Data Centre & Network News – October 2018

INSIDE

ISSUE 1 | OCTOBER 2018

DATA, SECURITY & STORAGE

THE BEST STORAGE SOLUTION FOR AN EVER-CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

MEET ME ROOM SHOULD DATA HANDLING AND SECURITY BE THE INDUSTRY’S FOCUS?

CASE STUDY

HEALTHWISE OPTS FOR PULSE SECURE TO ENHANCES IT HYBRID IT

No Compromise.

The only intelligent PDU you will ever need.

Learn More

OCTOBER 2018

CONTENTS

IN THIS ISSUE… 16 REGULARS 4 WELCOME

From data breaches to hacking calamities, DCNN explores how to avoid an Orwellian future.

6 INDUSTRY NEWS

Should the internet be regulated?

Centiel, responsible for the design of the world’s first three-phase modular UPS, looks into the future.

12 CENTRE OF ATTENTION

Robin Fry of Cerno exposes the truth behind aggressive tech audits, addressing why they present a significant risk to business.

Charles Stewardson of FutureDial discusses whether data handling and security should be the industry’s primary focus.

24

Mark Studer of Healthwise examines its recent enhancements to its hybrid IT strategy from Pulse Secure, detailing why health checks shouldn’t just be for humans.

30 OPINION

10 COVER STORY

16 MEET ME ROOM

20 CASE STUDY

FutureDial’s Charles Stewardson scrutinises our ‘data dump’ attitude, emphasising that e-waste is growing at a staggering rate.

34 PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

Udacity collaborates with chronicle for the launch of its cybersecurity Nanodegree programme.

12 20

44 COMPANY SHOWCASE Getting a handle on Data protection concerns with Arcserve.

SPECIAL FEATURE

30

DATA, STORAGE & SECURITY 24 POSSIBILITIES OF DATA

Evangelos Tzimopoulos of Brickendon discloses the extent to which data is playing an integral role in delivering fresh opportunities for business.

26 SUSTAINABLE STORAGE SOLUTIONS

Paul Timms of MCSA takes a look at the fundamental considerations and questions a business should ask before deciding on suitable storage solutions.

October 2018 | 3

EDITOR’S NOTE

EDITOR Jessica Foreman JESSICA@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

SALES DIRECTOR Ian Kitchener – 01634 673163 IAN@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

STUDIO MANAGER Ben Bristow – 01634 673163 BEN@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Jordan O’Brien – 01634 673163 JORDAN@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

DESIGNER Jon Appleton JON@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

BUSINESS SUPPORT ADMINISTRATOR Carol Gylby – 01634 673163 CAROL@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

MANAGING DIRECTOR David Kitchener – 01634 673163 DAVID@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

ACCOUNTS 01634 673163 SUSAN@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

Suite 14, 6-8 Revenge Road, Lordswood, Kent ME5 8UD T: +44 (0)1634 673163 F: +44 (0)1634 673173 The editor and publishers do not necessarily agree with the views expressed by contributors, nor do they accept responsibility for any errors in the transmission of the subject matter in this publication. In all matters the editor’s decision is final. Editorial contributions to Data Centre & Network News are welcomed, and the editor reserves the right to alter or abridge text prior to publication.

4 | October 2018

October 2018 | 4

© Copyright 2018. All rights reserved.

REVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

T

he time has come to announce the inaugural issue of Data Centre and Networking News (DCNN) amalgamating DCN & NCN, taking the cream of the crop from each and moving forward into industry 4.0. The future is now and we are ready to take on the advancements and the challenges of our modern world, carefully balancing data protection with global communication. From exclusive interviews and expert opinion pieces, to discussing the importance and fundamentals of data, security and storage.

As I sat at my computer at the beginning of the month, staring out at the autumnal scene, tasked with this exciting opportunity as editor, I wondered what it is about this industry that really strikes me, and whilst watching the evening news it came to me. From Facebook’s huge data breach, to the Conservative party conference app making private contact details of MPs freely available, to the banking details of British Airways’ customers being hacked and stolen – I knew the most important thing was a responsible technological future.

In this brand-new magazine, we will explore issues of GDPR, protection, security and how to make the world more connected, whilst still ensuring safety is paramount; avoiding an Orwellian future.

In this issue, we strip data, security and storage back, and get to grips with the core issues highlighted by industry experts surrounding the infinite possibilities of data, choosing the best storage solutions, and why knowledge really is power and should be freely shared across the world.

If you have any editorial questions or would like to write on key topics within this dynamic industry please write to jessica@allthingsmedialtd.com

Energy and power monitoring solutions for data centres

ET272 Self-addressing energy transducer

WM50 + TCD12 Modular main and sub metering for PDUs

DEA71 / DEB71 Earth leakage monitoring relays

Carlo Gavazzi UK Ltd. - 4.4 Frimley Business Park, Frimley, Camberley, Surrey GU16 7SG Tel: 01276 854 110 - www.carlogavazzi.co.uk

INDUSTRY NEWS

THE INTERNET: TO REGULATE OR NOT TO With technology adoption across all areas, Ofcom and CMA have raised concern over regulating content and taking into consideration data protection.

Earlier this month the Communications Committee took evidence from representatives of Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as part of its inquiry into internet regulation. The inquiry explored how the regulation of the internet could be improved, including through better self-regulation and governance.

In the initial address to the House of Lords Communications Committee, representatives of Ofcom and the CMA discussed their roles in regulating the internet in the modern digital economy, as well as what needs to be done in order to ensure that the internet serves the public better.

With a view that internet regulation would be more effective if the government developed legislation

6 | October 2018

that an independent body could enforce, Kevin Bakhurst, group director content and media policy at Ofcom, noted that this project would be a ‘useful blueprint’ for how the UK could begin thinking about regulating the internet.

Voicing that it is the government’s responsibility to create the framework, Bakhurts said that there are a ‘number of principles you could set as a framework’, of which cover the areas of the internet that require independence or regulation.

Bakhurts added, “Regulation only works if it has statutory backing and has a clear remit from parliament in the UK, and then has a trusted independent body that will interpret that and set a clear set of rules.”

Though Bakhurst recognises the crossover between areas controlled by regulatory bodies he admitted, “Much of the online content and social media is simply not covered by anybody at the moment.”

MIND THE GAP In previous research Ofcom identified the gap in regulation between broadcasters and those who produce online content, be that social media sites or streaming services. Corroborating this Bakhurst added, “Broadcasters are held to the highest standards.”

“The protections around online content are obviously designed at the moment around terrorist content and protecting young people.”

With online content playing by a different set of rules all together, broadcasters are keen to close the gap. Bakhurst said it is up to the government to decide, regulation or otherwise. Naturally, the pace of technology is continuously adapting, which directly affects the online world, so any such regulation, if enforced, would need to be flexible and reactive.

Mirroring this concern about such gaps, Andrea Coscelli, CEO

INDUSTRY NEWS

HUAWEI: 5G IS NOW

REGULATE? of the CMA, said, “What worries me more now is the potential gaps in regulation, as opposed to lack of bodies coordinating.”

Coscelli went on to note that the CMA tried to look into these gaps but stated that ‘responsibility for identifying such issues, strictly speaking, should sit more in government’. He later added that the CMA and other bodies should be ‘adding value’ to government decisions.

Once recommendations were voiced and accepted, Consceli said, “We don’t see our role as ending with the delivery of a report.”

Ultimately, it’s a question of whether it is remotely possible to enforce such regulations, and, with technology adapting at a fast rate, whether issues surrounding freedom of speech, data protection, and privacy in a social media world can indeed be regulated successfully.

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE, PARLIAMENT.UK

Huawei has launched the industry’s first fullrange 5G power solution for global operators at the Global ICT Energy Efficiency Summit in Turin, Italy.

5G will see the number of global telecom sites increase dramatically, and the network power consumption will be doubled.

Recent research conducted by Huawei found that more than 70% of the sites will face the challenge of insufficient capacity of power, battery and distribution, and more than 30% of the sites need grid modernisation, which will definitely bring high CAPEX to carriers. As the power supply of the network, how can the telecom companies achieve efficient and smooth evolution in a 5G era to cut down the CAPEX and shorten the time to market? How do the companies effectively manage the massive sites to reduce OPEX? How do they improve energy reliability to meet high reliability and low latency of network business needs? According to Huawei these are the problems that carriers need to address squarely.

To this end, Huawei said it launched its 5G Power series solutions to ensure that energy evolution is simpler, more reliable and more efficient in the 5G network process. Huawei believes that site synergy, network synergy and business synergy will be the direction for telecom energy in the future. All equipment will be synergic from end-to-end and help carriers improve energy efficiency and reduce OPEX. Huawei says its 5G Power solution provides a scalable energy solution for newly built sites and sites that have undergone modernisations. With the design concept of ‘one site, one cabinet’ and ‘one band, one blade power’, the Huawei Power series is said to adopt innovative technology of peak shaving, linked voltage boosting and energy slicing, and fully considers the capacity expansion of cooling and battery backup. Facing the capacity expansion requirement in the future, the maker says its 5G solution enables carriers to avoid energy modernisation and get 5G network overlaid quickly.

