– Sharon Bell, Director of Marketing with CDNetworks (www.cdnetworks.com), says:
CDNetworks recently announced Russia Acceleration, delivering dynamic website content and cloud applications from around the world to Russia in milliseconds.  CDNetworks Russia Acceleration enables enterprises to extend their offerings throughout Russia as if they are located down the street. 

If you wonder why organizations want to reach Russian businesses and consumers, let me share some statistics.

1.      Russia is now part of the World Trade Organization allowing them to cut import tariffs by about 6%.

2.      Russia has the 7th largest online presence in the world with about 62 million people online.

3.      World Bank projects Russia’s economy to overtake Germany and become the second largest GDP in Europe by 2014.

4.      According to Nielsen, Russia has an abundance of young, tech-savvy consumers and the largest online population in Europe, e-commerce is already altering the Russian retail landscape and is poised for significant growth in the years ahead.

5.      According to Russia Beyond the Headlines, a recent survey showed that 42 percent of Russians agreed with the statement “The more I buy, the happier I feel.”

6.      According to Gartner, Russia is one of the four largest emerging markets and is expected to spend nearly $61 billion on IT in 2012.

Russian businesses often look outside Russia for technology including enterprise and ERP cloud software.  As markets open for Russia, consumers buy more and more electronic and household goods online as well as clothing and personal items such as cosmetics and jewelry.  Banking and financial trading are also poised for growth as Russians look for alternatives.  In addition, many US and European companies tap into the highly educated and tech savvy population in Russia and they need to provide fast access to benefits sites, shared networks, and software.

CDNetworks customers using CDNetworks Global Cloud Acceleration to reach Russian customers and employees include the “World’s Weather Authority,” AccuWeather.“AccuWeather.com is very popular in Russia and CDNetworks’ presence there helps us reach those customers quickly as if we are located down the street,” said Steven Smith, CIO, AccuWeather. “We want our customers in Russia to have the same great experience with our site as around the world.”

In addition, CDNetworks has gained traction in media and video content delivery within Russia and globally along with partner MegaFon. “By deploying CDNetworks’ cloud-based infrastructure into our datacenters, we have created the first local CDN in Russia with a truly global reach. We can now offer a higher level of service to our customers that seek to optimize website performance for both local and global audiences,” said Konstantin Solodukhin, Assistant Director General OJSC at MegaFon.

CDNetworks provides both the points of presence and in-country expertise to not just accelerate website, cloud and dynamic content, but to help navigate the unique business, government, and consumer environments in Russia. Combined with China Acceleration and points of presence in emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, and Brazil, CDNetworks is the go-to Global Cloud Acceleration partner for enterprises looking to reach high-growth markets.