Data Centre Magazine - August 2022

AUG 2022 | datacentremagazine.com

Data Centre

REITs

GOOGLE Supply Chain Director Supriya Iyer on what it takes to lead – EVOBITS IT Turnkey IT Solutions in a powerful boutique model

EDGE CENTRES

Founder and CEO, Jon Eaves

WRITING THE UNWRITTEN

FUTURE OF ‘EDGE’

PLATINUM SPONSOR

TRUSTWORTHY TECHNOLOGY IS SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY

T

ortoise and Kainos spoke to a range of experts throughout the field of artificial intelligence; from executives and technicians, to researchers and government officials.

Those insights are revealed in the form of three hypotheses about how the domain of trust in artificial intelligence is changing: ‘The future of trust in artificial intelligence: responsibility, understandability and sustainability’.

To coincide with the report, Jane Fletcher, Experience Design Principal at Kainos, discussed 'Sustainability: A ​ path to trust for Data & AI' in a virtual keynote at TECH LIVE LONDON. Trust in the AI ecosystem is largely dependent on data, the conclusions and predictions reached, and the sensitivity of the system to bias and other influences.

As governments and corporations 2

August 2022

consider ways of enforcing technologies that are lawful, ethical and robust, Fletcher discussed the increase in regulation around data over the last few years due to GDPR, the growing importance of cybersecurity and the role of AI ethics on the imminent EU AI act.

Language, automation and trust

Fletcher elaborated on the move towards sustainability that has seen professionalisation, standardisation and mechanisms for disclosure – all to create confidence that the world economy can decarbonise, be governed fairly and embrace an inclusive society.

Much like the major drivers that propelled the original Industrial Revolution: language, automation and trust, the latter in particular is vital to tempering AI for widespread use today, lowering the barrier of entry in order to accelerate adoption.

KAINOS

Ethics vital to wider AI adoption

Kainos suggests that if we don't act today in a responsible and ethical way, in terms of how we develop and deploy AI to help users understand its capabilities, then this lack of trust will limit or prevent the adoption of artificial intelligence over the next few years.

Acting early can mitigate and prevent some of those issues from arising, and Kainos will share tips on these first steps.

Data Governance unlocks success Also at TECH LIVE LONDON was, Karim Jessani, Principal: Data & AI Practice / CSO, who discussed ‘Data Governance / With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility’.

Jessani said: “If an organisation recognises data as a true and valuable asset and treats it as such through a comprehensive data governance policy, it will be able to use data more wisely to empower its business for success”.

KAINOS: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SERVICES Belfast-headquartered IT provider Kainos has developed a unique mindset that embraces any digital challenge. With 98% customer satisfaction rating, their key technology partners are AWS, Microsoft, and Workday, with notable clients like the NHS, UK Government, and Netflix.

Kainos CEO: BRENDAN MOONEY INDUSTRY: SOFTWARE & TECHNOLOGY HQ: BELFAST, UNITED KINGDOM

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The DataCentre Team EDITOR

JOSEPHINE WALBANK CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER

SCOTT BIRCH

PRODUCTION DIRECTORS

GEORGIA ALLEN DANIELA KIANICKOVÁ PRODUCTION MANAGERS

PHILLINE VICENTE JANE ARNETA

4

August 2022

CREATIVE TEAM

OSCAR HATHAWAY SOPHIE-ANN PINNELL HECTOR PENROSE SAM HUBBARD MIMI GUNN JUSTIN SMITH REBEKAH BIRLESON JORDAN WOOD CALLUM HOOD VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER

KIERAN WAITE

DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCERS

MARTA EUGENIO ERNEST DE NEVE THOMAS EASTERFORD DREW HARDMAN JINGXI WANG JOSEPH HANNA MARKETING DIRECTOR

JASON ANDIKA-SMITH MARKETING MANAGER

ALICE PAGE

PROJECT DIRECTOR

LEWIS VAUGHAN MEDIA SALES DIRECTORS

JASON WESTGATE JAMES WHITE MANAGING DIRECTOR

LEWIS VAUGHAN CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

STACY NORMAN CEO

GLEN WHITE

FOREWORD

Data centres’ place in the smart cities of the future In this Data Centre Digital, we explore: the rise of 5G and the IoT, alongside the impact that this will have on the data centre industry at large; AI, ML and SaaS with Evobits; and how Google is using digital transformation within its supply chain

“Future-proofing the sector means nothing less than preparing for ongoing demand surges, gearing ourselves up for the new requirements of smart cities, and attaining the highest possible sustainability standards”

Hello Data Centre Magazine readers.

First off, I’m delighted to have joined the Data Centre team as Editor. It’s an immense pleasure to be working on such a well-connected, well-respected industry publication.

At DC HQ, we’re currently celebrating hitting 18,000 followers on our LinkedIn – in less than 2 years, we reckon that’s pretty good going!

In this issue, we explore the rise of 5G and the IoT, homing in on the ways that this will shape data centre services over the next few years.

Naturally, ensuring consistent cybersecurity standards will be a topic of paramount importance, as the nature of cyberattacks – and, indeed, the nature of the data itself – evolve.

We also discuss the role that the hybrid cloud, edge data centres, micro data centres and IoT security will have in bringing about the envisioned smart cities of the future.

Thankfully, the industry’s no stranger to rapid growth.

JOSEPHINE WALBANK DATACENTRE MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY

josephine.walbank@bizclikmedia.com

© 2022 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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CONTENTS

Our Regular Upfront Section: 10 Big Picture 12 The Brief 14 Trailblazer: Jaymie Scotto Cutaia 18 Five Minutes With: Steve Pass, COO of DataQube

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38

Tech LIVE London in review

The art of being like water

Event Review

Edge Centres

88 52

EvoBits

Turnkey IT Solutions in a powerful boutique model

Data Centres

Securing IoT in data centre infrastructure

106

Cloud & Edge

Can edge micro data centres solve the IoT data demand?

60

Google

At Google, Supriya Iyer is asking the right Questions

116

Technology

Why more businesses are entrusting security to the hybrid cloud

78

124

The future of sustainability in colocation

The world’s top 10 data centre REITs

Sustainability

Top 10

DIAMOND SPONSOR

SIMON CHASSAR,

CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER AT CLAROTY Simon Chassar, Chief Revenue Officer at Claroty discusses his career journey, what inspires him, and his proudest moments from his career so far

J

oining Claroty 18 months ago, Simon Chassar is currently the Chief Revenue Officer for the global cyber-physical security organisation. Prior to Claroty, Chassar ran the cybersecurity sales business at NTT. “In my time at NTT I observed a rise in the number of attacks on the industrial critical infrastructure environments, so when I was looking at my next career move, I homed in on OT and IOT security as the next step,” says Chassar.

“My favourite thing about the industry is the conversations around protecting our lives and society as a whole.

Things like fuel, shelter, food, and energy, these are the things that we consume every 8

August 2022

day, they are critical to our wellbeing as a society and as human beings. So for me, the business discussion around protecting these critical environments is an interesting sector to be in.”

WHAT INSPIRES CHASSAR?

In his career, Chassar is inspired by the ability to go on journeys with people, to meet new people, and to evolve people and their understanding for the better. “I like to take people on a journey with me. We like to make sure that as an organisation we are enjoying ourselves and making sure that we learn from each other and support each others’ wellbeing. So I take

CLAROTY

Claroty: protecting society with cyber-physical security

“ IF AN ORGANISATION DOESN’T HAVE A POLICY OR PROJECT UNDERWAY, THEN THEY SHOULD START ONE IMMEDIATELY” Simon Chassar CRO, Claroty inspiration out of seeing others develop and enjoy what they do,” says Chassar.

He adds: “Aside from my family, my proudest achievement from a career point of view began when I joined VMware in 2007, at the start of the technology virtualisation journey within servers. During my time at VMware the growth and demand in the market really stretched my abilities as an individual to develop myself and learn new skills and new technologies.

“That then set me up for when I joined NTT and had the opportunity to integrate five security companies together. I think seeing

people come together as one company, and the success of integrating into one organisation, was another huge milestone in terms of career satisfaction.”

Chassar discussed how to achieve unmatched visibility, protection and threat detection across Industrial (OT), Healthcare (IoMT), and Enterprise IoT assets in his TECH LIVE LONDON keynote on ‘XIoT’.

Claroty CEO: YANIV VARDI INDUSTRY: CYBERSECURITY HQ: NEW YORK, USA

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BIG PICTURE TECH LIVE LONDON 2022: insights from global data centre pioneers London, UK

On the first day of TECH LIVE LONDON, the Cloud & 5G stage hosted a ‘fireside talk’ with two of the UK’s leading data centre specialists.

At the June event, Tony Grayson, the General Manager of Compass Quantum at Compass Data Centres, and David Watkins, the Solutions Director of VIRTUS Data Centres, took part in a crackling fireside panel discussion.

They discussed the role of a ‘mission-critical mindset’, and outlined how data centres can utilise this approach to successfully manage the rapid growth projections for the industry.

Watch the fireside chat on Critical Environments between Compass and VIRTUS

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August 2022

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THE BRIEF Compassionate and competent leaders have always inspired me to challenge the status quo and invite diverse perspectives Supriya Iyer

Director of Supply Chain and Commercial Operations, Google READ MORE

We will never ever become a corporate type of company with a high-street mentality Silviu Catalin Balaci CTO, Evobits

READ MORE

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August 2022

THE FUTURE OF SUSTAINABILITY IN COLOCATION “Taking immediate, sustainable action is now crucial to the future of the sector.”

If nothing is done to compensate for the sector’s rapid growth, the energy used by data centres will increase from 2.5% of global energy consumption to between 8-10% by 2030.

Not only would this pose a huge hindrance to global sustainability targets, but it would quickly paint data centres as the villain; the industry that consumers must oppose and brands have to justify working with.

Thankfully, there’s a wealth of pioneering sustainability initiatives out there, designed to help data centres curb this bleak prediction.

Industry experts at Schneider Electric, Kao Data and Arelion share their insights on this pressing topic, and recommend the solutions that data centres can adopt.

Read more about this story on p.78 

EDITOR'S CHOICE PANZURA SETS THE DATA INDUSTRY STANDARD FOR GENDER EQUALITY Panzura has one of the only female CEOs in the data management industry, and has built a notably gender-balanced board of directors.

QUINBROOK TO BUILD US$1.7BN ‘SUPERNODE’ DATA STORAGE PROJECT Quinbrook, a private-equity firm, has announced plans to build a $1.7bn Queensland data centre with a 2Gwh battery storage capacity.

VANTAGE SECURES US$300MN GREEN LOAN Vantage Data Centres has secured a US$300mn green loan for its upcoming VA13 data centre, located in Northern Virginia.

BY THE NUMBERS Research, published by Cable.co.uk, has calculated and compiled the average cost of 1GB of mobile data, across 231 different countries. In between spots 1 to 231, there is a 99,000% cost difference.

1GB OF DATA

US$0.05

US$49.67

ISRAEL (Least expensive)

EQUATORIAL GUINEA (Most expensive)

99,000% Cost difference

 DIGITAL REALTY Digital Realty announced that it has reached 1GW of certified sustainable IT capacity – the first data centre operator in the world to successfully do so.  EDGECONNEX EdgeConneX successfully secured $1.7bn in sustainability funding. This funding drive is the latest part of EdgeConneX's sustainability strategy, which involves deploying renewable energy solutions and reducing its carbon footprint across its global data centre network.  META After extensive backlash and months of pauses and uncertainty, Meta has officially cancelled its plans to build its Zeewolde data centre, which would have been the largest data centre in the Netherlands.  PARALLEL WIRELESS Reports have revealed that Parallel Wireless, an American provider of OpenRAN architecture, has undertaken a mass lay-off, with around half of its employees having been made redundant.

U P AUG

2022

D O W N

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TRAILBLAZER

JAYMIE Scotto Cutaia A

s the CEO and Founder of Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA) – and one of the world’s most influential women in data centre marketing – there’s very few out there who know the digital infrastructure community as well as Jaymie Scotto.

What unique services do you bring to the telecoms market?

Here at JSA, we start with strategy first. We begin with a messaging workshop with our clients' key stakeholders, to listen, analyse, refine and competitively benchmark our clients' core messaging and ensure it is in line with the latest business objectives.

We establish KPIs 'out of the gate' to define what a successful relationship requires, and we devise a customised, go-to-market communications plan for the next 6 months ahead to achieve those KPIs. When did you realise there was a problem with the way that data centres are marketed, and how are you solving it?

A few months back, I read a statistic that forever changed me. A recent International Energy Agency (IEA) report stated that approximately 2.5% of global energy is consumed by data centres and data networks, 14

August 2022

and this number is expected to quickly rise, with global energy used by data centres alone to increase to 8-10% by 2030.

That’s a staggering number and a staggering increase. And as the founder and CEO of my firm, I felt directly responsible.

So the question we asked ourselves here at JSA is: what if?

What if we could leverage our network and our curated resources and channels to help our clients' efforts to be greener as an industry?

What if we could bring the digital infrastructure community together to collaborate, act as global citizens and share approaches to greener businesses, facilities, and technologies across dividing lines and internationally?

Our answer was Greener Data, a multiauthor, Amazon best-selling book featuring the success stories and perspectives of 24 leading decision-makers in the data centre and network infrastructure industry, who are

“It's more important than ever to communicate, clarify, define and deliver; to report our findings, optimise and educate on a goingforward, collaborative basis” datacentremagazine.com

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TRAILBLAZER

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“ We need to stay flexible, encourage new voices and perspectives at the table, and continue to dig deep and give back” passionate about drastically reducing carbon emissions for a more sustainable sector.

