CONNECTIONS PLUS MAR/APR 2016

MAY/JUNE 2016

+ the magazine for ict professionals

5G

PRIMER also: EMC World 2016

Data to Diamonds

IoT Advances

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Our End-to-End Expertise • Your End-to-End Solution

CONTENTS Fe a t u r e s

12 5G Primer The goal: Have it operational by 2020.

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15 IoT Reaches New Heights The applications types are endless.

15 Departments

Editor’s Note

4

Infrastructure Systems

6

Networks & The Cloud

8

New & Noteworthy 19

The Back Page 22

I n the Ne xt Issue

>> Data Centre Advances member of:

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EDIT O R ’S N O TE

Telus IOT study findings troubling n this issue’s trending feature I cite a recent white paper called the CEO Perspective from SAP that focuses in on the Internet of Things for the industrial machinery and components (IM&C) sector.

The white paper notes that if IoT is causing a wave of disruption, then IM&C is poised to ride the crest, so much so that the term Industrial Internet of Things or IIoT is now commonplace.

In addition, it points out that leading “IM&C manufacturers are already investing billions in IIoT, realizing returns driven by previously unobtainable speed and accuracy from the latest technology available.”

Much of its eventual success will hinge on fifth generation mobile networks, otherwise known as 5G and the subject of this issue’s cover story. The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance describes it as an end-to-end ecosystem that will enable a fully mobile and connected society.

All good so far, but in late April, there was some troubling news at least for many Canadian organizations courtesy of Telus Communications Inc., a member of the worldwide alliance. A study commissioned by the service provider revealed that despite the obvious benefits of IOT, only 52% of businesses polled said they are considering, planning, piloting or deploying the technology and the remainder indicated

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that they have no “plans at all to adopt.”

The real head-scratcher is of those not considering IoT, 64% simply feel that there is not a business need.

“By embracing IoT technology, Canadian businesses have a huge opportunity to reap the benefits of digital transformation, yet we’re seeing that some are much further along the adoption curve than others,” said Jim Senko, senior vice president of small business and emerging markets at Telus.

“From streamlining business processes to creating entirely new business models, IoT solutions have tremendous potential to generate efficiencies, increase cost savings and quite literally, revolutionize how businesses operate. If companies aren’t already looking into the technology, they’re at risk of falling behind those that are.”

According to the study, Canadian businesses are sharply polarized when it comes to the impact they think IoT will have on their industry. That there is so much lethargy seemingly in existence, begs the question, why? Are CEOs or CFOs or even worse, CIOs and other ICT managers – the men and women who should certainly understand and be aware of IoT – simply ignoring the movement?

If that is the case, it will be interesting to see how many are still gainfully employed in five or six years time.

w w w. c o n n e c t i o n s p l u s . c a

Volume 4, Issue 3 May/June 2016

+ SPOTLIGHT ON A CHANGING MOBILE WORLD

Editor Paul Barker 416-510-6752 pbarker@connectionsplus.ca

Advertising Sales Group Publisher John MacPherson – 905-713-4335 jmacpherson@annexweb.ca

Senior Publisher

President & CEO Mike Fredericks mfredericks@annexweb.com Editorial Advisory Board Keith Fortune, CET, Western Regional Manager, Electron Metal AIG Inc. Henry Franc, RCDD/OSP Senior Account Manager, Professional Support at Belden

Maureen Levy 416-510-5111 mlevy@connectionsplus.ca

Media Designer

Brantz Myers, B.Sc Math and Computing Science Director of Healthcare Business Development, Cisco Systems Canada Co.

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In f ras t r uct ure S y s t e m s

BICSI, InfoComm course focuses on cabling and AV ICSI has partnered with InfoComm International to release a new online course focusing on category cable and the audio visual sector.

“How to Install and Validate Category Cable for AV” provides fundamental education for installation technicians working with category cable in the AV industry. The 10-hour course starts off with the basics of cabling, getting familiar with cable connectors and category cable terminology. It then moves into instruction on terminating and testing cables, cable linking and installation, and troubleshooting cables. The course includes lessons on InfoComm’s new standard F501.01:2015 Cable Labeling for Audiovisual Systems.

It also contains a skills demonstration component.

Students will take photos or video of their termination and validation tests which be reviewed by instructors.

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To enrich the learning experience, the course features 10 demonstration videos.

BICSI president Brian Ensign said “knowledge of category cable is critical for ICT and AV professionals alike, and partnerships with other associations, like InfoComm, are vital to advance education and ensure information consistency across our industries.”

“It’s important for InfoComm to work with associations like BICSI to share best practices and incorporate them into our training,” said InfoComm CEO and executive director David Labuskes. “This ensures more technical professionals out in the field are following universal standards.” C+ More information about the course can be found at www.infocomm.org/education.

Ethernet Alliance unveils its 2016 Roadmap he Ethernet Alliance has unveiled its 2016 Ethernet Roadmap at OFC 2016, in Anaheim, Calif. The roadmap highlights Ethernet’s breadth of speeds, current and next-generation modules and interfaces, Power over Ethernet (PoE), and innovations like the Optical Internetworking Forum’s (OIF) FlexEthernet (FlexE). “As the Ethernet Alliance celebrates its 10th anniversary, it’s interesting to note how Ethernet’s pace has accelerated during the last decade – Ethernet is currently standardizing more interfaces than exist today,” said Scott Kipp, president; and director of engineering, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. “Beyond adding six new speeds in addition to six existing speeds, IEEE 802.3 is standardizing new interfaces ranging from fiber optics to backplanes for each of these speeds.

People and the industry alike are curious about what’s new and what’s ahead for Ethernet. The roadmap cap-

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tures the past, present, and future of Ethernet including PoE, FlexE, and other advancements in an easy-to-read, graphic format. The Ethernet Alliance is putting a stake in the ground about where Ethernet will go next.”

Available digitally from the Ethernet Alliance Web site, the document offers an overview of existing and future modules including QSFP-DD, microQSFP, and OBO; interfaces; and nomenclature at speeds from 10 Mb/s to 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE).

The roadmap also addresses Ethernet’s rapidly diversifying markets, including consumer, residential, enterprise, data centres, and service providers, and the expanding roster of applications like PoE, Power over Data Line (PoDL), and automotive. C+ Further information about the Ethernet Alliance is available at www.ethernetalliance.org. www.connectionsplus.ca

Infra s t ruct ure Sy stems

STANDARDS

Why the Industry Needs You

By Henry Franc

ollaboration is becoming increasingly important within our industry, especially as it pertains to involvement in standards development.

