Cloud4Y LLC Flex

The cloud service provider under the Cloud4Y brand has been introduced to the market since 2009. Among the company's services are cloud hosting, private clouds, SaaS services, software rental, etc.

The ideologist and creator of the project is Nikolai Fokin.

Until the end of 2015, the legal entity of the Cloud4Y was Corp Soft, from the end of 2015 - Flex LLC.

History

2024: MHIF terminated contract with Cloud4Y and tried to blacklist it as suppliers

As TAdviser found out, in early February 2024, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) Commission for Procurement Control considered the appeal of the Federal Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (MHIF) to include the cloud provider Cloud4Y (Flex LLC) in the register of unscrupulous suppliers and refused the agency's request. The appeal to the FAS was preceded by a unilateral refusal of the MHIF from the state contract with Flex, concluded in October 2023, to provide services for the provision of computing resources and access to them to ensure the functioning of the GIS subsystems of the compulsory medical insurance. Read more here.

2023: Cloud computing and its future in Russian business

Cloud computing will continue to grow in 2023 as companies continue to benefit from services offered by cloud providers. Below is a look at the corporate cloud provider Cloud4Y on the main trends in cloud computing, which the company expects to see in 2023-24. Read more here.

2022: Inclusion in the interdepartmental working group on the development of "Gosblak"

In 2021 Ministry of Digital Development , it announced the creation of an interdepartmental working group on development. " State clouds Now cloudy provider the corporate Cloud4Y is also working as part of IWG, which he announced on April 28, 2022.

The Gosoblako project unites the IP of the Russian authorities. A single cloud platform provides computing resources, ensures data security, including through the use of mainly Russian software and equipment.

Within the framework of the project, an interdepartmental working group was created, which included representatives of the Russian Ministry of Digital Development,,,,,, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection Russia Ministry of Health of Russia FSS of Russia FSB of Russia FSTEC of Russia authorities St. Petersburg and, Samara region the expert community and major companies. The group industries is divided into four target subgroups.

The main objectives of the IWG are to develop a draft package of documents regulating the functions and industrial operation of the State Cloud, prepare proposals for the development, as well as the functioning of the platform, and work out the organizational and technical aspects of existing and potential participants.

2021: Partner program Cloud4Y - in the top 3 rating of the IT marketplace Market.CNews

The partner program of corporate cloudy provider Cloud4Y was the second according to the results of an independent market study conducted by the marketplace Market.. CNews The analysis was carried out according to a comprehensive methodology, which is based on 10 criteria that reflect the current market needs. We considered the percentage of payments for the above customers and the resale of services, the availability of technical support for partners, assistance in promotion and technological capabilities that the provider can offer. Read more here.

2019

• In 2019, the Cloud4Y provider celebrated its anniversary: 10 years in the cloud services market.
• In January 2019, the provider undergoes an audit of VMware for compliance with the standards and requirements of the American manufacturer of virtualization systems and the implementation of the agreements prescribed in the license agreement. Based on the results of the audit, the auditors issued a conclusion on the absence of any claims, cooperation continued.
• Return of an additional 5% per year to dissatisfied customers. Cloud4Y announced guarantees of the quality of services. The company is ready to return 5% of the annual contract to customers if they remain dissatisfied with the quality of the services provided.
• In July 2019, the corporate cloud provider received a certificate of compliance with the requirements of GOST R ISO/IEC 27031-2012 "Information Technology. Methods and means of safety assurance. Information and Communication Technology Business Continuity Readiness Guide. " The standard covers all events and incidents (including security incidents) that may have an impact on ICT infrastructures and systems. Voluntary certification under this GOST confirmed the company's ability to protect IT equipment.
• As part of the international voluntary certification system, Cloud4Y received a certificate of compliance with the requirements of GOST R ISO 22301-2014 (ISO-22301: 2012). The standard includes a method of protection against force majeure that can cause significant damage to the company and stop business processes, as well as ways to reduce costs if an incident occurred. Also, the certificate makes it possible to receive government contracts.
• In June 2019, Cloud4Y underwent another QSA audit and received a certificate and certificate of compliance with the PCI DSS standard. The certificate confirms that the cloud provider complies with the requirements of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) in terms of storing, processing and transferring payment card data, and the cloud platform Cloud4Y fully complies with the requirements of the PCI DSS security standard.
• In early 2019, 1C confirmed its partnership with cloud provider Cloud4Y by issuing a certificate. Thanks to this document, the provider was able to offer customers all types of 1C software products for temporary use, as well as sell them.
• In January 2019, cloud provider Cloud4Y received the status of Silver Partner of Veeam. Veeam provides backup and continuous replication of VMware virtual machines running any operating systems. The silver partner status confirms that Cloud4Y have experience in the implementation of projects in the field of backup of virtual infrastructure based on VMware vSphere, high-quality design, implementation and maintenance of solutions based on Veeam products.
• In June 2019, Microsoft confirmed the right of Cloud4Y to use the company's software products under the Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA). The agreement provides for the possibility. It gives the company the right to copy, install, distribute, run Microsoft software and services, offering customers, including trial versions.

