October EMag 2023

tbtech publication £9.99 tbtech.co STORIES INSPIRED

BY MODERN LIVING. OCTOBER 2023

The Answer to Efficiency CLEAN ENERGY

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May 2023

Meet your tbtech team.

JOE ALLEN

PAUL WHITTALL

MATT ROBERTS

Joe has vast experience and knowledge accumulated and honed as a New Business Development Manager and Relationship Manager.

Responsible for generating new business opportunities, looking after the growth of the company and strategy, sourcing new ventures and managing the company.

Paul stops at nothing to innovate and create value for our customers. His mission is help those we work with to win in their markets. Passionate about delivering customer success and have had the pleasure of supporting many of the world’s leading technology brands for over 15 years.

Matt is Operations Manager at TBTech, he has spent the last 15 years working with multinational IT companies building campaigns, GTM strategies, leading both Sales and Marketing teams to achieve organisational goals.

With a love of computer science, history, and psychology he is an advocate for change, operational efficiency and automation.

Value across the business for all our customers.

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We have been working behind-the-scenes to elevate the readers experience.

ERIN LANAHAN Erin’s love for advertising and design has led her to Tbtech as the Media Marketing Apprentice.

She loves exploring new skills and learning more about the tech sector and making sure the magazine is up to standards.

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FEATURED

Technology for a Sustainable Tomorrow Mark Robison, Board Director at BJSS, discusses the role of technology in combating climate change.

We currently face the critical challenge of reducing carbon emissions in an effort to reach net zero targets. This is the challenge of our lifetime and for many more generations to come. Fortunately, this challenge has ushered in a new era of innovation, where technology plays a leading role in creating a sustainable future.

May 2023

By Mark Robison, Board Director, BJSS

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How the Technology Industry Is Tackling Carbon Emissions and Combating Climate Change TECH FOR GOOD Green software development – an approach to software engineering that prioritises energy-efficient patterns and processes – should be a focus for all tech organisations. Alongside green tech innovation, there is a multitude of tech solutions that can help organisations achieve their sustainability goals. Efficient data storage is one such solution.

The environmental impact of data infrastructure is growing as data demand increases. This is largely due to increasing mobile and cloud-computing traffic, as well as the expanding development and adoption of compute-intensive applications.

Building a sustainable model for the future requires data storage that uses less energy, requires less cooling and generates less waste. Many organisations (such as Dell, Seagate and Toshiba) are designing storage with low-power components, for example.

The technology industry, and specifically IoT, also plays a critical role in creating “smart cities” that are more sustainable.

The use of IoT sensors can help to optimise resource usage, reduce energy consumption and improve transportation efficiency. For instance, the city of Barcelona has installed smart street lighting that automatically adjusts brightness levels based on real-time data, thereby reducing energy consumption.

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND OPERATIONS Tech companies should be designing all products with sustainability in mind. Dell and HP are using recycled plastics in their products, and Apple has developed a robot that can disassemble iPhones to recover valuable materials, for example.

Embedding green data handling and code is another lever organisations can pull to incorporate sustainability into their operations. By producing, writing and manipulating code that reduces energy consumption, organisations can minimise their environmental impact.

TECH-ENHANCED SUPPLY CHAINS To reach net zero, companies must examine their supply chains. The Carbon Disclosure Project has shown that supply chain emissions are, on average, 11.4 times greater than direct operational emissions. Tech companies must, therefore, track their Scope 3 emissions to identify areas where they can decrease energy use. Monitoring, reporting and verification systems can be utilised to track not only Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions but also Scope 3 emissions to better understand the carbon impact across all areas of the supply chain.

However, mitigating the emissions of every entity in a supply chain can be a challenge due to multiple supplier tiers and the higher cost of sustainably produced materials.

In a global environment of rising costs and increasing geopolitical tensions disrupting supply chains, it is the responsibility of tech giants to lead the charge, hopefully creating a “trickle-down” effect.

BJSS’ Net Zero 2025 goal is supported by our company-

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wide Carbon Reduction Plan, which is targeted at a regional and local level and includes an agreed set of Local Carbon Reduction Plans (LCRP). One way in which we’re working towards reducing our Scope 3 emissions is by ensuring our suppliers are committed to promoting long-term environmental sustainability.

All technology companies should encourage collaborative partnerships with their suppliers to help them become more sustainable. This could involve providing training on sustainable practices; helping them to access financing for sustainable technologies; or collaborating on research and development.

The role of the consumer This “trickle-down” effect can also incentivise consumers to act more sustainably. Currys, for example, offers a “cash for trash” scheme, where consumers are encouraged to trade in old technology in return for a discount on their next in-store purchase.

With technology becoming increasingly intertwined with our daily lives, it is the responsibility of the tech industry to be transparent

about a product’s manufacturing journey. This will lead to greater awareness of how our digital lives impact the planet and educate people on how they can reduce their digital carbon footprint.

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FEATURED

Are hydrogen fuel cells the answer to clean energy in the data centre industry?

Sustainability and carbon reduction remains top of the agenda for organisations, including data centre providers, as the world’s reliance on cloud services and digital technology amasses more data than ever.

May 2023

By Arturo di Filippi, Offering Director Large Power Vertiv in EMEA

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Are hydrogen fuel cells the answer to clean energy in the data centre industry?

For the power-intensive data centre industry, energy availability has become an all-important business imperative, and many providers are investing in sustainable solutions in response to growing demand from customers.

What’s more, the data centre industry’s environmental impact is under growing scrutiny as governments across the globe try to meet targets of being carbon neutral by 2050 or earlier.

In order to power IT loads, data centres require consistent energy continuously and in striving to meet sustainability goals, operators are searching for reliable alternative sources of energy. Many are investigating whether it’s possible to harness fuel cell technology to power data centres. Fuel cells themselves aren’t new – they have been around since the 1960s and were used in the first NASA space missions. Today they are produced on an industrial scale for the automotive sector and are emerging as a promising technology for powering data centres as a cleaner and quieter power solution that can alleviate demand on urban power grids.

Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are a particularly attractive proposition as an alternative energy innovation; hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, it can provide the reliability of a steady, constant energy source, and hydrogen fuel cells are more efficient than many other energy sources and have a higher energy density. The waste product of a pure-hydrogen fuel cell is water vapour, which technically means zero emissions. However, emissions are produced in the manufacture of the technology and in the processes, including transportation and storage. One of the most anticipated questions in the technology industry is whether it can be used to power data centres.

The answer is…it can, and it will.

Hydrogen fuel-cell technology transforms chemical energy from fuel to electricity. It uses an electrochemical reaction to convert fuel, such as hydrogen or natural gas depending on the fuel cell electrolyte, into electricity, producing fewer emissions than traditional generators (zero emissions if using Hydrogen as

fuel). When supported by an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system, it can provide a reliable power supply that can keep critical data centre systems running during outages or other disruptions as they offer backup loads and dependable off-grid or primary power source for combined power and cooling applications and microgrid.

SUCCESS WILL COME WITH RESEARCH AND INVESTMENT As testament to the potential of hydrogen fuel cells, in 2021 as a bid to boost hydrogen production, the UK government launched the first-ever vision to kick start worldleading hydrogen economy, which is set to support over 9,000 UK jobs and unlock £4 billion investment by 2030. Some organisations and governments are combing resources to make these innovative solutions a viable reality. For example, Vertiv is one of seven organisations (the others being Equinix, InfraPrime, RISE, Snam, Solydera and TEC4FUELS) that have come together to form a consortium, called EcoEdge PrimePower (E2P2), to explore an

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integration of solid-oxide fuel cells with uninterruptible power supply (UPS) technology and lithiumion batteries for prime power applications. Indeed, the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, which is cofounded by the European Union, has provided EUR 2.5 million to support this particular project.

Other similar projects include the UK government’s £26m BEIS Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator (IHA) innovation programme and the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) $504.4 guarantee for world’s largest clean hydrogen and energy storage project.

There is proof of fuel cells working outside of these sorts of trials too. As early as 2020, Microsoft announced that it had successfully used hydrogen fuel cells to power a row of data centre servers for 48 consecutive hours. Other large companies are looking into this technology to help reach their ESG targets and Vertiv has recently opened a Customer Experience Centre in Delaware that includes a station demonstrating UPS systems using fuel cell technologies as a power source. The Centre features a microgrid power solution to help

data centres to address electrical grid capacity and availability challenges. The 1.0MW microgrid merges state-of-the-art infrastructure technologies and alternative energy sources to demonstrate reliable and robust power for data centre operations.

It includes a 400MW Hydrogen Fuel Cell along with other critical components.

ARE HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS THE ANSWER? In light of these advantages, hydrogen fuel cells are likely to be used widely. but it will be an evolution, not a revolution.

Ultimately, for fuel cell technology to become commercially practical, transportability, ease of use and storage at a reasonable price are all prerequisites for fuel cell technology to become commercially viable. The start of broader use will be when fuel cells gradually replace diesel generators for back-up power as costs come down and it can be demonstrated to be both a safe and viable option for primary power sources.

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More investment and research is needed, but fuel cells are undoubtedly set to power a longterm clean energy transition for the data centre industry. A key component of advancing their use in data centre applications is the delivery of critical infrastructure solutions that enable effective use of fuel cells and support additional functionality, including peak shaving, renewable energy use, and grid balancing services.hange is accelerating.

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FEATURED

Promoting sustainability and unlocking business savings through onsite generation and efficiency This year, we have witnessed record-breaking global average surface temperatures month after month, with the hottest June, July, August and September ever recorded. This is an extremely worrying development and highlights that we are living through a climate emergency of enormous magnitude. Anthropogenic activity has dramatically increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and as data from the International Energy Agency shows, CO2 emissions have increased by over 30Gt since 1900. This has increased global surface temperatures by >0.5oC as findings from the International Panel for Climate Change highlight.

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By Dr. James Crosby-Wrigley, Head of Sustainability Advantage Utilities.

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Promoting sustainability and unlocking business savings through onsite generation and efficiency The result of the dramatically increased concentrations of atmospheric CO2 should not be ignored. Wildfires on an unprecedented scale broke out in Canada and the Mediterranean, while record rainfall in Libya and monsoons in India caused catastrophic damage; the morbid effects of temperature increases on terrestrial, oceanic and human ecosystems cannot be ignored.

Luckily, governments and organisations across the globe are becoming increasingly aware of this. The UK has mandated that the economy must reach net-zero by 2050, and businesses will play a major part in this transition. But there is also a significant financial incentive to invest in sustainable practice. Expensive, grid-sourced energy and the current wholesale energy price volatility makes non-renewable sources more expensive. That’s why it is now a necessity that businesses look to onsite energy generation and onsite efficiency to reach net-zero and make financial savings in the process.

INVESTING IN GREEN SOLUTIONS: FROM ‘THE CARROT’ TO ‘THE STICK’ APPROACH In recent years, numerous economic incentives have been deployed by the UK government to further drive growth in greener methods of energy generation as well as energy efficiency measures. One example is the Feed-In Tariff, introduced in 2010, which ensured that onsite energy produced by businesses could be sold back to energy suppliers, generating profit from their own power generation. It enabled a guaranteed income for those investing in solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, wind turbines and other low-carbon generation methods. Other incentives include the tax super-deduction, enabling companies to cut their tax bill by as much as 25p for every £1 they invest, and EU-funded grants made available by local authorities. Essentially, they acted as a carrot to enhance the uptake of renewable generation technologies. However, these have since ended or have been replaced by less generous

schemes. For instance, the Feed-In Tariff ended in 2019 and was replaced by the less lucrative Smart Export Guarantee, and the tax super-deduction was replaced

by Full Capital Expensing and First Year Allowance incentives, but local authority grants remain far less abundant.

So what’s changed in this time?

