| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Microsoft to Launch Research, Production Center in Siberian Tomsk
Microsoft intends to launch a big production and service center in Siberian city of Tomsk. The project budget is estimated at between $40 million and $50 million. The regional projects of this kind have formed a trend for IT companies already, as the costs for infrastructure and personnel in the regions are 50 percent below than in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
It was Vladimir Klyuev from administrative authorities of Tomsk that told reporters about the plans of Microsoft. According to Klyuev, Microsoft is studying the possibility of opening a data center, a call center and a research and development center in Tomsk. Tomsk authorities and Microsoft reached the respective agreement in late September, when Microsoft Rus CEO Birger Sten visited the region. The bureaucrat gave no details about the project dates or its budget.
Microsoft Rus couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday. “We are really interested in Siberia. In particular, an innovation center has been set up under the joint project with Tomsk Polytechnic University,” a top-ranked official of Microsoft said, specifying, however, that speaking about creation of a research center and production facilities would be premature.
The potential establishment of a service and production center in Tomsk is Microsoft’s second large-scale infrastructural project in Siberia that has been announced in the last three weeks. In late November, Microsoft and the Irkutsk region inked an agreement to set up a data-center for 100,000 servers. The market players estimated the budget of that project at $20 million.
But the Tomsk project would be more capital intensive for Microsoft, forecasted LETA President Alexander Chachava. “Creating a powerful data-center will cost $20 million to $30 million, while the whole infrastructure may cost $40 million to $50 million.” The investments are well-justified, Chachava said, explaining that Microsoft will pay 50 percent to 60 percent less for maintaining the infrastructure in Tomsk than in Moscow or St. Petersburg.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 13, 2007
|
|
|