We created GreenerData.net and #GreenerData to raise additional awareness, educate, share real-world, current examples, and pledge our commitment and work together to heal this world and provide a lasting legacy for our children.

What are the biggest challenges you face in the market?

I think our data centre industry is challenged with too much incorrect, antiquated and/or underutilised data, yet not enough industrywide metrics, monitoring and accountability.

I think it's more important than ever to communicate, clarify, define and deliver – not just as companies or countries, but as global citizens – and to report our findings, optimise and educate on a going-forward, collaborative basis. This was the motivation for Greener Data and our active participation in great organisations, such as Infrastructure Masons.

What services are you investing in the most?

Since the pandemic, we have 'doubled-down' on our digital channels to help further drive this global education and promotion of accurate, useful news and information. For example, we host Virtual Roundtables every 6 weeks, which allows us to line up the headline makers on current trending topics, such as the state of our sustainability efforts in our industry.

We also created GreenerData.net as an educational forum that curates the very latest sustainability success stories – including press releases, articles, videos, roundtable discussions, eBooks, and more – so we can all access the latest best practices to reducing carbon emissions in our data centres globally and to help us as an industry decrease not just our own footprint, but those of our clients.

What does the future look like for JSA over the next 12-18 months?

In this crazy, post-pandemic world, the way we receive our news, the way we communicate and collaborate – even the way we live – have all changed. As such, we need to continue to challenge ourselves to innovate, collaborate and partner, stay flexible and adapt to the changing marketplace, encourage new voices and perspectives at the table, and continue to dig deep and give back.

This industry has provided us with so much trust and so many blessings over the years, how can we at JSA give back and provide more ways to share information so we can all make better business decisions and grow together?

Over the next 12-18 months, look out for more of our commitment to our industry, as well as to sustainability, inclusivity, global cooperation and education. Look out for our innovative new services and educational channels designed to delight and inspire not just our clients, but the industry at large. datacentremagazine.com

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e v e t S ass P

FIVE MINUTES WITH...

SS, A P EVE T S NS H O I T I T W RA E N NE P W O O L O A E AT D . AS TH STAND TAKE S E H, W TAQUBE ’S FIRST OT HIS T N NG O G I A D M E L D W S R O OF E, W C, GRO THI W R O T E O N I H C THE EHIND T DATA CE DYNAM FOLLOW B IS E LL LEAD LAR EDG TION TH STRY WI C U U POD HE DIRE THE IND ON T ICE OF SL

What wider role does DataQube have in the world of 5G and IoT, and how is the paradigm shifting?

If 5G is really to become a game changer in IoT, you need powerful edge computing capabilities in line. There is currently a disconnect between the sophisticated capabilities of IoT devices versus substandard data handling, and that’s where DataQube comes in.

DataQube's sustainable, flexible, scalable edge data centres combined with 5G services can bring true “edge” and “smart city” capabilities to almost anywhere.

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August 2022

By its very definition, IoT (Internet of Things) requires devices to be connected to the Internet and to other interconnected devices.

It is a giant network of people and machines, all interconnected and all collecting and sharing information about who and what they are, what they are doing, and where they are, in relation to other things or people, as well as their general surroundings.

The concept is very much in vogue right now, having been given a turbocharge in light of

the last two years, but IoT has been around for a while. What has changed, though, is the augmented capabilities of the embedded technologies integral to IoT, the standardisation of communication protocols and more affordable IT which is driving its adoption.

And 5G is central to this, as it offers faster, more stable and secure connectivity. This is because unlike its 4G predecessor it has been designed with machines, not people, in mind.

The average latency rate for 4G is around 50 milliseconds.

This potentially drops to one millisecond with 5G, and it also promises

““SSw wititcchhin inggfrfo mfo fosssilil ffuueell ttoo aa rom r waabbllee eenneerrggyy s reenneew s nnoott ssoollvv oouurrccee ddooeess ee tthhee ppoo weerr ddiilleem mm maa,,iittjjuu w moovveess m sstt iitt ssiiddeew waayyss”” delivery speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second.

Why is the IoT so critical and how can it be enhanced with 5G? As more and more devices become connected, almost everything we do will be impacted.

This includes the way we travel, the way we shop, the way we bank, how manufacturers reduce faults and track inventory, run their operations 24/7, play games online, upload reels

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FIVE MINUTES WITH...

s s e r e t r t n n e e c c a t a t a a d d e e t g t s g d s u d e j u e f j s f i o s i o r s i r s e i h e b t h b t t m t u m u u b u n b , n , e y l e y h l d h i d i p ““ T T ” p a ” g r a r g r r g e g e n b i n eb i w e c i w c o i r o e r g e h g t h s t f iis f o o p i p t i hee t tth 20

August 2022

DataQube Alongside its status as the world’s first standalone podular edge data centre, DataQube also has a pioneering approach to data centre sustainability.

“Because of its person-free makeup, DataQube uses less power, requires less land and does not need reinforced concrete, making it viable and sustainable from the outset.”

2Q+ 20+

Years in the data centre and digital transformation industry

2Q2Q 2020 Steve Pass joined DataQube in August 2020

to Instagram and TikTok, how we interact with virtual assistants, use smart home technologies - all of it requires fast, reliable and secure connectivity.

Although 5G makes all of this possible, we are still a long way off from 5G being universal, and the true benefits of IoT are currently limited to those enterprises that have the bandwidth to invest in 5G private mobile networks.

And even then, the seamless data handling aspect is not resolved in its entirety - you need powerful edge computing to do that,

and current localised infrastructures are not up to the job.

What does success look like to you in your role?

To be globally recognised for providing sustainable, secure, flexible and scalable edge data centres that positively impact the digitally connected world we live in.

There is much talk about renewable energy, and about data centres becoming responsible for 10% of global energy consumption by the end of the decade.

However, switching from fossil fuel to a renewable energy source does not solve the power dilemma, it just moves it sideways. Data centres are consuming more energy overall - the type of energy is irrelevant - and this is what needs to change.

Because of its person-free makeup, DataQube uses less power, requires less land and does not need reinforced concrete, making it viable and sustainable from the outset.

Micro data centres at the edge are quickly growing in numbers. What future trends would you predict in this area?

The number of edge data centres is growing rapidly, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Innovation at the edge has been held back by the lack of processing and storage handling capabilities. This has led to the current disconnect between devices versus supporting critical infrastructures.

So, as more and more edge data centres become available, these facilities need to adapt to keep pace with new technology demands, satellite comms and so on, to deliver truly seamless communications.

When this happens, we will see edge and IoT innovation skyrocket. datacentremagazine.com

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PLATINUM SPONSOR

ORACLE AND ORACLE RED BULL RACING

WINNING THROUGH DATA

F

1 is arguably the most data driven and technologically advanced sport.

The 2021 race season was a huge success for Oracle Red Bull Racing.

With the team achieving 23 podium finishes and Max Verstappen winning the driver’s championship, Oracle Red Bull Racing had its most successful season in recent history.

“Oracle Cloud enabled us to make race-day decisions that helped Max Verstappen win the 2021 Drivers’ Championship.”

Christian Horner, Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO

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Gracing the Tech & AI podium at this year’s TECH LIVE LONDON, Amr Elrawi, Oracle’s Director, Sports Marketing and Business Development, gave a revealing presentation on the partnership.

An award-winning commercially focused and data-driven business leader with over 20 years of experience in marketing and sales within the Telecom, Technology, Financial Services, and Sports industries, he helps sports organisations and partners to use data and technology to win and drive performance.

Before joining Oracle, Elrawi was the Head of Acquisition for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, focusing on growing and

ORACLE

Driven by data, built to win

engaging fans using Data and Marketing Solutions to drive commercial value and improve Fan Experience.

He also spent 4 years at Barclaycard driving the digital transformation programme.

Earlier he spent five years at Cisco, leading London 2012 digital sponsorship, and 10 years at Vodafone where he held a number of positions in Service, Sales and Marketing. He also holds an Executive MBA degree from Warwick Business School.

Elrawi discussed the launch of The Oracle Red Bull Racing Paddock, a

platform that lets fans earn points to get exclusive swag and digital downloads.

Fans used The Paddock to redeem digital rewards and submit thousands of questions to the team through Oracle CrowdTwist Loyalty and Engagement.

Elrawil also revealed how Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is helping Oracle Red Bull Racing prepare race strategies and make real-time decisions during races to help them win.

Oracle CEO: SAFRA A. CATZ INDUSTRY: IT SERVICES AND IT CONSULTING HQ: TEXAS, US

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EVENT REVIEW

SHAPING THE

FUTURE

OF TECHNOLOGY 24

August 2022

EVENT REVIEW

BizClik Media Group brought together industry experts and thought leaders to share their expertise at its Tech Live London event WRITTEN BY: TILLY KENYON

T

he world is becoming more interconnected than ever, with advances in technology changing the way we live. At BizClik Media Group’s Tech Live London event, people from all walks of business had the opportunity to be a part of the conversations shaping the future of technology today.

Held at the Tobacco Dock, London, on 23rd-24th June, the two-day hybrid event was held in-person and broadcast live via Brella, a fully interactive virtual platform.

It incorporated four zones: Tech & AI LIVE, Cloud & 5G LIVE, Cyber LIVE and March8 LIVE, which covered a wide variety of topics ranging from security and the metaverse to women in STEM. Below is a collection of some of the highlights on each of the different stages across the event.

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Accreditation SHOW YOUR

business CARES ABOUT equality It’s about doing more CLI C K HE RE

E D U C A T E

•

M O T I V A T E

•

E L E V A T E

EVENT REVIEW

Tech & AI Looking at themes such as AI, Digital Ecosystems and Data & Analytics, the Tech & AI stage welcomed CTOs, CISOs and VPs of Technology from some of the most influential businesses in the world to share their insights.

They explored how technology has developed, how it’s helping to solve problems, showcased the work being implemented right now and also looked at what is possible in the future.

The impact of COVID-19 was a hot topic, with it having driven digital transformation and cloud adoption, while also substantially impacting

businesses with the shift to hybrid working. In one session, some of the issues raised referred to the use of technology as a substitute for human interaction and whether it could be, and would be, achieved through the current digital systems or even the use of holograms.

“It’s basically about going fully virtual.

Fully immersed technology that would take care of brainstorming workshops as well as every other aspect of meeting in person,” said Kreshnik Mati, Vice President Technology at Klick Health.

Insights were also shared from companies including IBM, Unisys, Kainos, Sitecore, Interos, USAF, Oracle, JP Morgan, Tata, PwC and Infosys.

KRESHNIK MATI VP TECHNOLOGY, KLICK HEALTH

“It’s basically about going fully virtual” KRESHNIK MATI

VP TECHNOLOGY, KLICK HEALTH.

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EVENT REVIEW

FIRESIDE CHAT: DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS ANTONY KAGOO, HEAD OF INNOVATION, COMMUNICATION, MEDIA & INFORMATION SERVICES, UK & EUROPE, TCS PAUL GRAHAM, DIRECTOR OF UK ENGINEERING, MATRIXX SCOTT BIRCH, CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, BIZCLIK MEDIA GROUP

ARUNGALAI ANBARASU, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY & STRATEGY OFFICER, WAYGATE TECHNOLOGIES

GERAINT JOHN, VP INTEROS RESILIENCE LABS , INTEROS

AARON CELEYA, SQUADRON COMMANDER, UNITED STATES SPACE FORCE

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INDERPAL BHANDARI, GLOBAL CHIEF DATA OFFICER, IBM

EVENT REVIEW

AMR ELRAWI, DIRECTOR, SPORTS MARKETING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, ORACLE

PANEL DISCUSSION: THE DIGITAL WORKFORCE SHUBHI RAJNISH, GROUP HEAD OF INFORMATION & DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, BAT SUSAN STANDIFORD, CTPMO, STEPSTONE KRESHNIK MATI, VP TECHNOLOGY, KLICK HEALTH SCOTT BIRCH, CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, BIZCLIK MEDIA GROUP

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EVENT REVIEW

Cloud & 5G Leading telecommunications and data centre executives came together to discuss their strategies and the future of technology. A highlight from across the two days on the Cloud & 5G stage was the exciting talk about robot-aided forestry management.

Ceren Clulow, who currently leads the Digital Connectivity Service in Nottinghamshire County Council, took to the stage where she explained all about the 5G Connected Forest.

This is a world-first project, delivering 5G connectivity into a woodland area.

The project investigates the role of 5G in delivering visitor attractions for all ages and protecting the sensitive forest environment through robotic environmental management and live monitoring.

Aiming to transform and uplift natural spaces within the locality, they use robotic dogs that are programmed to explore the forest floor using sensors to detect terrain and its overall health, as well as identify the volume of sunlight reaching through the trees. The two dogs, Gizmo and Eric, also made a special appearance on stage – with Eric even showcasing a backflip!