Tao Hongming, president of Huawei telecom energy business, remarked at the launch ceremony, “Based on deep understanding of pain points carriers are facing in the progress of network evolving, Huawei 5G Power Solution achieve end-to-end synergy from wireless network to telecom energy, which will further enable carriers to build networks quickly, reduce site energy consumption, and maximise their investment value. As a telecom energy supplier who is able to provide end-to-end ICT solutions, Huawei is willing to work with carriers and industry partners on continuous innovation and exploration, and jointly solve the energy challenges in 5G era.”

HUAWEI, HUAWEI.COM

October 2018 | 7

INDUSTRY NEWS

MODERNISATION OF A MYTHICAL CITY At the beginning of 2018, the Athens Municipality launched its Digital Roadmap, a plan aimed at modernising internet infrastructure of the city with over 3,000 years of history. In the framework of this programme, the capital of Greece intends to digitalise its administration and build state-of-the-art communications infrastructure, including in some of its most important historical buildings. In order to upgrade the network of the City Hall, Nexans provided the Athens Municipality with specialised cutting-edge Fibre To The Office (FTTO) solutions, including microbundles and accessories.

To guarantee a high-speed internet connection and provide advanced IT-based services for the employees of City Hall, Nexans said it deployed a powerful physical infrastructure based on fibre optic technology both inside and outside the building. The indoor fibre cables with microbundles and accessories manufactured

by Nexans were also coupled with connectivity and LANactive FTTO switches, as well as the LANactive NEXMAN management software.

Nexans believes its solution is a flexible and future-proof networking system that can adapt to the constantly changing operational needs of City Hall thanks to its scalable and modular structure. The

8 | October 2018

company says its fibre optic cables were designed specifically to have a reduced volume to allow for an easy installation within the restricted space available, and are both fire resistant and halogen-free. Compared to traditional LAN, Nexans voiced that its fibre optic solution provided Athens Municipality with energy savings up to 45%.

“The City of Athens has adopted FTTO as the most cost effective and energy efficient network technology for our buildings. Our digital transformation is embracing all of our employees and citizens as we try to provide advanced IT-based services for all,” said Konstantinos Champides, chief digital officer for the Athens Municipality. “Thanks to Nexans, we now have a best-in-class cabling infrastructure to support our needs for the next 25 years and enable the implementation of our digital roadmap.”

Marcel Reifenberg, technical support/software development manager at Nexans added, “Despite the challenges of working in a historical building with limited space for installation, Nexans was able to successfully deliver the project on schedule – and without closing the building while the installation work was carried out.”

NEXANS, NEXANS.COM

INDUSTRY NEWS

ADVANCE DATA MANAGEMENT IN THE ERA OF MODERN INTELLIGENCE Veritas Technologies, in collaboration with Pure Storage, has announced a new global effort to help joint customers modernise data protection and maximise the value of their data for competitive advantage.

The collaboration is said to enable organisations to confidently consolidate modern workloads onto Pure Storage’s unique data hub architecture, powered by Pure Storage FlashBlade. With the integration of NetBackup, Veritas’ flagship technology, enterprise data can be shared, protected and unlocked for unprecedented value.

With the rapid growth and fragmentation of data, enterprises of all sizes struggle to manage, protect and gain insight from data. Modern

intelligence requires technology that not only stores data but can pull insights from data that are so rich, they are actually predictive in nature.

Today, Veritas and Pure Storage profess to deliver data protection and fast recovery for modern workloads while powering data analytics and advancing machine learning.

Built on FlashBlade, Pure Storage says its data hub centralises data repositories to combine streaming analytics, backup, data lakes and artificial intelligence (AI) clusters to drive unprecedented levels of insight. Veritas NetBackup is then claimed to protect an entire data hub architecture running on FlashBlade, which can also leverage FlashBlade as a backup target, resulting in rapid restores when necessary.

“Modern enterprises need to derive value from all data, regardless of where it’s stored. A data hub architecture unifies data siloes, which makes it easier to extract value from the massive data sets that drive AI, big data and IoT,” said Katie Colbert, vice president, Alliances, Pure Storage.

Jamie Farrelly, vice president, EMEA channels at Veritas, added, “The powerful combination of NetBackup and Pure Storage provides businesses with the critical data protection they require to anticipate and stay ahead of customer needs, rather than just reacting to them.”

VERITAS, VERITAS.COM; PURE STORAGE, PURESTORAGE.COM

Th e Fl i g ht Ca s e & 1 9 I n c h S u p e r s to re

T : 0 1 4 2 4 4 2 9 6 4 1 | E : o n l i n e u k @ p e n n - e l c o m . c o m | W : p e n n e l c o m o n l i nOctober e . c o m 2018 | 9

COVER STORY

(SPONSORED)

CENTIEL GROWS GLOBAL INSTALLED BASE OF LEADING UPS

L

UPS MANUFACTURER, CENTIEL SA, HAS CONFIRMED IT HAS A GROWING GLOBAL INSTALL BASE OF ITS THREE-PHASE, MODULAR UPS SYSTEM, CUMULUSPOWER. aunched for the first time in the UK just over a year ago, CumulusPower, known for its ‘9 nines’ system availability and low total cost of ownership, has now been installed in data centres and comms rooms in over 60 countries across 5 continents. More than 50 MW of critical power loads are now protected with CumulusPower in locations across the world, including: the UK, Singapore, Australia, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic.

Mike Elms, sales and marketing director, Centiel Ltd explains, “Although a relatively new company, Centiel is a Swissbased UPS manufacturer whose team of designers have experience that covers the last four decades. They were responsible for the design of the world’s first threephase transformerless UPS and the world’s first three-phase modular UPS. “As a result, the introduction of our fourth generation UPS CumulusPower to the marketplace has been met with unprecedented enthusiasm on an industrywide basis,” continues Elms. “The main benefit clients are seeing is the system’s class-leading availability of 99.9999999%. CumulusPower has been developed with a unique Intelligent Module Technology (IMT), with a fault-tolerant parallel Distributed Active Redundant Architecture (DARA). The excellence in system availability is achieved through

10 | October 2018

fully independent and self-isolating intelligent modules – each with individual power units, intelligence (CPU and communication logic), static bypass, control, display and battery.

“In addition, the solution has been designed to reduce the total cost of ownership through low losses: the high double conversion efficiency of 97% at the module level means it is currently the best solution available to protect data centre infrastructure as its configuration also reduces downtime risk, avoiding costly errors, as well as increasing energy efficiency.

“Our most popular frame is the CP100, which incorporates not only the UPS modules themselves but also the internal batteries providing 10 minutes runtime.

Space can be saved as the need for external batteries is negated. For larger data centres the 10x60kW modules enabling a configuration up to 540 kW N+1 provides the largest single modular frame size for a UPS on the market.

“As we look to the future, developments in battery technology with the introduction of Li-ion will offer further benefits because they are smaller, lighter and operate at higher temperatures. Not all systems are Li-ion ready, but they need to be! CumulusPower is Li-ion ready, so our clients are finding both their power and investment in a UPS system are fully protected for the future with Centiel.” » CENTIEL, CENTIEL.CO.UK

“NOT ALL SYSTEMS ARE LI-ION READY, BUT THEY NEED TO BE!”

Are you overpaying to protect your critical load?

An oversized UPS negatively affects your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Centiel’s no obligation UPS review provides you with a comprehensive utilisation and TCO report.

CumulusPower, 4th Generation Modular UPS enables system configurations that reduce ongoing running costs and adapts to your future load plans.

Rightsize your UPS to reduce your TCO Phone: 01420 82031

www.centiel.co.uk

CENTRE OF ATTENTION

KNOWLED IS POWER DCNN TALKS TO ROBIN FRY, DIRECTOR OF CERNO PROFESSIONAL SERVICES WHO EXPOSES THE TRUTH BEHIND AGGRESSIVE TECH AUDITS; ADDRESSING WHY THEY PRESENT A SIGNIFICANT RISK TO BUSINESS

12 | October 2018

DGE F R

CENTRE OF ATTENTION

or almost any large organisation, receiving a notification from an IT vendor that it is going to be conducting a ‘routine software license review’ can be the start of a long and damaging process.

Software audits have become an increasingly common method for vendors to increase their revenues from existing customers. But why? And what must organisations understand if they are to properly protect themselves against the significant risks posed by a software license review?

