On The Downside

The quality of English language in the country is cited as a drawback. Another weak point of the Russian high-tech industry is the underdevelopment of its infrastructure — the country lacks PCs per capita, roads are not well developed and broadband is still over-priced. In a recent Gartner study that ranks the level of risks in several popular IT outsourcing destinations, Russia’s overall rating is “good” with “poor” infrastructure spoiling the bright picture.

Legislation is viewed as another Achilles’ heel of Russia. Intellectual  Property (IP) protection is what Russia is criticized for. Yet, in terms of legislation much is being done to improve IP protection. Moreover, leading Russian service providers seek stable relationships with customers and, therefore, pay special attention to security.    

Lia Grant works for a leading IT services provider in Russia.

Russian IT Service Providers

Provider	No. of Employees	Revenue in    2006 ($mn)	Customers
EPAM  Systems	2,700	80, 90%    offshore	Reuters, London Stock  Exchange, Colgate-Palmolive,British Telecom, Carefirst, SAP, BEA, Microsoft
Luxoft	2,220	68, 63%    offshore	Boeing, Caterpillar, Citibank, Dell, Deutsche Bank, IBM, UBS, Thomson, T-Mobile, U.S. Department of Energy, Areva
IBA Group	2,000	61, 69%   offshore	IBM, T-Mobile, Goodyear, Coca-Cola, Lupus GmbH, Tupolev PSC, National Bank of Belarus
Exigen Services	1,800	55, 100%    offshore	T-Mobile, CSC, AXA, Universal Music, Prudential, AIG, Deutsche Post
TerraLink	140+	13.8, 31%    offshore	British Petroleum, Chevron/ Agip/British Gas (JV), Bloomberg, Airbus, Renault, Goldman Sachs, Renaissance Capital
Reksoft	350+	11.4, 70%    offshore	Aastra Telecom, Dirol Cadbury, First Hop, Philip Morris, Saxo Bank, T-Systems, Fujitsu, Seimens Computer, SoftBrands   Hospitality, Springer,  Swisscom Mobile
Digital Design	239	9.5, 15%    offshore	Ford Motor, Heineken, IBM, FINN, FANI, Volvo, Cubio
Mirantis	200	9.2, 66%    offshore	Cadence Design Systems, London Bridge, Genesis Microchip Corporation, Virtio, MIPS Technologies, Terrawave Solutions, Veritas
Auriga	270+	8.5, 93%    offshore	IBM, Toshiba, Financial Times, HP, LinuxWorks, BroadVision, Reuters, Motorola
Lanit Tercom	350+	8.5, 90%    offshore	Relativity Technologies, Blue Phoenix, Italtel, International  Intellectual Group
Aplana       Software	200+	8.5, 20%    offshore	Wrigley, P&G, OTIS, GE, Raiffeisen Bank Austria
Artezio	300+	8.2, 79%    offshore	GlaxoSmithKline, Siemens,SwissComMobile, Organon
DataArt	300	7, 100%    offshore	BNP, Spirent, Motorola, E&Y, AIG, Complinet