T1: Software Production Platform

2024

Investing 2.36 billion rubles in the development of the platform by the holding "T1"

In July 2024, the T1 holding announced the investment of 2.36 billion rubles in the ravzity of the Sphere platform, designed to manage the software development process. This project is part of the New System-Wide Software Roadmap approved by the Government Commission for Digital Development.

As noted by CNews, the Sphere platform is designed to replace a number of foreign products, such as Jira, Confluence, Gitlab and others, in the field of software development management. The product is being developed by the T1 division - the T1-Digital company. The full readiness of the platform is expected to be achieved by 2025, when it reaches the maximum possible level of technological readiness.

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The creation of a domestic software development management complex is aimed at increasing the maturity of IT processes in Russian business. This is planned to be achieved through import substitution, centralization and increased transparency of software process management, optimization of resource use and cost reduction.

The Sphere platform will include tools to automate software development and delivery, manage releases, operations and testing. The functionality of the solution will provide end-to-end development of technological products thanks to a microservice architecture, dynamic scaling and a high level of information security.

Robert Aksenov, product director of the Sphere platform, said that at the first stage, a set of services was formed to ensure the safe and fast operation of the distributed team. Some of them have replaced popular market solutions, for example, Jira, Confluence, GitLab, Nexus and Service Manager, he said.

One of the first major implementations of the Sphere platform was a project at VTB Bank. Thanks to this, it was possible to decommission about 20 foreign systems of various vendors. The platform is used on a daily basis by almost 20 thousand bank employees. According to VTB estimates, the new platform can increase the performance of development and support teams by at least 30%.^[1]

Integration with PT BlackBox and PT Application Inspector

PT Application Inspector Application Code Security Analysis System and PT BlackBox Dynamic Web Resource Testing Scanner are integrated with the Sphere Platform. Positive Technologies reported this on June 18, 2024. Read more here.

2023

Use with Botsman Click

The multi-product Russian vendor NOTA (T1 Holding) and the developer of cloud solutions based on kubernetesSMART technologies SOFT technology announced cooperation. The company T1 announced this on November 28, 2023.

Through the joint use of solutions from IT companies - Sphere and Botsman Click platforms - businesses have access to reliable and scalable tools for developing, testing and operating software in the cloud.

The use of IT products from NOTA (T1 Holding) and SMART technologies SOFT will expand the possibilities for developing new generation solutions. Thus, Botsman Click users will be able to install Sphere platform components from the application catalog and automatically install them on fault-tolerant and high-performance clusters. This will allow companies to simplify the initial configuration of the infrastructure, minimize risks and costs, as well as focus on strategic tasks, for example, the development of IT projects.

We created the Sphere platform as a universal tool from developers and for developers, which can significantly simplify and speed up the process of creating innovations. Cooperation with SMARTtechnologies SOFT is another step towards expanding the capabilities of our solution. Using the functions of the Sphere platform in the cloud will make the service more accessible and enrich the user experience, - said Maxim Kutuzov, commercial director of the Sphere platform.

Combining the capabilities of the Botsman Click and Sphere platforms will allow companies to use corporate applications, significantly reducing the cost of managing, maintaining and maintaining computing complexes. The joint application of the two solutions will not only simplify the work of IT teams, but also help the business reduce software costs, "said Igor Sorokin, Sales Director of SMART Technologies SOFT.

Add services to monitor and analyze business processes

The company T1 on May 10, 2023 presented services for monitoring and analyzing business processes within the framework of the Sphere platform.

It includes tools based on Process Mining and Process Discovery technologies: Sphere Process Intelligence, Sphere User Activity Analysis, Sphere Time Accounting and Sphere Workstation Monitoring.

So, with the help of Sphere. Intelligent process analysis (Process Mining class solution) it is possible to visualize and analyze business processes based on the digital trace of operations unloaded from IT business management systems. This approach is much more effective than manual audit: it can reduce the time and eliminate errors in processes, reduce the burden on performers, and also identifies the potential for optimization in any mass processes, such as purchases, sales, logistics, and HR.

SphereUser activity analysis works on the basis of Process Discovery technology. The solution sees repeated actions in the work of a computer user and combines them into business operations. Activities are built into business processes that are also subject to analysis and optimization to reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction, and improve employee productivity. Often, the technology is used to standardize the labor costs of "white collars," with its help it is convenient to identify the points of application of robotization of processes (RPA).

AreasTime and attendance is used to monitor the working time of personnel. With it, the business can track the activities of both individual employees and entire divisions of tens of thousands of people, as well as analyze the speed and quality of tasks. The tool is able to become the basis for reasoned personnel decisions.

Sfera's solution. Workstation monitoring aggregates more than 400 technical metrics of the hardware and software complex, including the performance of workstations, applications and networks. Thus, the company can quickly identify and eliminate infrastructure problems, reduce IT support costs and improve the user experience of employees.