In this author’s opinion, we have entered a new period of incentivisation for commercial entities to invest in green technology, one that instead focuses upon ‘the stick’. This means that with increasing external pressure on businesses to invest in green solutions and become selfsufficient, the role of government has been to legally mandate that businesses reach net-zero by 2050 instead. According to a study by NielsenIQ, 61% of UK consumers feel sustainability is more important to them than it was two years ago, so the pressure on businesses to maintain positive reputations has notably grown. This, combined with the increase in scrutiny of businesses’ environmental credentials, means that investing in onsite generation

and onsite efficiency is quickly becoming the norm.

TWO KEY PHILOSOPHIES ALL BUSINESSES SHOULD FOLLOW The need for businesses to invest in onsite generation and onsite efficiency is clear, so how should they go about making it happen?

I advise clients to employ two guiding principles to best reduce carbon emissions and make energy and operational savings in the process. These are: The greenest form of energy generation is the most affordable method of consumption Renewable energy generators can now produce energy at a cheaper rate than otherwise consumed from the grid, thanks to dramatic technological advancement over the past few decades. This is achieved through technologies related to onsite generation.

The cheapest and greenest form of energy is that which is not consumed at all

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Newer, more efficient technologies consume less electricity and/or gas but have the same output and undertake the same function as already existing infrastructure. These technologies enable energy and cost savings through enhancing onsite efficiency.

A GOLDEN TICKET: ONSITE GENERATION Energy prices have settled at historically high levels - frequently above 25p/kWh f0r the end-user - so onsite generation continues to become more attractive to businesses as a way to lower their costs. Onsite generation methods include solar PV, wind turbines, hydro power and ground source heat pumps to name a few. It is hard to overstate the direct economic benefits: for instance, simple calculations involving the LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity) highlight that electricity generated by solar PV is below 5p/kWh. To best identify which generation methods are most appropriate, a consultation is first needed, which

involves conversing and auditing a site, collecting data alongside a site assessment. Once a system model has been produced, the process ends with delivery and management. Two of my clients recently and very successfully installed solar PV on their sites. The first was able to make £25,687.20 in energy savings (85,624kWh) in the first year alone on an installed size of 100.04kWp. They are projected to save £513,265 over the 25-year lifetime of the project - making 2,053,061 kWh in energy savings. The second client made savings in six figures £112,646 - in the first year based on an impressive installed size of 589kWp. This means they stand to save £2,280,837 over a 25-year period - 9,123,349 kWh in energy savings! In light of these savings, businesses must remember that ‘greenest is cheapest’ - a golden ticket when it comes to energy generation!

INCREASED EFFICIENCY MEANS REDUCED CONSUMPTION AND COSTS It is important for businesses to remember that increasing

their onsite efficiency does not require changes to their level of consumption, rather they should look at where wasted energy is present and fix this expensive problem at the source. Solutions that are especially useful in increasing onsite efficiency are voltage optimisation, LED lighting, smart building solutions, energy efficient boilers such as biomass boilers and upgraded HVAC systems.

By using voltage optimisation technology, businesses match their onsite electricity to the exact supply voltage of their lighting and equipment. Seemingly a small move, voltage optimisation actually reduces grid consumption by around 8%, enabling significant savings and promoting sustainability in the process.

This was the case for a recent client: they made yearly savings estimated at £33,744 - that works out at 134,975 kWh a year or 25,645kg of CO2. And there is further good news: voltage optimisation devices have an expected lifetime of 100 years, so that same client is expected to make savings worth £843,593 in

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25 years alone.

LED lighting is another overlooked efficiency solution which offers very impressive energy savings.

Another client replaced 382 existing non-LED fittings with high-efficiency, long-lasting LEDs and made 52,000kWh in energy savings within the first year. These energy savings are estimated to total £130,000 over 10 years - the lifespan of the LED fittings, and the enhanced lifetime of lighting fixtures saves on OPEX replacement which would otherwise cost £680 per year.

Finally, businesses should look into upgrading their boilers to further increase their sustainability and lower their costs. By installing two 120kW Strebel S-CB 120 boilers, one client increased their efficiency from ~80% to ~95%, leading to an annual saving of ~100,000 kWh per year on gas - leading to savings of £9,000 in the first year.

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May 2023

The future of martech: why MACH architecture is hitting the mainstream Earlier in the year we asked 500 business leaders at midsized e-commerce companies in the US and Europe about their martech setup. Our purpose was to find out what level of investment they were making in martech and whether it was paying off. The results were not good.

May 2023

By Thomas Peham, VP of marketing enterprise CMS Storyblok

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The future of martech: why MACH architecture is hitting the mainstream Sitting first and third as the most important issues facing Britain today according to voters are inflation and the economy, respectively. Reacting to this, politicians are putting pressure on retailers to cut their prices and introduce reductions. In May, we even heard warnings from The UK Chancellor, threatening new laws to set price caps for essential food items.

Yet while cutting prices can lead to short-term relief, it does not provide the long-term solution that retailers and consumers desperately need. Instead, retailers need to take a longterm approach and invest in new technologies that can enable significant cost savings.

By unlocking operational cost savings, retailers can then pass these savings on to customers and avoid the negative aspects of price cutting such as:

to create and deliver them.

When this very same strain on manufacturing and delivery has created inflationary pressure in the first place, lowering prices further exacerbates the problem, increasing inflation.

financial health. While cutting costs in the short term may be possible, the longer-term view could be more of an issue. For instance, if competitors react in kind and cut their prices, a race to the bottom quickly takes hold, risking everyone’s financial future.

DAMAGE PRODUCERS DISTRACTION As mentioned above, if the challenges faced by producers and manufacturers are causing inflation, then cutting prices will make things worse. Retailers can absorb some of the cuts, but eventually, they will get passed downstream to suppliers, producers, and manufacturers.

Cutting prices can be incredibly damaging for industries like farming, which have faced many struggles in recent years. Dairy farmers have already highlighted the risk price cutting will cause to their businesses.

DRIVING UP INFLATION

RISKS RETAILERS’ FINANCIAL HEALTH

Simply cutting prices often leads to people buying more products, putting greater strain on supply chains and the resources needed

For retailers in particularly competitive sectors cutting prices will significantly eat into their slim profit margins, risking their

Price cutting risks papering over cracks and hiding serious systematic problems. For example, while price cuts may lead to a short-term spike in sales, they can hide problems in customer experience (CX), operations, and marketing. After a while, even if prices remain low, these areas will rise to the surface and damage a business’s sustainability if not dealt with.

