Data Centre & Network News May 2019

INSIDE

ISSUE 8 | MAY 2019

ENCRYPTION AND DECRYPTION TIPS FOR REDUCING CLOUD COSTS BIG DATA & CLOUD WHY YOU SHOULD BE EMBRACING BIG DATA

AI: THE DIVERSITY CRISIS THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN AI

MEET ME ROOM FIXING PEOPLE INSTEAD OF MACHINES

CONTENTS

IN THIS ISSU REGULARS 4 EDITORIAL

Could the days of buffering and disconnected video chats soon be behind us?

6 INDUSTRY NEWS

20 AI: THE DIVERSITY CRISIS

Nikolas Kairinos of Fountech discusses why, if AI is to reach its full potential, we cannot overlook the challenge of gender inequality

From the UK allowing Huawei to help build its 5G network despite national security concerns to EE trialing 5G at this year’s Glastonbury Festival

42 PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

12 CENTRE OF ATTENTION

46 COMPANY SHOWCASE

Glenn Akester at Node4 discusses how SD-WAN is becoming an integral part of the IT industry

Equnix extends the digital edge with new data centres and expansions

Schneider Electric adds Easy UPS 3M to the Easy UPS 3 series

16 MEET ME ROOM

Brendan Leonard at Stulz UK talks to DCNN on protecting the future of our planet, which is reliant on infinite amounts of data, without returning to the dark ages

34 2 | October 2018

SPECIAL FEATU 30 REDUCING CLOUD COSTS

Lori Macvittie at F5 Networks discusses the practical cloud considerations that providers and companies should action when implementing new cloud strategies

34 PRACTICAL AT THE ED

Oli Barrington of R&M why, with data traffic exponential rate, a ne designing networks i

MAY 2019

UE… FEATURES 24 OPINION

Dieter Studer at R&M discusses the current network landscape, exploring the new design and installation practices for fibre cabling

CONTENTS

12

28 UC EXPO

DCNN takes a look at what industry challenges this year’s UC Expo will adress and why you should visit

URE: CLOUD

L SOLUTIONS DGE

M explores growing at an ew approach to is required

38 EMBRACING BIG DATA

Eltjo Hofstee at Leaseweb UK explores how it is becoming increasingly important for companies to embrace big data in order to maintain a competitive edge

24 38

february 2019 | 3

EDITOR’S NOTE

EDITOR Jessica Foreman JESSICA@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

SALES DIRECTOR Ian Kitchener – 01634 673163 IAN@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

STUDIO MANAGER Ben Bristow – 01634 673163 BEN@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Jordan O’Brien – 01634 673163 JORDAN@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

DESIGNER Jon Appleton JON@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

BUSINESS SUPPORT ADMINISTRATOR Carol Gylby – 01634 673163 CAROL@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

MANAGING DIRECTOR David Kitchener – 01634 673163 DAVID@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

ACCOUNTS 01634 673163 SUSAN@ALLTHINGSMEDIALTD.COM

Suite 14, 6-8 Revenge Road, Lordswood, Kent ME5 8UD T: +44 (0)1634 673163 F: +44 (0)1634 673173 The editor and publishers do not necessarily agree with the views expressed by contributors, nor do they accept responsibility for any errors in the transmission of the subject matter in this publication. In all matters the editor’s decision is final. Editorial contributions to Data Centre & Network News are welcomed, and the editor reserves the right to alter or abridge text prior to publication.

4 | October 2018

October 2018 | 4

© Copyright 2019. All rights reserved.

HIGHS HER

W

elcome to the May issue of DCNN. This month, 5G has certainly taken the limelight. Whether it’s the UK allowing Huawei to take part in the construction of the country’s 5G network despite national security concerns, or EE announcing a 5G trial at this year’s Glastonbury festival; could it be that the days of buffering and disconnected video chats will soon be behind us?

