Lanit-Tercom – 15 Successful Years in the International IT Market

The leading software and hardware developer Lanit-Tercom is celebrating 15 productive years in the Russian and international IT market as part of the LANIT Group.

A new company Lanit-Tercom CJSC was established in 1998 as part of the LANIT Holding – the largest systems integrator in Russia. The core of the new company’s team was a group of employees of the State Unitary Enterprise Terkom founded by Professor Andrey Terekhov in 1991. SUE Tercom was still in business, but it focused on military orders, while Lanit-Tercom CJSC worked on orders developing software in many different areas. In addition to developing software and hardware for manufacturers, the company carried out projects for the banking segment, healthcare, mobile technologies, and computer vision for Russian and foreign clients; it also worked on a number of large military projects. In the years of successful growth and new project implementation, Lanit-Tercom became one of the leaders of the information technology cluster, achieved significant results and became one of the most competitive leading software and hardware manufacturers.

Since the very founding of Lanit-Tercom, its CEO A. N. Terekhov has been pursuing the university traditions of a knowledge-intensive industry. Sophisticated, knowledge-intensive projects are the trademark of the company. “The company is the leader in such areas as reengineering, hardware and software development for built-in real-time systems, CAD development for chip and software design, and computer stereo vision precisely because its operations are based on many years of research and development,” says Mr. Terekhov. When the national IT industry was in its infancy many companies emphasised the cheapness of Russian labor, but this advantage quickly melted away. “I decided to concentrate on knowledge-intensive IT development since the very beginning, our slogan is still ‘smart software solutions’,” adds the company leader.

Lanit-Tercom is not simply a successful business; it is also a talent factory for young IT professionals. The company annually invites talented students from the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics of St Petersburg State University to participate in real projects. The students have an opportunity to try out their theoretical knowledge in action, to get into the swing of working in a team, to have their first hands-on experience, which is one of the most important steps to becoming a professional. “Lanit-Tercom owes much of its success to its training and professional development programmes. The company has been providing training and internship services to St. Petersburg State University practically since its founding. The fall and spring student projects, the ‘Summer School’ offer the students a unique opportunity to acquire professional experience and create a huge human resource base of potential employees for the company,” explains professor Terekhov.

It is not possible for a Russian IT company to grow independently of the industry. That is why Lanit-Tercom is actively involved in advancement and support of the national IT industry. Andrey Terekhov is one of the founders of the Software Development Association RUSSOFT. The Association works on promoting the interests of IT companies at the government level on such issues as improving the tax climate, obtaining government support, and upgrading the educational system for IT professionals.

In summing up the 15-year-old history of growth of Lanit-Tercom as part of the LANIT Group, several factors of success of a Russian IT company in a local and global market can be highlighted. The main ones are: solution of sophisticated, knowledge-intensive problems, training of IT professionals, and a pro-active attitude to the growth of the information technology industry.