Baltic States – CIS, Employment, Estonia, Good for Business, Technology

One of the main reasons was the need to gain access to European workforce. "Bringing European people to Russia is not so easy," said co-founder and Vice President of Acronis Stanislav Protassov. Russia, he says, in a closed state – it took a whole year to get Russian work permit for an employee from California.

He said that in Estonia, there is a good working environment and the cost of living is reasonable. Government support also exists. "In many other countries, we did not get so much support," he said.

Also important was the proximity of Russia – research and development centre cannot be built without having to relocate some employees. Russia is only a 1.5 hour flight away.

In five years, the Estonian development centre should have 500 employees. The company produces software for data protection, and employs approximately seven hundred people. They have one centre in the United States and another in Moscow. Acronis has five million customers in 90 countries.