Cloud Cover

In recent years, Ireland has established itself as an international hub for data-driven and cloud computing companies, and as the need for interconnectedness within businesses increases with the nature of work and workforces changing over the last year due to the pandemic, this burgeoning sector has risen to the occasion.

Businesses have rapidly accelerated their journeys to the cloud as they look for ways to support and protect a digital workforce, lower overall costs, and improve business resiliency. And while this transition means data becomes more dispersed across SaaS applications, cloud and hybrid environments and endpoints, so the protection and management of that data must become more centralised.

Those companies providing a solution that can offer unified visibility, security and

CLOUD

COVER

ADAM HYLAND EXPLAINS WHY THE NORTH WEST REGION HAS SEEN A GROWTH IN DATA-DRIVEN COMPANIES AND CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDERS THAT WILL CONTINUE AS TECH EXPERTISE IS FOSTERED IN THE AREA

“With rising ransomware threats and evolving data privacy regulations, data protection has become a critical layer in maintaining business continuity and remaining compliant” management of data, no matter where it’s being created or stored, stand to gain, and while Dublin’s cloud computing hub is wellvaunted, the North West of the country has now emerged as an extremely viable region in which to establish a base.

Adding to the already large tech presence in the region, in the past few months alone, renowned tech company SITA has announced 55 new jobs at its Letterkenny base, US tech company Overstock is expanding its software team in Sligo, and Big Data and cloud service provider Aliatra is set to make Sligo its EU headquarters.

CLOUDRANGER/DRUVA

One company that typifies this surge in North West tech innovation is IDA-backed, Letterkenny-based CloudRanger, a cloud server management service and data protection and recovery provider that was acquired by Silicon Valley giant Druva in 2018 and serves as an integral part of that company through its provision of a holistic end-to-end solution for traditional and modern cloud infrastructures.

“As the world moves to the cloud, we have been uniquely positioned to help businesses

David Gildea, CloudRanger

“With CloudRanger, Druva was able to provide solutions for traditional and modern cloud infrastructures that customers were increasingly seeking”

navigate this movement,” says David Gildea, General Manager and Vice-President of Product at CloudRanger/Druva. “With rising ransomware threats and evolving data privacy regulations, data protection has become a critical layer in maintaining business continuity and remaining compliant, and Druva’s platform has become critical to helping businesses manage, protect and govern their data.”

For him, Ireland, and particularly the North West, is now perfectly positioned to take the lead in this growing sector for a number of reasons.

“Ireland has a number of unique traits that help attract investment,” he points out. “We have a highly educated, technical workforce that is able to adapt quickly to evolving technology trends. The North West in particular has a large population of roughly 400,000 people in Donegal/Derry and the surrounding areas. Its low cost of living and great work-life balance makes it an attractive place to work, and is well suited for investment.”

He cites the support provided by the IDA as another factor in the company’s growth.

“IDA has been a great help in a number of areas,” he tells me, “but in particular, the grants and supports they have provided have been a great incentive to companies within our sector to continue investing in Ireland.”

CloudRanger originated at the renowned CoLab innovation centre at Letterkenny Institute of Technology, an institution that has seen a wave of new talent emerge through its excellent tech and IT courses, and from David’s initial start-up, has since grown to be an integral part of the Druva offering.

“I recognised a gap in the market for data protection of Amazon Web Service (AWS) cloud services,” David tells me. “After a number of years building the product in the North West, and with the help of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the CoLab, we started to get recognition on the global stage. With this visibility, we received the attention of Druva, and their strategic acquisition of CloudRanger significantly expanded the capabilities of their Cloud Platform. With CloudRanger, Druva was able to provide solutions for traditional and modern cloud infrastructures that customers were increasingly seeking.”

FOSTERING TALENT

As well as the fact that new ways of working mean location need no longer be a barrier, especially when data is being transferred to the cloud and becomes accessible from anywhere, one of the big reasons behind the emergence of the cloud service provision and data management sector in the region, and a major factor in CloudRanger/Druva’s success, is the relationship with institutes of technology and other local educational institutions in the borders area, which offers two-way benefits.

