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can be viewed like nuclear weapons: “Too powerful to ever be used” or, for that matter, to even be mentioned directly in negotiations over this or that disagreement between countries,” says Smith. “Rather, such weapons are best left in the background, with everyone fully understanding that they exist and that, by existing, they limit the scope of escalation of disagreements in international relations.”
2.7 How Russian customers of Western IT equipment prepare for potential sanctions
As Western powers could restrict supplies of IT equipment and support as part of potential sanctions against Russia, Sber is preparing for all scenarios. Last week, as reported by Kommersant, the state-controlled financial giant conducted technical exercises simulating the interruption of technical support from Microsoft, Nvidia, SAP, VMware and other companies, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN).
In a bid to gain more autonomy from international suppliers, Sber is also planning to purchase servers and data storage systems at a large scale, the business daily heard from unnamed sources.
Sber already showed interest in making its IT infrastructure less dependent upon American companies last year. In October, the bank’s top managers reportedly held a meeting with the heads of Russian electronics providers and IT integrators, reported Kommersant. They discussed potential switch to Russian computing technology. Particular attention was paid to processors involved in AI operations.
Sber has developed one of Russia’s most powerful supercomputers in Russia, Christofari, which runs on Nvidia equipment. According to Kommersant, Sber considers dealing with Module, a Russian provider of processor cores, as a potential supplier.
Sber and other potentially concerned Russian companies declined to comment on the matter.
The authorities are also concerned about possible sanctions in the technology field. They are currently working out possible scenarios should supplies of microelectronics to Russia were restricted or Russian companies lost access to support services from foreign suppliers.
“Due to the deterioration of the international situation, we’re no longer just talking about the need for import substitution, but about how much time remains for this,” emphasizes Renat Lashin, executive director at the ‘Domestic Soft’ association. The related risks can be mitigated by testing the infrastructure, conducting exercises, checking response scenarios and creating backup mechanisms based on domestic equipment, he told Kommersant.
17 RUSSIA Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com