data centers in Russia have Moscow sites. In Moscow and the Moscow region, about 110 companies provide data center services, the total area of ​ ​ machine rooms of which is almost 60 thousand square meters (68.6% of the Russian market in terms of machine room areas). In 2014, the total number of commercial racks in Moscow data centers increased by 31% and amounted to 19.2 thousand.

According to analysts, the growth potential of the data center market in the Russian Federation is far from exhausted. According to the results of 2014 Russia , it occupies 0.2% of the global market for commercial data centers in terms of the total area of ​ ​ technical halls. Not least, this is due to low ICT costs, many times less than in developed markets. According to iKS-Consulting estimates, when bringing ICT costs to 3% (GDP level) Germany from the current 1%, the Russian market for commercial data centers will become one of the largest in the world with an estimated share of 6% of total capacity.

It is expected that by 2018 the kData Center market in Russia will grow almost 2 times and exceed 26.3 billion rubles, and the number of installed racks in commercial data centers will increase to 48.3 thousand (forecast in the fall of 2014). One of the key drivers of market growth in 2015-2018. will be the entry into force of Federal Law No. 152-FZ "On Personal Data," which requires the storage of personal data in the Russian Federation. Several more new players are expected to enter the market. Changing (in the direction of tightening) legislation in the financial and banking sectors, as well as growing competition in the telecommunications industry and retail trade, will push an increasing number of companies to use the services of commercial data centers, according to iKS-Consulting.

The active position of data center customers can contribute to the implementation of these forecasts. Most of them need an IT audit, which will provide an opportunity to take a fresh look at existing storage and processing technologies, and revise existing service schemes. And factors such as the price of projects, the availability and security of information stored in the data center will remain dominant for customers.

2013

IDC

According to IDC Russia Datacenter Services Market 2013 Analysis and 2014-2018 Forecast, the market for services to Russian commercial data centers reached $456.23 million in 2013.

The most popular service is still colocation. It is followed by private and public cloud services. The main consumers of commercial data center services are customers from the financial sector. The company DataLine was recognized as the leading commercial provider of data center services in 2013. She is followed by,,, and Stack Group SAFEDATA. Selectel Linxdatacenter

Despite the difficult economic conditions, the market for commercial data center services continues to grow. Using these services, customers reduce IT capital costs by freeing up funds for other purposes. Significant incentives to purchase data center services are also opportunities to simplify administration and increase the flexibility of IT infrastructure configuration.

"Currently, the commercial data center services market occupies almost 7% of the total IT services market in the country. Data center services are in high demand even in difficult economic conditions, which forces the service market to actively develop. We expect many interesting events in this market in the near future, "said Mikhail Popov, IDC senior analyst for corporate systems

.

PMR Research

Analysts at the Polish company PMR published a report in November 2013 on the Russian data center market. As noted in the PMR, it has been growing rapidly over the past few years due to the development of corporate information systems and the demand for backup services for growing volumes of data. Among the services offered by commercial data centers, the placement of servers and storage systems leads by a wide margin.

In total, there are about 80 commercial data center operators in Russia. Almost 65% of the total area of ​ ​ Russian data centers falls on Moscow and its region, and the capital's share in the total turnover of the data center market is 75%. The market itself retains double-digit growth: in particular, over the past year, the increase was more than 20%, the volume reached 7.8 billion rubles, and by the end of this year, according to the forecast, it will exceed 9 billion.

More than half of all colocation costs come from banks that use data center services to back up data and duplicate IT systems. As a rule, banks rent an area for 10-15 racks. Other large customers are online stores and media companies. SMBs typically purchase dedicated servers, including virtual servers, to host sites, applications, and databases.