October 2018 | 13

CENTRE OF ATTENTION

EASY TARGETS

AMBIGUITY AND OPACITY

Use of cloud computing services has risen exponentially over the past decade. The likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft have established themselves as the major players in this space – traditional vendors, meanwhile, those who rely on customers using on-premise software, have been somewhat left behind.

Indeed, while the cloud market has expanded at pace, Oracle’s revenues have risen by only 7% in six years. Similarly, from the start of 2012 IBM saw its revenues fall for 22 successive quarters, only seeing it return to growth this year thanks to the uptake of its own cloud services.

The result is that many large vendors are turning to on-premise software users as easy targets to increase revenues. These customers – large organisations – find themselves unable to adjust; issues such as security, business continuity and complex legacy operations mean they cannot easily shed usage of on-premise technology in favour of the cloud. This leaves them at the mercy of regular software audits and the damages that can ensue.

Software license reviews are notoriously difficult to defend against. There are several reasons for this:

14 | October 2018

First and foremost, the terms used within software licenses are often marred with ambiguity and opacity. What’s more, the vendors tell customers that they must consult a plethora of white papers and policies on the vendor’s website to understand how the terms apply.

Another issue is that the customer requires software licenses for each installation, not just usage. As such, penalties can apply to software that is installed but not used.

Furthermore, vendors such as Oracle and IBM insist on software licenses for servers and processors that are potentially available to run the programs – even if there is no proven use.

And finally, ‘Matching Service Levels’ means that customers must pay for all programs owned, even if the software shelved or not deployed.

CENTRE OF ATTENTION

DESTABILISING THE DEMANDS

WHAT STEPS CAN PUBLIC OR PRIVATE SECTOR ORGANISATIONS TAKE TO ENSURE THEY DON’T LOSE MILLIONS OF POUNDS AS THE RESULT OF AN AGGRESSIVE SOFTWARE AUDIT?

It is little wonder that CIOs are filled with such dread upon hearing the news that their vendor – the likes of Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, SAP and Informatica – are going to conduct an audit. In fact, major accountancy firms such as EY, Deloitte, PwC or KPMG usually carry out the evidence gathering, while Oracle typically uses its own license management division.

In each case, the customer’s account manager is informed but is effectively sidelined while the process takes place. And it can often be a long process; an audit can take three to six months, occasionally more, while the auditor closely interrogates all usage or installation of the technology and applications.

The end result can be significant; penalties are levied, and the vendor will often require the customer to pay for new license purchases at list price (or 125% of the list price). The vendor can also backdate costs for support and maintenance and also request that the customer covers the audit costs. All of this forms an executable quote, which is issued after the audit with a 30-day demand for payment.

Ultimately, the costs incurred through a software audit can often be out of proportion to the value the customer has received through any under-licensing, inadvertent or otherwise. So what can organisations do?

Unfortunately, vendor claims are rarely litigated, although there have been cases entering the press over recent years.

This inaction is usually because the customer will have some anxiety about reputational damage, as well as needing to keep vital IT systems switched on.

Furthermore, vendors can sometimes offer concessions in exchange for confidentiality about the process.

Importantly, there are ways of confronting these audits. While a solicitor’s letter will have no effect, a combination of astute technical, legal and commercial arguments can destabilise the vendor’s insistent demands and reduce down claims to an appropriate level.

Customers must treat any invitation to co-operate in a ‘software license review’ as a material risk; the letter is essentially the precursor of what may be a significant damages claim. As such, high quality consultancy and negotiation expertise is needed if an organisation is to effectively protect itself – importantly, this needs to be independent of the vendor (not their platinum partner) and, whenever possible, an organisation should utilise former licensing experts from the particular vendor. » CERNO, CERNO-PS.COM

October 2018 | 15

MEET ME ROOM: CHARLES STEWARDSON

DEADLY DATA HANDLING DCNN TALKS BUSINESS AND PLEASURE WITH CHARLES STEWARDSON, PRESIDENT OF EMEA, FUTUREDIAL.

What were you doing before you joined FutureDial and how did you first get involved in the industry?

I was heading up EMEA for Teleplan, a global repair services company with a focus on the circular economy and

16 | October 2018

hardware testing solutions. Prior to that I spent many years with some of the major supply chain companies and distributors such as DHL and Ingram Micro, in both strategic and operational roles.

MEET ME ROOM: CHARLES STEWARDSON

“AWARENESS OF DATA AND INFORMATION – AS BOTH USEFUL KNOWLEDGE AND A PRIVACY THREAT – HAS

G What are the biggest changes you have seen in the data/comms industry?

I think the awareness of data and information as both useful knowledge and a privacy threat has increased dramatically.

This in turn has led to changes in the way

INCREASED DRAMATICALLY.”

that our industry has to handle that data; keeping it secure but also enabling it to be used as information to help companies improve their communication and, of course, marketing. In addition, the supply chains have transformed to be more about remote, software-based resolution of issues and avoidance of the need to return hardware to repair centres. This results in a far leaner and greener reverse supply chain.

Can you tell us about any projects you are currently working on?

We are working in a couple of main areas; furthering automation in the reverse supply chain by using our diagnostics software to drive robotic solutions which will lead to ‘lights-out’ processing centres in the near future. Secondly, we are working on improving the remote home and retail-based diagnostics experience for our customers so that more can be done without the need to physically take a device to a store or having to return it for repair. This will also facilitate trade-in schemes and further stimulate the recycling/second-life market for refurbished devices.

What is the main motivation in the work that you do?

Coming from a technical supply chain background, it is heartening to see how our industry is responding to the challenge of becoming more environmentally responsible. Using the intelligence in the devices to drive a leaner, greener solution to the thorny issue of reverse logistics. Being part of a company that is really driving that development forwards in a major market is motivational in itself.

Another key attraction in this market is the mix of people – from highly technical engineers, through savvy supply chain managers to street-smart traders, there are so many interesting and intelligent people to work with.

October 2018 | 17

MEET ME ROOM: CHARLES STEWARDSON

Which major issues do you see dominating the data/comms industry over the next 12 months?

I see data handling and security still being a primary focus in the market.

New legislation has brought this into a sharper focus and many companies are still in the process of putting compliance in place.

Are there any major changes that you would like to see in the data/comms industry?

It would be good to see more companies looking holistically across their business and ecosystem to facilitate faster change.

There is always the danger of focussing upon isolated cost savings when a single division or department is looking only at their own profit and loss; whereas if a broader view is taken, the positive impact across the entire supply chain is far more beneficial to all parties and the environment in general. This is in progress though, and many of the bigger players in the industry are seeing the value in driving change across their ecosystem.

What are your company’s aims for the next 12 months?

We are a growing force in Europe now with some great new customers across the industry, we aim to keep growing, both in the value-add of our solutions as we develop constantly, but also in our reach across the broader EMEA region.

We will bring automation, driven by the most innovative software, and give our customers a more integrated and simplerto-use solution; so, they can improve their own offerings to their customers.

18 | October 2018

SHOULD DATA HANDLING AND SECURITY BE THE INDUSTRY’S PRIMARY FOCUS?

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Intolerance and discourtesy. There is simply no reason to not act in a kind and courteous manner at all times. We all see it daily and people make too many excuses for a lack of basic manners. I believe that behaviour generally breeds behaviour and try to live by the rule of ‘do as you would be done by’.

What are your hobbies/interests outside work?

Anything to do with motorsport and skiing, climbing and mountain biking. Activities that focus the mind on the task in hand and give it a break from business thoughts.

I think it’s important to get that break in thought patterns to revitalise one’s approach to the day-to-day challenges.

Where is your favourite holiday destination and why?

The French Alps, especially around Les Gets, the clean air and the active lifestyle that the area encourages just makes me feel healthier and more relaxed.

If you could travel back to any time period in history, which would it be and why?

I have always had a desire to go back to the days when motor racing was more edgy and glamourous – the 50s along the French Riviera seems like such a romantic and exciting era.

Can you remember what job you wanted when you were a child?

Yes, I wanted to be a veterinary surgeon or pilot! I’m glad I didn’t end up as either now as one strikes me as too harrowing and the other a bit dull, especially with all the new technology. » FUTUREDIAL, FUTUREDIAL.COM

More than just a badge: Your industry trade association carries more weight than certification alone.

Offering membership to businesses achieving the highest industry standards and certifications in all aspects of electrical and electrotechnical design, installation, testing, maintenance and monitoring.

www.eca.co.uk/become-a-member info@eca.co.uk

0207 313 4800

@ECAlive *Terms & conditions apply and are subject to change ** Membership eligibility and the stated 25% discount off initial 12 months membership of the ECA is subject to continued registration of qualifying schemes through accepted certification bodies or organisations. All rights reserved.

Registered in England: Company Number 143669. Covering England, Wales & NI.

Shaping our industry. Enabling business growth. Getting you specified.