By way of example, let’s examine the ANSI/TIA942-B standard that is currently in development by the TIA TR42.1 engineering sub-committee.

The first draft has been balloted, resulting in more than 750 comments. It will be reviewed at the June 2016 sub-committee meeting. To put this in perspective, the comments summary is 133 pages long; the standard itself is only 127 pages long. Although a daunting task for the editor and sub-committee, it’s a perfect example of why we should celebrate and recognize the value of collaboration in this process.

But first, let’s back up and start with this question: What is a data centre? It’s a very ubiquitous term, but has widely varying practical representations. Depending on your point of view, a data centre can be a massive, purpose-built facility for the likes of companies such as Google. Or they can be small rooms with a couple of racks of computer gear and servers. Or anything in between.

Broadly speaking, I classify data centres into the following three categories, each with its own sub-categories. (From a business perspective, there are even more complex models that can be a hybrid of one or more of these categories.)

1. Enterprise data centres vary in size, but are generally built to support the core and complementary requirements of the business 2. Multi-tenant data centres serve multiple clients from a single provider 3. Purpose-built data centres are for a specific type of data processing, storage or access In essence, a data centre can be as simple as one cabinet of equipment, or thousands of cabinets of equipment – for one client or for millions.

How, then, with the broad range of possibilities, can we develop a standard that provides useful guidance to all of them?

This is where collaboration comes in: By reaching a healthy, industry-wide consensus, the guidance within the standard can be applicable to any conceivable data centre configuration.

On this last draft, we have more than 30 organizations providing comments, and more than 50 organizations participating in sub-committee

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Henry Franc is a solutions specialist at Belden and an active standards development participant. The information presented is the author’s view, not official standards organization correspondence.

www.connectionsplus.ca

meetings. When you consider that most members represent the interests of their clients, colleagues and partners, the actual number is many times larger.

In this standards draft, we will be reviewing a number of suggested changes, whether additions, deletions or modifications. New media are being accommodated, including wideband multimode fiber and Category 8, even though some of the final requirements for these media are not yet finalized.

From a telecommunications standpoint, there are also comments related to topology, layout, pathways and resiliency/redundancy ratings. Of course, we are also collaborating with other organizations, such as ASHRAE, to address mechanical, electrical and architectural requirements.

Whether you’re using the existing ANSI/TIA942-A document, or you can wait till the ANSI/TIA942-B version is complete, a successful data centre will require cooperation between all stakeholders.

Data centres are environments that support the colloquialism where “the only constant is change.”

All stakeholders, whether providers, consultants or end-users, have to cooperate and align their goals, making the best use of the guidelines within standards while respecting the needs of the project. There are no magic bullets, and no “Data Centre Design for Dummies” on the bookshelves.

By collaborating not just at the project level, but also on the development of standards, we are making this industry better. We are serving our market more effectively. Change and evolution are more easily accommodated. Options can be weighed and measured. Together, through collaborative efforts, we can succeed in our endeavors.

In closing, I want to say that we need you – we need your input, your suggestions and your criticisms.

If you want to learn more, contact a standards development organization like TIA or BICSI. Join, become a member and share your voice. If that seems too daunting, approach your partners or colleagues who participate. If you don’t know anyone who participates, then just email an organization I mentioned and they’ll make sure you get to the right place.

We will welcome your input because we know you care. C+

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Ne two r ks & The C l o u d

Dell, EMC and Dell Technologies Shape of how the two firms will look and how they will operate post-merger now clearer

By Paul Barker

Las Vegas, Nev. – Dell Inc. and EMC Corp. have revealed that upon the close of their pending transaction, the combined line of businesses will be called Dell Technologies. Dell Technologies will include the brands, companies and capabilities reflected across the current Dell and EMC portfolios.

Dell chairman and CEO Michael Dell made the announcement during a keynote presentation here in early May at EMC World 2016.

Dell Technologies will comprise of the combined enterprise infrastructure businesses of Dell and EMC, the PC business and affiliated businesses including VMware, SecureWorks, Pivotal, Virtustream and RSA. Dell also noted that Dell and EMC share similar cultural and intellectual skill sets, complementary product lines, and a focus on driving the best customer and partner outcomes.

“Dell EMC” will be the name and sub-brand for the company’s enterprise business. This includes products and offerings sold directly and through the channel to business and institutional customers.”

The Dell-EMC integration team is currently working on the visual identity for the new company and its sub-brands. That identity will be revealed when the transaction closes later this year.”

Rory Read, chief integration officer at Dell, said at a press conference that the overlap between the two organizations is minimal.

“We are right on schedule in terms of the integration,” he said.

Jeremy Burton, president of products and marketing, added that when the US$67 billion mega purchase was first announced last year, “there were many who predicted that the innovation engine would be so distracted that everything would so slow down. Well, that’s a crock.”

There was certainly no shortage of announcements at EMC World. They included: • New data centre product and services the company said were “fundamental” to an organization’s modern data centre initiatives. Launched was the EMC Unity line of all-flash storage, Virtustream Storage Cloud, MyService360 servicecentric online dashboard, EMC Enterprise Copy Data Management (eCDM) and ViPR Controller 3.0.

• Foundational offerings designed to support and accelerate digital transformation initiatives and address what EMC defined as the four major pillars of the modern data centre – flash, scale-out, software-defined and cloud-enabled.

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Outgoing EMC chairman and CEO Joe Tucci (left) and Michael Dell address press and analysts following their EMC World keynote.

Announced were the new Native Hybrid Cloud (NHC) platform, VCE VxRack System 1000 with Neutrino Nodes and updates to DSSD D5.

• The launch of EMC InfoArchive 4.0, which according to the company, enables “extreme archiving scenarios with structured and unstructured data and enhances the ability to secure and leverage critical application data and content.”

Its compliance capabilities “address business pressures and changes brought on by factors such as the volume and diversity of information, shifting supervisory expectations, constant regulatory change and complex legislation.”

• New updates to its ViPR Controller storage automation software. New features in the version enable organizations to improve the “overall effectiveness and efficiency in managing their data centres, with a 63% average reduction in time to provision storage,” EMC said.

• The introduction of EMC LEAP, a suite of cloud-native content applications, which the company said are “designed to revolutionize the content management industry and transform interactions with business content. Among the five applications launched was LEAP courier, which provides a “consumer-grade user experience for secure and structured document exchange, validation and tracking.