ROBOT-AIDED FORESTRY MANAGEMENT. DR TAUFIQ ASYHARI, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN NETWORKS & COMMUNICATIONS, BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY MOAD IDRISSI, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION, BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY

“We have an ambition to make Nottinghamshire a county for digital excellence and to try new technologies so that the next generation want to stay” CEREN CLULOW

DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY MANAGER, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

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August 2022

EVENT REVIEW

NITU KAUSHAL, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTELLIGENT EDGE, EUROPE REGION, ACCENTURE

PANEL DISCUSSION: DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN TELCO. NITU KAUSHAL, ACCENTURE CEREN CLULOW, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL ALEX TUCK, BIZCLIK MEDIA GROUP

PANEL DISCUSSION AMIR ABDELAZIM, JESSICA ELLIS, DIR JEREMY SPENCER, PAUL GOWANS, GLO

EVENT REVIEW

TESTIMONIALS “ It’s been great to have the opportunity to come along and meet lots of people across the 5G and cloud industry” ROBERT FRANKS MANAGING DIRECTOR, WM5G

“ It’s a great event, and I always find it good to get up on stage and speak to the audience” SIMON CHASSAR, CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER, CLAROTY

“ I really enjoyed coming here, it was a great venue and a fantastic opportunity for me to socialise” TAMMY ARCHER CISO, INCHCAPE

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“ It’s a great atmosphere at the event, and feels really supportive and encouraging.

There’s some really cool tech too!”

ELEANOR LUDLAM PARTNER AT DAC BEACHCROFT LLP

“ We’ve managed to showcase the robots’ capabilities and the research we have carried out. It’s great to see positive feedback” DR MOAD IDRISSI RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, SMART COMPUTING AND ROBOTICS, BIRMINGHAM UNIVERSITY.

N: 5G EXPERT PARTNER, DETECON INTERNATIONAL RECTOR OF APPLIED 5G, DELOITTE , MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, BAI COMMUNICATIONS OBAL DIRECTOR 5G, VIAVI SOLUTIONS

EVENT REVIEW

TARA MCDAID, REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT SALES, SALESFORCE

NICOLAS FORTINEAU, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, AIRTIES

LIFE IN 2040: HOW 5G CAN HELP US GET THERE.HANNAH GRIFFITHS, SENIOR ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, JACOBS LARA MOLONEY, HEAD OF SCOTLAND 5G CENTRE, SCOTLAND 5G CENTRE

EVENT REVIEW

ELEANOR LUDLAM, PARTNER, DAC BEACHCROFT LLP

Enabling winning through the use of data A popular crowd pleaser at the event was the Oracle and Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 simulator, which attendees and speakers had the chance to experience.

The 2021 race season was a huge success for Oracle Red Bull Racing. With the team achieving 23 podium finishes and Max Verstappen winning the driver’s championship, Oracle Red Bull Racing had its most successful season in recent history.

“Oracle Cloud enabled us to make raceday decisions that helped Max Verstappen win the 2021 Drivers’ Championship.”

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Christian Horner, Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO Speaking on the Tech&AI stage was Amr Elrawi, Oracle’s Director, Sports Marketing and Business Development.

He explained how Oracle is helping Oracle Red Bull Racing use data and technology to improve performance on the track and build an unrivalled fan experience.

Elrawi also revealed how Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is helping Oracle Red Bull Racing prepare race strategies and make realtime decisions during races to help them win.

SIMON CHASSAR, CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER, CLAROTY

TIMOTHY ROHRBAUGH, CISO, JETBLUE AIRWAYS

LESLEY KIPLING, CHIEF SECURITY ADVISOR, MICROSOFT

Cyber Recognised as a crucial element of the technology industry, cyber security is a major concern for organisations globally.

Opening on the cyber stage on day one was a keynote presentation from Tammy Archer, CISO at Inchcape. Archer explained the various challenges CISOs are facing in the current changing climate. These included a rise in automated attacks and how attackers are becoming more motivated and knowledgeable.

“There are going to be times when you will face quite difficult circumstances, but I would say when it does come to that, you just need to take a step back and think about how you are going to approach the problem,” Archer concluded.

Another great presentation came from Simon Chassar, Chief Revenue Officer at Claroty, who gave a keynote presentation on managing cyber risk and XIoT. Chassar explained how everything in the world is now becoming connected, which in turn is creating a vast threat landscape.

With more cyber attacks directed at the industrial industry, interconnected systems need to be protected, as the impact on society as a whole can be detrimental. Later on in the day, Simon Chassar was back on stage, but this time he was joined by Ian Lilleby, who is Group CISO at Sonnedix Group, and Rob Dyson, Global OT & IoT Security Services Leader at IBM. They discussed technological innovation, creating the right security policies for remote workers, and the ever-increasing volume of malware attacks.

Dyson explained: “It’s an exciting time to work. We get to participate in this digital transformation, but we need to manage these vulnerabilities.” datacentremagazine.com

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EVENT REVIEW

March8 The March8 stage showcased discussions on women in STEM and what can be done to encourage future female generations into a male dominated industry. Are girls institutionally discouraged from pursuing STEM careers? Is there a cultural issue facing young women entering the industry?

Or is it a combination of the two (and more)? These are some of the burning questions that were discussed.

Paulina Laurie, Head of Women in Tech at Frank Group Recruitment, and Samantha Humphries, Head of Security Strategy, EMEA at Exabeam, took to the stage to discuss barriers of recruiting women in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Laurie explained that barriers seem to start at a young age with stereotypes, but that it can also continue into the workforce, with people often thinking: “If I cannot see it, I cannot be it”.

Towards the end of the event, Samantha Karlin gave a keynote presentation entitled ‘An Ethical Revolution in Tech’, which spoke about AI perpetuating bias and the false belief of emerging technologies being neutral and unbiased. She urged the audience to focus on being empathetic and protecting ‘feminist leadership’.

Other powerful talks from inspiring women shed light on some of their personal experiences with sexism and how they overcame barriers to pursue their careers.

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August 2022

PANEL DISCUSSION: SYSTEMIC GENDER BIAS ONLINE. EMILY COOK, MARKETING MANAGER, MARCH8 KATHERINE GORMLEY, PRINCIPAL SOLUTIONS ENGINEER, RESISTANT AI FANNIE DELAVELLE, MANAGER, BPIFRANCE ARUNGALAI ANBARASU, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY & STRATEGY OFFICER, WAYGATE TECHNOLOGIES

ALICE WILLIAMS, VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGY, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC UK&I

NINA JANE PATEL, CO-FOUNDER & VP OF METAVERSE RESEARCH, KABUNI

EVENT REVIEW

“The power of the network is huge, the more people you meet, the more opportunities you find” SAMANTHA HUMPHRIES HEAD OF SECURITY STRATEGY EMEA, EXABEAM

MARA POMETTI, SENIOR AI STRATEGIST, IBM

SAMANTHA KARLIN, CEO, EMPOWER GLOBAL

Creating the technology of the future These are just a few snapshots of the insights available from across the four stages. Attendees and other viewers can catch up on all sessions from the hybrid event through the Brella platform and on Youtube in the coming week. It enables on-demand viewing and provides a method

of contact between registered attendees to allow businesses to collaborate further.

TECH LIVE LONDON was brought to you by BizClik MediaGroup, in association with Claroty, Salesforce, Kainos, Oracle, Virtus Data Centres, CloudFactory, NorwegianDatacenter, umlaut, Africa DataCentres, and more great partners. datacentremagazine.com

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EDGE CENTRES

THE ART OF BEING LIKE WATER AD FEATURE WRITTEN BY: SAM STEERS

PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

datacentremagazine.com

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EDGE CENTRES

Jon Eaves, Founder and CEO of Edge Centres, talks funding rounds, a panAPAC rollout, and writing the unwritten future of ‘Edge’

T

he edge, it would seem, is full of surprises. “I'm always blown away by how much things have changed and how fast they move,” reflects Jonathan Eaves, Founder and CEO of off-grid edge data centre company Edge Centres.

For a company that’s fresh off the back of a AU$12mn funding round, and on track to grow from a single test site in the small Australian town of Grafton – which came online in early 2021 – to 20 data centres spread across seven APAC markets in under two years, “fast” feels like an understatement.

It’s all the more impressive when you hear Jon talk about just how much his understanding of – not to mention vision for – “the edge” has changed in that time.

A Year at the Cutting Edge “What Edge Centres looks like today is so completely different to what it was when I founded the company,” he explains.

Over the last year, Eaves has “radically reevaluated” his understanding of what 'edge' means. He’s pivoted the business in response, from focusing on his home market of Australia, towards “a broader, globalised footprint, rather than a more concentrated, localised edge network.”

Of course, if you talk to Jon for any amount of time about his plans for the business, you quickly realise that when

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August 2022

Example of an image caption

EDGE CENTRES

Continuing its growth in APAC and the US

“ The Edge is like water; it’s the same shape as the space it fills” JONATHAN EAVES FOUNDER & CEO EDGE CENTRES

he says pivoting, he really means doing both things faster, bigger, and better than everyone else. In Australia, Edge Centres has 10 data centres: four in Queensland, three in New South Wales, and three more in Victoria – which cover the majority of the population in those three states.

“I built 10 data centres in Australia, where I have a serious competitor, and it's been going very well. But I realised 42

August 2022

my market was still only 25 million people, and two competitors chasing all the same business in a market that size, in small towns and areas where they've never had a data centre before - it already feels a little too small,” Eaves says. “That's what led me to look beyond Australia, towards a market with 900 million people, greater population density, and therefore a much greater need for edge solutions. I have my 10 sites across Australia, but it's time to spread Edge Centres' footprint across the rest of APAC, which will inevitably go east and west into North America in 2023 and then into Europe.”

JONATHAN EAVES TITLE: FOUNDER & CEO INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGY LOCATION: AUSTRALIA

Across APAC In Asia, Eaves is building or buying another 10 sites spread throughout Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Hong Kong, and Thailand.

The first, EC31, is under construction in Kuala Lumpur, replicating Edge Centres’ awardwinning, cutting-edge specifications for small, modular, edge data centre units.

The next site has been selected to the south in Johor, which Eaves explains is “an amazing location because it's just across the bridge from Singapore. That means that you can have a site in Johor and, in terms of connection latency for a hyperscaler,

EXECUTIVE BIO

Jonathan Eaves is a veteran data centre builder and tireless evangelist for the future of the edge.

He founded Edge Centres – the world’s first off-grid data centre company – in 2021, and is on track to launch 20 sites across Australia and Asia by 2023. Edge Centres’ prototype site in Grafton is designed so efficiently as to have zero dependence on the local power grid, meeting all its power needs exclusively with onsite solar and creating more energy than it consumes. As a result, EC1 Grafton was named the winning Edge Data Centre Project of the year 2021 by Data Center Dynamics.

EDGE CENTRES

it's no different to being in mainland Singapore”. He adds that “we're also working on something in Panang, which is a huge industrial area with no data centres.”

Beyond Malaysia, Eaves has projects and proof-of-concept trials spinning up in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and in Jakarta, Indonesia, in addition to ongoing work throughout Australia and plans to expand the business beyond APAC in 2023.

“Last year, I was facing the process of building a business in a single market of 25 million people that was familiar to me,” Jon recalls. “This year, I'm looking at 900 million people spread across six discrete, distinct countries – all with their own individual issues. And, so far, none of those issues seem to correlate with their neighbours'.”

“ We're creating an unknown future and, as many people say, the edge is still undefined” JONATHAN EAVES FOUNDER & CEO EDGE CENTRES

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August 2022

Unique Challenges at the Edge This diversity isn’t just a matter of distinct markets, however. As Eaves explains, it’s also the emerging nature of the edge that’s forcing him to think differently about every new project he approaches.

“People keep asking me what the edge is, what form it’s going to take, and what its future looks like. Honestly, the edge is like water; it’s the same shape as the space it fills,” Jon explains. “I haven't found one single shape, order, iteration to which the edge constantly conforms. That being said, I've found that the ‘edge’ – which I cannot stress enough is a very loose term – is very good for fixing isolated, niche problems. To me, the edge means creating an application to suit a niche market, and we just happen to have grouped all those applications

EDGE CENTRES

under one big umbrella.” “Just look at what we did in Bright.”

Bright, Victoria Bright, a town located three and a half hours north of Melbourne, is home to around 2,400 residents and is serviced by a single cellular tower. The town is officially considered not to be a connectivity blackspot, as its tower provides sufficient cellular coverage for its residents.

However, Bright’s status as a popular base for exploring the peaks of Mount Buffalo National Park and Alpine National Park as well as Mount Hotham, a popular ski resort, means that, on weekends and holidays, its population can swell by 15,000 overnight.

This places undue strain on the area’s cellular coverage, and leads to frequent outages

THE FUTURE OF THE EDGE The edge is still a technology in its earliest stages and, if we’re going to realise its potential, there are some steps that need to be taken.

Edge 1.0: Fix the Internet Edge 2.0: Deliver OTT content through edge sites and networks Edge 3.0: Deliver on the Promise of 5G Edge 4.0: Realise the Potential of the Edge “The idea is that the four stages of edge begin with Edge 1.0, which means fixing the internet. Making connectivity stable, fast, accessible, you name it, and doing that everywhere,” says Eaves. Then, Edge 2.0 is about realising the potential of the OTT providers, migrating that content, those telematics, and everything to the edge. Edge 3.0 is integrating 5G as the universal connectivity standard. And then Edge 4.0 is using the fact that all those other problems have been fixed to build some real applications that fully utilise the power of what Edge can do.”

According to Eaves, “There's not a country in the world that's not struggling with Edge 1.0 right now. I was in Monaco recently. One of the richest places in the world and I struggled to even get a steady 3G connection. So, step one pretty much everywhere is to fix the internet.”