2018: White Paper publication on personal data processing

Cloud provider Cloud4Y in March 2018 published a book in White Paper format, covering the topic of personal data processing in accordance with Russian regulations.

According to the authors, this book will be of interest both to readers starting to study this issue from scratch, and to those with basic knowledge. One of the main goals of this book is to eliminate confusion and ensure an understanding of the legislation in the field of personal data, to clearly describe the process of bringing the personal data information system in line with the requirements of the law.

When preparing White Paper, the facts and logical conclusions made on the basis of the current regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation that form the "boundaries" of the legal field, in which it is necessary to be located during any operations with information about the facts, events and circumstances of a citizen's private life, which allow directly or indirectly to identify his identity, were used.

You can find and download the book for free on the cloud provider's website or on the Cloud4Y pages on social networks.

2017

ISO 9001-2015

In early September, the Management System Certification Body of Novastandart LLC, based on the audit and assessment results, decided to confirm the validity of the certificate of conformity of the Cloud4Y Quality Management System (Flex LLC) to the GOST R ISO 9001-2015 standard.

The certified QMS of the enterprise cloud provider is Cloud4Y applicable to design, development, delivery, installation and maintenance of information networks, systems and complexes, technical support, IT outsourcing and consulting, service maintenance, design, implementation, maintenance and operation of software products and AIS, virtual resource rental services, mail hosting, protection against network attacks, placing customer equipment in data centers, providing Internet access, dedicated communication channels, fiber and communication trunks in data centers, administrative configuration of OS, DB and active network devices, reporting to customers.

IT Infrastructure Outsourcing

Cloud4Y, within the framework of the program for the implementation and support of information, the company announced at the beginning of the year the availability of business application support service for corporate clients. The information systems support service includes the solution of such tasks as monitoring the operability of existing solutions, consulting on working with the program, improving the current functionality in accordance with the customer's requirements, as well as monitoring and managing the performance of systems.

The company noted that this approach is popular due to a significant reduction in costs for the client company. If the volume of emerging tasks is not enough to attract a separate staff unit, then cost reduction can be achieved through the work of an outsourcing specialist, in this case only labor costs for solving specific tasks are paid.

In this case, there are no overheads - if you refuse full-time specialists accompanying the information system, the need for such expenses as: rent a workplace, communication, equipment, and there is no need to pay for breaks in work - vacation, sick leave.

As stated in the Cloud4Y, the service arose due to the need for customers to attract different qualifications and expertise. Emerging tasks are not always able to be solved by one specialist, while an outsourcing company has the ability to distribute tasks to specialists who are most suitable in their level for solving them.

The outsourcing company is also faster to solve problems than with the standard approach, since this issue is regulated by the service level agreement (SLA).

