TMT September 2017

Wildlife on Location The Wildlife Sanctuary Wales, Clwyd

September 2017 www.tmt-magazine.com

Facing the Food Challenge The German Institute of Food Technologies

The

Ultimate Trifecta Anova Technologies engineers’ connectivity solutions that optimise latency, availability and capacity from client-port through client-port.

We interviewed CEO, Michael Persico (right) to learn about his own role in the firm, as well as the products and services they offer.

A CEO Who Leads by Example We spoke to Indy Sarker at ANALEC to find out more about the company and discuss winning the Tech CEO of the Year – India award

Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

- Mayer Consulting Limited recently enjoyed the Most Advanced Business Consultancy 2016 accolade.

To celebrate this achievement, we interviewed the firm’s Damian Mayer (left) to find out what the firm offers the European business world.

Editor’s Note

, Welcome to the September edition of TMT News Magazine, providing you with the latest news and features on trends within the technology, media and telecoms markets.

On the 4th-5th October, global leader in redefining unified storage, Nexsan™ announced it will be exhibiting its latest product portfolio at IP Expo Europe. Nexsan has been at the forefront of developing world-class storage technologies for over 18 year, and so it will be intriguing to see the latest product portfolio.

In this edition, we discover more about Anova Technologies, the company specialises in ultra-low latency networks. Taking to tell us more about the company is CEO And Founder of Anova Technologies, Michael Persico who goes in to detail about his role within the firm, as well as the products and services they offer.

Elsewhere in this edition, we profiled non-profit research institute, The German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL) who are located in Lower Saxony, at the heart of the Germany’s food industries to explore further the secrets behind their success.

We truly hope you enjoy reading this edition and look forward to hearing from you.

Jessica Daykin, Editor Phone: +44 (0) 203 725 6842 Email: jessica.daykin@ai-globalmedia.com Website: www.tmt-magazine.com

AI Global Media, Ltd. (AI) takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information on this web site. However, AI will not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of any information that is available through this web site. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them.

The information available through the website and our partner publications is for your general information and use and is not intended to address any particular finance or investment requirements. In particular, the information does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by us or any of our partner publications and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making or refraining from making any investment or financial decisions.

Appropriate independent advice should be obtained before making any such decision. Any arrangement made between you and any third party named in the site is at your sole risk and responsibility.

September 2017 / TMT MAGAZINE 3

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Contents

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Contents 6. News 8.

The Ultimate Trifecta Anova Technologies

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12. A CEO Who Leads by Example ANALEC Infotech Private Limited 16. Facing the Food Challenge* German Institute of Food Technologies – DIL 20. See You at the Movies!

Garden State Film Festival 22. Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining Mayer Consulting Limited 26. Authentic Leadership - the Key to Success?

NetNumber Inc.

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NEWS

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NAB Show New York to Feature ‘TV on Wall Street’ Conference

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NEWS

, NAB Show New York will debut the TV on Wall Street program, a one-day conference offering a business perspective on the economic influences driving the evolution of media, including new technologies and investment opportunities.

The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for America’s broadcasters. NAB Show New York will debut the TV on Wall Street program, a one-day conference offering a business perspective on the economic influences driving the evolution of media, including new technologies and investment opportunities.

Produced in partnership with S&P Global Market Intelligence and Summit Ridge Group, the conference will be held Thursday, October 19.

Leading media executives, analysts and financiers from a range of industry areas will provide attendees with an in-depth overview of investment implications for video services and shed light on revenue potential for multichannel and content providers in the coming years. The conference sessions will also address the challenges, opportunities and growth potential for online, landline and mobile delivery methods expected to dominate the video space.

The conference will kick off with a keynote conversation with Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for FOX Television Stations Joe Dorrego, led

by Managing Director of Equity Research for Jefferies, LLC John Janedis. Dorrego, who oversees all financial functions for the station group, will address financial factors and industry trends affecting the television business, such as advertising and retransmission consent revenue, changing video consumption behavior, potential new revenue streams, and Wall Street’s perception of the television business.

“NAB Show New York’s proximity to Wall Street and its focus on media and technology uniquely positions the event to provide a deep dive into factors that are impacting business decisions and the financial state of the industry,” said NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith. “This new conference will undoubtedly provide attendees with insight and information they can take to the bank and use to manage their investments.”

The afternoon keynote will feature Julie Menin, the Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, an agency encompassing the key economic and creative sectors of film, TV, theater, music, advertising, publishing, digital content and real estate as it relates to these industries. In total, these portfolios account for over 305,000 jobs, and an economic output of $104 billion. Menin also oversees NYC Media, the largest municipal broadcasting entity in the country, including five TV Stations and a radio station with a reach of 18 million households in a 50-mile radius. Her keynote talk will focus on media’s role as a powerful economic driver to the New York economy.

Showing Next Generation All-Flash Unity™ Systems Nexsan™, a global leader in redefining unified storage, announced it will be exhibiting its latest product portfolio at IP Expo Europe, on October 4-5, 2017.

On the 4th and 5th October 2017, global leader in redefining unified storage, Nexsan™ announced its latest product portfolio at IP Expo Europe. Nexsan will be at stand H23 as well as joining its partner Epaton, specialists in next generation storage, at stand JJ10.