“Our work with these institutions has ranged from helping with placements for college students and reviewing course content, to making sure the next generation of IT professionals are equipped with the latest and most relevant skills needed to succeed,” David tells me.

“We have had students from Transition Year in secondary schools join us for internships, and have provided an entry point for them, right through to full college placements for students studying cloud computing at Letterkenny IT. This has been a great opportunity for us to work with local talent, but it also helps students to gain valuable experience at a tech company working on a global stage.”

Reflecting its growth, CloudRanger/Druva has now sought to almost double its workforce in Letterkenny, expanding from 25 to 45 employees.

“As we continue to build the next generation of data protection in the cloud, Druva is excited to expand our highly-skilled team right there in the North West. These new key technology positions will help support our continued global growth,” says David.

“We are focused on expanding the Druva Cloud Platform and supporting AWS workloads will continue to be a key component of our data protection strategy. With enterprises rapidly moving to the cloud, this has never been more important. With our expanded workforce, our focus will be to deliver new features such as Kubernetes data protection in a suite of tools for AWS Workloads.”

CYBER COMMUNITY

Druva has also played a key role in the establishment of the North West Chapter of Cyber Ireland that was formed last year to meet the need for engagement and collaboration between cloud service providers and data-driven companies emerging in the region.

The group brings together industry leaders, academia and Government to represent the cyber security ecosystem in Ireland and enhance the innovation, growth and competitiveness of its members.

Paul Brady, Director of Information Security for Europe at innovation company Optum, which also has a strong presence in the region with 140 people working in cybersecurity at their site in Letterkenny, is one of the Chapter leads, and he tells me the creation of a Chapter specific to the North West was inevitable, given the number of tech expertise and development in the region.

“After talking to other Cyber Ireland members, I spoke to the IDA and other companies about furthering relationships with the ITs in Sligo and Letterkenny, and I was overwhelmed by the response from people,” he says. “We were hiring for Optum in the region because we wanted to have people who were knowledgeable of the sector and because of those strong links with the courses run at Letterkenny and Sligo IT, which are very well-established.”

Those links continue to grow, with North West tech companies other than CloudRanger/Druva also actively hiring from the IT talent pools and fostering an interest and experience in data and cloud-driven technology in schools.

“We have had a lot of good feedback and engagement already,” Paul tells me. “This year in our North West Chapter we won’t focus so much on webinars because after the last year, people are kind of sick of them,” he jokes, “but we are looking at setting up a summer camp for Transition Year students on cyber security, showing them how there is a viable career in it, while we also have a mentorship programme (for those interested in entering the tech, cloud and data management industry) that we are very excited about, and we will be involved in and represented at events such as the IT Sligo Engineering and Technology Expo among other things. It’s all about small steps this year, and then bigger things when we return to normality.

“We can encourage people to work in the North West and show them that we have the opportunities there,” he adds. “We can encourage reskilling, and foster graduates from the ITs, collaborating and making sure “As we continue to build the next generation of data protection in the cloud, Druva is excited to expand our highly-skilled team right there in the North West”

we have the opportunity to do so, and we can build relationships with companies in the region in healthcare, pharma and medical devices, who are now starting to hire people for industrial security, another aspect of cybersecurity. It’s all about building a tech and cyber security community in the region.

“There are a lot of good things happening in the North West at the moment with companies and groups in Sligo and Letterkenny, but the North West Chapter aims to bring all of that together, to coordinate all of that good work across the region.”

“The future is very bright for Ireland, and for us in the North West, especially if we can continue to focus on education and attracting more top technology companies to the border regions,” David Gildea adds. “Ireland has some fantastic opportunities for growth with large enterprises in these regions. If we can continue to grow the technical workforce, we will attract more talent, which will benefit everyone.”

Indeed, with a continuous supply of tech talent emerging from the region’s ITs, and an increasing number of international and homegrown companies viewing the region as an excellent place to do business, the future for data-driven and cloud service providers in the North West looks positively bright.