2016

Cloud4Y will offer a cloud solution to online stores

As part of the development of a separate program for e-commerce enterprises, Cloud4Y intends to offer a specialized solution for online stores. It is known that the traffic and conversion of marketplaces on the Internet largely depends on the download speed of the site, which, in turn, is directly related to the working download of the server. In order to support Internet entrepreneurship, Cloud4Y will offer companies a cloud server for rent on special terms. The server will be available in the "cloud" with pre-configured systems, which will allow Internet entrepreneurs to switch to a new information infrastructure with minimal time losses. For systems with a capacity of 1 GB of RAM, it is possible to fully control and support the Cloud4Y technical team.

Cloud4Y launched a partner program

Cloud4Y announced in November the launch of a partner program that allows IT professionals to earn revenue from providing cloud services to customers as a partner. The company's partner program is suitable primarily for system integrators, IT consulting companies, specialists, to outsourcing developers ON and providers, Internet communications and. hosting

The program will provide partners Cloud4Y the company's infrastructure solutions to create a line of new offers for their customers. Partners will be able not only to provide services, but also to organize events for setting up and maintaining the IT infrastructure, to be administrators of the services provided.

Services under the partner program will be provided under the partner's own brand. Partners will be able to demonstrate their capabilities to customers using test access, as is done at Cloud4Y.

According to the Cloud4Y, to participate in the partner program, investments in infrastructure creation, equipment and software will not be needed. Within the framework of the program, there are 3 areas: the Partner program, the Agent program and the White Label program, various in purpose and capabilities provided.

ISO 9001

In October 2016, Cloud4Y was certified by ISO 9001 in terms of design, development, production, supply, installation and maintenance of information networks, systems and complexes, technical support and outsourcing information technologies in business infrastructure, consulting and in the field of information technology, service, design, implementation and operation of software products and automated information systems.

The presence of a certificate confirms that it has created a structured quality management system that regulates all actions related to the quality of products and services. The organization chooses the specific content of this documentation depending on its needs, improving it and making improvements to it if necessary. All procedures recorded in the system are performed on an ongoing basis.

There are many benefits to having a certificate. For example, a certified company has the right to join an SRO and obtain admission to large facilities, take part in tenders, increase its customer base, establishing itself as a reliable and stable enterprise, as well as cooperate with foreign partners. Also, the ISO 9001 certificate makes it possible to receive government orders.

Microsoft SPLA Certificate

The company Cloud4Y received a certificate Microsoft SPLA (Service Provider License Agreement) valid until December 31, 2018. It gives the company the right to copy, install, distribute, run software and Microsoft services.

FSB licenses

The Cloud4Y company received a license from the FSB of Russia for the development, production, distribution of encryption (cryptographic) means, information systems and telecommunication systems protected using encryption (cryptographic) means, as well as for the performance of work, the provision of services in the field of information encryption, maintenance services for encryption (cryptographic) means, information systems and telecommunication systems protected using encryption (cryptographic) means.

The license of the FSB of Russia is necessary for the company to perform work related to confidential information and personal data, indicated in the Cloud4Y. The security of processing and storing information in cloud services is a key issue for any cloud provider.

FSTEC Licenses

In the spring of 2016, Cloud4Y received licenses FSTEC for the activities of technical protection of confidential information and for the development and production of means of protecting confidential information. According to company representatives, these licenses confirm the proper level of qualification of the company's specialists, as well as the availability of all the required competencies and knowledge for the development of means of protecting confidential information and activities for the technical protection of such information.

In early summer, the Cloud4Y was audited for compliance with the international standard Payment Card Industry Data Security Standart, commonly known as PCI DSS. Obtaining PCI DSS certification means compliance with the security requirements for information about payment card holders. During the audit, the level of security of the data center premises (data centers) in which the equipment is located is assessed: video surveillance and access control systems, systems for organizing internal and access modes, regulations for controlling physical access of personnel and visitors.

