Virtualization software has become the most popular area for testing.
For the last few years, Merlion has been actively developing a demo center, at whose stands you can get acquainted with the capabilities of Russian software solutions in key areas for the IT market: from virtualization tools to office solutions.
Approximately 300 applications were submitted from partners and their customers in 2024. The most popular class of software was virtualization tools, which accounted for 58% of demonstrations, followed by data protection tools (30% of demonstrations).
The leadership of virtualization tools is not surprising. The Russian solutions are in high demand among large businesses; according to the analytical company "Strategy Partners", sales of Russian virtualization tools in 2023 grew by 37% to 4.5 billion rubles, with the share of Russian vendors more than doubling. In 2024, according to SP, sales of domestic virtualization tools approached 8 billion rubles, and they amounted to almost 26 billion by 2030, which was 96% of the market in this segment.
The Merlion demo center is one of the few platforms where you can get acquainted with the best Russian developments in this field. The distribution company's portfolio includes more than a dozen solutions from leading domestic vendors.
The capabilities of software products are demonstrated in three formats: open (in webinar format), group (in videoconferencing format) and individual (online for one or more partners).
The open format was the most attended: with 37 demonstrations and over 2,000 participants. In total, more than 2,500 representatives of partners and customers attended all demonstrations of the Merlion technical center in 2024.
The sharpest growth, more than tenfold, was demonstrated by the "access to stands" service, within the framework of which Merlion partners and their customers were able to customize demo stands for their specific tasks.
Vigel Antonov, Director of the Technical Center at Merlion: "The fact that demonstrations of virtualization tools have become the most popular among our partners and customers is expected. Everyone needs these solutions, but there are not many demo centers where you can see them in action.
Our plans include developing and improving the demo center’s infrastructure in order to provide partners with access to an even wider range of the most in-demand domestic developments".
Yulia Pechnikova, Director of Business Development, VAD Division: "The development of the Merlion demo lab is one of our strategic areas". It is the only distributor that is included in the top 10 demo labs in Russia according to the analytical agency "CNews". Successful implementation of new infrastructure solutions is impossible without testing them, including for compliance with specific customer tasks. That is why our partners use this tool more and more actively every year.
Demand for pilot projects is growing. In 2025, we intend to focus on conducting pilots of varying degrees of complexity – both using our own demo lab or vendor cloud services, and directly in the customer’s infrastructure".
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