Server on loan – Newspaper Kommersant No. 4 (7449) dated 01/12/2023
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Telecom operators have arranged deliveries of telecom and IT equipment to Russia, including servers, computers, software, and are beginning to lease it to corporate customers with the possibility of subsequent purchase. Rostelecom already offers such services and is preparing to launch MTS. Kommersant’s sources believe that other participants may also enter the segment. Before the sanctions, equipment rental was not profitable due to free and competitive access to its purchases from foreign vendors, but against the backdrop of difficult supplies, it will be in demand, experts say.
MTS has launched a service for renting telecom and IT equipment with a subsequent possibility of repurchase, Kommersant was told in the company. The service will be focused on large federal and regional businesses, as well as government agencies. Among the equipment offered by MTS are servers, data storage systems (DSS), computers, telephones, software (software), as well as other telecom equipment, including, for example, communication systems based on wireless broadband access (BSBA). The company clarified that we are talking about new domestic and foreign equipment, subject to “fulfillment of warranty conditions by the vendor and uninterrupted supplies to the Russian Federation.”
Since the beginning of the military operation in Ukraine, most foreign manufacturers of computer equipment (Dell, HP, Nvidia, etc.) and telecom equipment (Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei, ZTE) have stopped deliveries to Russia, and operators feared a shortage and subsequent degradation of communication services (see . “Kommersant” dated March 28, 2022). But after the legalization of parallel imports in the country, the situation changed. Already in July, the head of MegaFon, Khachatur Pombukhchan, in an interview with Kommersant, argued that “there is equipment, it is available.” The fact that parallel imports make it possible to “ensure the availability of equipment for users,” Maksut Shadayev, head of the Ministry of Digital Development, assured in November.
In 2022, thanks to parallel imports, it was possible to arrange the import of corporate-class computing equipment to Russia in a number of segments, “there are difficulties only with expensive high-performance servers,” says Kommersant’s interlocutor in the electronics market. According to the CEO of the 3data data center operator Ilya Khal, thanks to parallel imports, there really are no problems with the purchase of enterprise-class equipment.
Kommersant’s source in the telecommunications market adds that all telecom operators have managed to establish stable supplies, so “in the near future, MTS competitors may also launch equipment rental services.” Until now, operators have not extended this business to large specialized equipment, although all major providers, including Rostelecom, VimpelCom, have the service of leasing a limited range of consumer devices (routers, modems, speakers, set-top boxes), MegaFon and Tele2.
Rostelecom noted that they are already offering corporate clients a “service model”, when a turnkey operator and at its own expense creates a digital and IT infrastructure for the customer (including the creation of corporate networks, etc.) and receives payment for the provision of services: “In it there is also an option to buy out rented equipment.” The company did not comment on how the equipment supplies are provided. Tele2 said they did not plan to rent equipment. VimpelCom declined to comment, MegaFon did not respond to the request.
Leasing services may be in demand, admits a representative of the F + tech-Marvel Group of Companies: “The lease scheme is more profitable than leasing, since it is not required to attract a bank and disclose reports to a leasing company.” Previously, a similar service, which became popular with corporate customers, was launched by the American computer manufacturer HPE, F + tech-Marvel noted.
Until 2022, several companies attempted to work on the model of providing equipment as a service (hardware as a service), but projects were curtailed, Igor Dorofeev, president of the Association of Data Center Industry Participants, clarifies: “Before the sanctions, this model was not beneficial to consumers, since it was not labor to acquire equipment in the property or use the clouds. However, in the current conditions, he believes, the project may be successful “if the company has a parallel import channel.”
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