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EDGE CENTRES

and subpar service. “There was a recent emergency where a cyclist was badly hurt and, because the town’s cell network was overloaded, no one could call for an ambulance,” says Eaves. Visitors, locals, and local businesses regularly find themselves without access to the internet – typically during peak business hours, when small businesses need access the most to run payment terminals.

“We partnered with a local telco and the council to bring free, stable, fast internet to the whole town using our network of edge data centres,” Eaves explains. “Bright was a one-off for us, but that model has now been picked up by the local council who want to find a way to replicate it in other towns facing the same problems. Edge Centres won't be the company to do that; that's not our business model. But we've created that use case at the edge: this is how you fix your small rural town's internet.”

Around the world, the digital divide remains a huge issue – one that disproportionately affects rural, minority, and lower income demographics – that needs to be addressed. By leveraging small and self-sufficient, but highly connected edge data centres in remote, rural, and underserved areas, the edge could be a big part of the solution to a problem that’s only growing more severe as the physical world becomes more and more entwined with the digital one.

Jakarta, Indonesia Of course, Eaves stresses: “The edge in Asia is fundamentally different to the edge in regional Australia.”

Edge Centres recently started working on a proof-of-concept trial with an Indonesian client whose needs raise a 46

August 2022

“ The Edge means creating an application to suit a niche market, and we just happen to have grouped all those applications under one big umbrella” JONATHAN EAVES FOUNDER & CEO EDGE CENTRES

EDGE CENTRES

very interesting challenge that is likely to be a defining element of urban edge deployments over the decade to come: where do you put it?

“The edge has become more than just figuring out a solution for edge computing; it's also become an exercise in figuring out how to build this new layer of critical infrastructure into densely populated areas with next to no available land and have it still be secure,” says Eaves. “We've had a customer contact us in Indonesia that needs multiple points of presence for their app to work. Our proof of concept involves these mini edge modules, which are even smaller versions of our standard sites using units built by DataQube – which are protected by inconspicuous, but highly effective, armour plating. Because we can't fence them off from the general population, we need to camouflage them in such a way that they can be put all over the place and not invite any attention at all. The goal is to basically make them invisible.”

The test unit is a gunmetal grey box, which has been pre-defaced with graffiti and old movie posters and placed right in the middle of a busy neighbourhood in Jakarta. Eaves explains that “when you see it you'd actually think you were just looking at an HV transformer - a small substation which cities in Indonesia are full of. It looks like it's been sitting there for years.”

As the number of edge devices on the planet spikes exponentially year on year – and a tidal wave of data subsequently threatens to overwhelm our networks – migrating processing power to the edge is going to be a vital part of handling the traffic from billions of devices, IoT sensors, autonomous vehicles, and other trappings of the digital age. However, finding a way to integrate this new datacentremagazine.com

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EDGE CENTRES

layer of critical infrastructure into urban environments where land is scarce and expensive means taking a very different approach to safeguarding edge data centres from unwanted attention than the “wall it off behind barbed wire and seven layers of manned and autonomous biometric security” approach favoured in colocation and hyperscale sites.

Taking a leaf right out of the 4G and 5G cell-tower camouflage playbook (the same one that used to line New Mexico’s highways with giant fibreglass cacti full of telecommunications equipment and wants to turn every lamppost, electricity pole, and traffic light into a mmWave 5G antenna) Eaves is discovering that anonymity presents a whole new kind of security. “It's about making the silhouette, the shape, as much a part of the landscape as possible. We made it look like a pad transformer because, in Vietnam and Indonesia, there are pad transformers everywhere. We're making them appear familiar and thereby making them totally anonymous,” he says. “We set up cameras across the street and it's really cool to watch hundreds of thousands of people walking and driving past this box that's secretly full of servers and not give it a second look.”

Exploring the Edge Edge Centres’s projects in Bright and Jakarta are just two of the ways that Eaves and his growing team are working to understand – and in many ways create – the next phase of the edge’s development.

A collaboration with a leading university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is not only giving Edge Centres true agnostic access to the country’s telco providers, but the presence of their facility is providing an 48

August 2022

opportunity for the university to give trainee data centre technicians (not to mention engineers looking to study networking, battery technology, solar power, etc.) a place to get hands on experience.

In Kuala Lumpur, Edge Centres is working in partnership with its Series A funding round investor, Cloud Link Solutions (CLS) – a rapidly growing cable landing station operator. “We're gaining access to land in Malaysia, and they're in turn getting access to our technology which is going into the design and

“I have my 10 sites across Australia, but it's time to spread Edge Centres' footprint across the rest of APAC” JONATHAN EAVES FOUNDER & CEO, EDGE CENTRES

construction of their new cable landing stations,” says Eaves. “This is very much a partnership.”

Home to a booming ecosystem of game developers, special effects artists, and digital content creators, Chiang Mai is poised to become the heart of digitally-driven creativity in Southeast Asia. However, video rendering and effects design are highly computeintensive activities. Because Chiang Mai is located a full nine hours away – and virtually all of Thailand outside of Bangkok

is underserved in terms of data centres and digital connectivity infrastructure – developers in Chiang Mai often need to maintain a permanent point of presence in Bangkok. This is inefficient, expensive, and is holding the growth of the Chiang Mai ecosystem back.

By installing one of its Edge Pod sites in Chiang Mai – with direct fibre routes to cloud onramps in Bangkok – Edge Centres is bringing the power of the edge to the underserved north of Thailand. Visual effects creators, game developers, and datacentremagazine.com

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Edge Centres Locations

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August 2022

EDGE CENTRES

digital artists now have access to ultra-low latency, high-capacity compute power at the edge, where they need it. Bringing the Edge to Chiang Mai is a key element of the future of the city’s local game development and visual effects industries.

Wherever Edge Centres looks to grow and expand, there are new partnerships to be formed, new use cases to explore, and new challenges to be overcome. “It's exhausting, it's amazing, and I wouldn't change it for the world,” Jon laughs. It’s one big exercise in adaptability and, as Eaves keeps telling me, the future is yet to be written and he couldn’t be more excited.

2021 was the year Edge Centres established a dense network of regional edge locations across regional Australia. This year, Edge Centres has broken new ground in six new markets, with more on the horizon throughout a rapidly digitalising region that’s home to almost a billion people. In 2023, Eaves confirms that Edge Centres is “exploring multiple locations across the US,” where he plans to employ a series of strategic acquisitions to further expand Edge Centres’ platform. “The edge is a global phenomenon, and so are we,” says Eaves.

“We're creating an unknown future and, as many people say, the edge is still undefined.

It's like having a whole bunch of different shaped cups, and the edge is the water that fills them. It's a case of understanding the needs of each new market and figuring out how to work within it to find the kinds of use cases they need,” he enthuses. “I get to be an explorer finding out what that future will look like. I get to find out what applications and use cases are out there. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.”

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Securing

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August 2022

WRITTEN BY: JOSEPHINE WALBANK

DATA CENTRES

in data centre infrastructure The rise of IoT will bring entirely new demand for data volumes, data storage and data speed, forcing data centres to expand and pivot quickly

F

or businesses, digital transformation is certainly one of the decade’s buzzwords.

IoT is driving rapid technological developments, across almost every industry. Not only does this involve the introduction of new IoT devices – which span everything from biochips to car sensors – but it also paves the way for entire business IoT ecosystems.

But, before the futuristic IoT world that we envision can become a reality, the global data centre infrastructure needs to be prepared.

Businesses will be creating, managing and storing more data than ever before and, as this data is at a previously inconceivable level of personal and private, security will play a pivotal role in the successful implementation of IoT data evolution.

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August 2022

DATA CENTRES

PAUL DODDS

COUNTRY MANAGER, GENETEC UK & IRELAND

“Physical and cyber security can no longer be treated as separate disciplines”

The driving force behind data centre evolution – why do we need IoT? Previously considered to be within the same bracket as hoverboards, IoT is now set to revolutionise countless industries.

Smart devices will gather data through sensors, processors and other hardware, before sending it to an IoT cloud getaway for analysis – all without any human input required.

The opportunities for this technology are endless, spanning everything from providing more advanced healthcare services to keeping our roads safer, and

even creating a more intuitive experience at big music events.

From the perspective of a company, the benefits of IoT are multi-faceted and farreaching. If implemented successfully, IoT can improve internal efficiency, provide a greater degree of control and automation, increase operational transparency, offer real-time insights into operations, automate processes, increase delivery speed, and provide a more bespoke customer service, just to name a handful. These opportunities expand when IoT is partnered with AI and ML, enhancing the technology further. datacentremagazine.com

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DATA CENTRES

“We’re seeing that more and more data is time sensitive, and it needs to be processed at the edge, so IoT is also fuelling the growth in edge data centres” LEWIS WHITE

VP OF ENTERPRISE INFRASTRUCTURE (EUROPE), COMMSCOPE

As you can see, the new wave of IoT technologies has sparked a complete reimagining of how we deliver value and what companies can do to raise the bar.

Building a high-security IoT ecosystem The rise of IoT will bring with it entirely new demands on data volumes, data storage and data speed, forcing data centres to expand and pivot quickly.

“In fact, the biggest impact from IoT in the data centre will be video applications – entertainment, security monitoring, data mining and safety, for example. Companies need to store that data and act on it in real time, rather than analysing static data or photos,” explains Lewis White, Vice President of Enterprise Infrastructure for Europe at CommScope.

Alongside this, the deeply personal nature of some of the data that IoT devices will gather – including real-time location updates, healthcare information and user behaviours – will require data centres to operate with the maximum possible security.

Thankfully, the benefits of an IoT framework can also be implemented to support data centres themselves. This system upgrade can help data centre providers to maximise uptime, lower operating costs, and enhance physical security.

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However, it is important to note that a failure to manage the new IoT framework appropriately will also introduce cyber security vulnerabilities.

“Failing to change the default password or to update the firmware are good examples of this. As is allowing unencrypted communication between the client application and server,” advises Paul Dodds, the Country Manager at Genetec UK & Ireland.

To manage these vulnerabilities, Dodds recommends that data centres adopt a unified approach to security, with a cyberphysical security framework.

“Physical and cybersecurity can no longer be treated as separate disciplines. Those responsible for physical security must instead work closely with their IT departments. By working together, they can better protect their facilities and information. This is best achieved with a unified security solution,” says Dodds.

“A unified security solution can help to automate tasks that contribute to good cyber hygiene. For example, identifying hardware that is not supported or that is running on out-of-date versions of the firmware. It is then much easier to build a resilient cyberphysical security framework from which to operate,” he adds.

The number of global IoT devices will triple in 10 years from

8.74 bn in 2020

to more than

25.4 bn in 2030

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DATA CENTRES

SIMON MICHIE CTO, PULSANT

“ As 5G rolls out, the urgency to adopt dedicated decentralised edge data centres increases daily” The future of IoT and data centres’ place within it According to recent predictions, the number of global IoT devices will triple in 10 years – from 8.74 billion in 2020, to more than 25.4 billion in 2030.

This is largely being driven by large (and ongoing) business investments into IoT technology and using more sophisticated data-driven solutions to enhance their services.

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Data, its storage and its management are the make-or-break factors for these technologies. As a result, data centres and their infrastructure will need to be responsive and quick to adapt to the everchanging IoT developments.

“As 5G rolls out, the urgency to adopt dedicated decentralised edge data centres increases daily. Many IoT architectures use low-cost sensors that are relatively ‘dumb’ devices, but the gateways that process all

the data they generate must operate at low latency, as well as high capacity”, is the advice of Simon Michie, the CTO of Pulsant, to data centres looking to stay on top of the curve.

“Without such capabilities, an IoT implementation is destined to fall short of expectations.”

Furthermore, as more and more data is time sensitive, it will need to be processed at the edge. As a result, in turn,

“IoT is also fueling the growth in edge data centres”, White adds.

In order to manage IoT requirements – both the increasing data demands from consumers, and IoT technologies that are being deployed on the data centre site itself – data centres will need to utilise AI and ML to process data more efficiently, while using edge data centres and deploying singlemode fibre to ensure their speeds are fast enough to handle this capacity. datacentremagazine.com

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AT GOOGLE, SUPRIYA IYER IS ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS 60

August 2022

GOOGLE

WRITTEN BY: HELEN ADAMS PRODUCED BY: MIKE SADR

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GOOGLE

Supriya Iyer is the Director of Supply Chain and Commercial Operations at Google. Here, she explains what it takes to lead and who inspires her

R

esearch from SEO Tribunal suggests that there are over three million Google searches every minute. But behind the familiar question tab is Supriya Iyer – the Director of Supply Chain and Commercial Operations at Google.

Born in India, Iyer went on to complete her schooling there, all the way through to postgraduate study. After completing a double Master’s in Mathematics and Information Systems from B.I.T.S Pilani India, Iyer then moved to Melbourne, Australia, where she became a formidable player working in global supply chain and operations roles across a variety of industry sectors, such as automotive and high tech.

“My work at General Electric was especially pertinent to my growth as a professional,” she explains. “It was there that I truly learnt about managing change and driving transformation.”

In 2016, Iyer moved to the Bay Area with her family and started working at Google Cloud in the global partner programmes team and subsequently in the professional services organisation.

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GOOGLE

“ Compassionate and competent leaders have always inspired me to challenge the status quo and invite diverse perspectives” SUPRIYA IYER

DIRECTOR OF SUPPLY CHAIN AND COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS, GOOGLE

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“In October 2019, I took on my current role in the Google networking team as the Director of Supply Chain and Commercial Operations.

