Acronis to invest $10 mln in Russia Lab
MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax) - Acronis, a Russian data backup software developer, will invest $10 million in its Acronis Lab development center in Russia, Sergei Belousov, the company's CEO, told the press in Moscow.
"Acronis Lab is necessary, first and foremost, to increase the efficiency of existing technology and create breakthrough innovative solutions," Belousov said. "Without this it is impossible to survive on the IT market."
Major companies that allocate billions to research can only compete through technology, he said. Young companies need more attention to protect their intellectual property especially.
"American companies are under pressure on the American market from companies in other countries and they are fighting with them, mostly, with patent lawsuits," Belousov said. For example, Acronis is in court with Symantec, which filed an unfounded lawsuit with complaints against interface graphics. Acronis said the company product interface does not have any of the elements Symantec is disputing. Nevertheless, the lawsuit exists and we need to deal with it," he said.
One area that Acronis Lab will work on is patenting and intellectual property protection.
The center's research work will be aimed at fast copying (and restoring) a large volume of data and reserve copying of data onto the cloud. Acronis Lab will also carry out competitive analysis - testing its own products and rival company products to figure out the weak and strong links and their development.
There will be around ten specialists at Acronis Lab to begin with. That number should soon increase to 30 people. The company requires highly qualified programmers, the cost for which will be around $200,000 per year.
Russia has a great pool of programmers, comparable to the United States. Acronis Lab will be built in Russia as there are many Acronis engineers there.
