vzor.nnov.ru was the website of the Nizhny Novgorod research-and-production enterprise VZOR LLC (OOO «ВЗОР»), which developed and manufactured MARK-series instruments for chemical monitoring of water media for heat power engineering, nuclear energy, and ecology[1]. The domain lived in the Nizhny Novgorod zone nnov.ru, and its Nizhny Novgorod affiliation is visible from the content of the home page itself: the enterprise showcased developments made "at the invitation of the Nizhny Novgorod regional government"[1], held an industry conference in Nizhny Novgorod, and its chief designer received the City of Nizhny Novgorod prize[3]. The first web-archive snapshot of the home page is dated 17 May 2001, the last — 18 February 2020[5].

The company counted its history from 9 September 1994: on 9 September 2011 the home page reported its seventeenth anniversary, on 9 September 2013 — its nineteenth birthday, on 9 September 2014 — its twentieth anniversary[1][3].

What the site looked like

The layout of the home page did not change for years. At the top sat the line "Vzor — Analytical Instrument Engineering for Ecology and Heat Power Engineering" and a two-tier menu: "ABOUT THE COMPANY," "CONTACTS," "DETAILS," "ENGLISH" — and below it "HOME," "PRODUCTS," "DOCUMENTATION," "EVENTS," "NEWS"[1]. By December 2014 the top row had gained a "VACANCIES" item[3].

All the remaining space was taken up by a news feed — from congratulations on Chemist's Day and Power Engineer's Day to exhibition reports and permit documents. A separate permanent block carried a notice about service abroad: as the home page stated, users of MARK instruments in the Republic of Belarus could contact the Minsk company "SPEKTR" at 2 Berestyanskaya Street, telephone (37517) 294-84-54[2][3]. The home page did not display its own address and phone number in Nizhny Novgorod — they were hidden behind the "CONTACTS" and "DETAILS" items[1]. At the bottom of the 2011 snapshot was a block of unrelated links having nothing to do with instruments: "Nizhny Novgorod: website creation, beautiful hotels of Nizhny, news and unusual cafes of Nizhny Novgorod"[1] — a notable trace of the era when factory websites did side work exchanging links.

MARK instruments and customers

The products were the MARK series of liquid analyzers: the MARK-603 conductometer, awarded a diploma in 2011 by the "Best Products, Equipment and Services" competition of FGU "ROSTEST-MOSCOW," and the MARK-9010 pH meter for ultrapure water[1], as well as the MARK-01mk sample preparation device[2]. For its twentieth anniversary the home page summed up: "more than 50 products" in the range, having started with three people and grown to a team "of 160 like-minded colleagues"[3].

The news feed conscientiously recorded paperwork: in August 2012 the quality management system was certified to GOST R ISO 9001-2008; in July 2012 Rostekhnadzor permission was obtained to use MARK-series analyzers at hazardous production facilities (No. RRS 00-048215, valid until 2 July 2017); in July 2013 — the same kind of permission for the MARK-01mk sample preparation devices (No. RRS 00-050730, valid until 17 June 2018)[2][3].

Among the installations the site named were the chemical monitoring system for the CCGT-420 power unit at CHPP-26 of OAO "Mosenergo," where VZOR supplied instruments and stands and took part in commissioning[1], and the express laboratory of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of OAO "TGC-6," equipped with the enterprise's chemical-process monitoring system[3]. The export geography also showed up in the news: the ARABLab exhibition in Dubai and the International Technical Fair in Plovdiv in 2011[1], India Lab Expo in Hyderabad in 2012[2], POWER-GEN India in Mumbai (2013) and Delhi (2014), POWER-GEN Europe in Vienna (2013), and a warehouse stock of instruments in Ukraine held by the representative in Kharkiv[3].

People and the Nizhny Novgorod connection

Names appear in the feed: director Evgeny Valentinovich Kiselev, who in October 2011 gave a presentation on monitoring the chemical parameters of heat-transfer fluid at a session at the State Duma; deputy director, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences Alexander Vladimirovich Oleshko[1]; leading specialist Anton Germanovich Kutin, who in 2013 gave lectures to students of the Chelyabinsk branch of the St. Petersburg Power Engineering Institute for Advanced Training[3].

The site's main civic event was the City of Nizhny Novgorod prize: on 4 September 2013, among the laureates in the field of science, the chief designer of VZOR LLC, Alexei Konstantinovich Rodionov, was honored; the ceremony was attended by the head of Nizhny Novgorod Oleg Sorokin and the head of the city administration Oleg Kondrashov; the report cited NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" as its source[3]. In September 2011 the enterprise hosted the first scientific-practical seminar on water-chemistry monitoring instruments, and in September 2013 the second conference gathered in the congress hall of the Nizhny Novgorod "Marins Park Hotel," with attendance up twofold[1][3]. Twice in 2011 the enterprise exhibited under the auspices of the regional government — at the "Russia United" forum and at the Moscow "Days of Russian Small and Medium Business," where it presented "the industrial achievements of Nizhny Novgorod"[1].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet and the fate of the address

In the Nizhny Novgorod Internet, vzor.nnov.ru was a typical factory website: it existed for industry customers in the power sector rather than for a citywide audience, and it did not take part in public contests among local sites. In the surviving results table of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day vote for 2004, the domain vzor.nnov.ru is not listed[4]. No data on its traffic under the Counter.nn.ru rating is recorded in our samples: the site entered the census from the nn.ru directory's category listing, not from counter figures (the selection methodology is described in the piece Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating).

The web archive index for the domain preserves about eighty records, the latest dated 18 February 2020[5]. After that date the address is listed as non-functioning in our census. This concerns the fate of the address, not of the enterprise: the materials available to us say nothing about what happened to VZOR LLC after 2020. The readable snapshots of the home page break off at December 2014 — the last one where the feed was still being updated: a Power Engineer's Day greeting on 19 December 2014 and a report on a training seminar for MARK instrument maintenance specialists held 25–28 November[3].

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2011 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2013 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2014 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet voting results, 2004 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org (archive)