According to the company, new technology-centric companies born in the digital era are leveraging cloud computing, modern software development techniques and an array of smart connected devices to enter and disrupt almost every industry, delivering radically improved consumer experiences.

www.connectionsplus.ca

F E ATURE Ne t wo rks & T he Cloud

Jeremy Burton, president of products and marketing at EMC: Predictions that the innovation engine would be distracted are a “crock.”

David Gouldson, CEO of EMC Information Infrastructure: The IT industry is in a state of massive transformation.

Dell predicted that “we are going from the original InDavid Goulden, CEO of EMC Information Infrastructure, said the IT industry is in a state of massive transformation, ternet which had of course servers, PCs and smart phones resulting in both disruption an great opportunity: “Every busi- and tablets to the Internet of Things.”

That includes everything from energy initiatives and utiliness leader across every industry is facing the dilemma of how to support and grow traditional IT infrastructure, while ties using smart grids to automobiles, wearables, home aumodernizing the data centre in order to support the develop- tomation, industrial machines, lighting and factories.

The next phase, said Dell, will revolve around what he dement of new applications and advance their digital agendas.

“There is an explosion of data from connected smart scribed as the Internet of Everything and impact everything devices as sensors and telemetry are being built into every from how food is grown to how pipelines operate and how product imaginable. To compete in the modern digital econ- health care supplies are distributed. “By 2031, the number of connected devices will omy, companies are embarkgrow from roughly 8 billion ing on digital transformation today to perhaps 200 billion to exploit this ever-increasing or more – roughly 25 times amount of data. more than the number of The data, the need for people on the planet. increased storage and the “All of these connected changing universe was the nodes and devices create focal point of Michael Dell’s massive amounts of new keynote. In it, he projected information and using that what life will and could be information especially in like in only 15 years time. real-time to provide better “When a newborn leaves insights and build a better the hospital he or she will world is a challenge of our have a complete digital DNA The central themes of the conference revolved around generation. profile and a lifetime of per- modernization of the industry, data centre and enterprise IT. “That’s the challenge we sonalized medicine. In 2031 you will be able to transfer the entire content of the Library of are all facing, but it is also an opportunity.

“We are at the very beginning of the Internet of EveryCongress across the Internet in three minutes. And a computer with the processing power greater than the human thing – an intelligent world with unprecedented processing power and connectivity. brain will cost less than $1.

“It’s been called the next Industrial Revolution – the next “More than half the cars on the roads will be driverless and hundreds of thousands of incredible innovation both quantum leap in human progress. We are moving beyond large and small that we can’t even predict. All of this may automated industrial processes to automated complex even happen sooner because the pace of progress as we tasks.

“Virtual reality and augmented reality will redefine work, know is accelerating.

“The number of connected nodes continues to accelerate learning and play.

“A whole new way of living and doing business will open as well. And the marginal cost of making something intelup right before our eyes.” C+ ligent is approaching zero.” www.connectionsplus.ca

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Ne two r ks & The C l o u d

New book from CGI delves into data analytic best practices ontreal-based CGI has released Data to Diamonds, which it describes as a guide to help organizations “harness the power of data analytics to create new business value at a time when the world’s volume of stored data doubles every year.”

Based on the implementation experience of 5,000 CGI data analytics consultants worldwide and 965 in-person client interviews conducted in CGI’s annual Voice of Our Clients program, Data to Diamonds points the way forward for businesses and government organizations looking to build stronger customer relationships, improve operations and generate new sources of revenue.

“We hear from clients and see in the work we deliver that organizations everywhere are focused on becoming customer-centric, digital organizations,” said Matthew Kuckuk, CGI’s data analytics global practice leader and author of Data to Diamonds. “In their digital transformation initiatives, business and IT executives want to evolve the role of data from a raw material asset to a generator of increased value through the creation of data-based products, services, information and insight.”

Now in its second edition, CGI said Data to Diamonds “inte-

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grates the insights from the latest digital transformation trends with the analysis of thousands of client engagements to identify priorities for the data and analytics industries.”

These priorities, it added, include integrating data silos to create new enterprise views, marrying information to the product and service development cycle, harnessing sensor data to better run and change organizations, and using customer data to improve the digital customer experience.

“Customer and citizen actions speak louder than words,” said Kuckuk. “Given the rapid pace of technology innovation, customers today have higher expectations for instant gratification—they are real-time obsessed and expect a seamless experience, across all interactions and channels with the commercial organizations they buy from or through the services they receive from government organizations.

“For large enterprise organizations, delivering on these expectations is complex as they need to connect data across lines of business and legacy systems.”

The book cites examples from a variety of industries including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, distribution, government, energy and utilities, and communications and media. C+

Bad cloud user habits rampant, Softchoice study finds nterprise cloud adoption has matured in recent years, but employees using cloud apps continue to display reckless technology habits that put their employers at risk, according to a new study by Softchoice, a North American IT solutions and managed services provider. The study, (Still) Careless Users in the Cloud, found one in five employees keep passwords in plain sight, such as on Post-It notes, and one in three cloud app users have downloaded an app without letting their IT department know.

Based on a similar study Softchoice conducted in 2014, the study found employees’ bad cloud app habits have gone unchanged over the past two years. This kind of behavior can be attributed to the lack of cybersecurity training provided to employees on corporate policy and the safe and effective use of cloud applications, Softchoice said in a release.

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The study found 58% of full-time employees cite having not been told the right way to download and use cloud apps, and 39% having not been told the risks of downloading apps without IT’s knowledge.

“Most businesses have a stronger understanding of the cloud than they did two years ago, yet, barely anything has improved when it comes to better user behavior,” said David MacDonald, Softchoice’s president and CEO. “Risky behavior and data vulnerabilities are almost guaranteed to persist if organizations don’t provide training and direction on cybersecurity best practices for the apps, platforms and IT tools employees use on a daily basis.”

(Still) Careless Users in the Cloud surveyed 1,500 North American full-time employees to understand employee tech behavior, and how having access to cloud-based applications has affected their behavior. C+ www.connectionsplus.ca

Ne t wo rks & T he Cloud

Sogeti advice to firms: Focus in on DevOps raditional organizations cannot keep up with the pace of innovation, says global IT consultancy Sogeti’s trend lab VINT. According to the firm, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Capgemini Group, their employees are not engaged and they are lacking real customer centricity.

“New practices on how to run the organization is gaining momentum,” the firm states in a new report entitled Mastering Digital Disruption with DevOps. “Management innovation, and in particular the practice of DevOps, are revolutionizing the way organizations are managed. And that is needed, because in this business disruption era there is no way that old fashioned management styles can lead to newly gained market success.