Nexsan’s leading executives will be discussing recent technology advancements in Unity, unified storage plus enterprise file sync and share (EFSS), multi-site sync, and secure active archive in one solution. Nexsan recently launched all-flash configurations of Unity, to meet the growing performance demands of customer workloads.

Nexsan has been at the forefront of developing world-class storage technologies for over 18 years and will be discussing its full range of cost effective, efficient solutions that are purpose-built

for specific use cases. In addition to Unity, Nexsan will be showing the E-Series and BEAST systems, renowned for their high reliability, high density, and high value. The platforms are designed to offer ultra-dense and super-efficient storage, allowing customers to save on power and management time. With the BEAST offering 600TB in a single 4U, highly reliable system, the cost-optimised storage workhouse is designed for high volume applications such as digital video surveillance and media.

Gary Watson, Founder and CTO, will also be presenting a seminar to discuss the last line of defence against ransomware and other data threats. With the rise in ransomware, hackers, software glitches and errant users, storage architecture needs to place users back in control over unauthorised access.

September 2017 / TMT MAGAZINE 7

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The Ultimate Trifecta Anova Technologies engineers’ connectivity solutions that optimise latency, availability and capacity from client-port through client-port. We interviewed the firm’s CEO, Michael Persico to learn about his own role in the firm, as well as the products and services they offer.

Michael Persico is CEO and Founder of Anova Technologies, which specialises in ultra-low latency networks. His current company holds a multitude of patents on transmission technology, including one for decreasing the queuing latency of a wireless path. This has been key in optimising laser and RF technology for use in trading. He is a frequently quoted source for information on the use of wireless in finance and has appeared on Bloomberg TV, CNBC, CNN and BBC. Prior to Anova, Michael was a part owner and partner in Ambiron, LLC, and a security technology firm that focused on risk management and compliance for the financial and credit card industries.

Michael was an early believer in electronic trading and founded Tekom, Inc. in 1997 to provide connectivity and other managed services for the trading industry.

Tekom developed many of the technology standards used for screen-based trading today.

Michael also sits on the advisory board of Options City, LLC. As the interview begins, the firm’s CEO, Michael Persico provides an absorbing introduction to Anova Technologies, revealing what they have been delivering since their dawn in 2009.

“Anova Technologies delivers the fastest and most available networks for the financial industry. We symbiotically implement the most up-todate and best-in-class trading

connectivity solutions with unrivalled speed and agility. With the fastest routes connecting the major exchanges throughout the US, Canada, Western & Eastern Europe and South America, Anova Technologies consistently delivers the ultimate trifecta to its clients: speed, accessibility and easy deployment.

“Since our inception in 2009, we have become the preeminent connectivity provider in the financial industry. The firm’s philosophy has always been to democratise access to leading edge technologies to the largest number of market participants possible. Our products and services are ever-evolving to solve for issues before they become problems. We don’t ride the latest trends; we lead them.

“When we opened shop, fibre was the primary medium for exchange connectivity with large telecom companies dominating the space. These firms were not attuned to the specific needs of financial clients – a rich opportunity for a young and hungry company such as ours.

“By customising the firm’s endpoint termination devices and optimising the fibre for the lowest possible latency, we enabled our clients to see the market closer to real time. Additionally, we were one of the first providers to take dark fibre, multiplex it and offer it as individual passive waves. For clients who could not bear the cost of dark fibre, this service levelled the playing field. It delivered competitive and accessible connectivity options

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for the smaller to medium sized firms. These seemingly small enhancements not only made a monumental positive impact on our clients’ bottom line, they also forever shifted the financial connectivity industry.”

Michael then draws our attention to the firm’s pioneering millimetre wave deployment standards.

“Light transmitted over glass encounters drag. Liberated to fly through the air, this same light can approach true ‘light speed.’ In 2011 launched the first millimetre wave routes. Again, our approach was to go beyond the standard offerings and look for the ‘better way.’ And so, we customised the radios to further reduce the latency profiles and eliminate the FEC (forward error correction), nearly doubling the speed of transmission offered by fibre. Also, by expanding the distances between radio links up to 15km, a distance previously thought impossible, we lead the way in deployment standards across the industry.

“Clients flocked to our offerings, revealing one of the challenges inherent in millimetre wave technologies: capacity. Not to mention, millimetre wave’s extreme vulnerability to inclement weather.”

Disruptive technologies that further level the playing field Michael explains how their team embraced the challenge of finding a more robust platform, that would sustain availability near that of fibre.

“After an exhaustive period of vetting newer technologies and customisations, we selected a hybrid laser radio. And, in 2012 we forged an exclusive joint venture with AOptix Technologies, to bring the hybrid laser/millimetre wave ULL3000 radio to the financial exchange connectivity space. This radio solves for all the issues of previous technologies.

It enables near true speed of light transmission with up to 4gbs of capacity, soon scalable to 10Gbs. This is a boon for traders of all tiers because the enormous bandwidth can be partitioned in 10Mb increments.

“Construction began on the hybrid laser network in 2013 and deployment continues worldwide.

From our inception and into the future, Anova will develop and deploy technological innovations into products and services, that can be made accessible to larger bases of customers.”

Michael then tells us about their ULL-3000 product, which was originally developed in collaboration with the US Department of Defense, for use in communications between jets flying at MACH speeds and ground control.