UNDERMINE VALUE Price and value are not the same thing. Lowering prices will make products more affordable, but if mismanaged can lead to customers questioning their value. Over time this can have a detrimental effect on a brand’s value. If ignored this can become

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permanent and undermine the investment made to build the brand in the first place.

Ultimately, price cutting is not a long-term solution to helping consumers through what is likely to be a sustained period of economic instability. While it can deliver short-term relief, other solutions are needed. Instead, retailers need to find ways to control costs and create savings that can be passed on to consumers without risking their future or that of their suppliers.

The good news is that new technologies are stepping up to help. For instance, the rise of generative AI (GenAI) is leading to a whole host of new tools that are improving and speeding up the creation and delivery of marketing messages. Data from Opitmove suggests that 78% of B2C marketers already use GenAI to aid their campaigns. While retailers are now deploying facial recognition systems and AI to help reduce losses from shoplifting.

Companies like Wasteless are even using dynamic pricing to cut down on the losses and

environmental impact of food waste by adjusting pricing to incentivise customers to purchase products approaching their sell-by date.

Payment is another area that creates cost savings for retailers, which can be passed on to consumers. One new emerging payment type is particularly wellplaced to deliver this – instant payments. Instant payments are an alternative payment method (APM) that enables a direct bank-to-bank transfer between a customer and a retailer’s account.

The process to enable this type of payment can be achieved by a customer scanning a QR code at checkout. The advantage of instant payment is its simplicity.

With fewer parties facilitating the payment, transaction fees are reduced, creating savings for retailers on every transaction.

These savings can be passed on to consumers via discount codes or even directly at checkout by reducing the balance due.

Cost savings are not the only advantage instant payments offer. By building them into

loyalty programmes, retailers can gain extra data and insights into customer habits, helping to personalise their shopping experience further. Over time, these enhancements to CX translate into reduced customer churn and increased engagement.

Why price cutting has been a focus for retailers and politicians is understandable. Nonetheless, it is not a long-term answer. With economists predicting inflation in the UK to remain high deep into 2024, retailers need to look at how they can create sustainable savings to pass on to customers.

Technologies have already arrived that can help. By thinking a longterm view, retailers can create cost savings that can be passed on to consumers without jeopardising their future or that of their suppliers.

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Pricing Cutting Won’t Solve the Economic Crisis In 12 months, the UK will be gearing up for a general election, and the themes that will define it are already emerging. While immigration and the NHS remain key battlegrounds between the parties, one area dominates – the economy. A glance at recent IPSOS polling shows the scale of the problem.

May 2023

By David Maisey, CEO MultiPay Global Solutions

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Pricing Cutting Won’t Solve the Economic Crisis Primarily, IoT is built up of two components – hardware (i.e., the devices used) and software (i.e., real-time analytics). The platforms are used in most business verticals and with technology advancing rapidly, IoT has arguably improved the everyday operations of organisations.

The integration of IoT and the cloud creates the opportunity for a unified IT infrastructure for a company. Organisations linking the two different technologies together will reap the benefits of both and create a convenient way of working. However, this should be accomplished without additional complexity and without compromising on performance or security.

IOT DEVICE COMPATIBILITY The popularity of cloud computing has made connecting to it mainstream with providers like Amazon now offering their own software tools. Increasingly connecting IoT devices to the cloud benefits from greater flexibility, more robust disaster recovery, and automatic software

and security updates if some pitfalls are avoided.

With multiple devices to connect to the cloud, scalability, flexibility, and network connectivity become challenging. setup that works for one cloud and network cannot simply be easily replicated for another setup.

To overcome this challenge, IoT providers must develop universal standards for IoT devices and cloud platforms to ensure compatibility. Industrywide standards would allow for interoperability between devices and cloud platforms, making it easier for organisations to connect and manage their devices.

Scalability: The rapid IoT device growth requires cloud platforms to handle large amounts of data from a variety of sources while maintaining performance or reliability. these platforms must be able to scale up or down and expand geographically based on demand, without causing any downtime or interruptions.

Network connectivity: IoT devices often rely on wireless networks to connect to the cloud. Common connectivity issues in areas with poor signal strength or network congestion are well-known and hard to address. Other less known issues are the traffic path between the wireless networks and the cloud proper.

Simplicity: IoT devices are often developed by different manufacturers and with different protocols. Simplifying IoT device compatibility to access a cloud platform or consolidating solutions after the merge or acquisition of 2 different organisations may be tricky.

For example, if an organisation deploys cloud services in the US and wants to deploy the same service using the same cloud in Asia, the cloud is the same, the hardware is the same, but the access network will be different.

Failure to acknowledge this implies service repercussions such as data loss, delayed data transmission, or complete device failure.

To overcome network connectivity challenges, IoT solution must builtin end-to-end connectivity diversity with redundancy and backup systems in mind. Additionally, cloud access must have a robust network infrastructure capable of handling large volumes of data and providing reliable connectivity to IoT devices anywhere these devices may be.

ENSURING DATA TRANSMITTED BETWEEN IOT AND THE CLOUD IS SECURE Organisations often encounter significant challenges when it comes to securely connecting their IoT devices to the cloud. Due to weak standard or outdated network setup, they are vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Considering the sensitive data involved, that data is in its transit. Private connectivity solution undoubtedly mitigates these risks. organisations are advised against traversing the public internet between devices and clouds. this reduces the risks of traffic hijacking while increasing the organisation’s visibility, security, and control over its IoT assets.

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Likewise, encryption is another way an organisation can protect their data. In the situation that a breach did occur, the hacker would not be able to read the data to which they have gained access. Although seemingly good, too much encryption can act as a double-edged sword. It can overdrain the battery. Furthermore, encryption alone does not prevent the IoT infrastructure to be exposed and exploited by malicious entities as there is nobody supervising the access between the wireless networks and the cloud.