One of the main market trends is falling prices for traditional colocation, which forces data center operators to invest in more profitable offers, including virtual dedicated servers, cloud computing and managed services. There is a growing interest in offering comprehensive disaster recovery solutions and services. The competition is accompanied by aggressive marketing promotions, such as discounts of 20-50% for a period of 3-6 months and the offer to potential customers of reduced tariffs for leaving other operators.

iKS-Consulting

The Russian market for commercial data centers is one of the fastest growing segments of the IT market. In 2013, it grew by 28% and amounted to 9.1 billion rubles (data from iKS-Consulting). In Russia, there are more than 170 large and medium-sized commercial data centers. In 2013, 12 large and medium-sized sites of commercial data centers were commissioned with a total area of ​ ​ 5.1 thousand square meters of machine rooms. Thus, the total area of ​ ​ machine rooms of commercial data centers in 2013 increased by 9% and amounted to 65 thousand square meters. The number of installed commercial racks increased by 17% and amounted to 21.7 thousand. The market growth rate remains at a high level - in 2014, the total area of ​ ​ machine rooms of commercial data centers will increase by more than 10.5 thousand square meters. With an average annual growth rate of about 19% by 2017, the market volume will reach 16.5 billion rubles.

Top 10 commercial data centers in Russia

Shares of the largest operators of commercial data centers in Russia by the number of racks

Top 10 commercially data centers in Moscow

Shares of the largest operators of commercial data centers in Moscow by the number of racks

DataLine, which owns 4 data centers in Moscow, is the leader in the Russian data center market, both in terms of the number of racks and income.

The second place in terms of the number of racks is occupied by Linxdatacenter sites in St. Petersburg and Moscow. At the same time, in terms of revenues from data center services, the second place is taken by CROC.

In third place in terms of the number of commercial racks is TrustInfo, which has sites in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Krasnoyarsk. In terms of income, the third place is occupied by Selectel, which owns five data centers in St. Petersburg and one in Moscow.

All data center operators in the Top 10 players in Russia have Moscow sites. In Moscow and the Moscow region, 77% of the revenues of the Russian market for commercial data centers and 67% of commercial space are concentrated. The market volume of data centers in Moscow and the Moscow Region in 2013 grew by 31% and amounted to 7 billion rubles. (the market volume in 2012 was 5.3 billion rubles.).

The leaders of the Moscow market for commercial data centers are DataLine TrustInfo, DataSpace.

2012: Market growth by 22% to 6.2 billion rubles, 77% of revenues in Moscow

As of October 1, 2012, the total technological area of ​ ​ commercial data centers in the Moscow region amounted to ~ 35,730 square meters. m, with a total number of racks - 12,840 pcs. At the same time, during the period of the I-III quarter of 2012, the technological area of ​ ​ commercial data centers in Moscow in absolute terms increased by 2050 square meters. m compared to the value of this indicator as of January 1, 2012.

According to iKS-consulting, the Russian market for commercial data centers in 2012 grew by 22.8% and its volume amounted to 6.2 billion rubles. At the same time, the domestic market of data centers is formed by large sites, most of which are located in Moscow. Nine out of ten data center operators in the "top 10" players in Russia are Moscow sites.

The iKS-consulting study noted that 77% of the revenues of the Russian market for commercial data centers and 64.7% of commercial space are concentrated in Moscow and the Moscow region. The market volume of data centers Moscow in 2012 grew by 22% and amounted to 4.8 billion rubles (market volume in 2011 amounted to 3.9 billion rubles).

The leader of the Moscow market for commercial data centers (in terms of the number of racks) is "DataLine (DateLine)." The number of racks at DataLine in the capital is more than 1.37 thousand, and the indicator for the useful area is more than 2.9 thousand square meters. The workload of data centers "DataLine" in Moscow is estimated at 96%.

The second and third places in the "ten" of the largest players in the market under consideration in Moscow are occupied by Beeline Cloud (DataFort) and Stack Group, whose indicators in terms of the number of racks are more than 1.28 thousand and 1.09 thousand, respectively. The indicator for the useful area of ​ ​ these players is more than 3.32 thousand square meters for IBS DataFort and 3.37 thousand square meters for Stack Group. The workload of data centers for these companies in the capital is estimated at 75% and 89%, respectively.

The "top five" of the largest players in the capital are closed by DataSpace and I-Teco. By the number of racks, the indicators of these companies are more than 1.06 thousand and 1.03 thousand, respectively. The indicator for the useful area of ​ ​ these players is 3 thousand square meters for DataSpace and 3.08 thousand square meters for I-Teco. The workload of data centers for these companies is estimated at 60% and 87%, respectively.