CASE STUDY: HEALTHWISE

HEALTH CHECKS FOR HYBRID IT STRATEGY DCNN GETS THE LATEST FROM MARK STUDER, DIRECTOR IT OPERATIONS AT HEALTH INFORMATION SPECIALIST HEALTHWISE, ON ITS RECENT ENHANCEMENTS TO ITS HYBRID IT STRATEGY FROM PULSE SECURE; HIGHLIGHTING WHY HEALTH CHECKS SHOULDN’T JUST BE FOR HUMANS

20 | October 2018

OR

CASE STUDY: HEALTHWISE

D

elivering critical information to healthcare professionals and patients requires always on access to applications and data.

The growing industry trend is the move towards public cloud infrastructure such as Microsoft Azure that provides security, availability, global reach and the ability to scale as needed. Which is why Healthwise, provider of health content and patient education, selected Pulse Secure vADC to deliver application-aware optimisation for its virtualised development and application environments that are rapidly moving to the cloud as part of a hybrid IT strategy.

A HEALTHY CHALLENGE Healthwise is a non-profit organisation which provides health content and patient education with a mission to help people make better health decisions; suppling information to the public that allows them to learn how to do more for themselves, ask for the care they need, and say ‘no’ to the care they don’t. The non-profit organisation partners with

October 2018 | 21

CASE STUDY: HEALTHWISE

hospitals, electronic medical record (EMR) providers, health plans, care management companies, and health websites to provide up-to-date, evidence-based information to the people they serve.

Starting in 1975 with its Healthwise Handbook, a plain-language informational guide offering prevention tips on 190 common health problems; the guide is credited with dramatically reducing the number of visits to the emergency room by users of the Handbook.

Fast forward 43 years and Healthwise is continuing to create health education content. However, the company now has to adapt to IT playing a critical part of delivering on its mission. This includes the development and maintenance of around 50 custom applications which have been recently migrated to the Microsoft Azure cloud environment to leverage platformas-a-service (PaaS) benefits that improve operational efficiency and drive down costs.

“We work with partners that rely on our information 24 hours a day, all across the world, and as such our IT systems need to be incredibly reliable and able to scale when needed,” explains Mark.

“We develop a lot of apps in-house and moving to Microsoft Azure offered us many advantages in terms of security, reliability and an ability to rapidly deploy new infrastructure. However, we recognised that to gain additional automation and optimise our application delivery, we needed a more powerful application delivery controller.”

“WE WORK WITH PARTNERS THAT RELY ON OUR INFORMATION 24 HOURS A DAY, ALL ACROSS THE WORLD, AND AS SUCH OUR IT SYSTEMS NEED TO BE INCREDIBLY RELIABLE AND ABLE TO SCALE WHEN NEEDED.”

22 | October 2018

CASE STUDY: HEALTHWISE

NATURAL SELECTION

Healthwise looked at options across the market as Mark explains, “Our prior successful on-premise experience with Pulse Secure vADC made it the natural choice.” Healthwise has deployed several virtualised application clusters on Microsoft Azure with each instance controlled by a Pulse Secure vADC appliance which provides load balancing, and SSL/TLS offload with HTTP optimisation to improve application performance.

Pulse Secure Virtual Traffic Manager (Pulse vTM), is a software-based Layer 7 application delivery controller (ADC), designed to deliver faster, higher performance user experiences, with more reliable access to websites and applications, whether they run in a public cloud, private cloud or virtualised data centre; while maximising the efficiency and capacity of web and application servers. The maker says Pulse vTM is ideal for hybrid deployment and can support an application regardless of the combination of environments.

“Pulse Secure vADC provides incredible reliability and as we add new apps each month, the platform has proven easy to configure and we have never had any issues,” explains Mark. “Where it really excels is in its Layer-7 Scripting capability and APIs that have allowed us to increase our level of automation and carry out more complex projects.”

PULSE PROVES POPULAR RELIABILITY, PERFORMANCE AND POWERFUL SCRIPTING TOOLS HELP LEADING NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION DELIVER MISSION CRITICAL APPLICATIONS 24/7

Mark highlighted to DCNN examples of why working with Pulse Secure to enhance its Hybrid IT strategy proved successful.

The first being when his team built its own real-time monitoring tool using the APIs that allowed it to integrate with their existing monitoring and alerting platform to display high level network and applications metrics in a single view that would traditionally have required manually gathering reports from multiple systems.

In another example, Mark notes that the scripting helped Healthwise to manage the upgrade process from the unsecure TLS 1.0 to the newer TLS 1.2 standard for partners that connect to its applications.

“We created a simple script that allowed us to log the protocol and cipher information for each request. This allowed us to build an interactive dashboard to display how each customer was connecting to us allowing our support teams to reach out proactively to each partner to prompt them to upgrade,” he explains.

Healthwise was also pleased with the use of scripts to secure applications in the event of a newly discovered vulnerability. “If a vulnerability is discovered before a software vendor has issued a patch, in the past, we have used the scripting capability to isolate any third-party components that are at risk.”

With more of its development workloads and applications moving onto Azure, Mark says he believes its choice of Pulse Secure vADC has proven a beneficial investment, “It has never let us down and we are increasingly using its features to automate our deployment processes as part of our DevOps approach to application development.”

By project completion, Healthwise was able to maximise on the offering of Pulse Secure virtual Application Delivery Controller technology (vADC), which accelerated services, increased capacity, and reduced costs by offloading performance-draining tasks such as SSL and compression onto Pulse optimised implementations. Pulse Secure says that with vADC, critical healthcare service providers can improve application availability by intelligently distributing traffic, avoiding failed or degraded servers, monitoring performance problems, and shaping traffic spikes with a high availability active-active deployment. » PULSE SECURE, PULSESECURE.NET

October 2018 | 23

DATA, STORAGE & SECURITY

THE INFINITE POSSIBILITIES OF DATA EVANGELOS TZIMOPOULOS, SENIOR MANAGER AT CONSULTANTS BRICKENDON, DISCLOSES TO DCNN THE EXTENT TO WHICH DATA IS PLAYING

AN INTEGRAL ROLE IN DELIVERING FRESH OPPORTUNITIES FOR BUSINESS;

D

DETAILING HOW BEST TO PREPARE FOR ITS ONGOING TRANSFORMATION

ata is everywhere in society and while big data is predicted to grow ten-fold over the next seven years, it brings a raft of opportunities and challenges for businesses across a variety of sectors. When used effectively, data facilitates opportunities for businesses to gain an advantage in a continuously competitive market.

24 | October 2018

Before the modernised inception of data, businesses had to gather information, run analytics and conduct primary market research to make informed decisions. The key benefits of data analytics – speed and efficiency – give businesses the ability to work with increased productivity, greater accuracy and a more targeted approach to meet customer demands.

DATA, STORAGE & SECURITY

E S A

THE IMPORTANCE OF DATA The ability to analyse and make informed decisions based on data is essential to daily business operations. In an increasingly competitive industry, it is imperative businesses are able to react quickly and make increasingly complex decisions to changing demands from customers and market conditions.

By harnessing data, businesses can identify new opportunities which leads to smarter business decisions, more efficient operations, increased profitability and improved customer service.

Having worked with clients to develop tailored data solutions for their operations, our data team has identified the considerable benefits and opportunities inherent in the successful implementation of data analytics processes. Some of the opportunities include:

AS THE NUMBER OF BUSINESSES THAT RECOGNISE THE ARRAY OF POSSIBILITIES GENERATED BY DATA INCREASES, SO WILL THE ADOPTION RATE.

elocity – the speed of data allows V for real-time results, enabling quicker business decisions.

Streamline business operations – data helps understand, streamline and improve business processes, reducing cost and time.

Track performance – collecting and reviewing data allows businesses to continually track performance.

Problem solving – tracking performance enables businesses to better understand each part of the process.

As a result, businesses can understand which areas aren’t performing well and take the necessary steps to rectify.

Market – data helps businesses understand consumers and the market.

Variety – data comes in a variety of formats, which may be structured to best fit an organisation. Businesses can tailor the data in line with their business objectives.

Value – the usefulness of data will continue to be explored, bringing infinite possibilities to businesses.

LOOKING AHEAD As the number of businesses that recognise the array of possibilities generated by data increases, so will the adoption rate. Consequently, the ways in which data and analytics are used will become increasingly more advanced and pave the way for previously unattainable results and increased capabilities.

The sheer volume of available data has grown profoundly, allowing analysts to develop more sophisticated algorithms.

The inception of data trends is now driving rapid technology developments and facilitating business disruption. The key for all businesses is to keep up with the evolution of data and understand how best to utilise its capabilities to become the disruptor not the disrupted. » BRICKENDON, BRICKENDON.COM

October 2018 | 25

DATA, STORAGE & SECURITY

CHOOSING THE BEST ENTERPRISE STORAGE SOLUTION PAUL TIMMS, MD AT MCSA, TAKES A LOOK AT THE FUNDAMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS AND QUESTIONS A BUSINESS SHOULD ASK ITSELF BEFORE DECIDING ON SUITABLE STORAGE SOLUTIONS.