Well, the date for the roll-out of 5G networks in the UK is not technically set until 2020 – with full coverage across the UK likely taking longer. However, it appears that the networks are working tirelessly with their suppliers to speed up the roll-out. Vodafone has announced that it will turn on its 5G service in the UK on July 3, becoming the first network to officially announce a release date; expect more to follow.

Between the excitement and anticipation that the prospect of 5G carries, there has been a rise in health concerns – particularly mental health – and EE’s 5G trial at Glastonbury’s has

seemingly taken the scientists believe 5G there are some, inclu of California public he who have described experiment on the he Villagers Against organisation based i also made its views o has launched variou for extensive tests o powering the networ claims that that there extreme spike in dep anxiety following the the US. Founding me Jane Harvey, dubbe grade frequency’, in guinea pigs’.

In response to the a statement to NME, s not rolling out the sograde’ frequency acro site. Howard Jones, H Communications for E fundamental problem to 5G, the details in th the reporting of them

EDITOR’S NOTE

SPEED RD

brunt. While many G to be perfectly safe, uding a University ealth professor, 5G as ‘a massive ealth of all species’.

Masts (VAM), an in Cornwall, has on 5G known and us campaigns to call on the equipment rks. The group e has been an pression and e roll-out of 5G in ember of VAM, ed 5G as ‘a weapons which ‘we are the

e backlash, EE issued stating that they are -called ‘weapons oss the Worthy Farm Head of Network EE, added, “The m with the objections he petitions, and m in press is the

simple misunderstanding about what 5G is and what we’re rolling out: we are not deploying mmWave frequencies as people like Jane Harvey assume. “mmWave refers to frequencies above 28GHz. This is what people have referred to as a ‘weapons grade’ frequency. This is the technology that would, if deployed, require a significant increase in the number of sites. But this is not coming to the UK – and not to Glastonbury.”

Despite the network’s rebuttal, the fanatics forcefully stand by their assertion that 5G is dangerous for the mental health of humans. It’s up to the industry as a whole to prove to the general populous that not only is 5G safe, but it’s also capable of moving the human race forward. What are your opinions on the situation? Let me know.

If you wish to contribute to June’s issue of DCNN our special features are e-commerce and server manufacturers, we are also looking for thought-provoking opinion pieces and case studies. Please email: Jessica@ allthingsmedialtd.com

May 2019 | 5

INDUSTRY NEWS

EE TO TRIAL 5G AT THIS YEAR’S GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL Smartphones are a festival musthave, how else are you able to upload that tinny video to Instagram or document the acts performing for everyone on social to see? Sometimes, however, when stood in the middle of a muddy field with 175,000 others who are trying to do the same, there just isn’t the network coverage. Luckily for the attendees of Glastonbury 2019, EE just might have the answer – and that’s 5G. EE is no stranger to Glastonbury festival – this will be the sixth year that the mobile operator has been the festival’s official technology partner – this year, however, it is building a 5G network which will give attendees the chance to be among the first to experience nextgeneration network technology.

The mobile operator will erect five temporary masts across the Worthy Farm site to complement the permanent 4G sites it built for the festival in 2017. These sites will enable festival-goers and residents in the Somerset village to connect

6 | May 2019

to 2G, 3G, 4G and, for the first time, 5G networks.

EE, alongside a number of other telecoms firms, is currently testing the technology across different parts of the UK. It is unlikely, however, that the service (anticipated to be rolled out later in 2019) will be available to consumers in time for the festival – which starts on June 28 – giving enviable opportunities to see the next-generation network in action.

EE is predicting data consumption to increase yet again to more than 70TB across the weekend, with Instagram posts and videos likely to cause a surge in demand. But most will benefit from the additional 4G coverage as opposed to 5G. As well as the 5G trial, EE has confirmed it will again have its Recharge Tent in place, offering free charging to all festival attendees.

The firm will sell Juice Tube Power Bars for £20, which once out of battery can be swapped for free, once a day, for a fully charged one

to allow mobile charging while on the site.