According to the report, Nasdaq, American insurance company Nationwide, retailer Target, Western Union and the Australian airline Quantas are all doing DevOps. “This holistic approach of running an organization not only optimizes the collaboration between development side (Dev) and the operation side (Ops) of a company, it also forms a blueprint for mastering disruptive innovations in the market,” said Menno van Doorn, co-author of the new report from VINT. Another example of a company doing DevOps is the Dutch ING Bank that is implementing what is called “The Spotify Model,” a DevOps way of working that has been introduced at the music service company Spotify.

ING has substantially accelerated its innovation with DevOps. Their time-to-market for new functions and ideas was reduced from more than 20 weeks to approximately four days.

It has led to risk reduction: the test coverage rose from 20% to 80% and the overall risk decreased. And customer satisfaction of the app rating for ING apps in the app store went from one to 4.5 stars.

“DevOps is hotter than ever, even though its name might not reflect that,” van Doorn said.

“But what it stands for covers the whole spectrum of what organizations need to do to be successful in this business disruption era.”

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Big Bang market introductions of new services like Uber were the wakeup call for many incumbents. The new report states that there are no easy fixes to fight, survive, let alone ‘thrive’ digital disruption. A trip to Silicon Valley, buying a startup, starting an incubator, sandboxing, or fighting startups in court is not enough.

The DNA of the company, its culture and bureaucracy need to change. Management innovation is the only sustainable way to fight disruption.

“It’s the end of management as we know it. Multidisciplinary teams, self-organization and a minimum viable bureaucracy are some of the principles that make organizations keep up with startups,” said Menno van Doorn.

According to Sogeti, the long term perspective of organizations’ future success has been described in Nasim Taleb’s book Antifragile. Instead of robust or resilient, organizations should strive to become antifragile: gain strength from disruptions. Implementing management innovation, DevOps and other modern practices like Lean Startup are needed for antifragility.

“The black swans have arrived, and more of them will come,” said van Doorn. “Organizations need to work on their DNA in order to deal with that reality.”

The “Design to Disrupt” research from VINT includes a series of four reports. The first report, Design to Disrupt – An Executive Introduction” marked the start of the research project.

The second report, The New Digital Competition, analyzed the new digital competition from fast-moving, agile startups growing their business with the speed of light through disruptive innovation. The third report, Blockchain: Cryptoplatform For A Frictionless Economy, concentrated on Blockchain and Bitcoin.

The fourth report, Mastering Digital Disruption with DevOps is the last in the series and is authored by VINT trend watchers van Doorn and Erik van Ommeren, Sogeti software testing expert John Dial and management consultant Dave van Herpen of Sogeti Netherlands).

Further information on both the firm and the report is available at www.sogeti.com. C+

The black swans have arrived, and more of them will come.

Organizations need to work on their DNA in order to deal with that reality.

www.connectionsplus.ca

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5G

PRIMER ICT vendors, government bodies and industry associations have banded together to attempt to have the network operational by 2020.

By Paul Barker

, short for fifth generation mobile networks), is a key component in the ongoing need for much faster data rates and reduced latency.

The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, a worldwide organization whose members include Bell Canada and Telus Communications Inc., describes it is an “end-to-end ecosystem that will enable a fully mobile and connected society. It empowers value creation towards customers and partners, through existing and emerging use cases, delivered with consistent experience, and enabled by sustainable business models.”

Whether you are laying cable, con-

5G

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figuring a network, designing a factory line, working on that factory line or even responding to a 911 emergency call, 5G will be part of the equation in the not too distant future.

Dragan Nerandzic, chief technology officer at Ericsson Canada, says there have been four generations of wireless technology, but this “fifth one is different than all of those before in a very unique way.

“5G networks are defined in a way to address a broad range of requirements that are quite contradictory or opposite to each other, but within the same network. What is going to be unique with 5G is it will be able to serve users and devices with very different needs in

a very different way. What does that mean? In the previous four generations, all the devices in the network had to comply to certain protocols, all of them were driving many things, primarily their price points and battery consumption.

“It will also be able to address extreme requirements. On one side, extremely high performance broadband network with very high speeds. It is designed in a way that it can accommodate machine-type communication that will support the communications of sensors, actuators and alarms that do not necessarily require very high broadband speeds.”

Paul Lewis, chief technology officer www.connectionsplus.ca

for Hitachi Data Systems Canada, estimates that there are 25 billion Internet-enabled machines in existence today, a number that will double in five years.

“That is a dramatic shift in a very small period of time and the reality is that not only do they need to communicate with each other, they need to communicate with servers for the purpose of predictive analytics or predictive maintenance.

“There will be a thousand more touch points between machines than there will ever be between people or between laptops and servers. It creates a different level of reliability requirements, performance requirements and availability requirements.”

ICT vendors, government bodies and industry associations have banded together to attempt to have the network operational by 2020. It is, to quote Toronto FC football club when it announced the ill-fated acquisition of star U.K. striker Jermain Defoe in 2014, a “bloody big deal.”

An example of that occurred time and time again at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with assorted announcements including the launch of a white paper entitled 5G Empowering Vertical Industries.

Written by the vendor-driven 5G Infrastructure Association and the European Commission, the paper outlines how the network infrastructure will “enable the digitization of society and economy, leading to the fourth industrial revolution.”

The white paper notes that it will transform “networks into intelligent orchestration platforms and pave the way for new business models and value propositions by cementing strong relationships between vendors, operators and verticals. 5G will also integrate seamlessly different enabling technologies such as mobile, fixed, satellite and optical.”

Meanwhile, leaders in wireless, automotive, healthcare, academia and government recently gathered at the third annual Brooklyn 5G Summit to explore and showcase the latest developments and research aimed www.connectionsplus.ca

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Whether you are laying cable, configuring a network, designing a factory line, working on that factory line or even responding to a 911 emergency call, 5G will be part of the equation in the not too distant future.

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at making 5G a commercial reality in telecommunications, machine-tomachine communication, and IoT. The invitation-only summit, at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, featured presentations from leaders of companies that included Nokia, Verizon, Docomo, Intel, Qualcomm, T-Mobile, and Vodafone, as well as the Federal Communications Commission and the Scripps Clinic and Research Institute.

“This is a watershed moment for 5G wireless,” said Theodore Rappaport, founder and director of NYU Wireless, an academic research centre.

“We are in the midst of a dramatic increase not only in the sheer number of mobile smart devices, wearables, and machine-to-machine connections, but also in sheer volume of the data traffic these and other IoT devices are generating.

“With multi-gigabit-per-second mobile communications nearing reality, this is an exciting time for the wireless industry.”

