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IBM sees no risks to Russian business from localization trends

Bob Kalka said it’s exactly the trend of keeping data stored nationally that was behind the company’s recent global expansion

SOCHI, September 30. /TASS/. IBM does not see risks to its Russian business from the trends in the industry to localize and laws adopted in Russia forcing companies to store data nationally, IBM Security Unit Vice President Bob Kalka told TASS in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the Sochi International Investment Forum.

"I don’t," Kalka said in response to the respective question. "The world of cyber security right now is focused on collaborating across boundaries. There is a clear realization right now that not openly sharing what I can see is a mistake," he added.

Bob Kalka said it’s exactly the trend of keeping data stored nationally that was behind the company’s recent global expansion. "We get a lot more demands which say ‘we’d like to use your technology, but we would like our data to stay locally resident’, so we just announced two weeks ago that we’re opening 10 new security centers around the globe, and that is one of the major reasons why," Kalka said.

Russia’s "Yarovaya Package"

According to Kalka, IBM is ready to work with Russia’s anti-terrorist bills also known as the "Yarovaya Package" as it is operating within any existing legal framework.

"IBM is clearly going to operate within the parameters of any laws that exist", Kalka said when asked about the Yarovaya Package.

The package of anti-terrorist bills (the so-called "Yarovaya Package") provides that from July 1, 2018, telecommunications operators are obliged to store data about reception, transmission, delivery and processing of voice and text messages, images, sounds and video for three years.

The "heaviest" files - the content of messages, images, sounds and video - must be stored by operators for six months. They are obliged to provide all this information on-demand to security services.

In addition to telecommunication operators, the law also obliges Internet companies to store certain data. In particular, they will be required to store information about data transmission facts and data about users for one year.

IBM unlikely to leave Russian market

Director General for IBM Russia & CIS Andrey Filatov says it is very unlikely that the company may be asked to leave the Russian market.

"Very unlikely", Filatov said in response to a question on whether he sees the risk the company might be asked to make way for Russian competitors. "So far what we observe from the interest of the large enterprises and the country, is that they have a lot of interest in our technologies, and you cannot replicate the technologies that are developing at a very fast pace. That is why collaboration is so important, because if you try to do it on your own, you will be behind and you will be exposed," Filatov said. "So what we observe from the interest, and the interest on the level of the Russian authorities, we do not see any negative developments there," he added.