In short, once organisations are on the Internet, even if the data is encrypted some information is visible to hackers, fraudulent activities, and any governmentowned entities.

benefits of IoT. To prevent this from happening, organisations need to consider using providers that offer wireless network access, a private network and dedicated access to the cloud.

By doing so, organisations gain control of the traffic path improving low-latency performance.

Additionally, it is important to seek partners or technology that deliver global scalability with consistency across different deployments.

Having one expert network that can manage the wireless data the cloud access with stable latency creates greater transparency and control compared to multiple providers for each offering.

does this make the process easier for organisations to connect, but it also has created the potential to support new models.

Nevertheless, there are still challenges with connectivity. The scalability of cloud performance on a cellular site is not as robust as Amazon or Azure, which hinders mobile networks and telecom environments from achieving the same level of performance as offered by hyperscalers.

Moving forward, organisations need to look into how their data are handled because failure to do so, will affect the potential of their IoT devices.

EMERGING TRENDS AND TECHNOLOGIES

Moving forward, organisations need to focus more on the way the Internet is transmitted.

The emergence of 5G has increased the ability and accessibility to connect to the cloud. 5G is the first cylinder technology that is cloud-friendly, helping the cloud make its way to a mobile cellular environment delivering more data at a faster and more secure rate. Not only

Connecting IoT devices to the cloud is a complex and challenging process that requires careful consideration of security, interoperability, network connectivity, data management, and scalability. With the right solutions in place, IoT devices can provide businesses and

THE IMPACT OF IOT LATENCY In an ideal world, organisations want low-latency IoT which means information is accessed and processed in real-time. Latency is a key indicator of data confidence Wild variation in latency in device-to-cloud transmission will impact the effectiveness of the

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consumers with valuable insights, real-time feedback, and enhanced automation. It is important for IoT Solution providers to work together to ensure that IoT devices can be securely and reliably connected to the cloud, to maximize their potential benefits.

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May 2023

Smart Labels and the intersection of technology and logistics The delicate fabric of the ever-evolving technological landscape is being rewoven with the introduction of gamechanging elements like smart labels, which are bringing the logistics industry to the forefront of innovation. These technological wonders are not only transforming the landscape of logistics, but they are also unlocking a multitude of options where precision, discretion, and efficiency are of the utmost importance.

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By Sam Colley, CEO Pod Group

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Smart Labels and the intersection of technology and logistics The convergence of design and technology is shown here with the introduction of smart labels, a new product category which is a harmonic blend of slim profile design and cutting-edge technology, boasting millimetrethick applications and embedded with low-power cellular LTE CAT-M connectivity.

Smart labels are not only a game-changer for the logistic and package labelling industry but have a considerable impact on many other industries, due to the numerous benefits of the ability to track and trace parcels and the wide array of sensors such smart labels can carry.

Furthermore, due to their small form factor and ultra-slim profile, they make it possible to track and trace a wide variety of objects, ranging from small envelopes to large packages that require a flat tracker, as opposed to a bulky traditional device.

HOW SMART LABELS WILL IMPACT DIFFERENT SECTORS

Incorporating cutting-edge connectivity technology in smart labels, which is frequently combined with 3D-printed batteries, guarantees unrivalled durability and dependability.

Low-power cellular LTE CAT-M SIM technology makes it possible to track such labels globally, providing geofence warnings and giving customers unprecedented visibility, opening the door to real-time tracking and monitoring capabilities.

This will significantly impact various sectors, such as insurance, pharmaceuticals, and the food industry. Let’s explore these further.

INSURANCE Integrating smart labels into the insurance sector signifies a transformational shift, opening innovation avenues and enhancing customer offerings. Smart labels can monitor and transmit data on the location, temperature, and handling of goods in realtime, fostering transparency and traceability in logistics.

For insurance companies, this real-

time data can enable the creation of bespoke and dynamic insurance products, potentially reducing premiums and claims. Insurers can gauge risks more accurately and formulate policies more attuned to insured goods’ actual usage and handling. For instance, if goods are monitored for proper handling and environmental conditions, any deviation can be instantly detected, allowing immediate remedial actions and reducing the likelihood of damage-related claims.

PHARMACEUTICALS Another industry in which smart labels will have a significant impact is the pharmaceutical sector, addressing crucial aspects such as product integrity, traceability, and anticounterfeiting.

The precise tracking of pharmaceutical products from manufacturers to end-users will help ensure that temperaturesensitive medicines are transported under appropriate conditions, preventing spoilage and ensuring efficacy. Real-time alerts and

geofencing will notify stakeholders if products deviate from their planned routes or if environmental conditions breach predefined thresholds, allowing immediate corrective actions.

This is pivotal for critical and high-value pharmaceuticals where even slight variances in conditions can compromise product integrity.

Additionally, the enhanced traceability provided by smart labels is instrumental in combating the prevalent issue of counterfeit medicines, enabling authentication and ensuring that consumers receive genuine products.

FOOD AND DRINK Similarly, reducing waste in the food and drink industry is another strong use case for this new product category, ensuring food safety, quality, and traceability.

In an industry where product freshness and proper handling are paramount, smart labels provide real-time monitoring of temperature and environmental conditions, mitigating the risk of spoilage and contamination.

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This is particularly crucial for perishable goods like meat, dairy, and produce, where deviations in storage conditions can have severe implications on product quality and safety.

TODAY’S TECHNOLOGY IS BUT A FRACTION OF WHAT IS POSSIBLE The unrelenting push towards technological progress is likely to result in the development of smart labels that are more adaptable and complex than ever before, with expanded capacities and functionalities. Smart labels are essential to achieving supply chain transparency, operational efficiency, and sustainability.

Ongoing research and development are poised to introduce innovations that cater to the evolving needs of industries.

These innovations will integrate advanced sensors, enhanced connectivity, and sophisticated data analytics. One promising area in which smart labels will make a significant impact is when combined with the blockchain.

SMART LABELS AND BLOCKCHAIN The potential combination of blockchain technology and smart labels presents a ground-breaking opportunity that would improve the robustness and security of smart contracts and provide a platform for contract execution that is transparent and immutable.