The sixth, seventh and eighth places in the iKS-consulting rating at the end of 2012 in Moscow are occupied by CROC, VimpelCom and Linxdatacenter. By the number of racks, the indicators of these companies in the capital are 1 thousand, 700 and 550, respectively. The indicator for the useful area of ​ ​ these players is 3 thousand square meters for CROC, 1.7 thousand square meters for VimpelCom and 1.85 thousand square meters for Linxdatacenter. The workload of data centers for these companies is estimated at 100%, 60% and 90%, respectively.

The "top 10" market players in Moscow are closed by the company "Data Storage Center" and RUSNIIROS. They have indicators for the number of racks are 550 and 300, respectively. The indicator for the useful area of ​ ​ these players is 1.2 thousand square meters and 682 square meters, respectively. The workload of data centers for these companies is estimated at 60% and 70%, respectively.

As a result, the shares of the largest operators of commercial data centers in Moscow in terms of the number of racks in 2012 were distributed as follows: DataLine occupies 10% of the market, and IBS DataFort accounts for 9%. Each 8% is occupied by Stack Group, I-Teco and DataSpace. The share of 7% falls on the CROC company. VimpelCom has 5%. Linxdatacenter and Data storage center account for 4% of each. 2% of the capital's market is occupied by RUSNIIROS. Companies included in the "other" category occupy 35% of the market share in 2012.

In general, in Russia, according to iKS-consulting experts, in 2012, about 14 large and medium-sized commercial data centers were commissioned, which is about 8.3 thousand square meters of usable area. The total usable area of ​ ​ commercial data centers in 2012 reached 62.6 thousand square meters. Over the year, the volume of space increased by 18.6%. The number of racks increased by 17.8% and amounted to 18.7 thousand.

The "top 10" players in the commercial data center market in Russia account for a total of 59.5% of the total market by area, 62.1% by number of racks and 61.6% by income. According to iKS-consulting, Linxdatacenter is the leader in the Russian data center market in terms of the number of racks. She owns two data centers (in Moscow and St. Petersburg). The total number of racks at Linxdatacenter is more than 1.5 thousand, and the indicator for the useful area is more than 5 thousand square meters. The workload of Linxdatacenter data centers is estimated at 51%.

The second place in Russia in terms of the number of racks is occupied by the largest Moscow operator of data centers "DataLine," which owns two data centers in Moscow and which is also the leader in the Russian market in terms of income. The total number of racks at DataLine at the end of 2012 is more than 1.37 thousand, and the indicator for the useful area is more than 2.9 thousand square meters. The workload of data centers "DataLine" is estimated at 96%.

In third place in Russia in terms of the number of commercial racks is Selectel, which has five data centers in St. Petersburg and one site in Moscow. According to the results of 2012, this company has a total number of racks of more than 1.34 thousand, and the indicator for the useful area is more than 7.8 thousand square meters. The workload of data centers "DataLine" is estimated at 87%.

IBS DataFort and Stack Group, whose indicators for the number of racks are more than 1.28 thousand and more than 1.22 thousand, respectively, close the "five" of the largest players in the market under consideration in Russia (in terms of the number of racks). The indicator for the useful area of ​ ​ these players is more than 3.3 thousand square meters for IBS DataFort and more than 3.6 thousand square meters for Stack Group. The workload of data centers for these companies is estimated at 75% and 80%, respectively.

The sixth, seventh and eighth places in the iKS-consulting rating at the end of 2012 are occupied by I-Teco, DataSpace and CROC. By the number of racks, the indicators of these companies are 1.15 thousand, more than 1.06 thousand and 1 thousand, respectively. The indicator for the useful area of ​ ​ these players is 3.4 thousand square meters at I-Teco, 3 thousand square meters at DataSpace and also 3 thousand square meters at CROC. The workload of data centers for these companies is estimated at 87%, 60% and 100%, respectively.

Closing the "top 10" companies "MegaFon" and "VimpelCom." They have indicators for the number of racks are 934 and 700, respectively. The indicator for the useful area of ​ ​ these players is more than 3.39 thousand square meters and 1.7 thousand square meters, respectively. The workload of data centers for these companies is estimated at 32% and 60%, respectively.

