Denis Romanov — how the transition to domestic software is developing and what is preventing import substitution in key sectors of the economy
In the fall of 2025, a new stage of import substitution began in the field of software and IT infrastructure. At a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the development of his own technologies and production one of the key tasks of the state. Earlier, on September 1, amendments to 187-FZ on the transition of significant critical information infrastructure facilities (CII) to Russian software came into force.
The greatest progress in the transition to domestic infrastructure software is shown by the financial and public sectors, telecommunications.
At the same time, there are also "hidden champions" of import substitution — nuclear energy and the military-industrial complex (MIC). The transition to domestic solutions goes deeper here than in most industries, but rarely gets on the public agenda.
Finally, transport should be mentioned: migration is almost complete in a number of directions.
Learn more about the successes achieved, how they were achieved and what it leads to.
Financial sector: from local initiatives to systemic transformation
Banks began considering switching to a domestic stack after 2014, but for a long time the changes remained spot-on. There were no targets, so the implementation was slow.
The situation changed three years ago. The largest players were the first to massively switch to import—independent operating systems (OS - ALT Linux, Astra Linux, RED OS), virtualization systems, database management systems (DBMS), backup solutions and antiviruses. The success was ensured by regulatory requirements and a high level of competence of the IT teams. The central bank fixed the timing of the transition, and the banks already had personnel familiar with similar technologies.
There were problems too. The main ones are compatibility with internal ones (often legacy ones) systems, especially those written for Windows, and the lack of full-fledged analogues of some highly specialized solutions, including ETL. Certification became a separate topic: not all products had approvals from the Federal Service for Technical and Export Control of Russia (FSTEC).
Despite this, the sector continues to move towards technological independence and will be able to meet most of its needs with a domestic stack in the coming years.
Public sector: mandatory localization and personnel reversal
CII subjects are required to use certified Russian software. The transition has been completed in the main areas: OS, DBMS (Postgres Pro, Linter), mail systems, and infrastructure automation tools. Law enforcement agencies, the Ministry of Finance, and Rosatom are in the lead.
Serious progress is being recorded in healthcare and education: sensitive data is processed there, and the transition to domestic software began a long time ago. In medical institutions, many solutions have already passed full-fledged pilots and are being used in their work. Universities are implementing training programs on Russian platforms. For example, the course "DevOps engineer from scratch", based on an import-independent DevOps pipeline, is available to students from more than 30 universities. This simultaneously solves the problem of localization and training of specialists who will work with Russian software in the industry.
The main difficulties are the scale and fragmentation of the infrastructure, as well as the shortage of personnel in the regions. Previously, Windows stack specialists prevailed, but now there is a growing demand for Linux engineers. In five to seven years, the proportion may change. In addition, long purchase cycles and strict regulation are added, making software updates more difficult.
Telecom: ecosystems of services around the basic infrastructure
The work of telecom operators is regulated throughout the chain. They must ensure technological sovereignty in each of its segments, from hardware to application software. Since 2018, there has been a requirement for local data storage, which has stimulated the growth of its own data centers (data centers) and the search for Russian equipment for FSTEC certification. Storage volumes (up to six months of content and up to three years of metadata) have caused massive demand for domestic servers, storage systems and software.
As a result, Rostelecom, MTS, Megafon, Beeline, and T2 first built a stable infrastructure based on Russian software, and then began to form full-fledged ecosystems around it: clouds, corporate services, fintech and media products, and AdTech solutions.
The main challenge in this sector is software that is closely related to imported hardware. Many critical components, from base station management to orchestration (deployment, management, and scaling of applications), are tied to proprietary standards (i.e. belong to the same copyright holder), and replacing them with Russian counterparts requires network restructuring.
In general, the financial and public sectors and telecommunications have become market drivers due to two factors: strict regulatory requirements and a systematic approach. The transfer of internal services that are not critical infrastructure also played an important role.: he reduced dependence on Western licenses and removed the risks associated with the lack of support from foreign vendors.
Industry and fuel and energy complex: import substitution in non-critical processes
Industry and the fuel and energy complex (fuel and energy complex) remained among the "laggards" for a long time: there was no direct regulatory pressure, and large-scale migration began relatively recently. The main transition takes place in those areas where the replacement does not affect critical processes.
System changes are noticeable in server and client operating systems, DBMS, virtualization, and office suites. At the same time, high dependence remains in automatic design (CAD), PLM (product lifecycle management) and MES (production process management) systems. It is dominated by foreign solutions that are deeply integrated into production cycles. The data formats, high cost of downtime, and complexity of substitution make migration long and costly.
The pace of transition is determined by security requirements, industry standards, and partnerships with Russian vendors. The main barriers are outdated systems, the cost of modernization, and the need for research to create full—fledged analogues.
The market is gradually consolidating. In the future, five to seven major players will be able to meet the needs of the industry in infrastructure software.
Transportation: a balance between localization and international compatibility
In the IT infrastructure of the transport industry, the transition to domestic solutions has generally taken place. It is more difficult with specialized software integrated into aviation, railway and marine control systems. Some of the components remain foreign, and it is impossible to replace them without updating the equipment itself. This is a horizon of 10-15 years.
Embedded systems supplied with equipment, from airplanes to locomotives, are particularly sensitive. Therefore, the industry is moving in stages: it localizes the infrastructure, and translates application solutions gradually.
The most active changes are in booking, transportation management, and customer services.: domestic platforms and data centers are already being used there. The distribution of transport nodes requires increased fault tolerance and data protection.
The main challenges are certification, personnel training and the need to maintain compatibility with international standards in order to ensure the continuity of transportation.
Conclusions: import substitution as a point of growth
Import substitution is not just a change of vendor, but a restructuring of the entire IT architecture. Companies create ecosystems, develop support standards, change processes, and retrain teams. Those who started earlier — in the fintech, telecom segment, and public sector — have already reached the level of strategic management of the technology stack. Their experience is now becoming a benchmark for other industries.
A layer of mature Russian products has formed on the market. But it is not the presence of an analog that remains crucial, but the willingness of companies to change, invest in competencies and make long-term decisions. The incentive can be either internal — the need for security and control, or external — regulatory requirements.
The market is undergoing a consolidation phase: dozens of niche solutions are gradually giving way to several strong players capable of developing products in accordance with the logic of industrial standards. This is a natural process: over time, attention focuses on those whose solutions have proven reliable in real-world operation.
Denis Romanov, Director of the Professional Services Department of the vendor "Basis"
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