“The ULL-3000 was originally developed in collaboration with the US Department of Defense, for use in communications between jets flying at MACH speeds and ground control.

Over a decade of research and millions in funding behind it, the ULL3000 has been unleashed onto the commercial markets for telecommunications usage.

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Company: Anova Technologies Name: Michael Persico, CEO Email: sales@anova-tech.com Web Address: anova-tech.com Address: 205 N Michigan Ave, Chicago 60601 USA Telephone: +1 312 540 9594

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“The ULL3000 can maintain near 100% availability in all inclement weather. It simulcasts the data across two frequencies (MMW and laser) and selects the best packet in real time, using Dynamic Packet Resourcing (DPR) thus enabling fibre-like availability at wireless speed.

The laser and the MMW have mutually exclusive attenuation properties. The weather that causes the MMW to fade, does not affect the laser and vice versa. This enables the radios to transmit 2gbs of throughput in all-weather instances.

“Another benefit the ULL3000 has over the competition is its ability to compensate for up to ±3°of tower twist and sway.

This enables us to deploy these radios on non-conventional structures and take advantage of towers at heights where other radios cannot. When deployed across our FCC registered shortest path routes, the ULL3000 delivers unbeatable speed. The radio itself minimises propagation and node switching delays, with a non-buffering layer 1 packet technology.

“The ULL3000 utilises automated precision link alignment. The Point-Acquire-Track™ (PAT) process takes minutes to lock onto the exact centre of the main lobe, minimising installation costs and guaranteeing maximum performance. This, along with Anova’s proprietary pathing software, facilitates expeditious link deployment once sites have been permitted.”

Michael proceeds to discuss ‘The Relay’ product, for optimising layer 1 for latency, democratised queuing and failover.

“As end point termination devices go: first there was the hub, then a bridge, followed by a switch, which was somewhat displaced by the router. While the hardware evolved, the basic flaws did not.

These hardware devices simply weren’t designed with the trading end user in mind. Each adds latency, slows execution and queues up non-deterministically – potential nightmares for electronic trading firms.

“This patent protected adaption of the FPGA platform solves for all the above inefficiencies.

We designed the Relay over 24 gruelling months, from the ground up specifically with trading clients in mind. The end result optimises layer 1 for latency and democratises queuing & fail-over. In fact, the Relay delivers zero queuing cross customers at the bit level.

“The current queuing system used in order entry is first-in-firstout, also known as round robin, muxing/demuxing. Client packets are queued up in line and wait for the packets that arrived before them to be transmitted. This system can erode latency gains a network provides, especially during heavy volume times.

“Our patented Relay IT700 revolutionises this entire process.

Working on the bit level, as opposed to packet level, our clients’ data is transmitted the instant it arrives in queue. There is no waiting. It’s zero queuing on the bit level across all customers and without any frame size penalties.”

Michael then adds his further expert insight into ‘The Relay’.

“Wireless networks do not need to experience a complete outage for data to be lost. In fact, most data loss happens on the individual packet level, eroding trading opportunity and profitability.

“The Relay SH700 works by simulcasting duplicate data over one or more RF channels - with a fibre channel at the nanosecond level. The data is sequenced as individual packets from the sending side through the receiving end. If a packet fails to arrive, thus leaving a hole in the sequence, the identical fibre packet is automatically and instantaneously inserted. The transmission order sequence is maintained always.

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“The Relay SH700 prevents any packets from being dropped and lost, empowering seamless trading regardless of any transmission issues. It also enables the system to function without engaging a full failover protocol.”

In closing, Michael outlines one of the firm’s services, high availability wireless market data, in his own words.

“Wireless has quickly become the defacto connectivity standard. And while speed is no longer only about an edge, but also staying in the game, availability has begun to take center stage in the wireless arena. And while some have tried to diminish the significance of availability with arguments - like ‘being fastest 85% of the time makes up for the 15% of the time your network’s down’ - the fact remains that network outages and signal fading cannot be made up for.

“Anova delivers high availability market data via its proprietary hybrid laser radios. The network operates at near 100% availability through all inclement weather. And given the paramount importance all pricing info, not just 85% of it, with our zero-packet loss system there just isn’t any other market data provider choice.

“Further to this point, our wireless network is uniquely robust in capacity, enabling us to offer both market data and execution bandwidth ala carte or bundled via the same system. Previously, bandwidth restraints made offerings like this accessible only to a handful of top tier firms.

Liberated of those constraints, we’re able to offer these premium services to a wide range of trading clients, so this further levels the playing field across even retail traders.”

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A CEO Who Leads

by Example ANALEC is a financial technology company focused exclusively in the capital markets space, working primarily with broker-dealers, investment banks, and independent research providers. We spoke to Indy Sarker to find out more about the company and discuss winning the Tech CEO of the Year – India award.

ANALEC provides proprietary platforms in the area of investment research and analytics, plus CRM to enable its customer to manage their end-to-end workflows and engage their clients more effectively. This is to done to try and make customers more compliant, more cost efficient and competitive in the market place, enabling clients to build world class and lasting client relationships. Indy describes the firm’s overall mission and how it plans to achieve this mission.