Smart labels offer a solution to the limitations of smart contracts that use blockchain technology, which, up to now, have lacked a universally adaptable tracking device equipped with diverse sensors. Traditional IoT trackers have been impractical due to their cumbersome nature, rendering this capability more of a concept than a reality.

Smart labels, however, present a potential breakthrough.

Their lightweight and sleek design integrates directly into packaging labels, providing an opportunity for a more universal application. This innovation can supply blockchain-based smart contracts with the necessary sensor technology and tracking

capabilities, paving the way for them to become a practical and prevalent solution.

IN CONCLUSION The logistics industry, a crucial backbone of our daily lives and global economy, operates seamlessly behind the scenes.

Smart labels are revolutionizing this vital sector, blending advanced technology with logistics and fostering a future marked by transparency, efficiency, and trust. They exemplify technology’s transformational power, offering sustainable and innovative solutions across diverse environments and highlighting the future where technology and logistics converge to unlock boundless opportunities and transformations.

This exploration into smart labels and technology foretells a future in logistics rich in innovation, growth, and value, presenting a realm of enhanced efficiency, security, and limitless possibilities.

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May 2023

Dark Fibre’s Role in Supercharging Edge Data Centers In response to Proximity Data Centre’s e-book, Glide’s CTO, Sean Lowry explores the impact of low latency on gaming, the Metaverse, and AI. He explains how dark fibre and Glide’s “Fibre Cities” are primed to support the evolving needs of edge data centres and seamless connectivity.

In today’s rapidly evolving world, dark fibre is the unsung hero behind the transformative potential of cloud gaming, the metaverse, and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

“Dark fibre” refers to a dormant optical fibre that is installed but remains unlit, providing a blank canvas where its data transmission capacity and

May 2023

By Sean Lowry, CTO, Glide

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CONTINUED >

Dark Fibre’s Role in Supercharging Edge Data Centers Critically, the price paid by the customer is independent of the speed or volume of data transported via dark fibre. This is in stark contrast to conventional high bandwidth services, where the service provider determines the price based on the speed and data capacity required. Whilst seemingly insignificant, dark fibre is pivotal in meeting the growing demands and unique challenges posed by cloud gaming, the metaverse, and AI applications.

As the cloud reshapes the gaming industry, the metaverse redefines virtual existence, and AI applications revolutionise multiple industries, dark fibre is the unassuming backbone. It forms the foundation upon which everything else relies, delivering potentially unlimited data capacity, rapid transmission speeds and ultra-low latency.

EMPOWERING CLOUD GAMING WITH DARK FIBRE In the dynamic world of cloud gaming, low-latency networks are essential for delivering an immersive and seamless

gaming experience. Latency, the time it takes for data to travel between a gaming device and the server, is critical in cloudbased gaming. Gamers demand instantaneous response times as every millisecond impacts gameplay, determining whether the gamer executes a perfect headshot or misses the target.

Dark fibre is pivotal in minimising this delay, enabling lightning-fast data transmission and ensuring that gaming delivers the ultimate experience.

effects.

Dark fibre networks are quietly but profoundly transforming the cloud gaming industry’s infrastructure.

Dark fibre’s distinguishing feature is its adaptability. In cloud gaming, where every millisecond has significance, using dark fibre to establish dedicated, interferencefree data pathways with no intermediate “hops” to cause delay is literally game-changing.

By eradicating congestion and the multiple points of delay typical of conventional data networks, dark fibre substantially reduces network latency, ensuring instantaneous response to commands and instantaneous feedback on their

In essence, dark fibre is not just the backbone but the essence of cloud gaming. It is the key to achieving low-latency, high-quality gaming experiences by minimising the digital distance between players and their virtual adventures.

Cloud gaming relies on a widespread network of data centres where processing occurs, and the proximity of these centres to players is crucial for success.

Dark fibre is vital in this context by connecting data centres with local service providers. This facilitates the strategic placement of data centres close to groups of players, reducing the physical distance data must travel and resulting in lower latency.

It is worth noting that the same transformational effects apply in other industries. Trading platforms for example demand the same low-latency and high responsiveness – where a milliseconds delay can make or lose millions.

May 2023

ENABLING THE METAVERSE THROUGH DARK FIBRE

FUELING AI INNOVATION WITH DARK FIBRE

The Metaverse is poised to redefine how we engage with digital environments, demanding unprecedented performance.

Within this emerging virtual universe, where users expect an immersive and seamless experience, latency is the critical factor. Extremely low latency is the lifeblood of real-time interactions, whether exploring digital landscapes, attending virtual meetings, or participating in shared experiences.

In the realm of artificial intelligence, the insatiable appetite for data centre space and power is rapidly reshaping the landscape. AI applications, driven by advanced algorithms, are demanding unprecedented computational resources. With forecasts predicting up to a 300% growth in global data centre capacity, it is evident that the digital foundation upon which AI innovation rests is under considerable strain. This surge in demand is particularly evident in regions such as the UK’s South East, where a concentration of data centres is leading to local supply problems for land, electricity, and water.

Similarly to cloud gaming, dark fibre plays a pivotal role in delivering the low latency that is vital for real-time applications in the Metaverse. Dark fibre allows data, whether HD voice, ultra-high resolution video or vast arrays of interactive content, to be conveyed with minimal interruption. It empowers AR/ VR devices to provide users with stunning, immersive experiences, enhancing the overall Metaverse environment.

Dark fibre emerges as a critical asset in sustaining this insatiable appetite for AI functionality. It provides the essential bandwidth and connectivity required for AI data processing, enabling the seamless transmission of vast datasets between data centres and local network infrastructure. Dark fibre’s high capacity ensures that

data is transferred with minimal latency, thereby facilitating quicker real-time processing and decisionmaking—two fundamental pillars of AI applications.

Moreover, the decentralisation of data centres through the deployment of dark fibre offers a solution to the challenges of power and infrastructure. By distributing AI infrastructure across multiple locations and multiple data centres, the strain on resources in overburdened regions is alleviated.