The Google networking supply chain & commercial operations team is structured to effectively manage procurement and supply of networking equipment to sites, overseeing significant investment in assets and services across the business.”

The challenges in this role range from supporting Google Cloud’s enterprise customers to ensuring effective procurement and delivery to complex countries.

“The shift over the past 40+ years to just-intime inventory and global manufacturing has helped to optimise costs,” says Iyer. “However, the pandemic added a new set of unforeseen challenges. On the supply side, border closings combined with lockdowns constrained the manufacturing and shipping of key components and goods, significantly increasing lead times. Juggling supply to meet growing demand has therefore posed new challenges.”

Hiring supply chain and project management talent globally in a labour constrained environment has been more of a challenge recently.

“As a leader, supporting team members to take care of their health and overall wellbeing during the pandemic has been critical, but not always easy to do. The last two years have been a marathon and it isn’t over by any stretch of imagination!”

Iyer and her team are working hard to overcome these challenges.

“We have developed frameworks, processes and metrics to help better understand and quantify these challenges.

For example, working with business stakeholders on an emerging market roadmap, developing a materials supply playbook for these markets and investing in planning ahead to support timely deployment in these markets have helped. datacentremagazine.com

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Juniper Networks - keeping cloud providers operational Juniper Networks on how it provides infrastructure to cloud providers, including the largest hyperscale networks

supply chain and the man who oversees it – Mitch Haynes, Supply Chain Planning & Fulfillment VP at Juniper.

Juniper Networks might just be one of the biggest companies you’ve never heard of.

A US multinational corporation, Juniper offers networking products including routers, switches, network management software and security products and solutions.

“What’s super important is our ability to scale-up with a customer. We have to physically produce all of the hardware that makes that possible.”

Its customers consist of service providers, enterprises, and cloud providers, including the largest hyperscale cloud providers, as part of its Cloud segment.

“Our customers are building clouds that serve businesses and the public globally,” says Jason Fritch, Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Juniper Networks Cloud Segment. He adds that the company also provides “high-end, high-performance, high-scale networking solutions” that not only connect clients’ data centres to one another, but also connect them directly to their end-users. “Tens of thousands of products and hardware components are required from us to do this at planet scale, like we do for some of our global cloud clients.”

Such vast quantities of components and products demand a great deal of both Juniper’s

This requires an ecosystem of partners, says Haynes: “There are the customers, and the operation of their data centres, and then there are our manufacturing partners, and their suppliers.”

It’s a difficult job at the best of times, but over the past two, pandemic-hit, years, it has been inordinately challenging - which is when Juniper’s strong relationship with their customers came into its own.

“We work with customers so that together we can make the best operational decision we can at any given point in time,” says Haynes.

“That might be whether to place a new order for a product earlier than we typically would, or looking at a design or use-case and making early-stage decisions on future engineering.”

Learn more

GOOGLE

SUPRIYA IYER TITLE: DIRECTOR OF SUPPLY CHAIN AND COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS LOCATION: PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES

EXECUTIVE BIO

Supriya leads Supply Chain and Commercial Operations, with a focus on predictable materials supply and operations to operate Google’s network at scale. With 20+ years experience transforming value chains and growing small teams into mature organisations to deliver high quality products and services, Supriya enjoys fast-paced and dynamic environments while fostering people-first culture and stakeholder engagement. Previously, she has held global leadership positions at VMWare, GE and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI).

Supriya holds a Master's degree in Computer Science and a Master’s degree in Mathematics. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, cooking, and travelling.

At Google, Supriya Iyer is asking the right questions

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GOOGLE

“ I’m inspired by seekers – anyone who is committed to learning, growth and giving back” “Similarly, developing a two-year capability roadmap has helped not only supply chain but also our partner teams to work on the right tools, data structures, reporting and processes to enable scale and velocity.

“Strong partnerships with strategic suppliers has been pivotal to ensure smooth supply and early notification of supply constraints. Jointly, we have been able to develop solutions that have supported Google networking’s rapid growth.”

SUPRIYA IYER

DIRECTOR OF SUPPLY CHAIN AND COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS, GOOGLE

Vulnerability and authenticity in leadership The best piece of advice Iyer has ever been given is to “get out of the office and connect with customers, vendors, peers and team members” – pretty difficult to do in the pandemic, but not impossible.

“Only then can you hope to understand them and build relationships of trust and open communication,” she says.

This advice is in part inspired by an eclectic range of Iyers personal heroes.

“I’m inspired by seekers – anyone who is committed to learning, growth and giving back: Malala Yousafzai, Mahatma Gandhi, Greta Thunberg and Maya Angelou, they are some examples of people who inspire me by what they stand for and how they lead.

They demonstrate vulnerability, authenticity and standing up for the community. datacentremagazine.com

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GOOGLE

“At work, I am inspired by the Google leaders, my peers and of course my team who have shown customer centricity, perseverance and teamwork despite the tough challenges of the last 2 years.

Compassionate and competent leaders – my first mentor (John Gafferena) and my father (Alak Sundararaman) – have always inspired me to challenge the status quo, invite diverse perspectives and focus on the customer.”

Making the Google supply chain resilient Google is a planet-scale network, but there are some figures that can provide a more easily digestible view of the organisation: • Google’s global network consists of a system of high-capacity fibre optic cables that encircle the globe, under both land and sea, connecting data centres to each other and to users • Globally, Google operates data centres in 23 locations, 34 cloud regions and 103 zones • The company has 147 points of presence and has announced 20 subsea cable investments around the globe • Google also has thousands of edge locations around the world in over 200 countries and territories, offering users and customers very low latency services such as Google Assistant and rich content such as YouTube and Google Photos

“ Strong partnerships with strategic suppliers have been pivotal to ensure smooth supply and early notification of supply constraints” SUPRIYA IYER

DIRECTOR OF SUPPLY CHAIN AND COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS, GOOGLE

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Though undoubtedly a complex, multi-layered role, which elements of growing this worldwide network demand most from Iyer?

“Anticipation is key and asking the right questions to pre-empt the needs of a rapidly growing and evolving network is a challenge,” she says. “The only guarantee is the next 12 months won’t be like the previous 12 months, for sure!”

Innovating material supply in ways that enables responsiveness at short notice will be key in the coming years – most likely for all industries.

Part standardisation, rationalisation and in-region customisation are some approaches that Google is taking to reduce long lead-times. Iyer’s team invests considerable time in building on the strong partnership with their strategic vendors and jointly innovating with them.

Similarly, working with the engineering, deployment and network operations teams within Google, to ensure alignment, is a key part of Iyer’s work. Over time, the Google network hopes to be able to deliver greater predictably with innovative solutions to meet industry needs, while datacentremagazine.com

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GOOGLE

operating an autonomous network. Similar to a self-driving car, Google’s intent-driven automated network needs to evolve into an autonomous network.

“In addition to thinking about reliability as ‘How do we minimise failures?’, at Google we think as well about ‘How we can make our services resilient to failures when they happen?’. In our organisation, we spend as much time on systems and processes to respond to failures as we do in preventing them in the first place. Google Cloud has grown significantly, and we are continuously increasing the number of enterprise customers we support.”

Supply chain and digital transformation at Google Iyer has a roadmap for Google’s networking supply chain. She and her team have devoted considerable effort to optimise their supply chain tools and systems to reengineer across the end to end value chain and enable FLOW and agility.

“Revisiting processes and systems in light of both the demand and supply variability is essential to predictably deliver at scale,” she says. “The frequency and volume of change will increase and we are developing

“ Revisiting processes and systems in light of both the demand and supply variability is essential to predictably deliver at scale” SUPRIYA IYER

DIRECTOR OF SUPPLY CHAIN AND COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS, GOOGLE

processes and tools where we can react within a lead time that our customers need to sustainably succeed.”

Iyer plans to leverage AI and ML capabilities to further automate supply chain processes and simplify decision making. An example of this could be scaled invoice validation to support timely processing and payment.

“Integration with vendor systems and tools for timely information flow across the materials supply chain,” she explains.

“For example, integration with third-party warehouse providers is key to ensure the right information is available to make the right decisions in a timely manner.

“We are actively working to deliver an agreed capability roadmap. We are well progressed on all fronts and, in light of the recent supply constraints and demand growth, we have further refined our capability roadmap to predictably meet customer demand in the coming years.” datacentremagazine.com

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“ Responsive and responsible supply of networking materials and services is our mission; that is what motivates us” SUPRIYA IYER

DIRECTOR OF SUPPLY CHAIN AND COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS, GOOGLE

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This transformation will help Google to offer customers capabilities that it hasn’t been able to offer before, with the investment in enhancing tools, systems, processes and data frameworks helping Google to support cloud customers with new networking products and capabilities at scale. It will support customers’ growing businesses and help them to achieve their purpose and strategy.

GOOGLE

However, Google’s longterm strategy for the Google networking supply chain links right back to Google’s vision: ‘To organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful’. “My team’s vision aligns with this as we aim to provide access to networking materials and all material related information to our customers easily and simply,” says Iyer.

“Responsive and responsible supply of

networking materials and services is our mission; that is what motivates us.”

Such a mission would not be possible without a reliable partner ecosystem.

At Google, vendors are valued partners and the company actively collaborates with them at all levels to develop innovative solutions and products. Google networking engineering, product, supply chain and other teams regularly connect, discuss and work closely with vendors.

“They are vital to delivering our vision and strategy and, likewise, Google as a customer is critical for them and their organisations,” says Iyer. “There is mutual respect, trust and confidence in our ability to shape Google’s network in the coming years.

“Our relationship with our vendors has deepened in the last two years; we’ve been learning from each other.

We have also supported each other in developing innovative solutions and ensuring timely execution of critical projects.”

Increased digitisation; stronger partnerships with suppliers; working closely with governments; holding larger inventory buffers for critical components; bringing supply chains closer to home; and increasing optionality will be key to protect from future shocks.

The pandemic has given supply chain professionals a platform to appropriately influence design, engineering and deployment – and Iyer is ready for the next stage.

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SUSTAINABILITY

E R U T U F E H T F O BILITY A N I A T S U S IN

COLOC Driven by consumer demand, data centre service providers are firmly disproving the outdated reputation of being energy-draining, water-chugging machines WRITTEN BY: JOSEPHINE WALBANK

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CATION N

ow more so than ever, business expansion cannot be undertaken without the due consideration of sustainability.

In fact, companies that cannot grow through successfully implementing sustainable practices probably won’t grow much further at all.

Today, rising consumer awareness is placing a huge pressure on brands – of any industry – to adopt more transparent,

eco-conscious practices. In Deloitte's recent consumer behaviour report, almost a third of consumers surveyed stated that they had ‘stopped purchasing certain brands or products because of ethical or sustainability-related concerns about them’.

But, have these ground-level environmentalist efforts made their mark?

Does sustainability have a solid future in data centre colocation? datacentremagazine.com

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“Data centres in city centres in the middle of Europe – where land is expensive and power is scarce – is not the way forward for the data centre industry” MATTIAS FRIDSTRÖM

VP AND CHIEF EVANGELIST, ARELION

“Taking immediate, sustainable action is now crucial to the future of the sector” For tech giants and digital companies, one of the most successful (and obvious) ways that they can reduce their carbon footprint is by reassessing the service providers with whom they partner.

“With power costs now surging, and both the emissions and energy consumption of data centres under the microscope, customers and investors are demanding that operators address the environmental impact of every aspect of their operations,” stresses Adam Nethersole, the VP of Kao Data.

As such, for data centres that offer colocation services, sustainability is about

far more than their own personal sense of responsibility; it’s become make-or-break to the growth of their customer base.

“The future of sustainability in colocation is clear,” Nethersole adds. “Without owners and operators adhering to clear, consistent, and measurable standards, or selfregulation and legislation, our industry will continue to be seen as a key contributor to the climate challenge.”

“One might argue, in fact, that taking immediate, sustainable action is now crucial to the future of the sector.”

This has driven data centres across the world to adopt new sustainability initiatives.

These cover a wide variety of pioneering strategies, spanning everything from redirecting energy to rainwater harvesting.

“It’s simple, logical changes such as these that will drive sustainability across the colocation sector and make all the difference,” says Nethersole. datacentremagazine.com

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SUSTAINABILITY

“ One might argue, in fact, that taking immediate, sustainable action is now crucial to the future of the sector” ADAM NETHERSOLE VP, KAO DATA

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Partnerships with renewable energy suppliers One of the most seamless routes for colocation centres to take is to alter their energy provider, switching instead to one that provides renewable energy.

For instance, by sourcing its energy from the zero-carbon electricity supplier Bryt Energy, VIRTUS data centres use 100% renewable electricity and save 45,000,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

In fact – and pretty remarkably – VIRTUS’ Hayes-based facility has successfully reached the top 10% of UK commercial buildings, in terms of energy efficiency.

However, in order to secure a permanent and stable source of renewable energy, data centre providers will need to choose their site location with care.

“Data centres in city centres in the middle of Europe – where land is expensive and power is scarce – is not the way forward for the data centre industry if it wants to move itself towards a more sustainable future,” advises Mattias Fridström, the Vice President & Chief Evangelist at Arelion.

Innovative energy reduction, by redirecting energy wastage Obviously, reducing energy usage is another key factor. But, amidst the sector’s rapid expansion, this initially seems unrealistic.

