protect.nn.ru was the site of the Nizhny Novgorod design and engineering bureau of special equipment "Protekt" (PKB spetstekhniki "Protekt"), a company that designed and installed security systems, fire automation, and telecommunications. The earliest preserved version of the home page listed the coordinates: 603104, Nizhny Novgorod, Nartova Street 6, third floor, offices 18 and 21, telephone (8312) 62-75-34, fax (8312) 31-26-19[1]. The copyright notice on the 2004 page read "2001-2004"[2], and the web archive's snapshots of the home page span the period from August 2002 to October 2008[1][4].

Early version: a list of service areas

The site as of August 2002 was simply arranged: a menu of six items — "Home," "News," "Equipment," "Partners," "Literature," "About the Company" — a news column, and a long list of service areas. A separate block held overviews: "Digital Systems," "For Cottage Owners," "Access Control," "Perimeter Security"[1].

More than a dozen service areas were listed: integrated security systems, video surveillance, access control, security and fire alarm systems, fire suppression installations, perimeter alarm systems with engineering barriers. A separate section was devoted to information protection — from detecting leak channels to antivirus protection for local networks. The contact mailbox at the time was not on the company's own domain but hosted by a local operator: protect@dmb.mts-nn.ru. The 2002 news feed fit into three lines: an update to the information-protection section, participation in the "Intelligent Building" conference, and new price lists[1].

Exhibitions, dealership, and job openings

By April 2004 the site had grown considerably: sections appeared on telecommunications (structured cabling systems, information networks, digital private branch exchanges), on uninterruptible power systems (including diesel generator sets from 0.8 kVA to 3 MVA), and on "intelligent building." The phone number had by then changed to (8312) 78-65-84[2].

A separate block on the home page was devoted to exhibitions: "Communications and Security Industry" at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair in November 2002; the Moscow forum "Security Technologies" at VVTs on 4-7 February 2003, participation in which was marked by a special diploma; "Architecture and Construction" at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair on 20-23 May 2003, where, as the home page reported, "for the first time in Nizhny, 'Intelligent Building' technologies were widely presented." News from early 2004 reported an official dealer certificate from the company DSSL. Also posted on the home page were job openings: installation technicians, foremen, a head of the security and fire alarm section in Zavolzhye, a lead maintenance service engineer[2].

Projects: "Etazhi," Raiffeisenbank, "Lobachevsky Plaza"

In 2005 the site was rebuilt — a developer credit for the company "Graff" appeared at the bottom of the page[3]. The shopping center "Etazhi" was featured in the project showcase: an addressable fire and security alarm system, video surveillance with digital recording, and a fire alert system. News from the summer of 2005 reported on an equipment warehouse in Nizhny Novgorod, work on Nizhny Novgorod new-construction sites, and the design of fire and security protection for the Nizhny Novgorod branch of Raiffeisenbank[3].

By October 2008 the company had relocated: the home page listed the address 603155, Nizhny Novgorod, Trudovaya Street 8, and phone numbers in the new area code — (831) 296-18-36 and 296-18-37. The menu was restructured around engineering specialties: "Building Automation (BMS)," "Fire Automation," "Security Systems," "Telecommunications," "Online Consultation." The flagship project on display was the "Lobachevsky Plaza" business center, over 40,000 square meters — fire alarm systems, smoke-control curtains, access control, parking management. The latest news items were dated 2008: work on "Lobachevsky Plaza" (21 July), smoke-extraction hatches for a warehouse complex in Bor (31 July), technical security equipment for "LUKOIL-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez" (20 August), smoke-extraction hatches for administrative buildings on Kazanskoye Shosse (10 September)[4].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

In the nn.ru site directory, the company was listed over the years under two addresses. In a snapshot of the "Firms (Enterprises): Security, Security Systems" category from 22 May 2002, "PKB spetstekhniki 'PROTEKT'" stood first among fifteen sites in the category with a rating of 21.71 — the next-highest had 1.84, and most of the rest had no rating at all; the link at the time led to the address protect.ndmb.ru[5]. In a snapshot of the "Equipment — manufacture, sale, installation, service: Communications and TV" category from 26 November 2003, the entry already led to protect.nn.ru, with a rating of 25 — though out of twenty sites in the category only six had a rating at all, the highest being 375[6]. How these figures worked is examined in the articles Counter.nn.ru and Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating.

It was a typical corporate site for the Nizhny Novgorod Internet of the time: prominent within its narrow category and nearly invisible on the citywide scale. In the surviving final vote tally of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day for 2004, protect.nn.ru does not appear[7].

How it closed

The last snapshot of the home page in the web archive is dated 5 October 2008[4]. The surviving materials do not explain the circumstances of its closure: the 2008 version looks fully operational, with an updated feed and recent contracts. According to our check, the domain protect.nn.ru no longer exists.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2004 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2005 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Home page, 2008 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, "Security, Security Systems" category, 2002 (archive)
  6. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, "Communications and TV" category, 2003 (archive)
  7. web.archive.org — Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet vote results, 2004 (archive)