Tools can be used individually, but an integrated approach has a synergistic effect. Many analytical views, combined into a single portfolio of solutions, provide a more complete and reliable picture of what is happening. By looking at each business process from different points of view, analysts, business process owners, change and digital transformation consultants can find hidden patterns and make better decisions aimed at improving the company's performance.

By to data Gartner 2025, 80% of companies that want to reduce costs and increase process efficiency will use Process Mining in at least 10% of business operations. Russia Technology is also gaining momentum in popularity. Previously, domestic companies solved a set of such problems using a whole stack of tools from Western vendors, but with their departure, the business was in a difficult position. We have developed the necessary functionality in the Sphere platform, our products can be installed in the internal IT perimeter of the customer, which increases the security of information. This approach is extremely important for companies working with sensitive data, commercial state and secret, "said the Maxim Kutuzov commercial director. T1 Digital (T1 Digital)

2022

IT Platform of the Year

On December 1, 2022, T1 Consulting announced that the Sphere software production platform was recognized as the IT platform of the year. The award was held as part of the TAdviser IT PRIZE 2022, the national IT award in the corporate sector.

"Sphere" is a synthesis of the framework and production platform, which allows you to effectively organize and synchronize the activities of numerous teams and automate the entire development cycle. The December 2022 platform includes more than 40 IT4IT class tools to manage software development, testing, operation, as well as engineering tools for working with source code and for monitoring workstations and business processes. All of them are integrated with each other and build a seamless end-to-end process of software production management at all stages of the life cycle, and also allow you to replace the products of such vendors as Atlassian, Microfocus, Microsoft Azure, JetBrains, Informatica and others.

In addition, the methodology - part of the Sphere platform - allows you to regulate the effective organization of software development processes, which covers 8 main layers: support processes, management of people, streams and teams, development management, product and service management, engineering practices, culture and values ​ ​ and end-to-end monitoring at all stages of development.

The company began developing the production platform in 2021. This became part of the corporate strategy for converting expertise accumulated over 20 years of work on client projects into own software. Sphere is one of five software products already launched on the market. The T1 portfolio also includes the T1 Watchman monitoring system, specialized software for T1 Collection, T1 CRM, T1 EasyTax banks. When creating them, the elements of the efficient development pipeline were actively used, which were subsequently combined by the "Sphere."

After leaving the domestic market of foreign vendors, Russian companies faced the need to replace software solutions. The task is especially acute in the case of critical IT systems left without important updates and support necessary for their correct operation, - commented Maxim Kutuzov, commercial director of the Sphere platform. - The platform created by the T1 Group team in a short time allows you to close these calls, namely, to launch an end-to-end seamless process of developing software products and import substitution of most solutions of vendors who left Russia. It is an integrated, technologically independent tool for building IT products backed by the right methodology.

Announcement of the Sphere software production platform

On June 21, 2022, Russian integrator and developer T1 Consulting presented the Sphere production platform, which provides a full cycle of technological products. The solution will allow a business from any industry to launch IT factories and carry out a rapid digital transformation of the organization.

"T1 Consulting" presented the platform for the production of software "Sphere." Photo: etu.ru.

As reported, the Sphere software production platform (from SFERA - Scaled Framework for Enterprise Resilience and Agility) is an exhaustive set of tools that allows you to close all the needs of developers, testers, service managers and company managers. They include, among other things, tools for organizing teams, managing work, service and client applications, a set of DevOps tools.

Included with the platform is a framework - a methodological complex for organizing technological production. With its help, you can step by step - from forming commands to accompanying the release of the finished solution into commercial operation - build an effective process for creating a product.

The peculiarity of the "Sphere" is a set of 3D dashboards that helps to control all processes of creating a technological product. Top-level monitoring can be detailed before analyzing the actions of each team and each stream.

The "sphere" is intended primarily for enterprise segment companies, but can also be used by a small business in scale or in opensource communities that need professional development tools.

According to analysts, the number of IT specialists in Russia over the next ten years will exceed 2 million people. To work effectively, they need high-quality tools. T1 Consulting has embodied expertise in a product to enable business to use ready-made solutions without spending time and resources on finding their own through trial and error. According to our estimate, more than 200 thousand people may become users of the Sphere in the next 5-10 years. noted Yuri Matsygin, director of BYU "Own Products" T1 Consulting

As of June 2022, with the help of tools and methodologies created with our participation, more than 20 thousand IT specialists work at the same time. Based on the experience of our own development, we have formed a complex of more than 40 tools - all of which are necessary in the production of the product. At the same time, some of the platform modules were developed independently. For example, we offer our own system for depersonalizing personal data, which will allow businesses to work according to regulatory rules. specified Pavel Geraskin, architect of the Sphere production platform

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