Dark fibre enables efficient interconnection between these decentralised facilities and local providers, reducing the pressure on essential resources.

As the demand for AI and data processing capabilities continues to surge, the strategic use of dark fibre offers a pathway towards infrastructure sustainability.

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May 2023

IoT’s Role in Employee Office Wellbeing & Productivity A number of UK workers have found reason to celebrate following the Government’s announcement of the Flexible Working Bill, expected to come into legislation in 2024.

The bill will allow professionals in the UK to request flexible working from their first day of employment. While the announcement will take strides in the right direction for many employees, a number of employers across the country might feel disgruntled.

May 2023

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By Danny Wyrwoll, Head of Flexible Workspace Sales, Glide

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IoT’s Role in Employee Office Wellbeing & Productivity The battle between remote working and full-time in the office rages on, but in order to keep the peace, organisations must take steps to enticing workers into the office in today’s business environment.

According to a report published

by Beamery before the Government’s recent flexible working announcement, 37% of the UK workforce are now being mandated to work in the office every day, with that number expected to continue to grow. However, studies have found that productivity improves while working remotely. More importantly, the work-life balance that flexible working brings employees in today’s environment holds significant importance. Never has health and wellbeing been so valuable for the workforce.

Businesses would be foolish to blindly demand workers to come back to the office full-time. Not only would it damage productivity, but it would heavily impact the work-life balance aspect

that today’s workforce craves.

According to data collected

by LinkedIn, over one-third of employees would quit their job if they were forced to work in the office full-time. Organisations must embrace flexible working requests ahead of legislation change, but they must also find ways to improve in-office employee productivity while supporting their health and wellbeing.

THE CHALLENGE OF REMOTE WORK On the face of it, working from home sounds like a dream to anyone who has never done it before. No painful commute, the option to simply roll out of bed and sign on to work, and the ability to even complete any housework in between meetings.

While employees might prefer working at home - and actually feel more productive doing so - it isolates employees in many instances. Locked away in a room - not always designed for long stints sat at a desk - staff can miss out on the collaborative benefits of in-person company: discussing

ideas, taking a quick coffee break when stress levels start to rise, or even having someone to listen to any problems.

Working from home is here to stay, but it certainly has its cons.

In many instances, the office provides an outlet for workforces who need to work in a more social environment. The key lies in finding a healthy and sustainable balance.

TECH TO THE RESCUE As with many hurdles within businesses today, technology can provide a viable solution for organisations looking to overcome the flexible working conundrum.

Ultimately, the challenge boils down to the need to ensure that health and wellbeing is supported for team members, while helping them maintain the productivity levels of home working. This can be solved through the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Champion Health found that 76% of employees endure moderateto-high stress levels at work, with 61% struggling to remain

productive due to tiredness. While completely eradicating stress from a working environment is likely an impossible task, minimising stress and anxiety at work should be a priority for businesses.

Through IoT, businesses can optimise in-office CO2, temperature and humidity levels.

Pushing the right levels of CO2 into the body is important.

Research shows that CO2 inhalation can result in significant negative effects, such as increased anxiety, fear and symptoms of panic, as well as blood pressure and heart rate. In a potentially stressful office environment, environmental control can play a transformative role in helping employees remain relaxed, focused and productive.

May 2023

WIDER BENEFITS OF IOT The benefits of environmental control on employee health and wellbeing help businesses create a more appealing office space.

While a calm and productive working environment is a step in the right direction, IoT can also be utilised to create an environment that employees enjoy being in, too.

IoT enables businesses to develop a smart office - one that leverages modern technology to create improved user experiences. This includes the previously mentioned environmental controls, but it can also be utilised to incorporate wider features that make being in the office enjoyable for employees.

A smart office can use voice assistants and mobile devices to control aspects such as lighting, seating and desk arrangements, office music, and even door locks. IoT allows organisations to make multiple seemingly small improvements throughout the office to create an environment that team members enjoy

being in. The technology can significantly improve the overall office experience for employees, encouraging them to want to leave home and commute into work.

A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS Ultimately, IoT technology creates an enjoyable environment to work in. It helps staff to feel valued and looked after. They feel that their health and wellbeing is a priority for their employer, and that they are being encouraged to remain calm in the office.

Smaller, individual benefits of the smart office simply make life easier for employees, who can instead focus more of their time on productive tasks.

Meanwhile, without the potential loneliness of working from home, a positive office environment instead encourages wider team collaboration, strengthening relationships and driving improved business performance.

The smart office collates a number of features that work together to encourage employees into the office. Not only does it foster a

harmonious working culture and atmosphere, it drives efficiency and productivity for long-term success for organisations.

Organisations should embrace flexible working and invest in office technology that benefits both the employee and the business as they look ahead to the future.

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May 2023

The Gaza Conflict – does it affect your cybersecurity?

We’re all shocked and saddened to see recent images from Gaza.

The devastation of buildings and the tragic consequences for families caught-up in this recent unrest.

May 2023

By Gary Kinsley, Author of 2 cybersecurity books: Attack Vector and Deadly Protocol

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CONTINUED >

The Gaza Conflict – does it affect your cybersecurity?

What is less apparent is the implications for cybersecurity, and you may reasonably ask why military action in Gaza should have implications for businesses elsewhere. The reality is the Gaza situation does have much wider implications. Furthermore, they’re global in reach.

Two notable trends have emerged as a direct result of the Gaza conflict. Firstly, is an increase in email scam campaigns for disaster relief. Cruelly, we’re seeing a blip in spam campaigns asking for help for refugees. Cybercriminals are using the catastrophic war in Gaza to benefit financially by “exploiting the goodwill and charity” of others.

The scammers have two aims. To steal personal credentials from unwary people, and to solicit donations to ‘help’ the victims of the conflict. The narrative the fraudsters use is adjusted for donation requests in-line with the latest mass-media news and updates on the conflict.

Secondly, and potentially more dangerous to businesses is the increase in hacktivism. As all of us in the cybersecurity world know, hactivism is an ever-present threat.

