New IT effort expected to make reliance on imported design software “history”

A new laboratory has opened in Russia in an effort by a consortium of three leading Russian IT firms to develop modern domestic engineering software, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing a source at Russia’s Advanced Research Fund (ARF), the Russian analog of the United States’ DARPA.

The new project, launched back in March, is expected to enable Russia to make current "critical" dependence on imported software history, said Sergei Garbuk, the deputy CEO of the Fund.

According to the source, in addition to ARF the idea is being pushed by a group of three like-minded partners, including Control Systems, Top Systems, and Reksoft, all owned by Russians.

The lab has been set up to develop Russia’s first integrated engineering system as a tool to jointly create and share design software which would rival leading international competitors.

"By December 2016 already, the developers are expected to achieve an interim goal of making a prototype IT system," the ARF top manager said.

According to Mr. Garbuk, of all the design software currently used in Russia, only 12% is of domestic origin.