“Here at ANALEC, our mission is to be the global solution provider of choice to our customers in our market segment, delivering cutting edge capability and worldclass engagement while winning the total-cost-of-ownership argument at all times. For us to achieve our mission, we continue to innovate and add capability to our product suite, either to deliver enhanced functionality or addressing needs for a broader audience within our customer organizations.”

Regarding his own leadership style, Indy outlines how he ensures everyone at ANALEC understands his aims and objectives, and how he abides by them. Giving staff the freedom to explore their creativity and talents is an important aspect of the firm as it produces the best results, with Indy not believing in micro-management, something he alludes to.

“Firstly, I have always believed in keeping it simple and leading by example; while communicating frequently and effectively across the organization. I would characterize my style as hands-on, while at the same time strongly believe in empowering individuals down the line and supporting and nurturing a delegated authority structure.

One thing I do not believe in is micro-management, and I have encouraged our HR organization to drive individual performance and engagement on the basis of clearly defined objectives and KRAs at each individual team member level.

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“Apart from the above, I do spend a reasonable amount of time with new hires and junior recruits on cultural and mindset aspects, in order to identify and build star performers of the future within the company. Almost 50% of the time I do spend these days are in New York and London at the sharp end of the business, building customer engagements” When approaching a new project, it is important to have a process in place. Indy informs us of the firm’s approach to new ventures and new clients, telling us how the customer is integrated into the project right from the start, with a relationship being built and maintained.

“At the very onset of any new customer engagement process, our teams spend a great deal of time and involvement with a customer to understand their priorities and objectives; while also getting a better handle on the customer’s organizational culture in order to excel in that environment. Ours is always a fairly involved engagement across multiple stakeholders at the client organization

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A CEO Who Leads by Example

Company: ANALEC Infotech Private Limited Contact: Indy Sarker Email: indy.sarker@analec.com Address: 6th Floor, Park Centra, Sector 30, NH-8, Gurgaon, Haryana, 122002, India Phone: (91)124 4734062 Website: www.analec.com

September 2017 / TMT MAGAZINE 13

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and therefore, it is critical for our success to build a good understanding of our clients at a very early stage of the engagement.”

Indy is humbled by being selected as Tech CEO of the Year – India, however he attributes his award mainly to his staff, before going on to comment why he believes the company is so successful. ANALEC’s ability to stand out amongst its competitors and as the best possible option for clients is something that Indy is keen to talk about.

“It is indeed a huge honor to be recognized in this category, as I am sure there were very many deserving candidates in the reckoning. However, I feel this is really recognition of Team ANALEC rather a particular individual. Delighted and humbled at the same time.

“Our differentiation in the market place is based on two fundamental pillars, namely, (a) our domain knowledge and expertise of the capital markets; and (b) our ability to solve for our customer challenges both tactical and strategic. As a company, our leadership team brings over 100 years of combined capital markets expertise in front-end client servicing roles, as well as technology development and deployment. Our customers value our insights and innovation when it comes to solving for their problems and challenges; and this helps us build long-term enduring customer relationships.

“Additionally, given our depth and breadth of capability embedded in our multiple platforms, we stand out in the market place when our customers seek an integrated offering across their research and client servicing CRM needs; while benefiting from significantly lower total-costof-ownership on such technology spends and higher ROI.”

The internal culture of ANALEC is extremely important to the continuing success of the company. Indy echoes this sentiment by stating that the right culture is the glue that holds things together over time. Again, Indy is keen to talk about the people at the company being the real differentiator between itself and its competitors.

Even though the company has a global reach, there are many benefits to being based in India as Indy explains. There are many technology experts within the country and therefore the ANALEC are able to utilise their expertise in some cases, ensuring it delivers the highest quality product.

“Having the right culture is extremely important I believe, especially in order to build enduring company and/or institution. It acts as the glue to hold things together over time. Our organizational culture is massively shaped by our core values around treating our customers as partners; our people as our real differentiator and X-factor; unwavering commitment to Integrity at all levels and at all times; striving for Leadership in all our pursuits; imbibing a Global Culture around mindsets that transcends geographic boundaries; and a real Meritocracy that promotes excellence. We believe the coming together of all of the above ensures our customers experience the highest levels of service across our organization.”

“Although we are based in India, our parent company is a Singapore based company.

Our organization in terms of our human capital is spread across India, the United States and the UK. While our technology development and primary customer support center is based out of India; our offices in New York and London bring a focus on customer acquisition.

Additionally, we also have project management and product specialist capabilities in New York and London.

“India allows us to tap into the intellectual capital resources of technology experts in the country; while ensuring we deliver world class capabilities and service at hard to beat price points.”

With regard to what the future holds for the firm, Indy is clearly looking forward to the next few years. ANALEC will continue to grow and expand across other countries, continue to be innovative and capitalize on any opportunities that may come its way.

“Lastly, we remain very excited about our plans the next 5 years.

Geographically we are making a big push to grow our customer base in the United States, UK and Continental Europe, where the structural changes in the capital markets space is opening up real opportunities for us to grow our presence. Additionally, we are also very excited about our product development and innovations plans, which ensure we not only keep ahead of our competition but also grow our proposition in the market place and cater to a wider customer opportunity.”

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Facing the Food Challenge The German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL) is a non-profit research institute which is located in Lower Saxony, at the heart of Germany’s food industry. We profiled the firm to explore further the secrets behind its success.

