MMK Increases Technological Independence in IT
MMK’s Chief IT Specialist, Vadim Feoktistov, took part in a panel discussion at the “Digital Sustainability and Information Security of Russia” forum, which brought together representatives of government agencies, manufacturing, energy, telecom and transport sectors as well as domestic software developers. MMK has long been a platform for comprehensive dialogue and the development of intersectoral expertise on information security issues, as well as for the exchange of experience and views concerning the situation in the IT sector.
Despite the obvious challenges caused by economic sanctions and the departure of foreign IT companies in 2022, MMK was able to maintain the stable and uninterrupted operation of its information services. According to Feoktistov, the Company has developed its own programme and road maps that will guide its step-by-step transition towards technological independence in the IT sphere. Currently, the main obstacle preventing a full-fledged transition to domestic solutions is the lack of a single ERP platform in the local market that meets all the requirements of a large industrial company.
“Our ERP system, that provides for the automation of all our business processes, operates on the basis of a foreign solution. This is a large-scale platform that integrates 15 MMK Group companies and more than 10,000 users. It is impossible to switch to a new platform instantly, so our main goal for now is to keep the system running smoothy and to transition gradually to a domestic platform that meets our needs as much as possible,” MMK’s Chief IT Specialist explained.
In the context of software solutions for manufacturing execution systems, MMK is already prepared to switch to a fully domestic solution that was chosen in view of the maximum fault tolerance. In the near future, the Company will begin to prepare for a gradual transition to a new Astra Linux operating system that will first be installed on 400 workstations.
“Concerning information security, we see that domestic solutions are at an advanced stage, and we have already successfully switched to one of them. When it comes to hardware, the situation is more complicated here than with software. We continue to discuss this issue; for now, there is no single solution on the market,” said Vadim Feoktistov.
The panellists noted that open communication between developers and consumers of engineering software is key to ensuring a quick and effective transition to digital technological leadership, which they said must be achieved in the coming years.