August 4, 2015 at 16:09Tighter measures to regulate Runet have a positive impact on the business of the company "Safe Internet"
In Russia, measures to regulate the Internet are being tightened. However, for companies such as Vitaliy Sattarov ’s Safe Internet , this situation is only beneficial. At the end of last year, eight medical students who were members of the ISIS extremist organization were calculated in the Stavropol Territory. Propaganda was carried out using videos, special sites and communities on social networks. The videos and ISIS itself are listed on federal lists of extremist materials and banned in Russia.
Since July 2012, the company has been a resident of the Skolkovo IT cluster . In 2014, the revenue of Safe Internet, according to Sattarov, exceeded 30 million rubles. The State Duma has adopted a series of laws on filtering Internet traffic. The number of company orders continues to grow.
In 2007, programmers Vitaly Sattarov and his partner Alexei Voronin left Rambler , raised several hundred thousand dollars and opened the Safe Internet company. “We used to work with big data and understood that this is a promising area. It became clear that you need to move in telecom. There are huge amounts of data and many tasks that need to be addressed, ”recalls Sattarov.
The company has developed its own DPI platform xTerrica. DPI(from the English. Deep packet inspection) is a high-speed technology for accumulating statistical data, checking and filtering network packets by their contents. According to Sattarov, in Russia there are almost no competitors who could analyze traffic at such speeds. “And if they do, then another two years it will take them to negotiate with large operators,” adds the entrepreneur.
In 2010, a client appeared (the name of the company was not disclosed), on which it was possible to check the operability of the new system. Internet traffic from all employees converged at one point. The speed and amount of data was perfect for the test. Sattarov says that at that time they sought access to such companies at conferences, through acquaintances: "I was surprised then how easy it is to go anywhere from the street."
The most difficult task was to reach large telecom operators. Sattarov did not have experience with similar companies and could not get a contract. Therefore, he began to offer cooperation to regional Internet providers almost for nothing.
“If we knew in 2007 how difficult it would be, then maybe we would not have been doing it,” he admits.
For several years, "Safe Internet" was content with small orders. Then the company managed to attract an investor to continue development. Seed Investment Fund of the Russian Venture Company ( FPI RVK) between 2010 and 2011, he invested about $ 1 million (at the exchange rate of that time) in the company in exchange for a 26% stake. “Information security is now in trend, our project“ Internet Security ”is a unique Russian development in this area. Moreover, the solutions are much more efficient and cheaper than foreign analogues, ”the representative of FPV RVK believes.
“They do not particularly interfere in our work, but it has become easier for us to participate in the negotiations. We became their portfolio company, and not just a startup, ”Sattarov notes.
In 2012, deputies adopted the law on the black list of sites. Since the company’s system could analyze traffic, it could filter it, the developers reasoned. Soon it was possible to sign the first major contract - with MGTS , a subsidiary of MTS. Since 2011, MGTS has been responsible for filtering traffic in schools. “First, we blocked sites by lists that were sent to us,” says Vadim Dolgov, who led the MGTS project for filtering the Internet in schools. But in 2012, the operator announced a competition to develop a filtration system for schools.
According to Dolgov, about eight companies participated in the competition, including major Russian integrators - Cisco and Huawei . The winner was Safe Internet. “Their base copes better with sites on the Russian Internet, and the system of the same Huawei is more adapted to foreign resources,” Dolgov explains. According to him, the traffic filtering system, which is now installed at MGTS, is estimated at hundreds of millions of rubles.
In 2014, Safe Internet began working with all Moscow schools - these are 4,000 institutions. In other regions, competitors are still working. About 30,000 schools in the regions are provided by Rostelecom with the Internet. “We hold contests at the level of our macro-regional branches, and the competition is quite high,” said Alexander Karpuzikov , head of Rostelecom's product and solution development department . There is no “safe Internet” among contractors. “I’ve never heard of such a company,” says Dmitry Vostretsov, CEO of SkyDNS , who won the contest in Buryatia. In any case, her ability to filter traffic at super speeds is not a competitive advantage, since in schools the channel usually does not exceed 10 Gb / s, he adds.