A very wellestablished team of around 180 experts has been developed in connection with the institute over the past three decades. The team taps new potentials every day and paves the way for innovations. With about 160 member companies from the food industry and related fields, DIL operates as a research institute working in the areas of product development, process development and analysis. The institute’s competences and technical capabilities span the full range of food technologies.

This expertise is put into practice via the institute’s organizational structure, which is divided into interconnected research platforms and business divisions.

The DIL executes contract research for food manufacturers.

The institute offers the whole range of services reaching from chemical, microbiological and physical analytics up to new product and process development and machine building. The DIL is also active in pre-competitive research. It applies for and receives public funding from the European Union, the German Federal government as well as the state government for research projects. The research activities include the development of alternative protein resources such as vegetables, algae and insects as well as new processes and many other key topics.

The mission of the DIL is, to gain and provide knowledge for superior foods. This statement

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includes that the institute’s knowhow closes visible gaps between science and practice, by which the DIL improves the overall performance of the food system on a regional as well as on a global level.

In contrast to other food research organizations and service providers, the DIL combines know-how from material sciences with its expertise in new processing technologies. On its 9,000-square meter campus including several modern laboratories, its large pilot plant, the centre of food physics and the biosafety pilot plant, the institute allows the application of new technologies to products and processes.

The German food industry counts about 5,940 enterprises and 570,000 employees. The sector is characterised by small-and medium-sized manufacturers.

In 2016, the total turnover amounted at 171 billion Euros.

The industry has a high potential due to its high-quality products, and the ability to continuously improve these products by technological innovations.

Disruptive trends, such as digitalization, appear to be critical to the industry’s success in the scope of international competition. New information technologies and their potentials for manufacturing, sales, and

g Facing the Food Challenge

Company: German Institute of Food Technologies – DIL Address: Professor-von-Klitzing-Straße 7 – 49610 Quakenbrück, Germany Email: info@dil-ev.de Telephone: 49 (0)5431 183 0 Website: www.dil-ev.de

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market demands need to be considered in the many areas such as; further education, product development and marketing.

The DIL has the know-how to visibly shorten process chains and to bring the place of a product’s origin closer to consumers. Currently, the institute is developing a 3D food printer which represents an entire micro food factory on less than two square metres. It can operate location-independently and deliver food just-in-time, whilst there is no need for risky and resource-consuming logistics.

Other innovations comprise non-thermal technologies for the extension of shelf life, like high pressure processing or pulsed electric fields. These allow the processing of products such as smoothies, juices, fruit preparations and many others at low temperatures without the use of additives. Finally, the DIL provides life cycle assessments for the analysis of a product’s ecological footprint, based on huge amounts of data from the process chain. The life cycle assessment could be a path-breaking opportunity to make sustainability objectively measurable, comparable and thereby comprehensible for consumers.

The DIL regularly invests in latest equipment to ensure a high quality of its R&D activities. The centre of food physics, for example has its own departments for atomic force microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy as well as scanning electron microscopy, in which food structures can be analysed on a molecular level.

The research institute counts around 180 food scientists and engineers from more than twelve different countries. The team of DIL now looks back to more than 30 years of application-oriented food research.

Research and innovation need fresh ideas. The DIL cooperates with national and international leading Universities. This enables the attraction of young talents from all over the world. In the last year, 34 people completed an internship, nine students completed their dissertations and four young researchers worked on their PhD theses.

Mega trends such as urbanisation, digitalisation and the issue of global food security will drive the activities of the DIL, as well as the food industry in the near future.

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See You at the Movies!

The Garden State Film Festival was born in 2002, when film industry veteran, Diane Raver and well-known Hollywood actor, Robert Pastorelli met in a chance encounter in a Sea Girt, New Jersey grocery store. Since then the film festival has grown to become one on the United States and the globe’s most respected festivals and is the winner of the TMT Global Excellence 2017 and Best Independent Film Festival – East Coast awards.

Now in its 16th year, the Garden State Film Festival (GSFF) continues its hugely successful run. Each year it attracts record crowds, many big names within the industry, including the festival’s biggest supporter Ed Asner and hundreds of industry professionals, actors, producers, financiers, sponsors, fans as well as an active global community of film makers, producers, composers, and actors.

Thousands of films have made their public premiers at the festival and it has also brought over $5 million to the Asbury Park, NJ area.

Diane Raver talks about the festival’s artistic philosophy and details how the festival helps to inspire and promote aspiring film producers, makers, and actors.

“The GSFF celebrates the independent film genre in a dynamic forum where local and global independent filmmakers can exhibit their work to a curious and attentive audience, and most importantly network and make the connections with industry professionals that are essential to emerging careers and projects. We are present in our industry, attending festivals, doing outreaches, etc.

throughout the year. Members of the film community know that their calls or emails will be answered all year long, not just near the festival. We also help other festivals, nationally and internationally, referring films, talent, and advice. Our staff is comprised of artists, arts lovers, and open-minded curious people.

There are very few places or events as welcoming and respectful as this group.

We have always preached the message that you become part of the GSFF ‘family’, and like any good family we extend our full support. You will always be able to connect with everyone. That is our proudest accomplishment.

We are especially proud of the international successes we’ve been involved with and we eagerly accept international submissions to share with our attendees who really look forward to seeing globally produced works. We have many international success stories, for instance after submitting his project, Fokke Baarssen met actor Garry Pastore and went onto make DESTRESSED which won a Panavison package.