But, pioneering data centres have found a way to redirect heat or energy, which would otherwise have been completely wasted, to another purpose.

“Many different solutions based on heat recovery are appearing,” advises Fridström.

Schneider Electric currently holds the status of the world’s most sustainable company. Alongside its sustainability consulting services, Schneider has also developed the EcoStruxure™ IT DCIM software, which provides tenants with complete transparency and real-time visibility, through a tenant portal.

For instance, “instead of wasting the heat through the roof, you can re-enter the heat into the local energy company’s system, thus heating up enterprise offices or private apartments within close proximity of the data centre”.

Echelon is another prime example of this concept, with its DUB20 site currently using wasted heat to dry natural material so that it can be used for agricultural fertiliser.

Achieving a ‘water positive’ status In 2021, Microsoft was forced to pull back on its plans to create a data centre based in the Netherlands, following datacentremagazine.com

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Formerly Telia Carrier, Arelion is a global connectivity service provider. Its global IP backbone, AS1299, is ranked number one in the world. The Arelion network spans Europe, North America, and Asia with 70,000 km of optical fibre and 1,700 MPLS endpoints.

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SUSTAINABILITY

“ Customers and investors are demanding that operators address the environmental impact of every aspect of their operations” ADAM NETHERSOLE VP, KAO DATA

an onslaught of criticisms about the proposed site’s water usage.

Microsoft, however, quickly responded with plans to reduce its water usage through an on-site aquifer and rainwater capture facility. Through this simple water sourcing

solution, Microsoft stated that its Agriport development would be ‘water positive’.

Innovations like these, coupled with investment in two-phase immersion cooling and other sustainability measures across the board, have enabled Microsoft to reverse insane water usage figures like ‘525 cubic metres every hour’.

In fact, by 2024, Microsoft’s Amsterdam, Dublin, Virginia and Chicago-based facilities won’t actually ‘use’ any water at all.

New, sustainable site locations, made possible by fibre network expansions Choosing cold climates close to an abundance of green power both improves global connectivity and makes these sustainable initiatives easier to implement.

To add to this, advancements in data centre technology and fibre network expansions have enabled data centre

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SUSTAINABILITY

“ Without owners and operators adhering to clear, consistent, and measurable standards… our industry will continue to be seen as a key contributor to the climate challenge” ADAM NETHERSOLE VP, KAO DATA

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companies to set up sites in a wide variety of new, ideally suited locations.

Areas such as these, “where the environment for building a data centre is perfect, have had no reason to be connected with fibre until very recently”.

But, “with the ever continuing fibre network expansions, more and more ideal locations for data centres are now appearing, even though some of the best locations are yet to be connected”, comments Fridström.

Future-proofing the sector the many routes to take Alongside adopting new, sustainable technologies, there’s also the question of defining and measuring the success of this broad term.

As Kevin Brown, the Senior Vice President of EcoStruxure Solutions at Schneider Electric, states, “I believe most colocation providers are starting to realise they have two challenges to meet: one, become more mature in their own reporting to their stakeholders, and two, enable their customers to satisfy their own reporting needs.”

This challenge will be fuelled by the fact that customers will each have their own sustainability reporting methods, “which will drive even more reporting from the provider”, adds Brown.

To help data centres achieve the required transparency, companies like Schneider are providing colocation providers with consulting services to help define metrics and determine the best ways to report on them.

After all, sustainability isn’t a simple tick box criteria – by its very nature, it’s multifaceted, ever-changing and nuanced. datacentremagazine.com

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EVOBITS

Turnkey IT Solutions in a powerful boutique model WRITTEN BY: ILKHAN OZSEVIM

PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

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EVOBITS

Silviu Balaci, CTO, and Dragos Radulescu, GM of EvoBits, a boutique-minded yet highly capable IT Solutions firm, talks tech, turnkey and timely evolution

I

n the business world, just as in the world at large, there is a kind of operational ‘survival of the fittest’ principle, where the most highly adaptable to change will survive. There are other related principles at work, too.

‘Environment’, ‘niche’, ‘competition’ and a form of ‘selection’ are involved, and these principles are more than mere metaphors.

EvoBits IT is a company that exhibits such principles, and its adaptability is striking.

EvoBits IT began as a software development company in 2014, which was their primary focus for the first few years.

“But, after that, we started branching out into hosting, due to the emerging demand from our existing clients,” says Silviu Catalin Balaci, Chief Technology Officer (CTO). “That's when we built the first data centre, and we then very quickly built the second.”

Exhibiting further acumen for the exploitation of the environment, he says: “Initially, they were purposely built for a particular project, but since then we started trying to attack the hosting services aspect.

We already had an established infrastructure and then developed into a hosting provider – mainly B2B, which is our target audience. But we also have the software department, and, instead of merely working for other clients, we are now trying to shift focus and develop different types of software-as-a-service (SaaS) to offer those as a product.”

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EvoBits IT: Turnkey IT Solutions in a powerful boutique model

“ You have to think about such equipment as you would think about a race car: it can only operate at high performance when it’s within its parameters, and so you have to try to keep it within those parameters” DRAGOS RADULESCU GENERAL MANAGER EVOBITS

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Balaci says that, being a small company, “the positions here are generally like an octopus with many tentacles, and we have several simultaneous functions so our titles alone don't really capture what we actually do”. Although officially ‘CTO’, Balaci’s role is mainly on the broad technical side involving management of the IT infrastructure, which includes everything that doesn't fall under the data centre operations.

“This includes servers and the handling of the networking part, the operating system and the software – including our own software development department.

And then on the business side, I'm more

EVOBITS

SILVIU BALACI TITLE: CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGY LOCATION: ROMANIA I am a technology enthusiast with an entrepreneurial spirit and an eye for solving IT-related challenges. Looking at the future, I am certain of only one thing: no matter what happens, it will be interesting.

DRAGOS RADULESCU TITLE: GENERAL MANAGER INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGY LOCATION: ROMANIA

EXECUTIVE BIOS

or less overseeing the marketing strategy and consulting on the general business development strategy, where Dragos and I strategise on which direction we should evolve or what market we should attack.”

Dragos Cristian Radulescu is General Manager (GM) and his role similarly entails multiple facets. “On the one hand, there is still a technical aspect concerning the operation of the Data Centres,” he says. “It's related to engineering and to the equipment that we're using, and since I joined EvoBits IT, it has also developed into an operational role, leading internal ops and the general administration of the business – which means dealing

With extensive engineering background in the automotive sector and exposure to the German and Japanese school of thought, my aim is not only to ensure goals are reached but that the process is thorough, complete and well documented.

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EVOBITS

with customer and supplier contracts, and includes personnel responsibilities.”

Located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, EvoBits IT is currently looking to finalise a solid recipe for the business, creating a solid model for their hosting business and, later, one for SaaS, that Radulescu says “can then be easily reproduced and expanded into potentially different locations”.

“The kind of business that we are currently running and the markets for these products and services (the data centre and hosting business) are dependent on location.

Expansion, generally speaking, requires relocation towards the customers, so that would be a ‘horizontal expansion’. Then, within our current business model, we are looking at our customers and seeing what needs they have that may not currently be met by the market” EvoBits IT prides itself on being a company with a boutique mentality. One of their goals in their expansion and development is to maintain this ethos, and where they are focusing only on B2B, they will work to maintain a close working relationship with their customers, discussing all their needs and adapting their hardware – as well as their software – infrastructure in line with customer needs, and developing their products in a particular direction accordingly. “We will never ever become a corporate type of company with a highstreet mentality,” says Balaci.

EvoBits IT’s Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning EvoBits IT’s biggest customers are currently in the AI business. “We've identified a kind of niche where we see a great potential because the products offered by large companies are off-the-shelf, fixed and immobile,” says Balaci. “All the large 96

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EVOBITS

“ We will never ever become a corporate type of company with a high-street mentality” SILVIU BALACI

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, EVOBITS

cloud companies have a 'take it or leave it' approach, but this area is complex and some customers require a different type of computational power. Others may need a different balance, such as more CPU power or a specific type of GPU, and either very fast, low latency storage or incredibly high amounts of storage. So we've discerned that there's a large volume of customer needs that are not being met in this department, and that speaks directly to our image as being customer-focused and creating solutions that are best for their particular business, so we are presently tackling this as a service.”

EvoBits IT also has a model that includes renting out equipment and hardware for AI processing, and engaging in consulting for larger customers that want to create their own infrastructure. For example, they presently have a client that has built his own private cloud just for AI processing and are both providing the hardware and creating the design for this private cloud – even the control panel. They are essentially a turnkey solution, with full vertical integration (FVI).

FVI means that EvoBits IT controls every aspect of the package that they provide and deliver to the customer. They have their own hardware and infrastructure that they built with their partners, and have full control of the software that's running on the datacentremagazine.com

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EVOBITS

cloud – fundamentally in control of every aspect on the chain. This gives them a lot of flexibility, as well as the power to adapt to the customer's needs and to react quickly in case any changes are required.

Balaci adds: “This full vertical integration eliminates a lot of restrictions. For example we are not limited to the power in a rack.

As we actually own the data centre, we can quite easily go in and assign more power to a particular zone or more cooling to a particular area. We're even able to modify the local data centre infrastructure, if that's something that needs to happen.”

Software as a Service Then there is the SaaS model within EvoBits IT.

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The idea is that a big part of the company is still focused on software development, making use of the skills of many great software developers who have been with the organisationfor a number of years. But, at the same time, EvoBits IT has shifted their approach into that of a service provider, focusing heavily on the hosting aspect of the business. One of the first examples would be the complete API builder.

Balaci says: “You have a lot of mobile apps developers that are quite good at creating mobile apps, but all that data in the backend needs to be stored somewhere.

Usually, what they do is contract other companies to build that for them. What we want is to have something similar to a website builder, but one that targets

EVOBITS

building the APIs behind mobile apps or other websites that work with that type of structure. This product will also be ready very soon.”

DC’s, Tech and technical know-how When Radulescu first joined EvoBits IT, he was in charge of a more technical aspect of the business, related specifically to the equipment used in the infrastructure of the data centres.

“We had two great partners that we worked with to construct the DCs,” he says. “Before I joined the company, we

purchased very efficient evaporative cooling equipment from Vertiv – which is a big name in the business – and we've used our local partner Innova to integrate and set up this equipment for the data centre.”

At the time, however, there was a certain lack of internal know-how within the company. Radulescu’s purpose was to understand how the pieces of equipment worked to get the most out of them and heighten their performance.

“You have to think about such equipment as you would think about a race car: it can only operate at high performance when it's within its parameters, and so you have to try to keep it within those parameters.

“One of the data centres that we constructed was a custom job built for max-load (3 MW of power), which means

“ One of the approaches is how to start our own marketing campaign to highlight the brand, highlight what makes us special, what specific aspects of our service set us apart from our competitors and why customers should come to us in spite of our very low prices” DRAGOS RADULESCU GENERAL MANAGER EVOBITSE

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that everything was strung up very tightly.

The cooling equipment, especially, was working very close to its rated capacity, and we had to find solutions to understand how to optimise and distribute airflow to ensure that we didn’t have any hotspots. Initially, this took a while, but we can say that we've gone from something that was very tightly strung – where any issues would've led to major concerns during operation – to where we are now, which is an N+1 situation where we can literally shut down some equipment and still continue to be operational without a hitch.”

As things progressed and Radulescu’s role evolved into one more involved with operations, they found that they needed to define numerous procedures to ensure that they have systems in place to record and document activities, and track all tasks – both internal and external – to optimise their workflow.

IT service expansions: challenges and opportunities IT expansions do, of course, come with their own sets of challenges. Asked about their own particular kind, Balaci says that they found them to fall into three categories – the first of these being global supply issues.

“If we take just network cards as an example, if we were to source them through the direct channels, we would have to wait up to a year in some cases.

So we had to adapt by trying to find other suppliers for those particular parts, but even so, nothing really comes quicker than three months – and, in a company where we are trying to be as agile as possible, that means trying to think ahead by buying and keeping things in stock so that, when a customer has a particular requirement, we are able to offer them a solution on 100

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the spot. This has been one of our biggest strengths, because we took that risk to buy ahead. We were, many times, the only ones in the local market who could provide, let's say a specialised custom server within one week. Instead of waiting three months, most of the time we had everything we needed ready.”

EVOBITS

The second challenge for EvoBits IT has been the software aspect. “We just launched our OpenStack cloud,” says Balaci. “We wanted to go for a solution that caters to high performance computing, which means extremely fast servers and, most importantly, an extremely fast storage solution – completely based on NVMe SSD

technology – which is the best of the best with low latency. We have to thank our partners at StorPool for that, who provided the software solution for the storage part and that solution has been great. However, the challenge has been in integrating it with our control panel, because we built one from the ground up. If you go onto Amazon datacentremagazine.com

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cloud and try to buy some components in one package, you will spend hours reading through the documentation as to where you need to go and what you need to do to gain access to these components. That led us to take the decision to build our own management and control panel, where we can simplify things enough that almost anyone can go there and, in just a few clicks – I would say in under a minute – easily customise whatever they want according to their needs.”

“ You have to think about such equipment as you would think about a race car: it can only operate at high performance when it’s within its parameters” DRAGOS RADULESCU GENERAL MANAGER EVOBITSE

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The last challenge was a particularly interesting one. “It relates,” says Balaci, “to the business strategy that we discussed with Dragos.