Recently, the company "Safe Internet" launched an English-language site. The company plans to enter foreign markets. But everything is not so simple: without the support of a large operator, nothing will work. “We need to at least make a joint project with a European company, I think we’ll manage in a couple of years, ” Sattarov said in an interview with Forbes.
Since July 2012, the company has been a resident of the Skolkovo IT cluster . In 2014, the revenue of Safe Internet, according to Sattarov, exceeded 30 million rubles. The State Duma has adopted a series of laws on filtering Internet traffic. The number of company orders continues to grow.
In 2007, programmers Vitaly Sattarov and his partner Alexei Voronin left Rambler , raised several hundred thousand dollars and opened the Safe Internet company. “We used to work with big data and understood that this is a promising area. It became clear that you need to move in telecom. There are huge amounts of data and many tasks that need to be addressed, ”recalls Sattarov.
The company has developed its own DPI platform xTerrica. DPI(from the English. Deep packet inspection) is a high-speed technology for accumulating statistical data, checking and filtering network packets by their contents. According to Sattarov, in Russia there are almost no competitors who could analyze traffic at such speeds. “And if they do, then another two years it will take them to negotiate with large operators,” adds the entrepreneur.
In 2010, a client appeared (the name of the company was not disclosed), on which it was possible to check the operability of the new system. Internet traffic from all employees converged at one point. The speed and amount of data was perfect for the test. Sattarov says that at that time they sought access to such companies at conferences, through acquaintances: "I was surprised then how easy it is to go anywhere from the street."
The most difficult task was to reach large telecom operators. Sattarov did not have experience with similar companies and could not get a contract. Therefore, he began to offer cooperation to regional Internet providers almost for nothing.
“If we knew in 2007 how difficult it would be, then maybe we would not have been doing it,” he admits.
For several years, "Safe Internet" was content with small orders. Then the company managed to attract an investor to continue development. Seed Investment Fund of the Russian Venture Company ( FPI RVK) between 2010 and 2011, he invested about $ 1 million (at the exchange rate of that time) in the company in exchange for a 26% stake. “Information security is now in trend, our project“ Internet Security ”is a unique Russian development in this area. Moreover, the solutions are much more efficient and cheaper than foreign analogues, ”the representative of FPV RVK believes.
“They do not particularly interfere in our work, but it has become easier for us to participate in the negotiations. We became their portfolio company, and not just a startup, ”Sattarov notes.
In 2012, deputies adopted the law on the black list of sites. Since the company’s system could analyze traffic, it could filter it, the developers reasoned. Soon it was possible to sign the first major contract - with MGTS , a subsidiary of MTS. Since 2011, MGTS has been responsible for filtering traffic in schools. “First, we blocked sites by lists that were sent to us,” says Vadim Dolgov, who led the MGTS project for filtering the Internet in schools. But in 2012, the operator announced a competition to develop a filtration system for schools.
According to Dolgov, about eight companies participated in the competition, including major Russian integrators - Cisco and Huawei . The winner was Safe Internet. “Their base copes better with sites on the Russian Internet, and the system of the same Huawei is more adapted to foreign resources,” Dolgov explains. According to him, the traffic filtering system, which is now installed at MGTS, is estimated at hundreds of millions of rubles.
In 2014, Safe Internet began working with all Moscow schools - these are 4,000 institutions. In other regions, competitors are still working. About 30,000 schools in the regions are provided by Rostelecom with the Internet. “We hold contests at the level of our macro-regional branches, and the competition is quite high,” said Alexander Karpuzikov , head of Rostelecom's product and solution development department . There is no “safe Internet” among contractors. “I’ve never heard of such a company,” says Dmitry Vostretsov, CEO of SkyDNS , who won the contest in Buryatia. In any case, her ability to filter traffic at super speeds is not a competitive advantage, since in schools the channel usually does not exceed 10 Gb / s, he adds.
Recently, the company "Safe Internet" launched an English-language site. The company plans to enter foreign markets. But everything is not so simple: without the support of a large operator, nothing will work. “We need to at least make a joint project with a European company, I think we’ll manage in a couple of years, ” Sattarov said in an interview with Forbes.