T

here are a number of considerations and questions you should ask yourself as a business before making any decisions on storage solutions. Your individual business and specific data requirements will drive what choice you make.

26 | October 2018

As well as multiple things to consider, and an infinite number of individual needs, there are also now an everincreasing number of new technologies changing the way organisations can approach data storage. It’s no surprise that business can get confused and overwhelmed when it comes to planning the best solution for them.

DATA, STORAGE & SECURITY

QUESTIONS TO ASK What does your current environment look like?

What are the challenges in managing your environment? How do these challenges affect your business? What applications do you use? What is your software stack? What are your operating systems and software packages?

Do you have specific requirements from a new storage solution?

Do you want to improve performance, resilience, capacity? Have you considered other features like encryption? Is a single or multisite storage solution required? Do you want or intend to manage your own infrastructure, or would you consider a managed service?

Have you considered a full or partial cloud-based solution or does your business need to contain full security control through an on-premise infrastructure solution?

Have you fully considered how you will protect your data?

The demands for data storage and its retrieval rise daily as does the ingenuity of cyberattacks and ransomware. What plans have you in place for your data back-up and disaster recovery in the event of an attack and ultimately for business continuity?

How will you migrate to your new system?

How much data needs to be migrated? What type of data is it? What migration tools will you use? What is the timeframe for completion of migration? Who has responsibility for migration? Do you need to migrate all your data?

What is your budget?

Capital expenditure or operational expenditure through a consumption-based payment structure?

What is your time frame?

Looking ahead, what length of support do you need? Three years, five years, more or less? And critically, how is your new enterprise storage system expected to grow and scale over time? What the objectives might there be over a three to five-year period? How might your objectives change over time and how might your data solution need to adapt too?

Too often we meet customers who simply haven’t engaged early enough for the plan they have in place. For big organisations, storage projects can take months, even years to complete, so it’s crucial you engage early. We also face issues with limited capacity, where the project hasn’t been planned correctly, so

halfway through, our IT teams find they are running out of capacity. This can grind projects to a halt. Ensuring everything is pre-planned and in place before embarking on a new project is crucial.

Another common pitfall for organisations is that they misjudge the amount of data storage they will actually

October 2018 | 27

DATA, STORAGE & SECURITY

“THERE AR

INCREASING NU

TECHNOLOGIES CH require – it is hard to plan what the business is going to need for the next four to seven years (a typical storage investment cycle).

When it comes to data storage, the main options fall into just a number of categories.

INFRASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE (IAAS) IT service providers are expanding the number of ‘as a service’ offerings and it’s now commonplace for organisations to spread some IT costs via monthly subscriptions. This enables organisations to scale up and down within a business landscape that is ever-changing. Flexible capacity storage options such as IaaS and SaaS are enabling organisations to move away from capex investment to models whereby they pay for the storage consumed on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis.

Businesses can also adopt pay-per-use data storage models using hardware located on their own site, with options to buy at the end of the arrangement.

28 | October 2018

ORGANISATIONS

DATA ST HYBRID SOLUTIONS Hybrid solutions are an increasingly popular option which combine the flexibility of private or public cloud storage for less sensitive data with the security of onsite storage for business-critical and/or sensitive data.

TIERED STORAGE SOLUTIONS Similarly, organisations are implementing tiered storage – whereby different categories of data are assigned to various types of storage media – as a means of adopting the most appropriate technology to suit the data being stored and to reduce total storage cost. Flash storage technology is evolving and it is likely that flash memory will be utilised to boost system performance. As costs continue to fall, we expect to see more data transferred to fast reliable flash storage.

DATA, STORAGE & SECURITY

RE AN EVER-

UMBER OF NEW

HANGING THE WAY

S CAN APPROACH

WHEN IT COMES TO DATA STORAGE, PLANNING IS KEY

TORAGE.”

IN-BUILT STORAGE

A counter to this is the emergence of inbuilt storage. Many customers are opting for storage built directly into their hardware infrastructure, thereby removing the need for separate storage devices.

SOFTWARE DEFINED STORAGE (SDS) In addition to investing in new data storage infrastructure, software-defined storage (SDS) allows organisations to become more agile in how they take advantage of virtualisation without requiring the purchase of new hardware.

It enables the use of multiple types of storage hardware to provide a simple to use platform which can easily be upgraded. This can be an ideal solution

for organisations looking to integrate existing IT equipment with new storage capacity. The advent and maturity of SDS and widespread use of hypervisors means it’s easier to mix storage/servers and network vendors, giving buyers greater flexibility to suit their individual data storage needs than ever before and the ability to shop around.

The data landscape is constantly evolving, creating demand for new better storage solutions that cater for the huge variety of business needs. Businesses must properly consider their needs, plan accordingly and seek expert help and guidance when they need to implement the best system for them, both now and in the future. » MCSA, MCSA.CO.UK

October 2018 | 29

OPINION: FUTUREDIAL

IT’S DATAC NOT DAT CHARLES STEWARDSON, PRESIDENT OF EMEA AT FUTUREDIAL, TALKS TO DCNN ABOUT WHY WE SHOULD RECYCLE RESPONSIBLY, EMPHASISING THAT THE

B

CONTRIBUTING NUMBER OF E-WASTE IS GROWING AT A STAGGERING RATE.

y 2100, the amount of global waste generated is expected to surge from the current level of 1.3 billion tonnes a year to 4 billion tonnes. However, the often-overlooked aspect of this is the contributing volume of e-waste, which is growing rapidly.

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), e-waste levels rose to 44.7 million metric tonnes in 2016. Alarmingly, the ITU predicts this to

30 | October 2018

rise to 52.2 million metric tonnes by 2021.

Not only will this place a significant burden on already inundated landfill sites, known as ‘e-waste graveyards’, but it will have significant implications for the second-hand phone market.

Redeem, a company that recycles phones for operators including Vodafone and O2, reported that sales of recycled phones rose by 18% in 2017 to £95 million.

IDC reports that this trend is expected to continue over the next decade, growing to an estimated market value of $52.7 billion by 2022.

OPINION: FUTUREDIAL

CENTRE, TA-DUMP It is therefore vitally important that devices are processed in a responsible and efficient manner. For data centres, it is critical that correct processes and procedures are adhered to. In the postGDPR age, the vast amount of data streaming through these centres, especially across devices such as mobile phones, needs to be dealt with accordingly.

Awareness of e-waste is growing, and the UN is committed to curbing e-waste as referenced in the September 2017 report, United Nations System-wide Response to Tackling E-waste. Sectors across the spectrum of the supply chain have a responsibility to instil sustainable practices and adapt business models accordingly when processing devices.

RECYCLING, REUSING & REFURBISHING PROPERLY A consistent trend in the green computing and e-waste reduction movement is recycling, reusing and refurbishing computing and mobile devices. According to the US-based Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by more than 3,500 US homes in a year and for every million cell phones that are recycled, 35,000 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered.�

This translates to much larger savings as the solution scales worldwide. The caveat here is that one must make sure

October 2018 | 31

OPINION: FUTUREDIAL

that all sensitive personal information and data is securely and verifiably erased prior to reuse or reselling the device. It’s essential for companies to seek solutions that can assist in providing a safe and secure way for larger e-waste and ITAD (IT Asset Disposition) companies to securely and verifiably sanitise data off of any storage medium on a device, verify the data was successfully wiped and keep an auditable record trail of successful erasure. This is particularly helpful in certain verticals that have regulatory compliance laws, such as EU GDPR and USA’s HIPAA, with proof that sensitive personal information no longer exists.

Once these devices have been successfully sanitised, they can be placed on the secondary market for resale, broken down for reuse or refurbishing or donated to a school, organisation or charity that can make appropriate use of them through to the end of the device’s life. Implementing process flows that ensure data privacy protection is upheld greatly helps the reduction in e-waste and assists in the green computing movement, which in turn helps the environment.

AUTOMATE AI and robotics are sweeping through industries far and wide, and datacentres are no exception. Hardware automation is becoming more widespread with technology giants such as Apple, which is

32 | October 2018

THE VOLUME OF E-WASTE IS GROWING RAPIDLY.

launching its own robot to automate the disassembly of second-hand devices.

While this is a positive move in promoting awareness around the issue, the technology isn’t suitable for large-scale deployment in the supply chain. Firms within the supply chain where the most waste is created need to collaborate and adopt new technologies that will help to isolate valuable parts and extend the life of various components or raw materials.

Likewise, datacentres must ensure that residual data left on any device within their own channel is thoroughly audited and erased before that device is recycled.

Solutions which utilise automation and robotics can effectively kill two birds with one stone; effective data erasure from devices, while sorting them into the correct channels for efficient recycling.

