36% of Russian Firms Still Avoid Local Routers and Stick to Cisco

In a fresh survey of 185 Russian enterprises by OCS, 36% of medium and large businesses admitted they haven't switched to domestic network infrastructure, while a mere 3% use local gear exclusively. Even with state mandates, 29% of companies still actively prefer foreign hardware over local substitutes like Eltex, Yadro, or Bulat.

Historically, Western heavyweights like Cisco, Juniper Networks, and HPE along with Huawei controlled 90% of the enterprise telecom market. In fact, Cisco alone commanded up to 80% of local IT backbones before sanctions kicked in, leaving deep architectural roots that aren't easily ripped out.

While local catalog registries proudly list 200 domestic switch models and claim the ability to cover up to 100% of Wi-Fi access point needs, commercial businesses keep sneaking foreign boxes through parallel import channels. The primary roadblock isn't lack of patriotic enthusiasm, but a total absence of domestically produced ASIC switching chips needed for high-performance data centers.

Building local core network infrastructure has proved so complex that grey-market Western solutions shipped via third countries remain significantly cheaper than heavily subsidized, certified domestic alternatives that require retraining entire engineering teams.

The hilarious reality of forced tech sovereignty is that command economy decrees cannot suddenly manifest silicon fabs out of thin air. Watching corporate IT departments risk regulatory fines just to dodge local hardware speaks volumes about the actual state of domestic innovation.