Newtown-based Epam Systems responds to, slams articles reporting ties to US healthcare website

Tom Paine

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A story in the Washington Free Beacon by Bill Gertz, a reporter who is considered knowledgeable on national security issues (though I haven't heard much of him for a while, and know nothing of the Free Beacon) reported that Newtown-based Epam Systems, which had its origins and still has much of its workforce in Belarus and other parts of Eastern Europe, did considerable development work on the Healthcare.gov website or other software modules related to it. The article cites Belarus' close ties to Russia, a past alleged cyber attack by Belarus against the US, and radio comments by a Belarus official claiming his country's role in developing the US healthcare website.

It implies that if Epam was involved, its a potential national security concern.

Epam Systems is listed on the NYSE and has a market value of nearly $2 billion. The stock
seems unaffected by this story so far.

Epam issued a response today via press release stating that "Epam has never been involved in software development for the Healthcare.gov website or any Affordable Care Act related engagements."

I was particularly amused by founder and CEO's Arkadiy Dobkin comment: "Epam unequivocally denies having anything to do with the development of the HHS Healthcare.gov website. And that should be an obvious fact, because if we had, it would have functioned properly from day one."

The Free Beacon article did almost no research on Epam, its established history in the US, or its founder Dobkin. I'm not in a position to know what Epam's relationship might be with the Belarus government, but I have no problem in saying that the Free Beacon article did a shoddy job in connecting EPAM to the US healthcare website or to undue influence from the Belarus government.

Aereo out of capacity in New York, Atlanta and Miami (Update: NY open again to new subs)

Tom Paine

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(Update 2/6: Aereo reopens to new subscribers in New York.)


Aereo, the streaming subscription TV service that picks up over-the-air channels via a network of tiny antennas, said a few days ago it was "sold out" in New York City and couldn't add more subscribers for the time being.

@RichBTIG @KarlBode @Aereo Yes we are sold out. Will reopen as we get more capacity deployed

— Chaitanya Kanojia (@ckanojia) January 31, 2014

Then, on Monday Aereo's CEO confirmed it was also out of capacity in Atlanta and Miami. CEO Chet Kanojia told the Boston Business Journal the the problem was due to "unexpectedly high demand in those markets." "We are hopeful that we will have more capacity coming online later this week or early next week in all those markets," Kanojia told the Business Journal's TechFlash newsletter. He indicated that these were not long-term scaling issues, but short-term problems occurring when demand in a given metro area approaches capacity faster than anticipated.

Broadband Reports originally broke the New York story on Friday.

I had speculated that Aereo might have been facing some short-term capital constraints prior to completing a $34 million funding round last month. Somebody must be paying the
bills for its monumental legal battles. Others have wondered whether Aereo's technology
might have problems scaling within metro areas, although I haven't seen any real analysis
on that. Some have raised concerns about Aereo's power consumption.

Kanojia also said Aereo received about 100 complaints about buffering problems during the Super Bowl, but attributed most of that to general congestion on the Web at the time. Kanojia said Aereo doesn't have much of a buffer to work with since it's broadcasting live content (unlike Netflix).

Despite various guesstimates, no one seems to have a solid idea of how many subscribers Aereo has. It is currently available in 11 US cities, and announced on Monday it would
launch in San Antonio on February 19. Philadelphia, which was originally scheduled
for last year, is expected to launch some time this year.

First Round Capital was an early investor in Aereo and participated in the most recent
round, although FRC's investments are likely relatively small. Barry Diller's IAC is probably the largest investor at this point.

Links 2/5/2014: SAP trying to redefine General Ledger with HANA

CBS lands Thursday NFL deal (LA Times)
NBC will retain rights to season opener, Turkey Day.

Comcast Bid for Houston Sports Network Bankruptcy Approved (Bloomberg)


Will new towers boost Philly rents, or cut them? (Philly.com: Philly Deals)


The Renewal of SAP Financials on HANA: HANA GL (John
Appleby/SAP HANA Blog)

SAP lays out its strategy for growth, with HANA at the forefront (Infoworld)


EPAM Systems Refutes Claims of Involvement with Healthcare.gov (Thomson Reuters One)
"EPAM unequivocally denies having anything to do with the development of the HHS Healthcare.gov website. And that should be an obvious fact, because if we had, it would have functioned properly from day one," stated Arkadiy Dobkin, CEO of EPAM.

Josh James's Domo raises $125 million from TPG, others (Reuters)