Pete Jeavons, EE and BT’s Marketing and Communications Director said, “Smartphones have become a festival must-have as we’ve seen each year with more and more data being consumed at Glastonbury Festival.

“As the long-standing technology partner to this iconic event, we are committed to building a network powerful enough to cope with this huge demand. With the introduction of 5G this year, we are able to trial this new technology at Worthy Farm and make history as the UK’s first 5G-connected festival.”

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis added, “We’re extremely pleased to have EE back again, providing the best possible network for our rural site. And, it’s great that we’re going to be one of the first places in the UK to offer 5G.” EE, EE.CO.UK

INDUSTRY NEWS

UK TO ALLOW HUAWEI TO HELP BUILD 5G NETWORK Despite national security warnings, the government has given the green light to the Chinese tech giant to provide ‘non-core’ equipment to help build Britain’s new 5G network.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Britain’s National Security Council, chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May, has agreed to allow Huawei access to ‘non-core’ parts of 5G mobile infrastructure such as antenna, despite senior members raising concerns about the approach.

Such a decision would mean Huawei would not supply equipment where tasks such as checking device IDs and deciding how to route voice calls and data take place.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny from the US due to fears that Huawei would have no choice but to hand over network data to the Chinese government if asked for it.

Huawei has categorically denied these claims saying that the US ban is based on “Numerous false, unproven and untested propositions.”

The US campaigned to its allies in the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence grouping (the UK, Canada, Australia and New

Zealand) urging them to also ban the company. Already siding with Washington, Australia has spoken of “Serious concerns over Huawei’s obligations to the Chinese government and the danger that poses to the integrity of telecommunications networks in the US and elsewhere.”

Huawei, which is waiting on a formal government announcement on the UK’s 5G plans, said it was “Pleased that the UK is continuing to take an evidence-based approach to its work,” adding it would continue to work cooperatively with the government and the industry.

Digital Minister Margot James responded to the reports about Huawei by tweeting: “In spite of Cabinet leaks to the contrary, final decision yet to be made on managing threats to telecoms infrastructure.”

With the fifth generation of cellular mobile communications set to support technologies from driverless cars to smart cities, the decision to allow Huawei to help build the UK’s 5G network is arguably one of the most significant long-term national security decisions this government will make.

HUAWEI, HUAWEI.COM

May 2019 | 7

INDUSTRY NEWS

WILL NETWORKING PROFESSIONALS NEED TO BECOME GENERALISTS BY 2020?

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of US & UK enterprises think that specialist networking professionals won’t be needed by 2020, according to a survey of senior IT professionals

by Teneo, an integrator of nextgeneration technology. But what does that mean for specialists in the field and should they consider being retrained for non-network focused roles?

The research, which questioned 200 US enterprises and 100 in the UK, found that as virtualised network infrastructures and complex cloud operations become commonplace, large companies are increasingly using businessoriented IT teams that carry out a whole host of IT and business system optimisation strategies.

The company says this trend is mirrored on both sides of the Atlantic; 73% of US interviewees think that networking teams with specialist know-how will no longer be required by 2020, with 72% of UK respondents agreeing with this view.

This ‘multi-disciplinary IT’ finding aligns with recent global research showing that the most soughtafter skills for large enterprises are cloud, cyber security, virtualisation, networking, IoT and AI. Teneo’s survey also suggests that, since optimising corporate IT assets and networks is becoming a more complicated task, IT teams are using a host of software-based monitoring tools

8 | May 2019

and outside support services to get the job done.

Researchers found that companies’ biggest drain on resources and budget when trying to maintain their networking teams’ skills, is the sheer number of infrastructure monitoring software tools that these teams use – an issue mentioned by almost half (48%) of interviewees.

This ‘keeping up with monitoring products’ dilemma is troubling enterprises’ IT vicepresidents appreciably more than traditional networking issues such as monitoring workloads (cited by only 30% of interviewees), having adequate budgets for training their networking teams (29%), and needing to bring in additional networking personnel (27%).