2015

Split in Cloud4Y: CEO left with the brand and part of the team

In December 2015, one of the largest Russian cloud providers, Corp Soft, which operated on the market under the Cloud4Y brand, announced changes in the company. Now it provides services under the CorpSoft24 brand, and its official website is located at corpsoft24.ru.

Before that, Corp Soft was left by its CEO, ideologist and creator of the project, Cloud4Y Nikolai Fokin: "He headed a new Cloud4Y that is no longer related to the old Cloud4Y," TAdviser told Corp Soft. Instead , Konstantin Renzyaev was appointed to the post of general director of Corp Soft, who from 2005 to 2014 served as director of business development at Microtest.

The "new" Cloud4Y explained to TAdviser that Nikolai Fokin sold his stake in Corp Soft to its other founders, but retained the right to the Cloud4Y brand. The site at the old address - cloud4y.ru - continues to function, and under the "old" brand, the project continues to provide services, but already within the framework of the new legal entity LLC "Flex."

In the new legal entity, Fokin is the general director and chairman of the board of directors, the company's strategy is fully implemented according to his plan, Cloud4Y commercial director Artem Goncharenko told TAdviser .

According to Goncharenko, the backbone of the employees who were responsible for the cloud direction left Corp Soft with Nikolai Fokin, "a man who is not only an excellent manager, but also an IT architect, he created a Cloud4Y, invented many years ago the idea itself, implemented it."

KorpSoft says that the reason for the division was the disagreement of the founders in the vision of the strategic direction of the company's development. The new, proposed by the founders, development vector involves expanding the range of IT services for corporate customers: in addition to cloud services, we are talking about services such as implementation and consulting, 1C"" services, maintenance of information security network equipment and much more.

In turn, the Cloud4Y under the leadership of Nikola Fokin considers it necessary to develop the project in the direction of cloud services. The company plans to continue the qualitative development of the line of cloud services: fault-tolerant cloud distributed infrastructure (including the corresponding FZ-152 "About personal data"), private cloud 2.0 (updated version of the comprehensive offer), backup data center, software for rent, turnkey IT department, and many others, told TAdviser Artem Goncharenko.

Corp Soft believes that there is competition between the project CorpSoft24 and Cloud4Y, "as well as with other participants in the cloud market." The company believes that the line of services beyond cloud services is its competitive advantage. The Cloud4Y has a different point of view:

"We believe everyone should do what they know how to do particularly well. Many companies choose Cloud4Y because of their specialization in cloud services. We are one of the pioneers in the Russian cloud services market. The Cloud4Y brand has been developing rapidly for a sufficient number of years, we have been tested by time, we are trusted, "says Goncharenko.

According to Goncharenko, a significant part of the clients of the "old" Cloud4Y passed to them: "Many customers follow the team, and the backbone of the team remained with Cloud4Y."

Equipment and IT infrastructure, on the basis of which services were previously provided under the Cloud4Y brand, remained with Corp Soft, which will continue to use them to provide services under its new brand. Artem Goncharenko from Cloud4Y told TAdviser that their company created a cloud based on a "more advanced platform" and the developments and vast experience of the Cloud4Y team were taken into account in the construction of the cloud.

Corp Soft told TAdviser that some of the allegations on the part of the Cloud4Y are not true. For example, information about the transition of personnel: "Most of the highly qualified employees remained in CorpSoft24, and in addition to Fokin Nikolai, only one engineering employee moved to the new Cloud4Y," the company says. Information about the transition of customers is also called incorrect in Corp Soft. Only 27 customers have moved to the new Cloud4Y, according to the company. Most of the clients, including large ones, such as 1C-Bitrix, remained in CorpSoft24. According to the company, the number of its main SMBs and large customers is more than 200 companies.

Regarding the creation of a Cloud4Y cloud based on a "more advanced platform," Corp Soft said that according to their information, the new Cloud4Y cannot have one.

