Page 6 - bne_Tech_06_2020

Leaders
June 2020 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Major companies compete for Russia's state service platform
Russia's state-run lenders Sberbank and VTB,
as well as telco Rostelecom and postal operator Russian Post, are competing for the right to create a platform for state services that could annually bring in several dozen billions of roubles.
Previously Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, was solely expected to take on the task of building the platform, informally referred to as "Gostekh," an acronym for the Russian words "state" and "technology."
However, most recently VTB, Rostelecom and Russian Post stepped in, offering their own expertise and the cloud platform Gosoblako, which has already been under development, Russian daily Kommersant reported.
The platform is expected to be used for all state services provided to Russian citizens, while it will also host information services of all state agencies.
According to Kommersant, the heads of VTB, Rostelecom and Russian Post recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who is allegedly interested in a project of that kind, calling on him to consider their joint project as an alternative to Sberbank's Gostech.
Sberbank revealed bits of its vision of the platform in April, saying that it could be used for all services provided by various state agencies to the population, from renting state property to issuing digital health insurance. At a later stage, all state agencies' IT systems could be hosted on the platform.
VTB, Rostelecom and Russian Post said that they generally agree with this approach, but it should not be solely implemented by Sberbank, as they already have a similar platform under development.
The three companies' platform is called Gosoblako – a Russian acronym for the words "state" and "cloud" – and its general concept was formulated in September 2019.
Under an original plan, state agencies were already supposed to start using the platform this year. The companies behind the project stressed that the platform should be based on open code, allowing access to a large number of developers, with no copyrighted foreign software used.
In their recent address to Mishustin, VTB, Rostelecom and Russian Post suggested that
a working group featuring representatives from various state agencies be formed to discuss the specifics of the platform.
Gosoblako has been already included in a national project for digitalisation of the economy. As part of the national project, the platform will require RUB47.6bn ($616mn) in funding until the end of 2024, of which RUB6.5bn ($84mn) will come from the state budget.
Andrey Sholokhov, director for national project development at the software firm Softline, was quoted by Kommersant as saying that the proposal from VTB, Rostelecom and Russian Post had the advantage of being open to private companies
and individuals.