A new report by Bell Labs Consulting, a division of Nokia Bell Labs research, estimates that by 2020 global consumption demand for digital content and services on mobile and portable devices will increase an average of 30 to 45 times from 2014 levels – with some markets experiencing as much as a 98-fold jump. Audio and video streaming traffic will account for

79% of the traffic increase.

“The 5G era architecture will be the fabric that opens up a whole new set hat of human possibilities,”says Volker Ziegler, head of 5G leadership and chief architect for Nokia.

“Technology innovations have made it possible to do 5G earlier than most thought, with operators moving to pre-standard implementation to start developing and trialing 5G business models before the commercial availability of the full 5G standard.

“Early 5G services will be rolled out in 2017, with full 5G commercial services coming in 2020 that will transform and automate how we live in the digital world.”

Surging consumer and business demand for mobile content, either at home or on the go, will outpace the ability of service providers to provide it unless investments are accelerated in areas like 5G and the cloud, according to Bell Labs Consulting.

The report, which focuses on the future of wireless networking for the new digital era, analyzed the future demand for digital content and services, rather than just looking at past and current mobile traffic trends.

Across the study’s five identified application areas – streaming, computing, storing, gaming and communicating – Bell Labs Consulting found that audio and video streaming will be the highest contributors to the increased

May/June 2016

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C OV E R S T O RY

traffic demand in coming years, accounting for a 79% total increase by 2020.

Its models show that by then, 67% of the worldwide consumption demand forecast can be met by Wi-Fi. Another 14% can be addressed by the current adoption rate of 3G, LTE, small cells and the emergence of new technologies such as 5G. “Between now and 2020, that leaves 19% of demand unable to be satisfied based on current and projected economics,” the organization said in a release.

“Thus, network operators will need to accelerate their path to 5G and cloud technologies, such as network function virtualization (NFV) and softwaredefined networking (SDN), and adopt new business models to address the demand gap.”

The report’s autors point out that the emerging unknown in the network equation is IoT. “The number of IoT connected devices is expected to grow from 1.6 billion in 2014 to between 20 and 46 billion by 2020. Of this total, cellular IoT devices will be between 1.6 billion and 4.6 billion in 2020.

Despite this massive adoption, the overall cellular traffic generated by IoT devices will only account for 2% of the total mobile traffic by 2020 until videoenabled sensors and cameras begin to predominate.

“However, even in the near term IoT traffic will generate a substantially higher volume of signaling traffic relative to data traffic.

“For example, a typical IoT device may need 2,500 transactions or connections to consume 1 MB of data, while the same amount of data can be consumed in a single mobile video connection.

“As a result, daily network connections due to cellular IoT devices will grow by 16 to 135 times by 2020 and will be three times the connections initiated by human generated traffic.”

Other key findings in the report include the following: • By 2020, global consumption demand for digital content and services on 14

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”

The 5G era architecture will be the fabric that opens up a whole new set of human possibilities.

”

mobile and portable devices will see a global average increase of 30 to 45 times from 2014 levels – with some markets experiencing as much as a 98-fold jump.

• Region to region, the unaddressed consumption demand ranges from 3-36%, globally averaging around 19%.

“The next evolution of humankind will involve ‘life automation’, and the creation of a world in which billions of interconnected things including smart objects, cameras, robots, sensors and processes exchange real time video and data streams,”says Marcus Weldon, president of Nokia Bell Labs.

“Not only with people, but with cloudbased systems that extract knowledge from this data and perform tasks to make our work and home lives more convenient and our environments more intelligent.

“This new digital era will produce a dramatic shift in demand, challenging mobile operators to achieve the highest performance at the lowest cost per bit while supporting extensive personalization.”

Nerandzic, meanwhile, says that a number of use cases will be enabled through 5G: “We should be able to operate machinery remotely through cameras installed in a crane, for example. It means that crane operators do

not have to climb a 50-metre high tower to sit in a cabin on a cold and windy day. Operators could sit at the bottom of the tower or even in a comfortable office. The crane could even be operated 100 kilometres away where the weather is better. It would improve accuracy because it is not weather-dependent.

“It is amazing that 5G gained momentum so quickly. That momentum is coming from operators’ desires to expand their addressable market and bring innovation to industry.

We are witnessing that many industries realize that it is essential to leverage connectivity that is available to them in a way that will improve productivity and the value that it brings.”

Lewis adds that once 5G is enabled in different communication protocols, communication will happen in real time.

“It changes the architecture of the software applications themselves.

Right now because of latency of communications, one has to build an application that sits on the phone that collects information that sits on the plane, that sits on the bulldozer that sits on any machine collecting and not providing any real-time machine-to-machine communication value or machine to machine analytic value.

“Once communications increase in terms of performance, reliability and availability, i.e. 5G, that changes the game in terms of how I would even build an application from an ICT perspective.

“Give or take, there are 1900 TB of data per day in each Boeing jet. A bullet train can produce anywhere from 30-40 TB per day per car based on all of the sensor information that is happening.

“The reality is that planes, trains and cars are a collection of thousands of machines. Each one of those machines has either an electronic or logical or physical sensor and those sensors are producing content, which is collected while in the air, and transmitted when I land.”

Once 5G is enabled in different communication protocols, he adds, “you will see that communication happen in real time.” C+

www.connectionsplus.ca

TRENDING

IoT Reaches NEW HEIGHTS The application types are endless as are the ways this technology can be deployed.

By Paul Barker

n farm fields, factories and fuel depositories, in offices, in schools and in sports stadiums, the impact of a technology initiative called IoT, short for Internet of Things continues to grow and multiply. The application types are endless as are the ways IoT can be deployed.

Take, for example, content contained in a recent SAP white paper called The CEO Perspective on one particular sector – the industrial machinery and components industry. “If IoT is causing a wave of disruption, then IM&C is poised to ride the crest,” it states. “So much so that the term Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is now commonplace.

“Industrial companies are beginning to transform their business practices and recognize that in time, the IIoT will touch nearly every aspect of their engineering, sales, supply chain, manufacturing and aftermarket service operations.

“Leading IM&C manufacturers are already investing billions in IIoT, realizing returns driven by previously unobtainable speed and accuracy from the latest technology available.”

In an interview at the recent 2016 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Christina Geraud, the firm’s global solution lead for IoT in the mobility sector, described IoT as an “enabler” for the future.

I

www.connectionsplus.ca

Dr. Alex Bazin, head of Fujitsu’s IoT Digital Business Platform, is shown at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

“My grandmother used to say ‘always look back before you look ahead.’ I was looking back at the top 500 companies of the 1960s: 66 of the Fortune 500 organizations are still around. The lifespan back then used to be 75 years. It is now at 15 years and declining.