Rajiv Terwadkar from South Africa entered FREE STATE and won the International l Feature award. We are also proud that our festival has inspired others

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to start their own events, for example, Bawir Awe of the Cayman Islands attended the GSFF and was so impressed with our philosophy of fellowship that he went on to start the Poincianna Festival, now held yearly in the Cayman Islands.

These are just a very few and I know this year will bring even more great stories.”

The GSFF’s Call For Entries opens every year June 1 through December 1 and is currently seeking films, in all genres, as well as screenplays, and original movie music. Details for submissions and entry forms and instructions are available on the GSFF website, www.gsff.org.

Part of producing a great festival entails providing the best possible service for clients, guests and visitors. Diane outlines the overall mission of the festival and what steps are taken to help make the festival a success, before going on to explain what differentiates the festival from others, making it the best event for attendees.

“The GSFF possesses a big and loyal audience who looks forward to a diverse and wellchosen selection of film, video, and animated works as well as provide educational programs in the creative arts to the public

by industry leaders, along with parties, elbow-rubbing with celebrities, and lots of picturetaking. Each year our world-class event attracts tens of thousands of attendees, well- known celebrities, film makers, and film lovers of all ages.”

Sadly, many film festivals spring up and are short-lived, but ours is run by passionate industry professionals. We are not looking for glamourous events, though we have many of them; our primary mission is to support the art of film making.

Additionally, and ultimately, The Garden State Film Festival is about helping to inspire young filmmakers, and other professionals within the industry, and giving everyone the best opportunity to showcase their work while really enjoying their visit.”

Raver concludes by encouraging everyone to get their submissions in quickly so that they can be a part of the 16th Garden State Film Festival, being held March 22-25, 2018 in Asbury Park, NJ

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Company: Garden State Film Festival Contact: Diane Raver Email: info@gsff.org Website: www.gsff.org Address: Asbury Park, New Jersey USA Phone: 732-359-6467

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Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining Mayer Consulting Limited recently enjoyed the Most Advanced Business Consultancy 2016 accolade. To celebrate this achievement, we interviewed the firm’s Damian Mayer to find out what the firm offers the European business world.

Damian, in a nutshell what does Mayer Consulting Limited offer the European business world?

In a nutshell, we provide pragmatic tailored consultancy to support clients through their journey to the Cloud. In addition, we provide Cloud based solutions to businesses with the aim of ensuring that it offers commercial value and meets their future needs.

Why did you start your consultancy?

We started the business as we identified a gap in the market for a provider of solutions offering ‘clean consultancy’ regardless of business size. That is consultancy not tied to a product or vendor. Alongside this, we offer project and programme management implementation services, with a strong focus on after care. Most business like ours are about selling a system, rather than building a solution for the business and growing a relationship with that.

Our consultancy experience with both FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies, enables us to provide our SME clients with insight and guidance when under taking systems implementation, that is not normally available to SME when engaging a consultant.

What is MCL’s unique proposition?

From a technology perspective, it is our Cloud enablement experience and bespoke solutions which are unique.

From a consultancy perspective, it is our ability to create bespoke solutions for all clients. This has organically led to the creation of long-term relationships and as the client business evolves, we can adapt and remain responsive to their needs. SME clients value our large corporate experience, as they know that solutions that we propose will be able to scale with them. Our FTSE clients value both the insight and agility that our consultants bring from the SME space.

It is this ability to bridge the technology/business and SME/ enterprise gaps that makes us unique. Our consultants are more than happy to discuss problems with CEO’s and CFO’s, in a language they will understand; whilst they are also able to help resolve problems with a development manager on a software development or deployment. Clients value the insights from the enterprise coming to the SME market and vice versa.

Why is a Cloud offering so important to businesses?

Aside from the obvious safety factors so that a business does not have to live in fear of losing

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all their data if a local server in the office were to fail; it’s a much cleaner solution for the business, both from an economic and environmental point of view, plus it is an incredibly collaborative offering. Hardware and sever rooms are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The on-demand model afforded by the Cloud, allows business either to offer additional office space for staff or as we will see far more of in the future, a reduced need for office space as we all work from wherever we are safe, comfortable and productive safe in the knowledge that all business can be done from the Cloud. From the financial point of view, Cloud services and servers work generally on a consumption model meaning that you only need to pay for what you need, rather than implementing a monolithic system that is overly complex and a business may only use 30% of the capability.

Is there something beyond the Cloud – what do you think is ‘the new’ for the future?

Of course, there will be the next ‘new’, that is the exciting part of any business, offerings that enhance solution or business capabilities. However, it is important not to hop from one new offering to the next, but to do what is right for each business. It is vital never to be the business to try the brand ‘new’ new thing - as it invariably needs to go

through a few iterations before it’s niggle free - unless of course it provides a compelling business advantage and you have the capability in-house to support such a business change.

How do you ensure your clients keep up with the ever-changing developments in technology?

We are very proactive with clients through our continuous assessment of their needs, having great relationships in this vein, as well as annual review sessions and our regular consultancy communications (newsletters) where we share with what is happening in the technology sector and beyond. In addition, the firm’s work with large corporates exposes our consultants to industry leading thinkers and technology, so we can take this thinking and principles and apply it to our core SME customer base.