Marc Sollars, CTO at Teneo, commented, “Our survey found

that networking infrastructure, cloud and cybersecurity roles are converging. Today’s networking professionals will become tomorrow’s ‘generalists’, carrying out a range of networking, cloud and security optimisation roles – rather than remaining as the technical specialists.

“CIOs are becoming adept at optimising complex network and cloud infrastructures, monitoring tools, security analytics and business systems to address their customers’ and end users’ heightened expectations. But the price of this drive for flexible innovation is being paid by networking professionals who are being subsumed into multidisciplinary and business outcomefocused IT teams as never before.”

TENEO, TENEO.COM

INDUSTRY NEWS

THE ‘FIRST’ COMMERCIAL 5G NETWORK IN EUROPE Ericsson and Swisscom, a telecommunications service provider in Switzerland, have switched on what they declare to be the ‘first large-scale’ commercial 5G network in Europe. The companies say that their network will support 5G smartphones that are already commercially available.

The long-term strategic partners went live with the network on April 17 following Swisscom’s securing of a commercial 5G license. With all the other component parts in place, the securing of the license meant that the partners simply had to switch the network on.

Swisscom had already flagged the impending launch of the network, and introduced smartphone and mobile router ecosystem partners, at an April 10 ceremony in Zurich.

The commercial 5G network, and related 5G services, are

now available in 54 cities and communities in Switzerland, including the major population areas; Zürich, Bern, Geneva, Basel, Lausanne and Lucerne.

Swisscom promises that its subscribers – with commercial 5G smartphones and routers – in the covered areas will immediately benefit from the high speed, low latency and enhanced mobile broadband features of 5G services across infotainment, gaming, virtual reality, and immersive media experiences.

The 5G network switch-on also opens the door to exploring new opportunities in the internet of things (IoT) and industry 4.0.

Urs Schaeppi, CEO, Swisscom said, “With the launch of the first commercial 5G network in Switzerland, we are laying the foundation for diverse, new applications and business models.

This will not only be great for Switzerland but also inspiring for the people who will now be part of the digital world whether they are living in the city, countryside, or in

the mountains.”

Arun Bansal, President and Head of Europe and Latin America, Ericsson, added, “This is a momentous occasion for Swisscom and Europe – 5G is now commercially live. As we continue our close ties with Swisscom, we are also strengthening the 5G ecosystem by reducing the time-to-market for chipset and device makers. We ensure multivendor operability with 5G devices and networks, enabling more 5G devices to come to market so consumers can enjoy the benefits of 5G services.”

Swisscom previously announced its aim to have its 5G network operational all over Switzerland by the end of 2019 – with close to 90% nationwide population coverage. This will be achieved by using Ericsson Spectrum Sharing software that dynamically shares spectrum between 4G and 5G carriers based on traffic demand. This solution will enable fast nationwide 5G coverage with 5G-ready 4G radios.

ERICSSON, ERICSSON.COM; SWISSCOM, SWISSCOM.CH

May 2019 | 9

INDUSTRY NEWS

ANNOUNCING THE 2019 BICSI UK & IRELAND ANNUAL CONFERENCE BICSI, a professional association supporting the information technology systems (ITS) industry, has officially announced the title of its conference this year, ‘Creating the Network Infrastructure Connecting Tomorrows World’.

The conference, held on June 12 at the American Square Conference Centre in the City of London, has been designed to address new technology, approaches, practice and legislation affecting the creation of network infrastructure for datacentres, telecoms, industry and properties.

The BICSI UK & Ireland annual conference promises to deliver more content and accreditation opportunities than ever before; addressing the latest issues, ideas, best practices, technology and legislation for all involved in creating and maintaining IT and network infrastructure.

BICSI says its 2019 conference will not look at the industry retrospectively but rather plan for the future.