“We have all this hardware and we're going to build this high performance cloud, so we thought, 'let's take the strategy of not overcharging our customers, because fundamentally, we don't care about profit'.

Right now, our concern is getting our name known and expanding our brand. But, oddly enough, a lot of people are wondering, 'what

EVOBITS

corners are you cutting if you are able to offer these prices? Why is it so cheap?'. They think that we can’t offer this performance for under a half or a third of what other suppliers in the market offer. We built everything properly, with the latest high-performance equipment, with top-of-the-line software components, and we’re simply trying to not overcharge anyone. Even our biggest customer – who we're building the AI cluster for – came to us directly and said, 'your prices are so low that people are really

thinking that something is off here'.

“We need, therefore, to convince our customers that we are not cutting corners and are not underpricing our services, but that other providers are overcharging them.”

EvoBits IT’s upcoming 3rd DC EvoBits IT are also focused on a third DC. Finding the right location has been a challenge as, for DCs, location is key.

Specifically, power is a big problem, because data centres require large volumes of it to function effectively, and EvoBits IT is in a city where a number of areas have been built up and a lot of power resources have been used up.

The next stages are about obtaining approvals for the new location and for the new building, which is also a lengthy process.

There's a lot of bureaucracy involved.

Balaci says: “We hope that we'll be able to overcome all the challenges on the way which will be basically the implementation of all lessons learned. We aim for it to be as efficient as our most efficient, as reliable as our most reliable, and as flexible as our most flexible DC. We expect the building permits and zone development permits to come sometime next year.”

The critical importance of the partner ecosystem EvoBits IT’s partner ecosystem is also key to its successes. Hearkening back to evolutionary analogies, this ecosystem functions in a way that’s somewhat akin to symbiosis.

One of these partners is Supermicro, who has been very reliable. Most of EvoBits IT’s servers have been from Supermicro, and they have proven themselves to be – despite the fact that they’re a big company – extremely adaptable, and, as EvoBits IT offer datacentremagazine.com

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customised solutions, they require flexibility.

Supermicro constantly adapts solutions for EvoBits IT and the two work together within the supply chain. They were also quick to point out delays caused by the sourcing of parts, offering solutions to go in a different direction to solve EvoBits IT’s delivery issues.

Another one of EvoBits IT’s partners is AMD, who they’ve been with since 2019, where EvoBits IT were a launch partner for Epyc Rome CPUs. Balaci says: “They are always fast to supply; their CPUs are great, as is the support that we receive from them and, if we contact them concerning more niche software, they will help with custom settings or tweaks.”

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On the partner ecosystem, Radulescu continues: “We have our partners on the infrastructure and equipment side for the data centres, and the most important name here is Innova. They have been our partners since the construction of the data centres, and they have basically been holding our hands throughout the process of our operations. They've been our partner for maintenance and have been supporting us for any changes that we've carried out and have been there to help with any problems that we have, and have been open to suggestions and requests. They even helped us to learn about specific equipment, such

EVOBITS

“ We need, therefore, to convince our customers that we are not cutting corners and are not underpricing our services, but that other providers are overcharging them.

SILVIU BALACI

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, EVOBITS

as the Vertiv cutting edge evaporative cooling systems.”

Most importantly, Innova have been able to hand EvoBits IT knowledge down from Vertiv as an intermediary – “and they were very open in doing so,” says Radulescu. “We are very pleased to have them as a partner and have found many opportunities to collaborate with them.

“Obviously, I can't go on without mentioning Vertiv themselves, who have delivered the product and have been very diligent in supporting it wherever it was necessary - and even when it was out of warranty. It must be said that our use-

case isn't the most usual case for this type of equipment. We've been pushing those units in that project close to max load continuously, which has also been a very interesting experience for Vertiv themselves, to see how the equipment handles that sort of situation.”

StorPool is another one of EvoBits IT’s partners. They offer a really fast, low latency storage solution for cloud systems and for high performance computing, “and those guys are just awesome,” enthuses Balaci.

“We begin with the fact that their solution is great and works really well, but the level of support that they offer is what really sets them apart.”

EvoBits IT’s focus is about trying to develop the business and to make a name for themselves in the market. “One of the approaches is how to start our own marketing campaign to highlight the brand, highlight what makes us special, what specific aspects of our service set us apart from our competitors and why customers should come to us in spite of our very low prices,” says Radulescu. “And, on the other hand, we want to push forward on the development of our data centre, which is very important to us in terms of the next few years, which will be pivotal for the development of our company as a whole.”

Balaci says: “My area of focus will heavily be on our cloud solution. The one that we just launched is something that is also extremely critical for the software-as-aservice aspect of the business, since it provides the backbone for that area. We'll focus heavily on evolving, adding new features, expanding the offering and trying to educate our customers.”

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CLOUD & EDGE

CAN EDGE MICRO DATA CENTRES SOLVE THE

IOT DATA DEMAND? Short-term fix or permanent IoT solution?

Data Centre Magazine explores the future predictions for micro data centres at the edge WRITTEN BY: JOSEPHINE WALBANK

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A

ccording to market forecasts, the global IT power footprint for infrastructure edge deployments will increase from 1GW to over 40GW. In order to fuel this growth, predictions from the recent Linux Foundation ‘State of the Edge 2021’ market report estimate a US$800bn expenditure on new and replacement IT server equipment and edge computing facilities between 2019 and 2028. Obviously, such investments will be paramount to sustain sector growth on this scale.

Valuates Reports has corroborated these predictions, anticipating a monumental growth in the global edge computing market, from US$8.23mn in 2021 to US$55.93mn by 2028.

In order to successfully satiate the world’s growing reliance on data and the rise of the IoT, data centres have had to rapidly expand their infrastructure. And for many, edge micro facilities offer an efficient, affordable and highly beneficial way of managing new market demands.

But, will this be enough to sustain such a surge in demand? And, what exactly is the future set to look like for micro data centres at the edge?

But edge data centres provide a solution that hyperscale sites can’t.

Namely, they provide data sources that are opportunistically positioned at the ‘edge’ – ie at the location where the data is actually being used. By using edge data centres, large data centres can expand their services, improve their service efficiencies, and ensure providers are able to cope with the ever-increasing demand for data. Plus, all of the above can be achieved without requiring a reconfiguration of the site’s existing infrastructure.

What are the benefits of deploying micro data centres at the edge?

Running in constant parallel to the growth of their hyperscale cousins, micro data centres are also experiencing a rapid, consistent growth. And, as with data centres of any size, this is a growth trend that is set to continue long into the future.

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CLOUD & EDGE

“ Today’s digital solutions provide the necessary mix of scalability, agility, flexibility, speed and cost-effectiveness to make the edge a transformational reality” ANDY CONNOR

THE EMEA CHANNEL DIRECTOR, SUBZERO

“The idea of delivering IT resources close to the point of use is not a new one. However, where once the required data centre and IT infrastructure resources were relatively inflexible, slow and expensive to build out and run, today’s digital solutions provide the necessary mix of scalability, agility, flexibility, speed and cost-effectiveness to make the edge a transformational reality,” comments Andy Connor, the EMEA Channel Director at Subzero.

In short, micro data centres at the edge will play a pivotal role in preparing the industry to meet the growing demands of IoT, 5G and an expanding remote working population. These micro sites will help data centre infrastructure to meet service demands and evolve to meet consumers’ needs.

“Organisations can only optimise the IoT if their gateways are in edge data centres that are close to the action, but also have the necessary high-speed connectivity to the main public cloud hubs”, explains Simon Michie, the CTO of Pulsant.

Alongside this, the edge also presents interesting opportunities for data centre companies that don’t want to compete amongst the crowded hyperscale market.

Edge Centres, which was launched in 2021, saw a gap in the Australian data centre market and seized it. “Rather than go into the hyperscale market, which is very heavily populated in Australia – Sydney alone has more than 267 data centre facilities, datacentremagazine.com

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which is epic – we’re looking at the edge,” said Jon Eaves, the Founder and CEO of Edge Centres.

Australia is a prime example of the need for micro edge data centres. A huge proportion of the country’s population is focused around coastal cities. But, “all the Netflix in Australia is consumed from Sydney,” Eaves explains. “That means that, if you're in Western Australia - which is six hours by plane away from Sydney - your video is still streaming out of Sydney.”

As a result, in Speedtest’s 2019 global internet index rankings, Australian internet ranked 68th in the world – four places behind Kazakhstan.

This is precisely what makes regional edge infrastructure so vital. “As these edge facilities start coming online, the service providers that currently can't get a foothold in regional areas – because the facilities themselves don't exist – are going to be able to expand,” says Eaves.

Contexts such as these – which are being driven further by the burgeoning demand for 5G and the IoT – are fuelling what Eaves terms the “edge wave”.

Edge Centres is an Australian based Edge Data Centre provider, which launched in 2021. The company currently has eight locations across the east coast of Australia.

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The future for the edge, and its place in the smart cities of the future Beyond simply making Netflix streaming faster (albeit an honourable mission), edge growth will unlock opportunities for almost every industry sector.

As a result, big things are being anticipated for data centres at the edge.

According to Connor, this growth can be divided into two subcategories. There will be edge devices encompassing (IoT-enabled) sensors and handheld devices, which will be able to generate, process and act upon data locally. Then there will be edge infrastructure – the networks (including 5G) and data centre infrastructure that act to support ‘local’ applications.

“Industry 4.0 promises to revolutionise the manufacturing industry, with more and more

The global edge computing market is set to grow from

US$8.23mn in 2021 to

US$55.93mn by 2028

VALUATES REPORTS

“The massive growth of IoT applications has only just begun, and can only succeed if organisations adopt a decentralised strategy to data processing” SIMON MICHIE CTO PULSANT

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“Without such capabilities, an IoT implementation is destined to fall short of expectations” SIMON MICHIE CTO, PULSANT

Pulsant is a UK-based edge computing platform.

Its network of edge data centres delivers hybrid and multi-cloud services, providing high speed, low latency coverage to 95% of the UK’s population.

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CLOUD & EDGE intelligence and automation being implemented to optimise product design and testing as well as actual production processes,” predicts Connor.

Alongside manufacturing, the growth of edge micro data centres will benefit retail, transport, education, healthcare, logistics and countless other sectors.

Furthermore, edge sensors, devices and infrastructure can all be installed retrospectively, as businesses jump on the bandwagon and upgrade their existing facilities to utilise the edge.

“Smart transport, smart cities, smart retail. To this list can be added smart homes, smart healthcare, smart energy, almost every activity can benefit from the addition of some kind of intelligence and/or automation. Our daily domestic and working lives, which increasingly intersect thanks to the digital transformation accelerated by the pandemic, will feature literally hundreds of edge interactions,” Connor adds.

What will need to happen before the ‘edge wave’ can break?

As experts across the industry warn, these exciting, futuristic predictions can’t occur without a serious development of infrastructure.

“I think the growth of the edge will force the data centre community to rethink how we need to deploy infrastructure,” predicts Tony Grayson, the General Manager of Compass

Quantum at Compass Datacenters.

“The companies we are supporting today do not know what their future requirements will be, but do know they will require the ability to deploy applications and workloads wherever needed.”

Some industry experts suggest that the current method for creating data centres is unsustainable and that a more dynamic approach will be adopted in the very near future.

“Right now, large, centralised data centre facilities are the norm. But this is beginning to change with the realisation that the local, real-time requirements of so many edge applications require a small, local, fast, agile, flexible and, importantly, scalable data centre datacentremagazine.com

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“ Industry 4.0 promises to revolutionise the manufacturing industry, with more and more intelligence and automation being implemented to optimise product design and testing, as well as actual production processes” ANDY CONNOR

THE EMEA CHANNEL DIRECTOR, SUBZERO

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to match. What’s needed is a micro data centre that is as dynamic as the customer’s edge application,” Connor advises.

“Furthermore, by adopting a modular architecture users can scale as demands require it, and without the need to deploy additional containerised systems. This approach alone offers significant benefits, including a 20-30% cost-saving, compared with conventional ‘pre-integrated’, micro data centre designs,” Connor adds.

According to Grayson, the sector’s growth is sustainable, so long as micro data centres are designed using off-the-shelf technology and not bespoke custom solutions. “The customised solution might seem like the best answer at first. Still, when you are trying to mass produce the number of micro data centres that the edge will require, their costs could not only balloon, but you might not have the benefit of a seasoned supply chain and maintenance support.”

Grayson also stresses that these micro data centres cannot be the older style telecom huts but that, instead, “they must have full data centre functionality in a smaller form factor”. He adds: “They must also be able to run lights out with a software layer that will enable you to control hundreds, if not thousands, without the additional headcount and associated costs.”

Michie corroborates this industry stance, advising that “the massive growth of IoT applications has only just begun and can only succeed if organisations adopt a decentralised strategy to data processing”.

“It is essential they strike the right balance, which they will get if they opt for a network of edge data centres that have genuinely wide geographical coverage along with highspeed and diverse network connectivity for maximum resilience and low latency.”

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WHY

more businesses are entrusting security to the hybrid cloud The hybrid cloud provides an affordable and easily implemented solution, enabling speed while protecting information with exceptionally high security

WRITTEN BY: JOSEPHINE WALBANK

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T

he hybrid cloud is a widelycited digital solution for growing companies that depend on online data.

Its multifaceted benefits include enhancing security, supporting the remote workforce, being easily scalable, reducing costs and creating a more dependable internet connection.