As a result, the shares of the largest operators of commercial data centers in Russia in terms of the number of racks in 2012 were distributed as follows: Linxdatacenter occupies 9% of the market, and DataLine and Selectel account for 8% each. For the market, IBS DataFort and Stack Group are estimated at 7% for each. Each 6% is occupied by I-Teco, DataSpace and CROC. MegaFon and VimpelCom account for 5% and 4% of the market share, respectively. Companies included in the category "other" occupy 34% of the market share in 2012.

iKS-consulting experts note that in Russia as a whole, the growth rate of the commercial data center market remains at a high level. In 2013, it is expected that the total area of ​ ​ data centers will increase by another 22 thousand square meters.

2011

IDC: Commercial Data Center Services Spend $216 Million

According to IDC in 2011, the amount of expenses for the services of commercial data centers in Russia amounted to almost $216 million. According to the forecast, the data center market will continue to develop at a fairly fast pace, with the most noticeable growth demonstrated by segments such as comprehensive services and equipment rental. 

The useful area of ​ ​ Russian data centers increased by 60% to 60 thousand square meters. m

• J'son & Partners Study (October 2011)

At the end of 2011, the total usable area of ​ ​ Russian commercial data centers amounted to 60,980 square meters. m, an increase of more than 60% compared to 37,500 square meters. m at the end of 2010. A significant increase in the useful area of ​ ​ data centers in 2011 became possible both due to the expansion of existing data centers and due to the emergence of new players on the market.

The largest increase in useful area was shown by Moscow, but in the last 2 years in area terms the share of the Moscow region has been decreasing, which is primarily due to active construction in the past and current years in St. Petersburg and other regions.

About 51% of the useful area of ​ ​ Russian data centers falls on Moscow and the Moscow region, about 25% - on St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, about 24% - on the rest of the regions of Russia.

The largest income from the sale of services is also received by data centers Moscow the Ministry of Defense, their share in the total income of Russian data centers is 60.5%, the income of data centers St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region and regional data centers is 29.7% and 9.8% of the total income of Russian data centers, respectively.

Secondary hosting - a service for providing a virtual server and ensuring its round-the-clock operation. This service provides software that ensures the operation of the services required by the customer, but works on the same hardware platform with other similar virtual servers. According to J'son & Partners Consulting estimates, the Russian hosting market in the future until 2016 will grow by an average of 20-30% per year.

IaaS services in the Russian market are provided by 8 major players: Active, Clodo (AiTi House), Cloud One, CROC, Parking.ru, Selectel, Ai-Teko and Oversan. The leader in revenue is CROC, followed by I-Teco. Both companies work with big business. The company closes the top three Parking.ru.

When comparing companies by the number of customers, the situation looks slightly different. The leader is Oversan, which serves more than 9 thousand customers, followed by the Clodo project, and Selectel closes the top three.

According to J'son & Partners estimates, the IaaS market in 2011 in monetary terms amounted to 380 million rubles. The IaaS cloud services market is becoming an increasingly popular service in Russia. In the next three years, the growth rate of this market will be about 150-250% per year, and the total market volume will approach 3 billion rubles.

Rating of data centers by usable area

The number of commercial data centers (data centers) in Moscow and the Moscow region has exceeded a hundred. Moreover, over the past year and a half, the total area of ​ ​ data centers has doubled. According to experts from Modern Telecommunications, which published the rating of data centers, the market has ceased to stagnate and will develop at an accelerated pace in the near future.

As of January 1, 2012, 41 commercial data centers (data centers) of high reliability operated in the Russian Federation, according to a new analytical report of Modern Telecommunications. According to the report, these data centers belong to 24 operators. The total supply on the Russian market of commercial data centers of high reliability is 17,400 square meters. m or 6320 stands. At the same time, 71% of the total supply falls on the Moscow region.

An analysis of the annual dynamics of the total supply on the market of commercial data centers of high reliability in the Russian Federation for the period from 2007 to 2011 showed that over 5 years the number of commercial data centers of high reliability increased by 4.5 times, and their total technological area - by 3 times. It was found that the TOP-5 of operators of commercial data centers of high reliability of the Russian Federation in terms of the current total supply (in sq. m) on the basis of these data centers includes Stack Group of Companies, VimpelCom, Selectel Data Center Network, Rostelecom and Data Storage Center (SafeData). They form 48% of this proposal. And TOP-10 operators account for 74% of the offer, according to a study by Modern Telecommunications.