10 | May 2019

With this approach, BICSI hopes that visitors will obtain greater knowledge and insight into the challenges and developments driving change in IT network infrastructure, as well as being privy to information from industry experts at the forefront of such developments.

Delegates will receive: 6 CEC’s 1/2 of the RCDD conference attendance requirement CDP accreditation More content Access to thought leaders and industry specialists The latest information on legislation, technology and best practice More networking opportunities More business.

BICSI, BICSI.ORG

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www.eca.co.uk/journey Shaping our industry. Enabling business growth. Getting you specified.

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: SD-WAN

THE WAN WE’VE BEE WAITING GLENN AKESTER, NETWORK ARCHITECT AT

NODE4 DISCUSSES HOW SD-WAN IS BECOMING AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE IT INDUSTRY.

T

here’s always a bit of a song and dance about new technologies. It’s safe to say that the IT industry likes shiny new things, but that’s what drives it to continue to innovate. The question for most of these new solutions, however, is whether customers are as enthusiastic as vendors after the dust settles and the solution is installed and running.

So, where does SD-WAN sit within the spectrum? Are customers dancing all the way to the bank due to significant savings and performance improvements; or are they regretting ever installing it?

12 | May 2019

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: SD-WAN

EN FOR

May 2019 | 13

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: SD-WAN

MARKETANDMARKETS PREDICTS THAT SDWAN WILL BE WORTH AROUND $5.57 BILLION BY 2020

14 | May 2019

ARE ORGANISATIONS BENEFITING? SD-WAN is an acronym for softwaredefined networking in a wide area network.

At its core, SD-WAN essentially simplifies the management and operation of a WAN by decoupling the networking hardware from its control mechanism. The market for this is continuing to grow, and SD-WAN is proving to be more than just a buzzword, with MarketsandMarkets predicting that by 2020, the sector will be worth around $5.57 billion.

For the most part, SD-WAN offers some real benefits. Organisations can benefit from improved flexibility, security, control, visibility and manageability when deploying this new and improved WAN solution.

One reason for this is that, because of SD-WAN, businesses no longer have to rely solely on Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) but can also utilise broadband, 3G and 4G. It makes the most of every bit

“WITH SD-WAN BUSINESSES NO LONGER HAVE TO RELY SOLELY ON MPLS, BUT CAN ALSO UTILISE BROADBAND, 3G AND 4G.” of bandwidth at the company’s disposal, without compromising on reliability and only using MPLS for high priority traffic.

Additionally, blending internet with MPLS allows direct access to public cloud and SaaS services, supporting cloud first IT strategies. This is an area where there can be cost and time savings as there is no requirement to use centralised internet bandwidth from the data centre unless absolutely necessary.

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: SD-WAN

HOW IS SD-WAN MAKING AN IMPACT? The fact that SD-WAN can be centrally managed is huge. Application updates can be made just once, saving time, chance of human error and making the business more agile, competitive and responsive to opportunities.

Setting up a new branch or remote office can also be organised in minutes using a combination of automation and zero touch provisioning, so it’s clear to see the ROI that this delivers. It allows for a leaner team, which can easily be achieved when no IT staff are needed to visit a new branch to set it up. It also means that remote locations can be delivered at real speed. This is also a benefit for any businesses that are thinking about completing a merger or acquisition, as it allows two companies to merge their networks with minimal lead times.

Central management means that the solution’s next generation security function is also easier to manage, there is a consistent security policy in place, and a full suite of next generation features at each branch.

The benefit of this being that all branches now have direct internet connectivity.

These features can also be used to provide internal segmentation and secure communications between branch sites.

Alongside this, end-to-end network visibility means engineers can spot and alleviate problems quickly. This improves performance and thwarts any problems before IT teams or your customers feel them, helping to bullet-proof profits and brand. The software itself minimises disruption by monitoring the network, then segmenting parts of it which are experiencing a flaw. It then intelligently reroutes traffic to make the most of what is available based on the application.