First, the newly built new Cloud4Y cloud runs on cheaper non-Hi-End hardware that makes no sense to compare with CorpSoft24 IT hardware. Secondly, all technical competence, including the technical director, remained at Corp Soft. Today CorpSoft24 it still has a highly reliable infrastructure based on the equipment of well-known vendors, such as: IBM, NEC, HP, Cisco, Extreme, as well as a high-reliability optical ring. Our large network of data centers clearly shows this, the company says.

The similar equipment and network of data centers, according to the representative "Corp Soft", new Cloud4Y has no though this information still is present at the website Cloud4Y and "misleads visitors of the website". In addition, licenses belonging to Corp Soft Cloud4Y posted on the website, among them: licenses of the FSB, FSTEC, certificate of compliance with ISO/IEC 27001 security requirements, and so on, which "once again misleads visitors to the site," according to Corp Soft.

To the statements of Corp Soft, the Cloud4Y replied that in fact, together with Cloud4Y, about 65% of top managers, 40% of engineers, including the IT architect, 50% of sellers, including the sales director, left as a percentage of the cloud direction: "Basically the most experienced, really making up the backbone of the team. If we take into account everyone, then exactly 50% of the employees who were responsible for the clouds left with Cloud4Y. At the same time, the total number of employees who left Corp Soft is even more. It is significant that 100% of the employees of the marketing department, including marketing director Yevgeny Bessonov, left Corp Soft.

Commentary on equipment is difficult to comment on without criticism. I would like to ask one logical question: "How can colleagues from Corp Soft know about the level of equipment we use?" On the contrary, we know all the technical components of the remaining cloud of colleagues. The IT sector is moving forward with leaps and bounds, we really built an updated cloud with higher technical characteristics on modern Hi-End equipment: IBM, HP, NetApp, Juniper, Cisco, VipNet, etc. And, of course, took into account our many years of experience. Many customers who come, or moved earlier to Cloud4Y, note the increased speed of the infrastructure, "says Artem Goncharenko from Cloud4Y.

Goncharenko added that if we touch upon the work on mutual adjustment of companies' sites, then, of course, there are difficulties in both companies: "We have developed more than one version of the cloud4y.ru site, filled it with a fairly large number of years and, of course, both companies take a fairly large amount of time to make changes. According to my information, at the moment both companies, Corp Soft and Cloud4Y, have mainly changed the information on their sites to the correct one. "

The Cloud4Y also noted that as of March, taking into account customers who switched to the updated cloud, these are Kraft Heinz, Blizzard Entertainment, YEMA GROUP Co., LTD, NET-A-PORTER, Contact Advantage, Viasat, "and many others," including state-owned companies and corporations, their company reached a value of 54% of the maximum workload when working under the old legal entity.

Cloud4Y confirms certificate of compliance with GOST ISO 9001-2011 requirements

The corporate cloud provider Cloud4Y confirmed in the spring of 2015 the certificate of conformity of the quality management system GOST ISO 9001-2011. According to the company, the rules of work according to the ISO 9001 standard are compliance with internationally recognized requirements and world business standards. The implementation of the quality management system allows us to Cloud4Y improve customer service mechanisms, identify new needs and customer satisfaction, as well as establish and achieve performance indicators and goals of the company.

2014

Interview by Nikolai Fokin TAdviser

In September 2014, the company's CEO Nikolai Fokin was interviewed by TAdviser.

New Service - PCI DSS Hosting

In November 2014, Cloud4Y introducedthe PCI DSS hosting cloud service, which ensures the security of bank card data and allows organizations that receive and process bank card data on their website to work with banks directly through the payment interfaces of the bank and the Internet enterprise itself.

The PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is developed by international payment systems Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB and Discover. Cloud4Y has successfully passed PCI DSS payment systems security certification and today the Cloud4Y cloud platform fully complies with PCI DSS security requirements.

This service is in demand by ordinary and online stores, banks, payment gateways, processing centers and other related structures.