“The necessity for all companies is

to find their new role. At SAP, we see two trends: there is a need for simplicity, which is not simple and is in fact really, really hard. Steve Jobs once said that making things simple is really hard.

I agree and that’s what IoT is all about.”

Dr. Alex Bazin, vice president and head of IoT Digital Business Platform with Fujitsu Technology Soloutions, also May/June 2016

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TRENDING

According to SAP, the industrial machinery and components industry is poised to “ride the crest’ of IoT.

speaking from Barcelona, suggests people look at the numbers, in particular the 50 billion or so devices that will be in action within the next few years.

That in itself, he says, is not very interesting for it is simply a multitude of connections in some sort of client-server computing model.

“IoT is on everyone’s lips at this show, but a lot of it at the moment is hype,” says Bazin. “IoT does not start to have value until you can articulate a business case in business language to the CEOs and CFOs and also often the chief operating officer, the director of operations, the plant managers, the director of maintenance operations, the product teams, the marketing teams.

“That is the difference in IoT. The mobile Internet era was very much a CIO-lead initiative. When it is done properly, this is much more about having a business conversation and understanding business, solving that and using technology, some of which is being labeled the Internet of Things.”

Fujitsu, says Bazin, approaches the IoT movement from a business down point of view as opposed to a technol16

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ogy up point of view: “We have lots of technology, it’s all very good and it’s all very interesting, but it’s about solving business challenges.”

At its booth in Barcelona, Fujitsu showcased its IoT smart technologies, including: • The Hyperconnected Van and ‘Augmented Reality’ for more effective field engineers • Ways to improve driver safety and fleet management with sensor-based data and digital offerings that can benefit the driver, fleet manager, the vehicle, the suppliers and the manufacturers • Devices and sensors including location badges and tags, vital sensing band, and a remote monitoring station. Vital-sensing bands detect the workers’ environment to prevent accidents/falls, which improves their wellbeing, the company says.

• Fujitsu Healthcare Cloud/RFID offerings for hospitals such as digitalized bedsheets and uniforms for hospital. Its Healthcare Cloud platform focuses on patient/client communications and transaction

services,self-management, Telecare and Community Healthcare services.

Here in Canada, a business case for IoT can certainly be made from two new services recently introduced by Rogers Communications Inc. Both are being delivered by blueRover, a Canadian-based provider. “Connectivity is now table stakes today when it comes to supporting the Internet of Things – for Canadian businesses to drive real productivity with this technology, they need solutions that are simple to deploy and manage,”says Charlie Wade, senior vice president of products and solutions with Rogers enterprise business unit.

IoT services from blueRover allow businesses to track and monitor assets in real-time, and also automate manual business processes using sensor technology and secure data pathways.

Rogers enterprise customers will have access to the following IoT services: • Farm & Food Monitoring: Sensor technology will monitor, track and automate devices and machines that are used in farming and food services industries such as refrigerators, freez-

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TRENDING

ers, deep fryers and ovens.

• Level Monitoring: An offering for businesses that require tools to measure and monitor levels of liquids including grain, oil, water and waste matter.

The solution has the ability to monitor liquid levels in order to eliminate the labour intensive processes required by many businesses today to manually refill or empty tanks, bins, and containers prior to capacity.

“Today just over 45% of Canadian organizations are deploying Internet of Things solutions and we predict the IoT market in Canada to reach a value of $13.5 billion by 2019,” says Nigel Wallis, research director at IDC Canada.

Ignacio Paz, general manager of IoT at Rogers, says both the carrier and blueRover agreed that Canadian organizations are going through a massive transformation.

“Businesses are looking for outcome-based solutions that can alleviate the IT and technology work they are currently doing so that they can focus on innovation. With these services there is no upfront investment.

“Our areas of focus are manufacturing, transportation, farm and food sectors. Cyber security is being addressed by strict protocols and encryption mechanisms as well as physical security. The services are monitored from our 24-7 support team, which will instantly detect if an asset is removed.”

Whether it is oil in a tractor or a fast food fryer that is being monitored, it is an example of what Eric Wenger, director for cybersecurity and privacy on Cisco Systems Inc.’s global government affairs team in Washington, D.C., described recently as “this next wave of innovation” “We cannot yet see exactly how our lives will change as a result of this,” he wrote in a recent blog. “What is clear; however, is the potentially transformative nature of a world packed with connected devices. For that potential to be reached, consumers need assurances that their privacy and security will be carefully protected. Here, both industry and government have important roles to play.

“The IoT represents a revolutionary www.connectionsplus.ca

”

Actually transforming business operations through analytics and the ability to make autonomous decision-making is where the real value is achieved.

”

step in the development of technology – much more so than the advent of cloud computing. We can now connect products that were designed separately. We can even connect devices originally built without the capacity for connectivity.”

Not that the cloud does and will play an important role. An example of that is Green Tower, Panasonic’s new Energyas-Service platform, which was also launched at Mobile World Congress.

Green Tower integrates lithium-ion energy storage, solar energy generation, satellite communications and realtime monitoring control, and according to Panasonic, represents a paradigm shift from traditional static power systems to remotely-managed intelligent infrastructure (see p. 18 for more).

At a press conference in Barcelona, Phil Herman, the company’s vice president of enterprise solutions, described it as an IOT, cloud-based and big data approach to energy operations.

“Today’s networks are really reactive – they are static. This is an industrialgrade IoT platform.

The key is that not only do we have interoperability with standard components, but is also the big data, cloudbased analysis that comes along with it that allows us to really bring the value of what we are doing here.”

Herman pointed out that in the energy sector, the biggest issues are aging infrastructure, static networks and operational deficiencies, which combined create high operating and maintenance costs and budget uncertainties.

Jim Ganthier, Dell’s vice president

and general manager of engineered solutions and cloud, says that IoT plays in the cloud in multiple ways.

“One is the actual transport mechanism, second is the actual respository and the larger play is not cloud, but the ability to run analytics, the ability to drive results and the ability to continuously optmize. On a combine, you don’t have to drive that thing anymore. It has satellite imagery, GPS functionality and will go as straight as an arrow. Now imagine, taking for lack of a better term, sensory data from the soil and the output and various other things and suddenly, life gets a lot more interesting.

“Most modern aircraft, by the time they land have thrown off 2 TB of data per plane.