In order to effectively handle the volumes required for streamlined management, automation offers the ability to deal with large quantities of devices at a low cost.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE It’s time to get serious about e-waste, that much is clear, but there also needs to be a shift in attitudes, not only on the corporate stage, but on a wider societal level. While the UN commitment to tackling the problem is a positive step in the right direction, there is still work to be done on spreading awareness of this issue to consumers.

In the coming years we can expect to see more and more solutions designed to improve productivity and efficiency when it comes to device processing, and more responsible handling of the data on these devices is a primary concern for datacentres going forward. Companies should invest in these new technologies, because when it comes to sustainability, no opportunities should be wasted. » FUTUREDIAL, FUTUREDIAL.COM

20 - 21 November 2018 Main Hall 1. RDS, Dublin

INFRASTRUCTURE. SERVICES. SOLUTIONS. DataCentres Ireland combines a dedicated exhibition and multi-streamed conference to address every aspect of planning, designing and operating your Datacentre, Server/Comms room and Digital storage solution - Whether internally, outsourced or in the Cloud.

DataCentres Ireland is where you can get the latest in information, best practice, products, services and solutions that can help your business become more effective and efficient, whist remaining secure and resilient.

12 REASONS TO VISIT Assess your options Plan for the future Outsourcing - An option for your company?

Be more efficient Learn from industry best practice Reduce costs

DataCentres Ireland is FREE TO ATTEND and the largest and most complete event in the country.

Meet the leading suppliers

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

Network with your peers

Multi Stream Conference • 85 Exhibitors • 26 Hours of Conference Content • International & Local Experts • 55 Speakers & Panellists • Networking Reception

Save power Improve your resilience See the latest technologies under one roof Improve your network speed

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Mark Acton CBRE DCS

Emma Fryer techUK

Tanya Duncan Interxion Ireland

Jerry Sweeney CloudCIX

Garry Connolly Host In Ireland

Shane Nolan IDA

David McAuley Bitpower

Conall Boland An Bord Pleanála

Mike Gilmore CENELEC

Anthony Rourke EY Ireland

Find out how you can be part of Ireland’s largest Data Centre Event Call +44 (0) 1892 518877 or email: datacentres@stepex.com Supporting Organisations

Media Partners

For more information and to register online visit www.datacentres-ireland.com

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

DELPHIX SUPPORTS CHANNEL 4 IN DATA DELIVERY AND OPERATIONS Delphix, a data virtualisation firm, recently worked with British broadcaster Channel 4 to optimise and automate its broadcast management and advertising scheduling platforms, using DataOps. As a major public service broadcaster, Channel 4 delivers a high volume of programming and commercial content to millions of viewers every day. But did you know that behind the scenes, its operation is powered by a broadcast management system, and an advertising sales system? Both of which experience regular and complex updates to maintain market advantage; meaning the timely and accurate distribution of data to its development and test environments is critical and underpins the successful operation of the business.

34 | October 2018

The broadcaster said that it already used Agile and DevOps models to accelerate delivery of business change, but that a lack of automation tools in optimising data management caused delays to environment deployment and drove significant costs in storage and tooling. The time taken to refresh the circa 18TB of data in test environments was inhibiting system and business agility, and ultimately preventing teams from realising its goal of regular change and deployment.

Channel 4 also relies heavily on a suite of data warehouses to provide accurate and up-to-date insights into business performance and future opportunities. The ability to rapidly refresh this information and manage volume sizes is key to their ongoing success, and helps target spend on screen instead of on technology.

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

To tackle these, Channel 4 has begun working with Delphix as part of a DataOps approach to optimise and automate its application development process. Through the use of the Delphix Dynamic Data Platform, changes and modifications to key systems are said to be more efficiently managed and the availability of reporting data is said to have improved.

Commenting on this business partnership, Iain Chidgey, general manager EMEA, Delphix says, “This is yet another great example of how DataOps is helping companies do more with their data. Channel 4 has applied Delphix to its most complex applications and is reaping benefits in agility, governance and cost.”

DELPHIX, DELPHIX.COM

SILVER PEAK ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH AXIANS UK Silver Peak, has formalised a new partnership agreement with Axians UK, the VINCI Energies brand dedicated to ICT. Axians UK will join the Silver Peak partner programme and immediately offer the Unity EdgeConnect business-driven SD-WAN edge platform to its current and prospective enterprise customers.

Silver Peak says that with EdgeConnect, Axians’ customers will benefit from the industry’s only unified WAN edge platform that enables enterprises to embrace the cloud and move beyond the cost and complexity of conventional router-centric WAN architectures. EdgeConnect is centrally managed and uniquely unifies core network functions, SD-WAN, WAN optimisation, routing and security, at the branch into a business-driven SD-WAN edge, transforming the WAN from a bottleneck to a business accelerant.

“As geographically distributed enterprises seek to accelerate cloud-centric business initiatives, they are quickly coming to the realisation that their existing WAN is not architected for the cloud,” says Allan Paton, sales director for the UK and Ireland at Silver Peak. “With Axians’ networking expertise and proven delivery track record for professional installation, deployment and technical consulting services, we are already providing customers with the flexibility to move beyond router-centric WAN architectures to a centrally managed business-first SD-WAN edge. The partnership with Axians UK is the next step in accelerating the international deployment of SD-WAN.” “With our deep knowledge of the SD-WAN market, it made sense to combine our strengths and talents with SilverPeak to take customers beyond basic SD-WAN products toward a business-first networking model and ultimately a self-driving wide area network,” adds Spencer Lea, sales director at Axians UK. SILVER PEAK, SILVER-PEAK.COM; AXIANS UK, AXIANS.CO.UK

October 2018 | 35

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

UDACITY COLLABORATES WITH CHRONICLE FOR THE LAUNCH OF ITS CYBERSECURITY NANODEGREE PROGRAM It’s 2018 and we live in a world which is networked together 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; a network that covers anything from internet banking to assisting the government infrastructure. Faced with a growing number of cyberattacks, as well as a fast-evolving threat landscape, organisations are bolstering their security readiness to combat the challenge.

The problem is that this has created an exponential demand for skilled cybersecurity experts across the globe – a demand which is fast outpacing the supply.

Various industry studies estimate a talent shortage of 1.8 million to 3.2 million within the cybersecurity domain by 2021.

Udacity says its recentlylaunched cybersecurity Nanodegree program will help aspiring professionals to take advantage of this unparalleled opportunity. The program has been created in collaboration with Chronicle Security, a former product of X Development LLC, and also features contributions from leading security experts at Facebook, Microsoft, Visa and VMware. These include Mike Wiacek (co-founder & CSO – Chronicle), Aanchal Gupta (director of security – Facebook), Ashish Jaiman (director of cybersecurity – Microsoft),

36 | October 2018

Swapnil Deshmukh (senior director of cybersecurity – Visa), Wael Ghandour (lead security engineer – VMware), and Ariel Kirson (security development lifecycle executive).

On the launch, Ishan Gupta, managing director India, Udacity, says “Cybercrime has become a global menace today and is exceptionally threatening given the growing digital interconnectivity between our devices, networks, and lives. Cybersecurity is no longer a luxury but has become the need of the hour. Adequately protecting themselves against a dynamic and constantly evolving threat landscape, however, will require organisations to hire skilled cybersecurity professionals. This is the skills gap that we aim to address with our Cybersecurity Nanodegree program.”

Highlighting some more benefits, Udacity acknowledge that its latest Nanodegree combines Chronicle’s bleeding-edge expertise at applying planet-scale computing and analytics to security operations with Udacity’s agile and dynamic learning platform. This combination is said to provide learners on the platform with an efficient, pathbreaking, and unparalleled skilling opportunity which will help them capitalise on the rapidly growing demand for skilled cybersecurity

professionals and accelerate their career growth.

Udacity’s Cybersecurity Nanodegree program is designed to deliver broadly-applicable skills valued across a wide range of domains and industries. The program curriculum is split into six courses comprising seven projects, spread over two three-month terms.

From fundamental knowledge about Python, networking, cloud architecture, APIs and more, to advanced skills pertaining to AuthN/AuthZ frameworks, VMs, serverless computing, and threat modelling, the program provides learners with the skills they need to build, operate, and secure cloud platforms. The final capstone project course teams up learners into two teams of attackers and defenders to learn how to attack and defend a cloud production environment.

Udacity will also provide video classes, programming exercises, and hands-on projects throughout the program to further help learners to fully absorb critical cloud-native security concepts and embrace a security-first mindset. Succeeding in the program will require learners to have intermediate Python experience and a basic understanding of Linux and networking.