When looking at Cloud services, most of these are offered ‘ever green’, meaning that the solution is constantly updated and these are made available to subscribers on a periodic basis as part of their subscription. An obvious example of this is Microsoft’s Office 365 offering where, on the correct package, clients local installations of the Microsoft Office suite are regularly updated on either monthly or quarterly basis according to their preference.

g Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

Company: Mayer Consulting Limited Name: Damian Mayer Email: damian.mayer@mcl.co.uk Web Address: www.mcl.co.uk Telephone: +44 (0) 7973 796 491

September 2017 / TMT MAGAZINE 23

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What is the secret to building a great team of consultants?

In my opinion, the secret to building a great team of consultants is the three C’s.

These are: Communication – When onsite I urge our consultants to almost over communicate with their stakeholders - and to communicate honestly - to ensure that there are never any surprises for stakeholders.

Consultation – Acknowledge that you will not always know the answer to all the questions being asked of you. We have a strong peer knowledge network that is regularly tapped into by consultants on client sites.

Underpinning this principal is….

Collaboration – We have an excellent collaboration environment – build on Microsoft Cloud technologies – that enables consultants to reach out in real time to domain experts who may themselves be deployed on another client site. We use Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams to communicate and provide the necessary insights to clients in a timely manner.

What three priorities do you think all business should seriously consider?

1. Risk management and business continuity. It is a foolhardy CEO who believes ‘it won’t happen to their business’, when thinking about cyber risks, especially regarding utilisation of Cloud services; 2. Simplifying technology needs – asking what do we really need to help us deliver a better service/product and how can we work smarter with less and; 3. Investing in an audit of all systems and processes.

If nothing else the company will learn something they didn’t know about their business, but most likely they will understand what needs to improve about the business.

What cyber precautions are you asked about when working with SME clients?

A lot of clients ask us why they should trust their data to

the Cloud. Our answer almost always goes something like this.

Cloud provider x had invested millions in their data centres, infrastructure and security protocols. The data that you put on the Cloud always remains yours and you can recover it at any time. (Unlike some the social media applications popular with teens and young people).

Most providers encrypt your data at rest, allow for multi factor authentication and offer multiple ways to manage your devices, if they are lost or stolen. If clients can confidently answer that their in-house systems are as secure and processed are as robust, then they may not need to migrate to the Cloud. There are very few organisations that are not considering using the Cloud, at least for email. This includes both major UK high street banks and insurance providers.

Where are, you seeing the most significant growth in Cloud adoption?

Small businesses that have been running for several years will almost certainly have some sort of server sitting in their office. The chances are that is a Microsoft Small Business Server - and almost certainly running software that is out of support. These servers were great as they provided everything a small business needed, email file storage, Active Directory.

We are seeing massive demand from businesses with these servers. Faced with a very large capital cost to replace the server and a significant increase in management complexity, they are looking for an alternative solution. Since the start of 2017, this segment has provided the bulk of our Cloud adoption and migration business.

These businesses can have between five and 300 users and this forms the sweet spot for us, in terms of our target market in the SME space.

How do we make IT investment and infrastructure affordable to small business and entrepreneurial ventures?

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Businesses need to be stronger in their lobbying of government, to ensure the right tax breaks, incentives and interest free loans are available to give them the ability to grow and succeed; it is a win-win for both business and government particularly when creating employment and apprenticeship opportunities that is what I’d call a return on investment!

The beauty of the Cloud model is that finance directors are no longer being asked for large capital outlays. With Cloud models, they can pay for what they need, growing as the business grows.

What do you think is a complementary service to MCLs? It depends to a degree on the type of business, but I’d suggest complementary services to MCL might be software development, be that for line of business applications or for a specific mobile app. A lot of consumer orientated business have developed mobile apps.

Businesses should take care when choosing a provider of these kinds of software development services as – by their very nature they are complex and unless you have in house expertise to manage the process you can run into significant difficulties.

MCL can help clients through this complex process. In one recent engagement, MCL helped a global B2B and B2C business develop and deploy a mobile app.

They had tried previously and not been able to get the users of their service to use the app.

MCL could assist in ensuring that the app was both functional and engaging. The use of app only offers for users has ensured that it is now used by over 70% of their service users - the previous version of the app had only been utilised by 30% of the users.

Which book would you recommend?

I’ve recently finished reading ‘Drive’ by Daniel Pink. It provides a fascinating insight into motivating people and how to ensure that people take ownership of the decision-making process.

Working in FTSE 100 businesses, we are sometimes asked to take over projects or programmes that are failing and the kinds of insight presented in this book are invaluable, in ensuring that the teams as well as people that you are asked to work with are all pulling in the same direction.

One final question - what is the best way for new clients to engage with you?

We are always happy to take new client enquiries on the phone, by email or in person.

Some of our recent larger engagements have come from clients asking use to undertake an assurance review of a project or programme. Following this, we will make recommendations for improvement, which we will present back to clients and agree on the most pragmatic approach to implementation.

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September 2017 / TMT MAGAZINE 25

BWY17007

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Authentic Leadership -

the Key to Success?