“Imagine the number of planes in the air and imagine if you could take all of that data and now start to look for patterns, now start to look for trends and the capability to potentially do advanced or preventative maintenance basically continuous, optimize the engines and optimize the planes themselves and their systems.”

Bazin, meanwhile, says that while being able to remotely monitor equipment that otherwise someone had to walk over to with a pencil and paper certainly has value, there is far more to strive for.

“Actually transforming business operations through analytics and the ability to make autonomous decision-making is where the real value is achieved,” he says.

“It represents the difference between digitization and digitalization.”C+

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TRENDING

IoT & Forensic Energy

By Paul Welch

P

aul Mertes does not consider the innovative system his company has crafted to be pure Internet of Things – but he does recognize that it is at least a philosophical match, and a sterling example of the potential power of IoT. Mertes is president and chief executive officer of CircuitMeter, a company that has been selected by Cisco as its submetering partner for its new Toronto Innovation Centre. The submeter, following the techno-wide-net philosophy of IoT, will draw on myriad information portals to be able to tell clients where each fraction of energy entering their industrial, commercial and institutional buildings is going — and, more importantly, if any is being wasted, and where.

The Cisco Innovation Centre Toronto is one of nine facilities around the world that have been created to showcase and energize digital innovation and development.

The Toronto-based firm has developed advanced electrical energy submetering systems and integrated big data, cloud-based software designed to analyze real-time, detailed energy usage. The system, in the marketing stages now, is designed for the double-whammy: it will allow energy users to better manage their energy consumption — and it should prove effective in reducing their costs.

Products include WebMeter, which lets clients capture data related to energy usage from every circuit in an electrical panel within the building.

Its CircuitMonitoring product operates as a cloudbased energy management platform and dashboard, providing building operators with a circuitby-circuit view of their electrical usage and trends, as well as notifications of trends and anomalies.

The combination of the two provides historical and real-time detailed analysis through the use of visual dashboards and reports. Facility managers have the ability to receive their energy information at an enterprise level, and at the individual circuit level within a facility.

Mertes notes the system’s value is underscored by a recent U.S. Department of Energy analysis that estimates buildings lose about 30% of incoming energy for a variety of reasons; a monetary value nationally of about $75-billion to $80-billion a year. “There’s no reason to think it’s any different in Canada,” he says.

There are a variety of possible sources for energy loss of such magnitude, Mertes says, ranging from equipment that is reaching the end of its shelf life to machines that were never installed properly at the outset. In many cases there are machines or systems that quietly carry on running after they were to be shut down at a particular time of year (heating systems in summer, and cooling systems in winter).

“There are mistakes,” he says.

The CircuitMeter submetering system is, he says, a “continuous energy audit” designed to identify those costly losses. “We will catch those inefficiencies right away.”

The submeter system is in the process of entering the marketplace now, so it will be some weeks before CircuitMeter has been able to accumulate operational statistics to demonstrate its success rate. But Mertes estimates

the system will produce enough energy cost savings in the first few years to pay for the system’s installation and monitoring costs.

“We have faith in our forensic energy management,” he says.

The system is not designed for single-family homes, he notes, though it would certainly be applicable in apartment buildings and larger-scale condominium developments. – in other words, any larger structure that has a significant energy demand.

The Cisco Innovation Centre is intended to create a forum for industry collaborators such as CircuitMeter and other stakeholders to work on transformative innovation initiatives related to Smart Cities, Smart Buildings, health care and financial services.

“We view this designation as further validation that our advanced energy submetering technology and big data analytics will be a major factor in the future improvement of energy efficiency in industrial and commercial markets,” Mertes noted at the time of the February announcement.

While IoT-inspired designs can provide a near-limitless source of beneficial applications in fields ranging from health to education, more companies such as CircuitMeter are moving to products and services that will show immediate financial benefits to clients on the energy front. Recently, for instance, Panasonic Eco Solutions unveiled Green Tower, its new energy infrastructure management solution for cellular, Wi-Fi and two-way land mobile communications sites.

Showcased at the annual Mobile World Congress in February in Barcelona, Spain, Green Tower integrates lithium-ion energy storage, solar energy generation, satellite communications and real-time monitoring and control. Green Tower, the company contends, represents a significant shift from traditional static power systems to remotely-managed intelligent infrastructure.

Green Tower leverages remote and site-installed hardware and software to communicate with and intelligently operate on-site assets (battery, generator, HVAC, etc.) from a single, centralized network operations centre. Panasonic lists a variety of pluses from the system, including: * Eliminates energy supply downtime with advanced energy management and network redundancy to keep first-responder critical communications infrastructure up and running when it is needed most * Provides cell sites – 80-85% of which rely on the grid – with energy infrastructure beyond grid power availability through lithium-ion battery energy storage, solar PV energy generation and optional satellite connectivity * Intelligently manages site services and assets, extending their functional life and enabling customers to lower operating costs, (10-15% of operating costs are associated with energy infrastructure and services) * Provides configurable size and weight advantages for deployment at restricted sites, including rooftops * Improves a tower’s environmental footprint through the use of clean, renewable energy rather than diesel generators or toxic lead acid batteries * Manages capital through performance enhancements that more than pay for operating expenditures. C+

”

We will catch those inefficiencies right away

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New & Noteworthy

1

2

3

4

1. EPLAN

2. BELDEN

3. PLATINUM TOOLS

4. FLUKE NETWORKS

Wiring a control cabinet normally requires a lot of time and expertise; however, EPLAN Canada, part of the Friedhelm Loh Group, says it has developed software to simplify the process. According to the company, whether it’s the source/target description, terminal point handling, cross sections, colour, wire length, end procedures or exact cable routing: the software provides a visualization and the necessary wiring information and engineering data for mounting assembly within the control cabinet.

The Smart Wiring Application’s digital representation refers to the virtual model’s 3D-layout in EPLAN Pro Panel. Workers have clear information at all times about how far along the wiring process is as a whole, what still remains to be wired, which potentially necessary changes they must make and how to make them. The Smart Wiring Application will be available with the release of EPLAN Platform 2.6 in September. www.eplancanada.com

Belden Inc. recently introduced a bonded pair version of its small diameter Category 6A 10GXS cables.

The product, the company says, addresses a critical market need for a smaller, high performance cable with a simple design for emerging wireless, security and other applications.

Emerging applications such as wave 2 wireless access points and security cameras, combined with an increasing number of standards recommending Category 6A, are driving greater demand for 10G network performance.

Because of this, the migration to Category 6A in the enterprise market is increasing rapidly.