According to the results of the first half of 2011, the total area of ​ ​ commercial data centers in Moscow and the Moscow region exceeded 28.5 thousand square meters, and their number, thanks to the commissioning of seven new facilities in the last half of the year, exceeded 100. During this time, according to CJSC "Modern Telecommunications," there was a reshuffle in the top three leaders of the data center market. Thus, in terms of the largest area of ​ ​ data centers put into operation, CJSC Masterhost"" came out in third place, displacing OJSC VimpelCom"" to the fourth line of the rating.

"The company put into operation another 750 square meters of space and overtook VimpelCom[1]," Alexander Korsunsky, senior expert of Modern Telecommunications, explained^[38] reporter.

In first place in this indicator is the Stack group of companies (2.5 thousand square meters), and in second place is MMTS-9 OJSC (1.8 thousand square meters).

According to Modern Telecommunications, in the last three half months (January 2010 - June 2011), in the first half of 2011, operators of data centers in the Moscow region put into commercial operation the most areas - 2900 sq.m.

"We expect that in the second half of the year the increase in data center areas will be no less. Among the projects that can contribute to this is the second data center in Russia that meets the requirements of TIER III (the first such data center was created in Russia by MegaFon OJSC), created by DataSpace Partners together with Hewlett Packard, as well as a data center, the launch of which is being prepared by CROC, says Alexander Korsunsky.

The analyst's opinion is also confirmed by market participants.

"Data centers are capital investments, so the main reason is the fears of investors of such investments in the crisis," admits Ruslan Zadinov, head of the CROC data centers.

At the same time, CROC does not quite agree with the methods by which Modern Telecommunications evaluates the data center market.

"In my opinion, the rating presented is flat. While the service market is already segmented, the only rating criterion is area. As a result, the platforms are mixed, which have significantly different quality and positioning. It is wrong to combine them into one rating. It is impossible to compare the volume of business of manufacturers of trucks and cars. Of course, these are cars, but their consumers are completely different and it will not occur to anyone to combine them into one rating. The market is significantly segmented: by type, audience, services. Therefore, it is more correct to make a rating for these indicators. From the point of view of the market, the area of ​ ​ data centers is one of the most unsuccessful indicators, "Ruslan Zadinov insists

.

The company does not agree with the representative of "CROC Technoserv."

"The rating reflects the main trend of the Moscow market of commercial data centers - a gradual transition to the maturity phase. A circle of main players has been determined who have the opportunity to expand the area of ​ ​ existing data centers or put into operation new ones. However, the rental price remains high, and the interest in commercial data centers from potential customers is not so obvious, often they continue to consider creating their own. The growth potential is now much higher in regions where there are practically no commercial data centers and the appearance of each new player can greatly affect the balance of power. Although, inferior in number, they can be ahead of quality. So, in the near future, the Mordovia Technopark (g.) Saransk Is preparing to put into commercial operation a unique TIER IV level data center for Russia according to the Uptime Institute classification, "says the first deputy managing director of Technoserv. Evgeny Zatsyanin

"Overall, the rating correlates with our view of the market. It will gradually grow. As for the postponement of the launch dates, the internal reason for freezing the commissioning of new areas is underinvestment, and the external reason is the shift in the timing of electricity supply, "Vitaly Zadorozhny, director of operational risks at VimpelCom, joins the controversy

.

Despite the segmentation of the market and its fragmentation, the main computing power is still concentrated in Moscow and the Moscow region. "According to our estimates, Moscow and the region account for about 60% of all data center capacities, and the remaining 40% are divided approximately equally between St. Petersburg and the rest of the regions of Russia," concludes Alexander Korsunsky.

Headwork Analytics Data

According to Headwork Analytics analysts, by 2015 the capacity of the Russian market for commercial data centers will increase 2.5-3 times, and in the segment of large enterprises the demand for data center services will grow almost 5 times. The study says that the Russian KTSOD market is concentrated in the capital. In Moscow and the Moscow region there are 60% of Russian CCDCs. In St. Petersburg there is 15% of the market, 25% - in other regions. *)

The Russian data center market in terms of its scale is not yet comparable to the Western one. The total area of ​ ​ the country's largest Moscow market (98 commercial data centers with 9,331 racks) is 26 thousand square meters. m. *) This is less than the area of ​ ​ one large American data center - SuperNAP.

