IT-developers to launch Russia-exclusive cloud services
IT-developers have begun creation of cloud services operating in Russia – and inaccessible to foreigners
May 29, 2014
Two companies, SAP and Rostelecom, have signed a memo in which they agree to cooperate and create cloud services for the Russian market. They plan to create infrastructure from the ground up and adopt a model to provide SAP enterprise cloud services to clients through Rostelecom’s data center. Representatives of the companies expressed hoped that users would be able to give their employees high mobility and ensure data security at the same time. The important part here is that all data passed through the cloud service will be physically located in Russia – this is a recent requirement, which stems out of the NSA snooping scandal. It was recently made public that Russia’s Telecom Ministry has drawn up a bill with amendments to legislation on processing data, in which it states that information of Russian users must be stored on Russian servers.
Last summer, after news broke of American surveillance agencies keeping tabs on pretty much everyone, Russia was among the first countries to propose a drastic solution – force companies handling data of its citizens to do it on the servers located within the confines of the national borders of the Russian Federation. Since then similar ideas were voiced by officials of other countries, such as Brazil and Germany. Moreover, earlier this year Senator Maxim Kavdjaradze of the Federation Council said that Russia needed to create its own network which would be inaccessible to citizens of the United States and the European Union. According to the official, this is necessary to combat "information leaks." Quote "Our Prime Minister uses Facebook and Twitter, everyone is using social networks these days, saying where they were and where they’re going. But someone has servers which aggregate this information." End quote
In any case, the bill making it mandatory for foreign companies to store information pertaining to Russian users on servers within Russia was adopted by the State Duma. Some started saying that this may force internet giants like Google or Skype out of Russia – but time will tell if they choose to comply or simply take their business elsewhere.
Speaking of Google, the company recently indicated that it was willing to offer hardware and software allowing wireless internet access to small and medium businesses at significantly discounted prices. There is a certain cost, however – these businesses would have to give Google information on users who connect to their networks. Tech blog The Information reported that "The planned offering, which could be unveiled as soon as this summer, is aimed at millions of businesses such as restaurants, doctors’ offices and gyms—and possibly even public institutions like libraries—in the U.S. and abroad." Clients would be able to login in through their Google accounts, which would give the company insight into the habits of its users, allowing to gather more information and thus target ads more effectively. Moreover, Google would share some of the clients’ information with business owners so they too would be able to capitalize on their habits.
Last summer, after news broke of American surveillance agencies keeping tabs on pretty much everyone, Russia was among the first countries to propose a drastic solution – force companies handling data of its citizens to do it on the servers located within the confines of the national borders of the Russian Federation. Since then similar ideas were voiced by officials of other countries, such as Brazil and Germany. Moreover, earlier this year Senator Maxim Kavdjaradze of the Federation Council said that Russia needed to create its own network which would be inaccessible to citizens of the United States and the European Union. According to the official, this is necessary to combat "information leaks." Quote "Our Prime Minister uses Facebook and Twitter, everyone is using social networks these days, saying where they were and where they’re going. But someone has servers which aggregate this information." End quote
In any case, the bill making it mandatory for foreign companies to store information pertaining to Russian users on servers within Russia was adopted by the State Duma. Some started saying that this may force internet giants like Google or Skype out of Russia – but time will tell if they choose to comply or simply take their business elsewhere.
Speaking of Google, the company recently indicated that it was willing to offer hardware and software allowing wireless internet access to small and medium businesses at significantly discounted prices. There is a certain cost, however – these businesses would have to give Google information on users who connect to their networks. Tech blog The Information reported that "The planned offering, which could be unveiled as soon as this summer, is aimed at millions of businesses such as restaurants, doctors’ offices and gyms—and possibly even public institutions like libraries—in the U.S. and abroad." Clients would be able to login in through their Google accounts, which would give the company insight into the habits of its users, allowing to gather more information and thus target ads more effectively. Moreover, Google would share some of the clients’ information with business owners so they too would be able to capitalize on their habits.