Usually based on the political agendas of the hacktivists, we see a ‘beat-rate’ of regular cyberattacks based on political ideology. This can typically include animal-rights activists, environmentalists, political organisations, etc.

However, the current Gaza conflict has created a polarization of politically motivated hactivist attacks from both sides of the political and religious spectrum.

Any company with an apparent leaning towards Hamas (officially the Islamic Resistance Movement), a Sunni Islamist political and military organization, and obviously Muslim, is a target for Israeli sympathisers.

Conversely, Israel is predominantly considered Jewish thus a target for hacktivists with Islamic sympathies.

Hacktivists from Indonesian threat actor Garnesia Team, plus the Moroccan Black Cyber Army, and Anonymous Sudan have all

claimed responsibility for DDoS attacks on the Israeli Govt.

Moreover, these attacks are now spilling over, into the commercial world to target news media outlets and travel companies. It’s CyberQ Groups belief there are signs of more impactful attacks being attempted.

What can you do to prevent such an attack? CyberQ Group believes part of the answer lies in technology known as Threat Intelligence ensuring cybersecurity strategies are both effective and efficient.

Threat Intel’ is a system of monitoring your websites and other business assets to ensure a possible attack is mitigated. It isn’t the entire answer as it assumes a business has taken all the usual step to eliminate risk such as patched known vulnerabilities, segmented servers from a common network, trained staff to recognise phishing attacks, etcetera. But it does help when hacktivists (or any of the bad guys) try and target your business specifically.

May 2023

Chris Woods, CyberQ Group CEO said, “knowing what you’re up against means you can gear up accordingly ensuring no threat catches you unaware. With Threat Intelligence, a service which unobtrusively monitors web traffic, companies can understand which threats are most pertinent, and can allocate resources where they’re most needed.” Threat Intel’ is increasingly a key component of a credible cybersecurity strategy.

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May 2023

Can Europe take on the US Cloud giants?

With so many issues coming up about cloud storage, what is the solution to the dominance of the major giants like AWS (32%), Microsoft (23%) and Google (10%) taking 65% of the world cloud market?

May 2023

By Richard Hilton, Senior Presale Solutions Consultant

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Can Europe take on the US Cloud giants?

A recent article by Technology reporter Sean Mcmanus for the BBC covered the attempt

by Mattias Åström, CEO of Evroc, to create a European Hyperscale cloud. His approach that European countries build critical infrastructures, as part of the Gaia-X Project, which aims to create a federated sovereign cloud from 377 member organisations. Åström has secured €15m in seed funding with plans to build eight data centres in Europe in the next five years, with the first being a large pilot data centre in Sweden. A requirement for a UK or European Sovereign cloud to take on the American based hyperscalers is something we have been highlighting for a while at Claritas Solutions.

European and UK companies are handing their data to the US giants without thinking how the impact of the European GDPR and the US Patriot Act means to their business long term.

So, would a European solution work? A united sovereign cloud comprising of a consortium of different companies would have its merit and would have the EU principle behind it of linking all its members. Let’s face it, there is not the venture capital or investment to create a Silicon Valley outside of the US, there simply isn’t a European equivalent on that scale.

In an attempt to resolve the dilemma between innovation and compliance, a European sovereign cloud does give us the opportunity to quickly take advantage of the public cloud and implement digitalisation projects with inbuilt data sovereignty.

However, Jeremy Hunt’s solution to generating funding for such tech innovation is by the merging of workplace pension schemes to release up to £75bn of retirement funds to invest in IT start ups, is quite frankly, ridiculous. It’s a stab in the dark, expecting a unicorn to turn up not only to recover but then increase the investment funds, while as we already know a very high percentage of these start-up businesses will simply fail, with possible devastating impacts to

people’s pensions. No one over the age of 40 would benefit from such a scheme, with investors looking at a minimum 10yr period to see anything come out of it, if at all. If you want to invest in Britain’s economy, but you have no idea how to go about it, you are not alone. Business leaders don’t know either, with government officials unable to devise ways to promote investments that they can persuade ministers come at minimal cost and will win votes.

Here’s a radical thought, what about introducing a R&D tax scheme on the big financial institutions (the past instigators of global crashes, which the government used our tax contributions to bail out), controlled and run by an independent external body to invest in start-ups rather than putting the burden on the UK citizen once again?

There is an urgency behind demands for the UK to begin repairing what it has and building new things that allows us all – and not just a wealthy few – to participate in the best the 21st

May 2023

century has to offer, from better healthcare to climate-friendly transport.

Whilst Brexit exiled us from the EU, we are still in reality European, and we need to be part of this scheme to make it work for all European citizen data that the UK processes and holds. We are all still smarting and finding our feet post Brexit, but we need a different mindset to tackle this challenge.

Imagine a successful cyber attack on one of the US cloud giants, taking down a region or worse the entire system. If Europe goes ahead with what is being proposed and uses many different companies to create a federated Sovereign cloud service, one attack would not have the same impact due to the distributed infrastructure.

Therefore, it is a safer and more realistic idea and one the UK needs to back. We are still ‘European’ and the flow needs to be maintained. It happens in many different areas of industry, so why not for a shared cloud? Take Airbus, all wings on commercial aircraft are designed and built in

the UK, with the assembly taking place in plants located in France, Germany and Spain. European and UK collaboration is the only way forward.

The UK has always been a country of inventors, but has always lacked a venture capital finance structure like the ones seen in the US. Americas government policies like the Chips and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the reactive European Chips act will have global repercussions.

Take the IRA which aims to spur investment in green technology via a multitude of grants, loans and tax credits to public and private entities. Controversially, the tax credits are given out to green industries on the condition that production and final assembly is based in the US. It’s a form of protectionism via state aid. EU leaders are also considering adopting something similar, putting even more pressure on Britain.

We all need to get over Brexit, and look at what is the best solution for everyone. If one country doesn’t have the funding

or capacity to create a cloud to compete directly with the US – then the UK needs to consider becoming part of this. The risks of not doing it? Being left behind and seeing our data sovereignty moved to the US by stealth and further isolation from Europe as it builds its own Federated Sovereign cloud.

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P R O U D PA RT N E R S O F

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