10GXS cables have a 25% diameter and weight reduction over standard Category 6A cables. It also has fewer pair twists and easy tape removal designed to make terminations easier for installers, Belden says. The cable also accommodates tighter spaces and workstations with its smaller bend radius leaving room for future expansion. www.belden.com

Platinum Tools, which specializes in the preparation, installation, hand termination and testing of wire and cable, has released the Xpress Jack keystone jack termination offering Now shipping with an MSRP of US$79.95, features include: * One stroke keystone jack terminations * Heavy duty all carbon tool steel construction * Designed for 110 type 4 pair keystone jacks * Rust resistant black oxide finish * Comfort grip TPR handles; reduce hand stress on large jobs with prolonged use * Die set for Platinum Tools Keystone Jacks and other similar designs * Die set available for 90 degree Leviton Keystone Jacks. www.platinumtools.com

Fluke Networks has announced the availability of SmartLoop technology for its OptiFiber Pro OTDR, which it said makes it the first OTDR that comes standard with the ability to test two separate fiber links in both directions from one end in a single test. According to Fluke, SmartLoop provides instant bi-directional averaged results as required by the Telecommunications Industry Associations Optical Fiber Cabling Component Standard (TIA-568.3-D), and can reduce the time required for testing fiber by 50% or more.

With SmartLoop, users no longer need to walk the OTDR to the far end of the link to perform bi-directional tests, helping contractors squeeze more profitability out of each project, the company said in a release OptiFiber Pro OTDR with SmartLoop features Fluke Networks patentpending algorithms to test two separate fiber links at one time in both directions from one end in a single test. www.flukenetworks.com

www.connectionsplus.ca

May/June 2016

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Lite rat u re Re views

Your Essential Guide to the Data Center of the Future

9 Tips to Improving System Uptime

The average data center is 18 years old.

After 7 years, it’s obsolete. When updating your infrastructure, cost, performance and physical footprint come into play. Learn how best practices can help you migrate to new technology with Forsythe’s Essential Guide to the Data Center of the Future.

Many aspects of a data center invite the potential for mistakes, whether due to illogical layout, poor (or no) labeling, lack of maintenance or inadequate training. Even the simplest oversight can result in a serious downtime event that may be difficult and costly to recover from.

info.forsythe.com/datacenterguide.

Tel: 1-877-Anixter

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Graybar Canada New YouTube Channel Graybar Canada has launched their new YouTube Channel! With a featured monthly vendor, the channel will be the place to check out educational product videos from their best-in-class vendors.

You can also check out a short video about the company’s core capabilities, as told by the employees. See more and subscribe to the channel at youtube.com/graybarcanada

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GET YOUR FREE RITTAL EBOOK SERIES EMAILED TO YOU! 1. Standard-Compliant Switchgear and Controlgear Production 2. Enclosure and Process Cooling 3. Technical Aspects of Enclosures 4. The World of IT Infrastructures Decision-Making Criteria Email Your Request To: marketing@rittal.ca

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Free Siemon INNOVATE digital magazine

Connections+ 2016 MEDIA KIT

In this quarterly electronic magazine, Siemon provides educational information on high performance infrastructure solutions for Data Centers, LANs and Intelligent Buildings.

Featuring the latest new product innovations, industry standard updates, trends, technical articles, case studies and more.

The magazine for ICT professionals, Connections+ readership targets individuals who purchase, design, specify, install, maintain and test structured cabling, networking and telecom products as well as facilities management specialists and senior IT executives who are responsible for overseeing the implementation and installation of these initiatives.

For more information contact Maureen Levy – 416-510-5111 or mlevy@connectionsplus.ca

To access your free copy visit:

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21

T HE B ACK PAG E

‘I am addicted to

CHANGE’

By Paul Lewis

ome people prefer the destination, but I prefer the journey. Not really the journey, but the anxiety of the journey. Whether during a detour at Starbucks on the long drive to Disneyworld, reading a chapter in the biography of Walt Disney, or my eighth back-to-back viewing of Monster’s Inc., I’m wondering about the next stop, chapter or sequel and ignoring what’s right in front of me. Maybe that’s why I’m constantly tripping. The anxiety of what I’m missing or what’s next is always pushing me ahead of the now.

I’m even anxious to get this article done. It has been in my inbox for the last three weeks, with ample time to deliver the content for editing before the publishing deadline. The knowledge of its presence keeps me alt-tabbing to my inbox to see if it has magically been completed.

I’m attracted to the places where I have not been, to the words not yet written, and the lessons not learned. I’m anxious when I stay the same. I’m addicted to change, personal transformation, and trying something new. It’s not just me though; explorers thrived on being somewhere else and scientists sought to answer questions. Groups of explorers and scientists created movements, and those movements became newly discovered continents and vaccines.

Investors and shareholders, on a quest for financial growth and diversification, have pushed the commercial world into its own era of innovation and exploration. Millennials have created a constant and continual consumer demand for the shiny and new; autonomics have replaced task work with knowledge work; and social media combined with mobile access continues to create new interaction models.

The promise of big data solutions from the Internet of Things has created a world where IT and businesses are inseparable and indistinguishable. Technology, while historically the enabler of business, is becoming the business. It’s the Digital Transformation of industry.

This Digital Transformation is an acknowl-

S

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May/June 2016

edgement that operational excellence and intimate customer experiences are best created by digitizing the communications, interactions and the operating models of our companies.

The Chief Digital Officer (CDO) is the first step to redefine these new models. CDOs are trying to answer some key questions: What are the various paths the client is following when transacting with us? What forms of communication are they expecting throughout that journey?

What next steps are they anticipating? How are we creating new ways to delight them with valuable surprises?

There are many examples of digital transformation across a variety of industries, led by the CDO: • The redefinition of the mobile passenger experience in an airport by recommending the shortest security lines at the best possible times, and automatic ordering of a favorite preboarding snack as the passenger arrives at the departure level • The implementation of an omni-channel retail experience allowing consumers to browse online, try on in a store, buy with electronic payment systems, and same day shipping from the warehouse directly to their home • The new family-based wealth management experience that is predicting the best use of savings, the events that might cause the need for a loan, and the detection of fraud on an account well before the funds have been withdrawn Digital transformation, or technology becoming the business, is elevating and evolving the role of the CIO, which may also include the role of CDO. The CIO priority of cost efficiency has migrated to organization growth, creating a new set of CIO concerns.

Editor’s note: Stay tuned for further commentary from Paul on this matter in the July-August 2016 issue .

Paul Lewis is the chief technology officer with Hitachi Canada. His Twitter handle is @ PaulLewisHDS www.connectionsplus.ca

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