UDACITY, UDACITY.COM

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

PRYSMIAN AWARDED €125 MILLION PROJECT FOR FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE INTERCONNECTION Prysmian Group, a manufacturer of electric power transmission and telecommunications cables, has been awarded a new contract worth €125 million for an interconnection between the island of Crete and mainland Greece (Peloponnese region). The project has been awarded by Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO), which operates the transmission system for Greece’s power grid.

Set to be the first submarine electricity interconnection between the Greek island and the mainland, the project involves the design, supply, installation and commissioning of an HVAC (High Voltage Alternating Current) cable system composed of 150 kV three-core cables with XLPE insulation and double-wire armouring. The route extends to 135 km, reaching depth of installation up to 950 metres.

The submarine cables, to be produced at the plant in Arco Felice (Naples), will be installed at sea by the vessel Giulio Verne, which forms part of the Group’s

proprietary fleet –proclaimed to be among the most technologically advanced in the world. Delivery and commissioning of these are scheduled for 2020.

The Groups role – which follows the contract signed in 2014 with IPTO for the submarine connection between the island of Syros (Cyclades) and the Lavrion energy transmission system, in the Greek mainland – arguably demonstrates its commitment as a key player in submarine connections in Europe. The company distinguishes its role in this market by further accentuating its works in the Mediterranean area, where it was recently awarded a contract for two interconnections between the Cyclades islands of Evia, Andros and Tinos, also commissioned by IPTO. The contract will be finalised within 2018, following the customary approvals from the authorities involved.

PRYSMIAN GROUP, PRYSMIANGROUP.COM

October 2018 | 37

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

SIEMON PARTNERS WITH MAYA HTT’S DCIM SOLUTION DATACENTER CLARITY LC Siemon, a network infrastructure specialist, has announced that it has partnered with data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) solution provider Maya HTT, whose Datacenter Clarity LC DCIM platform is said to provide Siemon customers with the tools to accurately and efficiently manage their data centre infrastructure.

Datacenter Clarity LC is designed to allow users to manage their data centre infrastructure with powerful tools and a realtime picture of asset attributes in 3D. Simeon acknowledges the ability to track unlimited assets at unlimited sites makes Datacenter Clarity LC ideal for colocations, multi-tenant and hyperscale environments. The platform features a user-friendly web interface that tracks, manages and locates circuits and connections, creates floor layout and rack elevation renderings in both 2D and 3D views and delivers real-time monitoring via power distribution units (PDUs) with alarm notifications via email and SMS. What’s more is Datacenter Clarity LC is said to work seamlessly with Siemon’s WheelHouse advanced data centre solutions, including cabinets, racks, cable management, copper and fibre connectivity, and PowerMax PDUs. “As data centres continue to become more complex, it is vital to accurately track and manage data centre infrastructure,” says Frank Velleca, Siemon’s market manager for strategic projects. “Siemon’s partnership with Maya HTT, the most powerful real-time monitoring engine on the market, allows our customers to optimise equipment placement and energy consumption to create the most efficient configuration for their data centre.”

“Datacenter Clarity is described by our customers as the tool they need to make very critical, timely, and expensive decisions in real time to meet their customers’ expectations and business requirements,” adds Rene Pronovost, Maya HTT’s director of operations for Datacenter Clarity. “Siemon’s partnership and expertise in the data centre industry fit well with the Datacenter Clarity DCIM offering and will open the door to equipping data centres with the most comprehensive AI-enabled DCIM solution on the market.”

SIEMON, SIEMON.COM

38 | October 2018

Yellowfin BI, an analytics company, has announced that Altuity, a provider of asset and maintenance management software, has embedded Yellowfin technology into its software. By doing so, Altuity says it will enable its customers to intuitively interpret information and save time and money.

Since 2013, Altuity has been providing solutions to schools, construction companies, and organisations in the commercial sector; providing 2D and 360° facilities, asset, maintenance and inspection management, as well as giving construction teams a visual display of underground assets such as plastic pipes, fibre optics, valves and joints.

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

YELLOWFIN DELIVERS INNOVATIVE DASHBOARDS AND REPORTING TO ALTUITY CUSTOMERS By choosing to embed Yellowfin, Altuity says it’s able to go to market much faster with solutions that offer fully integrated dashboards and prepackaged reports; making it easier for businesses to collaborate and engage with their data and confidently make proactive decisions.

Steve Voller, CEO at Altuity, comments, “Yellowfin’s clean, crisp reporting interface provides an excellent UI for both developers and end-users.

We’ve found it very easy to create standard reports and dashboards, and the feedback from our customer base is hugely positive. The architecture of the software is extensible; we’re excited that it will grow with us and be

able to accommodate all of our future requirements. For example, our software was designed to be translatable from the outset, like Yellowfin, and we’re already engaged with organisations outside of the UK.” Yellowfin says its interface helps Altuity customers to determine trends and relationships between data. Professing that, it gives their end-customers the ability to drill into data and gain insight into critical issues such as: which assets need the most maintenance, how assets are deteriorating over time, whether Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are being adhered to, and ultimately when to take action.

Voller concluded, “There is a huge amount of functionality in Yellowfin, and there’s a real wow factor when you start showing people the reports. The collaboration and assisted insights features really help our products to stand out and we love the direction the product is taking. The way Yellowfin is using automation and machine learning, promises to deliver even more engagement with the data, so the future is really exciting.”

YELLOWFIN, YELLOWFINBI.COM

October 2018 | 39

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

PALO ALTO NETWORKS ANNOUNCES INTENT TO ACQUIRE REDLOCK Palo Alto Networks has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire RedLock Inc., a cybersecurity company. Under the terms of the agreement, Palo Alto Networks will pay approximately $173 million in cash to acquire RedLock. The acquisition is expected to close during Palo Alto Networks’ fiscal first quarter, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. RedLock co-founders, Varun Badhwar and Gaurav Kumar, are said to be joining Palo Alto Networks.

Palo Alto Networks says it already provides a broad security offering for multi-cloud environments with inline, host-based and API-based security, which was bolstered by the acquisition of Evident in March 2018. The company says it currently serves more than 6,000 cloud customers globally with its cloud security portfolio that includes VM-Series next-generation firewall, Aperture, Evident and GlobalProtect cloud service.

40 | October 2018

Palo Alto Networks says it will combine the Evident and RedLock technologies to provide customers with cloud security analytics, advanced threat detection, continuous security and compliance monitoring in a single offering anticipated early next year. The company voices that it expects the new offering to help security teams respond faster to the most critical threats by replacing manual investigations with automated, real-time remediation and reports that highlight an organisation’s cloud risks.

Nikesh Arora, chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks says, “We are thrilled to add RedLock’s technology to our cloud security offerings. The addition of their technologies allows us to offer the most comprehensive security for multi-cloud environments, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure, and significantly strengthens our cloud strategy going forward.”

PALO ALTO NETWORKS, PALOALTONETWORKS.COM

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

ABZORB NAMED AS APPROVED SUPPLIER ON TWO HIGH-PROFILE PUBLIC SECTOR FRAMEWORKS Abzorb, a business telecoms provider, has become an approved supplier on the telecoms framework for Jisc, whose members are colleges, universities and research centres. It has also been named as an approved supplied for the Scottish government framework.

Organisations now looking to purchase services through each of the frameworks can buy from West Yorkshire-based Abzorb. The company says it provides a comprehensive portfolio of telecoms products and services including mobile, fixed lines, broadband, hosted and on-site phone systems, plus CCTV and network cabling solutions.

Dean Al-Sened, sales manager at Abzorb, described getting onto Jisc’s framework as a ‘huge step’; recognising that Abzorb now has access to telephony spend from various public sector organisations within the Scottish government. Across all its procurement the Scottish government spends £11 billion per year.

“We already supply various telecoms services to University College London and Aston University,” says Dean. “So, getting on the Jisc framework and

becoming an approved supplier is much welcomed news for us as it means organisations looking to purchase services are already aware that we are in a position to deliver the work – it’s just simply a case of us quoting them a price.

“This will very much allow us an opportunity to expand our offering into the public sector, particularly with universities and other education institutions.”

He adds, “Abzorb being an approved supplier on the Scottish government framework has also come at a good time.

“We are able to provide our full suite of traditional and IP telephony services to any public sector organisation in Scotland, in areas such as health, education and central government.

“It’s obviously a different framework to Jisc but very much shows how established Abzorb is as a telecoms provider to the business community and where the company is headed.”

ABZORB, ABZORB.CO.UK

October 2018 | 41

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

PROGRAMMED ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGIES AND AVT IMPLEMENT AMX TPCONTROL BYOD SOLUTION AT PRIVATE HOSPITAL Programmed Electrical Technologies and avt recently installed an AMX by Harman patient room control system at Mater Private Hospital Springfield (MPHS).

Harman says its TPControl BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)-based solution now allows guests to adjust in-room technology using their own mobile devices.