As the study showed, even if we take into account the growth of supply, the deficit of the CCDA will manifest itself in 2012. By 2015, demand by 22% will exceed the available supply. And if poor-quality areas remain unclaimed, the deficit can reach 35%

According to analysts, the Russian market for commercial data centers is nevertheless growing by 20-30% per year: faster than the IT industry as a whole. Large customers account for 40% of the total market demand, with media holdings (42%), transport and logistics companies (35%) and banks (33%) being the most active consumers of CCDC services.

Retail, wholesale, power and industry show moderate interest. Oil and gas companies and non-state pension funds have not yet experienced the need for commercial data center services.

Demand from large enterprises for data center services will grow by 35-40% per year. Large customers are interested in complex cloud services. However, from the transition to the "clouds" they are kept by uncertainty about the reliability of data center operators and too high, according to customers, the cost of renting software.

So far, the key services of the Russian CCDA market remain the placement of a server (colocation) - 80% of current ­ customers used this service - and equipment rental (dedicated), which is in demand among 48% of customers. The SaaS model is used by less than 20% of large clients of Russian data centers.

Small and medium-sized businesses are less active - as expected, in this segment the demand for CCDC services will grow by only 10-15% per year. But in this segment, customers are increasingly limited to consuming simple services, such as hosting a mail system, and are gradually expanding the range of demanded services.

The market is increasingly competitive, with the share of space owned by the top 10 players shrinking by 6% from 2009 to 2010. Foreign operators of KTSOD are expanding their presence in Russia, and their proposed quality standards force their Russian colleagues to actively look for ways to improve their own services, the study also says.

2010: Freezing the construction of new data centers after the crisis

In 2010, the amount of expenses for the services of commercial data centers in Russia exceeded $160 million. According to IDC's forecast, the data center market will continue to develop at a fairly fast pace, with IT infrastructure support services and equipment rental becoming the most dynamic segments.

In 2010, 11 new commercial data centers were introduced in the Moscow region, and in 2009 - 25.

"For the whole of 2010, not a single new commercial data center appeared in the Moscow region, the area of ​ ​ which would be more than 300 square meters. m. In the IV quarter of 2010, of the planned volumes, more than 6 thousand square meters were transferred by operators to commissioning at a later date, "the company said

.

The reason for the constant postponements of the launch of new data centers was the 2008 crisis.

"In the data center construction market, the crisis began to be felt in mid-2009, when the demand for their capacity began to decline, and the creators of data centers began to postpone the launch of new projects to longer prospects. 6 thousand square meters is the total accumulated area of ​ ​ the transferred projects, "Alexander Korsunsky shared

.

2008: J'son: Market growth 55% to $160m

According to a 2008 report by the analytical company J'son & Partners, the market for commercial data centers in Russia grew by 55%. The level of income in this area amounted to $160 million.

Russian Data Center Market by Region in 2008

Stack Group became the leader in the implementation of the data center. Its share was about 15%. Other companies include:

• WideXs (6,1%),
• Golden Telecom (6.0%),
• ISG (5,6%),
• KIAEHouse (4,0%),
• PTKomm (3.9%),
• Rostelecom (3.2%),
• Synterra (3.0%),
• Masterhost (2,6%) и
• Beeline Cloud (DataFort) (2,4%).

About 25 companies make up the remaining market share - accounting for just over 48%. Analysts note that growth was facilitated by the active integration of the Russian Federation into the global economy, traffic growth, as well as an abundance of national projects and state programs.

Companies in the Russian data center market in 2008

In 2009, I-Teco and CROC may take a more significant market share with new data centers.

See also

• TAdviser Overview: Commercial Data Centers
• Data Center (Data Center)
• Key Data Center-Based Services
• Colocation
• Trends in the Russian data center market
• Cloud services (Russian market)
• Russian IaaS market
• What is a "green" data center?
• Data Center Economy Measurement
• Container Data Centers
• Data Center Technologies: Solid State Drives (SSDs)
• Global Data Center Market
• Top Trends in the Global Data Center Market

Notes

• ) In the study of Headworks Analytics, data from the research company Modern Telecommunications on the supply of commercial data centers in the market were used.