NetNumber is a software company serving the telecommunications market. They are the leading provider of Centralized Signaling and Routing Control (CSRC) solutions to the global communications industry. The company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Kim Gibbons recently won the two accolades: TMT Businesswoman of the Year and Telecommunication CMO of the Year – 2017. To mark these successes, we invited Kim to tell us more about the advice she would give to other women looking to succeed in the technology industry.

NetNumber is the leading provider of Centralized Signaling and Routing Control (CSRC) solutions, to the global communications industry. Chief Marketing Officer, Kim Gibbons is keen to start the interview by revealing how it feels to win the TMT Businesswoman of the Year and Telecommunication CMO of the Year – 2017 awards.

“I am honoured and thrilled to be recognised as leader in marketing for the telecommunications industry. The success of the marketing effort at NetNumber is due, in large part, to the fact that we have an innovative approach to solving some of the most pressing problems facing operators and carriers today. It is great to see the industry taking notice! I am also fortunate to work with other executives at NetNumber, who value marketing and recognise its impact on the business.”

Kim then provides an overview of the leading provider of

Centralized Signaling and Routing Control (CSRC), NetNumber.

“Signaling is critical for operators to achieve service agility to create, configure, provision and manage new digital services as well as existing services. To prevent signaling from growing faster than user traffic itself, operators must find smarter ways to deal with increased signaling complexity as new networks (4G and one day 5G), are added in parallel to legacy networks (2G and 3G) that continue to terminate most of the revenue-generating services.

The challenge for operators is to support service diversity, interworking and roaming requirements as well as realtime service enablement and orchestration, without creating a signaling tsunami.

“Operators are solving these challenges with NetNumber TITAN. The NetNumber TITAN CSRC platform enables operators of all types (mobile,

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fixed, MVNOs, OTT players, Cable MSOs) to accelerate the implementation of new services across multiple generations of networks, while dramatically simplifying the core network and reducing operating costs. We are changing the way operators architect, acquire, deploy and manage their core networks with TITAN. “Through our Global Data Services business, NetNumber serves as one of the primary providers of local and global data sources that enable the accurate routing and termination of calls as well as messages. We have a unique solution for collecting, normalising and distributing critical data to the industry.”

Kim then explains what sets the firm apart from their competitors and peers.

“NetNumber started as a software company, so we don’t have legacy hardware we are trying to virtualise. NetNumber has been virtualising network

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Authentic Leadership - the Key to Success?

Company: NetNumber Inc. Name: Kim Gibbons Email: kgibbons@netnumber.com Web Address: www.netnumber.com Address: 650 Suffolk St #307, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1854 USA Telephone: +1 978 848 2820

September 2017 / TMT MAGAZINE 27

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functions long before NFV became the buzz word it is today!

Most vendors virtualise each network function individually, which provides little cost savings or network simplicity to operators. NetNumber TITAN is the only platform to enable carriers to deploy a single, common platform and add virtualised network functions as needed. Centralised provisioning and management and a powerful distributed, in-memory database enables all signaling processing to happen at the optimal location in the network. ITAN eliminates more than half of signaling traffic, with real-time distribution of policy and subscriber data to the edge.

“While a few other vendors have routing and signaling platforms, none can offer as many virtualised applications as NetNumber. And other vendors claim integration of network functions, when they are simply virtualised functions in the same chassis, but not on the same platform.”

Kim then directs our thoughts to the advice she would give to other women looking to succeed in the technology industry. She also shares with us the secrets of what it takes to reach the top of a firm, in any sector.

“Women working in maledominated fields often hear a lot of ‘don’ts’, such as ‘don’t be overly aggressive’, ‘don’t dress too feminine’ or ‘don’t be emotional’. Having spent my career in silicon and telecommunications, as well as having had the opportunity to work with strong male and female leaders, I believe the key to success for anyone is authenticity.

“Authentic leadership is about knowing and acting on what is your true, as well as real nature and both knowing and acting on what is true and real in the world.

This also applies to people, as well as to organisations.

Authenticity creates credibility and trust, which determine success.

“My advice to women working in the telecommunications industry, is to focus on being authentic, know your values, be clear about your knowledge and your limits, keep developing your interests and stay true to your commitments. Success will follow.”

In closing, Kim reveals the changes she would like to see within the technology landscape in the future, to make it easier for women to succeed.

“I’d like to see changes at an early education level, that make it easy for anyone to pursue and be successful in STEM careers, later in the life. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education is vital to the future of our world, as well as the health and economic wellbeing for all.

“Recent research indicated that by the end of middle school, most girls believe maths and science are for boys—and they question their abilities to be successful in STEM careers.

On the bright side, the research also indicated that girls who are told they are smart enough to succeed in maths and science - by their parents, teachers or other adults - are more likely to stay interested. Exposing girls to maths and science and technology - not just in the classroom but in after-school programmes, during the summer, at museums and at home - can positively influence girls to stay interested in STEM. “Traditional home activities such as cooking, cleaning, shopping are all opportunities to engage our children in maths, science and technology discussions and foster their interest. Research also shows that girls and teens exposed to women working in STEM fields, are more likely to believe they too can have such careers.

“Because STEM is so important now and to our future, we have an obligation to encourage our girls and our boys to learn all they can, to tell them they are smart enough and to foster an interest that grows into a future career.”

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Authentic Leadership - the Key to Success?

September 2017 / TMT MAGAZINE 29

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