Record at 500 years

“...And also in the field of webcams we are ahead of the rest”

As we all know, on March 4, 2012, an online broadcast was organized from many polling stations throughout Russia. As experts have calculated, one person will be able to view recordings from all of them if he continuously monitors what is happening for 500 years. about the technical intricacies of this project . Alexandra Borisova told Boris Volpe, vice president of Sitronics, which was responsible for the supply of software and hardware systems for broadcasting,

— Back in early February, a number of experts expressed doubts about the possibility of organizing webcasts from polling stations in the upcoming elections. It was argued that these types of projects take years to implement. How did you manage to cope with this in two months?

— The task was indeed difficult. The project is large-scale, the amount of equipment that needed to be supplied was significant. However, today it is already possible to sum up: we have coped with all the tasks. The equipment, as stipulated in the terms of the contract, was delivered to 83 regional representative offices of Rostelecom from the end of January to the first week of February. In total, 105 thousand software and hardware systems were produced, equipped and delivered. 80 thousand PAKs were supplied by Sitronics, 25 thousand PAKs were supplied by the second contractor, Kraftway.

Lenovo produced 82 thousand laptops on our order from December 30 to January 12, and they were delivered to Russia from January 19 to January 22. Also supplied were 82 thousand surge protectors with an anti-vandal cable, 160 thousand Logitech video cameras, 160 thousand USB extension cables. For half of them - 10 m long - we prepared a special order: on the market there are only extension cords of the required parameters, no more than 5 m long, which was not enough to organize broadcasting in a number of areas. To emphasize the scale of deliveries, I note that the production of extension cords took 2.4 thousand km of cable, the total weight of the delivered cargo exceeds 500 tons, and the total length of auto deliveries within the project reached 40 thousand km, i.e. our cars actually circled the Earth along the equator.

— Are these volumes of equipment significant on the scale of global computer production?

— The main difficulty of this project was not only the tight deadlines. It should be taken into account that its implementation began at the very end of the year. We immediately collected information about how much necessary equipment there was on the globe, and the results were disappointing. We called all serious companies without exception that produce the relevant components, and all except Lenovo, in fact, refused to fulfill our order after learning about the deadlines. The most reasonable considerations were given: at the end of the financial year, any company gets rid of inventory balances - not only laptops, but also components. Retail sales are active. At the beginning of the year, production is also at low speeds; retail is a quiet season.

Lenovo, I repeat, was the only company that offered us a plan of action in a matter of hours, despite the fact that the requirements for processors - both in terms of parameters and software - were stringent. Thus, it was impossible to buy pre-installed Windows: we ourselves installed software from the Russian company Telemarker on our computers. We took these risks because, as a key partner of the state in the field of high technology, we are accustomed to carrying out large projects and have a clear risk management strategy. Now, looking back, I can say that some of these risks were realized, but all deliveries were completed on time, for which special thanks go to the Federal Customs Service, which provided a “green corridor” for cargo under the project.

— What did each system consist of?

— The hardware and software system that was supplied to polling stations consisted of a laptop packed in a special anti-vandal safe. Two webcams were connected to it using USB extension cables. One camera gave a general overview of the area - that order was maintained there, there were no strange strangers. The second camera was aimed at the ballot box. Voting, according to the Constitution, is direct and secret, and the camera, of course, does not record who votes for whom, but clearly broadcasts that one person approached the ballot box and put one ballot there, and not five or not a foreign object.

In addition, the PAK included a surge protector and anti-vandal cables. The total number of sites in Russia is more than 90 thousand, we have supplied 80 thousand PAKs to the territory of Russia, we have not equipped foreign sites. The computer collected data from web cameras, compressed it and transmitted it via a secure Rostelecom channel to regional servers. We also delivered these servers for Rostelecom data centers on time. Already from these servers, observers in Russia and around the world could monitor the progress of voting at the polling station online.

— How did the network withstand such a load?

— Considering that the customer set the condition: the portal must simultaneously support 1 million visitors, Rostelecom decided to strengthen the servers. The built system is extremely competent and reliable, it was tested accordingly. Including, I have no doubt, ddos ​​attacks were also simulated. The system is absolutely functional, and it fully fulfilled its mission in the elections.

— Were there similar projects abroad?

— I am not an expert in organizing the electoral process, and I do not have accurate information. As far as I know, online surveillance has never been used on such a large scale. In some Baltic and Scandinavian countries, selective polling stations were equipped with web cameras, but nowhere else was there 100% equipment like in Russia.