In fact, according to the 2021 US SMB Midmarket Cloud Adoptions trends report, businesses that adopt a hybrid cloud can enjoy financial savings of 78%, with 79%

greater network reliability. As you can see, these are no small perks.

Plus, it can be easily integrated into an existing system – a capability that hybrid cloud providers have ensured.

These pronounced benefits – combined with the global shift to a remote workforce – have meant that hybrid clouds have rapidly risen in popularity. But is the cloud truly as secure as they say? With data protection becoming an increasingly pressing priority, are businesses right to put their trust in the cloud? datacentremagazine.com

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TECHNOLOGY

The rapid growth of the hybrid cloud – the backbone of the remote workforce One of the legacies of the COVID19 pandemic is the shift to remote working and the emergence of the global remote workforce.

Originally driven by necessity, businesses across the globe are making this initiallytemporary solution a permanent adoption.

To successfully and simultaneously manage the pandemic and the digital transformation of the era, organisations were “forced to innovate at break-neck speed”.

“In fact, our AppDynamics report showed that digital transformation initiatives were implanted three times faster than ever before,” says James Harvey, the Executive CTO of EMEA at Cisco AppDynamics.

And now, in the period following this necessity, cloud networks have “grown considerably in scope and also ‘grown up’ to become a core part of the corporate IT psyche,” adds Rob Tribe, the VP of System Engineering at EMEA, Nutanix.

“ Hybrid models could be the key to solving this challenge, while also helping to transform ageing technology in a targeted and strategic way, reducing attack points and improving

sustainability”

DON FREESE

CHIEF INFORMATION SECURITY OFFICER, DIGITAL REALTY

The data security benefits of adopting a hybrid cloud For many industry specialists, a hybrid cloud presents a more realistic upgrade than a pure cloud model.

Cisco AppDynamics is a full-stack application performance management and IT operations analytics company.

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“ The speed at which organisations have adopted public cloud and gone from one to multiple cloud use is a bit of an eyeopener, particularly in larger companies” ROB TRIBE

VP OF SYSTEM ENGINEERING EMEA, NUTANIX

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TECHNOLOGY

“As data has evolved, the threat associated with it has changed. Geopolitics is increasing the complexities for compliance and the prevalence of cyber-attacks, and malware continues to become more sophisticated, compounding enterprises’ security concerns,” remarks Don Freese, the Chief Information Security Officer at Digital Realty.

“Over the past ten years, organisations have been aggressively pushing towards a pure cloud strategy as a way to unlock growth and ensure security. This has been successful for many, however, it does have its limitations, with some experiencing high costs and an inability to cope with certain workloads.”

The hybrid cloud model provides an affordable and easily implemented solution, enabling business functions to be performed with speed, while still protecting the information with an exceptionally high level of security.

“Businesses using hybrid clouds can benefit from strengthened data security,

as the centralised management of hybrid clouds allows companies to implement strong technical measures across their data,” Freese explains.

The security of hybrid cloud networks is a huge benefit, in and of itself. In fact, according to the US SMB trends report, hybrid cloud networks can reduce a businesses’ data security risk by 79%.

And this is an exceptionally timely topic.

Parthiv Shah, the Global Managing Partner of Cloud Strategy and Transformation at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), evidenced TCS’ recent Cyber and Global Risk research report. 600 chief information security and risk officers were asked where they see the greatest risks between now and 2025.

“According to the research, ‘the prioritisation of the security posture of the company and defining the controls and standards’ is the prime concern, followed by ‘establishing a more robust cybersecurity strategy’.”

By combining the security of a private data facility with a high-speed public data network, businesses can access the best of both worlds.

Through their specialist services, hybrid data centres ensure businesses access a high quality connected environment, increasing the speed at which they can perform their operations.

Plus, these hybrid architectures also give businesses greater resilience by reducing downtime, periodically backing up data and providing an alternative to solely cloudbased dependencies. These qualities make hybrid clouds better able to deal with demand surges.

“Hybrid cloud also gives companies the opportunity to choose where they store their data, meaning critical information can be kept off public clouds, reducing exposure,” says Freese. datacentremagazine.com

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“And that’s important. Every organisation faces the prospect of attacks by ransomware and other cyber-events, which have grown exponentially, impacting the bottom line. Stopping every attack at the door is no longer possible. So, adopting a culture of resilience enables cyber-security experts to secure the organisation while enabling business success,” Freese adds.

Projections for growth – what is the future of the hybrid cloud market?

This growth trajectory isn’t set to wane any time soon.

Predictions for the CAGR of the Global Hybrid Cloud Market are 21.06% for the period 2021-2026. And, according to Nutanix’s fourth Enterprise Cloud Index survey, a staggering 83% of respondents agreed that a hybrid multi cloud solution would be their preference.

“The speed at which organisations have adopted public cloud and gone from one to multiple cloud use is a bit of an eyeopener, particularly in larger companies,” Tribe comments.

But, the security of the hybrid cloud solution isn’t a given. To ensure that the

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), part of the Tata group, is a global information technology services and consulting company based in Mumbai.

TCS recently published its Cyber and Global Risk research report, which surveyed 600 chief information security and risk officers.

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promised benefits are successfully achieved, Shah predicts that innovative security strategies will be a key part of the hybrid cloud market’s future implementation.

After all, “although the cloud is considered more secure than on-premises systems and data centres, a lack of interoperability can make it difficult for enterprises to manage security, compliance, and governance across multiple cloud environments”, Shah warns.

“One way of reducing risk is to adopt a ‘Zero Trust’ policy based on the principle of

“One way of reducing risk is to adopt a ‘Zero Trust’ policy based on the principle of ‘never trust, always verify’, applied not only to humans, but also machines” PARTHIV SHAH

GLOBAL MANAGING PARTNER OF CLOUD STRATEGY AND TRANSFORMATION, TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES (TCS)

‘never trust, always verify’, applied not only to humans, but also machines,” Shah recommends.

Shah also advises that businesses develop long-term and centralised cloud cyber security strategies, which are specifically tailored to each cloud environment.

“At TCS, we suggest a centralised cloud management solution for enterprises to manage their hybrid cloud environments, as these can be easily configured to control collection, reporting, management, and governance in a single console. This

solution would be infused with a riskbased approach incorporating, for example, field-level encryption for PCI, PHI, PII as appropriate. We also advise building on the experience of staff to bring cybersecurity controls in line with time-tested security frameworks and procedures.”

“If properly managed, a hybrid cloud strategy can provide many security benefits to businesses, but CSOs and CIOs must work together to establish a long-term cybersecurity strategy for each cloud environment to assess, quantify, and mitigate any risk; meet regulatory requirements; and make informed decisions with fully endorsed business justifications,” Shah advises.

As businesses increase their dependency on data, we're already seeing how rapidly cyber security is growing in importance.

“This culture is already being formally embedded in new compliance regimes starting with SOX, to GDPR, to new SEC requirements specifically around cybersecurity,” says Freese.

According to Freese, “businesses need to prepare for and adapt to change, withstand and recover rapidly from disruption”.

“Hybrid models could be the key to solving this challenge, while also helping to transform ageing technology in a targeted and strategic way, reducing attack points and improving sustainability.” datacentremagazine.com

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THE WORLD’S TOP 10 DATA CENTRE REITS 124

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TOP 10

Paving the way for the sector’s rapid expansion, Data Centre Magazine takes a look at some of the world’s largest pioneering data centre REITs

W

ith the astronomic rise of the data centre market, the sector’s tech giants have earned a formidable reputation in more than one market.

Data centres also represent some of the most successful real estate investment trust (REIT) companies in the world. They are also, thanks to the industry’s long-term boom, a great favourite amongst investors.

And, with the data centre automation market’s CAGR set at over 21% from 2021 to

2030, at which point it will be worth $32.5 billion, it’s a great time for data centre REITs. Obviously, the infrastructure itself is imperative to data centres. The amount of facilities and equipment that they can store – and then rent out to their customers – is directly tied to their growth capabilities.

So, with companies across the world relying heavily on data (a digital shift that’s only set to accelerate), the demand for new data centre locations has never been more pressing.

TOP 10

10

Macquarie Asset Management

Macquarie Asset Management is, as its name suggests, an asset manager, with a portfolio of real estate and infrastructure located across 5 continents.

With over 160 portfolio businesses and approximately 499 properties spanning 36 countries under its management, the company manages $117bn of equity under management, and $159bn of assets under management.

2004 Year founded

499

Number of locations

09

Blackstone

Based in the Big Apple, Blackstone is an investment management company that invests across a variety of ‘alternative’ asset classes. These include global opportunistic real estate, life sciences, and infrastructure. Its real estate investment portfolio alone represents over US$290bn.

Within its global team, Blackstone employs over 30 data scientists and engineers as well as leading technology executives who sit in the senior operating professionals and advisors’ teams.

Blackstone’s technology and innovation investments predominantly focus on the areas of FinTech, PropTech, Cybersecurity and Enterprise.

1985 Year founded

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$290bn+ Portfolio investment value

TOP 10

08

Stack Infrastructure

Largely focused on the cloud and hyperscale markets, Stack Infrastructure’s portfolio is spread across Europe, North and South America, and Asia.

Since its foundation in 2019, Stack Infrastructure has, to date, invested more than $1bn in active development and has a capacity of over 1.21 GW.

2019 Year founded

$1bn+

Portfolio investment value

07

Triple Point

Triple Point is a global investment management company, currently managing £1.4bn+ in private, institutional and public capital. The investment portfolio comprises real estate, debt infrastructure and venture capital. Within these avenues, Triple Point currently manages £2.7bn+ worth of assets, with its team of 180+ employees.

Triple Point’s Digital 9 Infrastructure consists of two digital infrastructure platforms, which contain 25MW of data centre capacity and 30,000km of fibre optic network.

2004 Year founded

£2.7bn+ Asset portfolio value

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+44 (0)20 7499 1300 info@virtusdcs.com www.virtusdatacentres.com

TOP 10

05

American Tower

06

KKR

Another Stateside REIT giant, KKR is a global investment company that has been at the top of the market for almost 50 years.

The company manages a broad portfolio of sites, including private equity, tech, health care, real estate, energy, infrastructure, hedge funds and capital markets.

KKR’s global portfolio currently consists of 117 companies in its private equity funds, US$7bn spent on Information Technology (to date), 21 cities across four continents, and over 800,000 employees.

1976 Year founded

117

Number of portfolio companies

American Tower is an REIT with wireless and broadcast telecom infrastructure located throughout the world. From its Boston HQ, American Tower manages its huge portfolio of 221,000 global sites.

Its wireless communications infrastructure portfolio spans 25 countries and six continents, managed by a 6000-strong team.

The US telecom giant has cemented its place on the international stage as one of the Fortune 500, having even been named as one of Fortune’s 2022 World’s Most Admired Companies.

1995 Year founded

221K

Number of locations

TOP 10

04

Keppel DC REIT

Keppel DC REIT is the first data centre real-estate investment trust to have been listed in Asia.

Based in Singapore, Keppel has numerous data centres throughout Asia, including Singapore, China and Malaysia.

Alongside the Asian data centre market, Keppel DC REIT has a portfolio spanning the globe, featuring data centres in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the UK. Keppel’s real-estate assets are primarily within the data centre market, but the company also invests in other properties that support the digital economy.

2011 Year founded

21

Number of DC locations

03

DigitalBridge

DigitalBridge is one of the largest digital infrastructure firms in the world, with investments spanning five of the key verticals in the modern digital technology sector. Alongside data centres, DigitalBridge has REIT investment in cell towers, edge infrastructure, fibre networks and small cells.

Under the DigitalBridge banner, there is a portfolio of 25 companies and affiliated companies, making up a global digital infrastructure ecosystem with 100+ data centres, a 135,000+ route miles fibre network, 130+ edge facilities and 30,000 active tower assets to its name.

And, in line with the pledges of other tech giants, DigitalBridge has committed to a net-zero carbon emissions goal across its portfolio of companies by 2030.

1991 Year founded

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100+

Number of DC locations

02

“Its pioneering PlatformDIGITAL® is the world’s largest data centre platform” Digital Realty Digital Realty is a major global colocation data centre operator. Its client list features Adobe, AWS and LinkedIn (among over 4,000 others), and its core services include the provision of colocation, edge and hybrid IT infrastructures.

Digital Realty’s property portfolio consists of over 290 locations, situated in 50 metros and 26 countries across the world. Its pioneering PlatformDIGITAL® is the world’s largest data centre platform, connecting companies with a fitfor-purpose digital transformation solution that is flexible, scalable and responsive to new technologies.

1998 Year founded

290

Number of locations

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01 TOP 10

Equinix

With over 240 data centres spanning 31 countries, Equinix has a global ecosystem that’s larger than its next 10 market competitors combined.

Equinix provides its 10,000-strong customer base (including giants like Google, AWS and Zoom) with access to more than 2,000 network services, 3,000 cloud & IT services and 4,700 enterprises, just to name a handful.

With a total data centre space of 28M+ sqft – representing the largest network of interconnected data centres in the world – it’s fair to say that Equinix has firmly cemented itself in the top spot.

And, having achieved consistent quarterly growth over the last 17

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years (a record that beats all the other companies Equinix shares the top S&P 500 with), this growth isn’t set to slow down any time soon.

Over the years, this REIT has largely built itself up by focusing on developing new assets from scratch and opportunistically choosing raw acquisitions.

1998 Year founded

240

Number of locations

“ It’s fair to say that Equinix has firmly cemented itself in the top spot”

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