Mater stipulated that they wanted to provide guests with an easy and simple method to control the electronic services within each of the 64 patient rooms at MPHS, including in-room TV sets, thermostats, lighting and motorised window blinds. MPHS engaged

42 | October 2018

Programmed Electrical Technologies to install a fully functional AV and environmental control system based on the AMX platform.

“To streamline the process of client device connectivity, integrator Programmed Electrical Technologies proposed the AMX TPControl BYOD solution. This involved using QR codes for user connection and a multi-user license that resides on the AMX controller. Guests connect to Mater Wi-Fi, point their mobile device

camera at the QR code within the room to download the TPControl app and are presented with an intuitive user interface for the AV and environment systems. The connection process is handled and served by the AMX controller,” says Anthony Parker, regional operations manager, Programmed Electrical Technologies.

Early in the building construction phase, Mater worked with avt to build a fully-functional proof of concept room at their hospital in South Brisbane. This offered Mater the ability to fully test and prove the system using Mater’s Wi-Fi and networks in its final configuration

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

TNP BECOMES FORTINET SECURITY FABRIC EXPERT PARTNER with full LAN security measures in place.

This proof of concept room was in place for over three months and was tested regularly by the hospital staff including doctors, nurses and office staff for easeof-use and reliability. The success of the proof of concept room relied on the person testing it without assistance.

This BYOD solution is a first for health service providers in Australia, and Mater has achieved the objective of being the first to offer this new service to their guests, redefining the patient experience.

PROGRAMMED ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGIES, PROGRAMMED.COM.AU

Public sector digital network specialist, The Networking People (TNP), has been appointed a Security Fabric Expert Partner with Fortinet.

This level of Fortinet recognition for partners helps them to demonstrate their expertise in building security approaches designed to dynamically adapt to today’s evolving IT infrastructure.

As a Fortinet Platinum Partner, the Lancaster-based company says it delivers the most advanced levels of network security and the full range of Fortinet technologies to its customers in local authorities, health trusts and other public sector organisations.

Fortinet Security Fabric delivers broad protection and visibility to every network segment, device and appliance, whether virtual, in the cloud or on premises.

TNP commercial director Chris Wade explains, “To cover today’s attack surface, our company must demonstrate an ability to build a multi-layered security approach for the entire network, from IoT (the Internet of Things) through to the Cloud.

“As a Fortinet Platinum Partner, our staff are trained to deliver exceptional levels of service and able to confidently handle complex deployment requirements while ensuring outstanding levels of customer satisfaction and support. Achieving and maintaining that standard gives a huge amount of confidence to our customers.

“The Government’s policy on cyber security stresses that users at all levels must ensure they are safeguarding their own systems.

Customers must therefore demand from their suppliers the highest levels of competence in the field of network and internet security.”

Many of the world’s leading companies rely on the Fortinet Security Fabric to segment their entire network and provide superior protection against sophisticated threats. TNP focuses on high capacity users of the internet and networking across the public sector including local government, healthcare and education.

The company has developed a highly efficient and cost-effective model that enables large organisations to design, build and operate their own networks independently of the established telecoms giants.

Chris Wade adds, “The role of the digital network in business strategy and maintaining public services has never been more important, and ensuring it is both fast and secure is critical to success.

Having the right security can make the difference between running a smooth, safe operation or being the latest security breach headline.”

TNP, TNP.NET.COM

October 2018 | 43

COMPANY SHOWCASE

SPONSORED STORIES FROM THE INDUSTRY

SOFTING EXTENDS DIAGNOSTICS AND COMMISSIONING OF PROFINET INDUSTRIAL NETWORKS Softing, a management holding company, says it has introduced an enhanced version of the proven PROFINET commissioning and diagnostics tool Analyzer IE. The maker says that the new version, Analyzer PRO, allows the measurement of passive parameters that give a more detailed insight into the PROFINET network.

As an enhanced version of the commissioning and diagnostics tool Analyzer IE, Analyzer PRO includes a TAP (Terminal Access Point) device called ‘profiTap’. ProfiTap records network communication such as jitter, load ratio and device update rate.

These so-called passive parameters cannot be determined via actively communicating to devices. Softing says that with the help of profiTap, all packets traveling to and from the controller are analysed and network communication is recorded. Eventually, the parameters are integrated in the acceptance report and add an additional layer of information which provides more detailed insights into the PROFINET network.

Analyzer PRO is the combination of Softing’s products TH SCOPE software and TH LINK PC. The company says it monitors and diagnoses the health of industrial networks so that field devices continue to communicate with PLCs which would otherwise cause plant downtime or outages. The maker says Analyzer PRO is tailored to the needs of maintenance and production operations and requires no IT or network expertise on the part of the user.

In addition to the PROFINET standard, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP and PROFIBUS are also supported.

SOFTING, INDUSTRIAL. SOFTING.COM

44 | October 2018

ARCSERVE UNVEILS BU CONTINUITY CLOUD AM DATA PROTECTION CO Arcserve, LLC, a data protection provider, has unveiled Arcserve Business Continuity Cloud, the first fully-integrated, cloud-born solution to prevent the impacts of unplanned downtime by immediately restoring access to critical data, systems and applications across complex, multi-generational IT infrastructures ranging from non-x86 and x86, to software as a service (SaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

With this solution the company says it solves the challenges of protecting modern IT caused by the time, skill, expense and multiple tools needed to protect new workloads.

“Arcserve has accomplished something very unique in this market by closing a substantial gap for businesses requiring more robust data protection capabilities without the complexity of juggling multiple backup tools for new or disparate workloads,” says Edwin Yuen, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. “Many solutions today consist of products bolted together with a UI upgrade, yet Arcserve Business Continuity Cloud stands out with a level of integration beyond most other vendors, creating a truly seamless solution that’s extremely intuitive yet incredibly powerful.”

The maker says that its Business Continuity Cloud eliminates the need for other data protection tools and management consoles with fully-integrated capabilities to protect

SPONSORED STORIES FROM THE INDUSTRY

COMPANY SHOWCASE

SPLUNK ANNOUNCES GENERAL AVAILABILITY OF SPLUNK FOR INDUSTRIAL IOT

USINESS MID GROWING ONCERNS and restore applications and systems in any location, on-premises and in public and private clouds. Further expanding on its Business Continuity Cloud solution, Arcserve say its specific benefits are: rovides a consumer-grade user P experience: Capabilities spanning the data protection lifecycle are accessible through a customisable, cloud-based web console. Most tasks are implemented in three clicks or less.

Eliminates data loss and extended downtime: Supports near-zero RTOs and RPOs with high availability, minutes with virtual standby and instant VM, hours with bare metal restore, and granular recovery and quick discovery for compliance.

Shifts the economic profile: Fully-integrated technologies reduce time and money spent on IT management by up to 50%.

Simplifies protecting modern IT infrastructures: Safeguards modern infrastructures, including those with x86, non-x86, SaaS and IaaS. Multi-cloud and cross-cloud data protection support organisations planning to, or are currently in the process of implementing a cloud platform for backup or disaster recovery.

Splunk Inc., has announced the general availability of Splunk for Industrial IoT, Splunk’s first Internet of Things (IoT) solution. Splunk Industrial IoT combines the power of Splunk Enterprise, the Splunk Machine Learning Toolkit, and Splunk Industrial Asset Intelligence (IAI) to provide a simple view of complex industrial data, helping organisations minimise downtime, shift operations from reactive to proactive and save money.

The maker says for Industrial IoT it gives customers the proven benefits of Splunk Enterprise, such as data analytics and reporting powered by machine learning, combined with new, drag-anddrop capabilities specifically to address common challenges for industrial organisations, such as unplanned downtime, which can cost organisations up to $38M annually. Splunk Industrial IoT also includes: Security and Compliance for Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Advanced Monitoring & Diagnostics Ready-to-apply Machine Learning models for Industrial IoT “Splunk for Industrial IoT is bringing industrial operations into the modern era by helping Operational Technology teams keep factories running, increase production and predict problems – while keeping operations secure,” says Ammar Maraqa, senior vice president and general manager of IoT Markets, Splunk. “Industrial organisations have lacked easy-to-use, real-time data analytics that use machine learning to help predict downtime and prioritise alerts across disparate systems, so the business can take action.”

SPLUNK, SPLUNK.COM

ARCSERVE, ARCSERVE.COM

October 2018 | 45

NEXT ISSUE: TELECOMS/MOBILITY

NEXT TIME… AS WELL AS ITS REGULAR RANGE OF FEATURES AND NEWS ITEMS, THE NEXT ISSUE OF DATA CENTRE & NETWORK NEWS WILL CONTAIN MAJOR FEATURES ON MOBILITY AND TELECOMS. To make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to advertise your products to this exclusive readership, call Ian on 01634 673163 or email Ian@allthingsmedialtd.com.

REGISTER TODAY www.dcnnmagazine.co.uk

Have your free edition delivered straight to your inbox each month.