It appears that SD-WAN is continuing to make a splash in the IT world, with customers seemingly happy and content with the benefits they are seeing as a result. Although some IT trends can be just that, a trend, it appears that SD-WAN is living up to its reputation and becoming an integral part of the IT industry. » NODE4, NODE4.CO.UK

SD-WAN IS CONTINUING TO MAKE A SPLASH IN THE IT WORLD

May 2019 | 15

MEET ME ROOM: BRENDAN LEONARD

16 | May 2019

MEET ME ROOM: BRENDAN LEONARD

FIXING MACHINES INSTEAD OF PEOPLE DCNN TALKS TO BRENDAN LEONARD, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT STULZ UK

ON PROTECTING THE FUTURE OF OUR PLANET, WHICH IS RELIANT ON INFINITE AMOUNTS OF DATA, WITHOUT RETURNING TO THE DARK AGES. What were you doing before you joined Stulz UK and how did you first get involved in the industry?

Over 27 years ago, I started work at Daikin, a manufacturer of comfort airconditioning and chillers, as an after sales engineer, involved in R&D, training and commissioning. I have worked for Stulz for 24 years now, so this was really the early stages of my career. It was also a bespoke engineering company, which could provide tailor-made cooling solutions. Today, the industry is all about energy efficiency and innovation to build the next best airconditioning system. 25 years ago, this didn’t exist. R&D back then was not like the innovation that we see today.

I originally dreamt of being a paramedic, doctor or a surgeon and, in a way, being a mechanical engineer was the next best thing – I could fix machines instead of people. This is what inspired me.

One of the reasons that I was attracted to the data centre industry was the fact that the cooling is mission critical – without the cooling, the computers won’t work. Without the computers working, major shopping centres, banks and hospitals would shut down because there is no data. This is how important cooling is to the industry. The attraction was the ability to make a real difference; the knowledge that what we do has a major impact. This is what has kept me in the data centre industry all of these years.

May 2019 | 17

MEET ME ROOM: BRENDAN LEONARD

Looking back on your career so far, is there anything you might have done differently?

Apart from being in the medical profession, there really isn’t much that I would have done differently during my career. I have had the unique opportunity of learning every aspect of our industry through being a field service engineer, projects manager, sales manager, department manager, all of which has given me the skills to do the job I have today. Unlike many people that come into the industry via the sales route, I started at a grass roots level, so I understand exactly how to solve a data centre’s issues – how the building is constructed and how to apply a good airconditioning solution for that building.

Nevertheless, I did learn that ‘the grass is not always greener on the other side’ and this was an important lesson. I took a year out of Stulz UK. I had a thirst to be a leader, but the senior managers all stayed with Stulz for many, many years, so I felt I had hit a glass ceiling at that time in my career. Eager to advance, I sought a very senior opportunity outside of the company. This year proved to be a very big eye opener; I went back to the ‘University of Life’. I quickly returned to Stulz UK and learnt a valuable lesson from this experience.

What are the biggest changes you have seen in the data/comms industry?

One of my first assignments as a young engineer was to assist with the commissioning of a chiller providing cooling for an IBM3090, which had 22.7GB of central storage and was the size of a of large wardrobe. Today, the same storage amount can be held in the size of a pin head.

In addition to these changes in data storage, the size and distribution of data centres has also changed. In the past, there were hundreds of thousands of small, medium and large data centres. In fact, every building had a data centre. This was great for business for the air-conditioning sector, with a large volume of customers; everyone got their fair share of the ‘fruit’. Then, over a

18 | May 2019

period of a few years, all the small to medium sized companies started to close down their small data centres and move to colocation providers. The volume of customers reduced drastically in a very short space of time and this meant that air-conditioning suppliers had to change their strategy. They have had to become hunters instead of gatherers when it came to seeking business and this has also driven significant improvement and innovation in the data centre cooling sector.

With the emergence of the hyperscale data centre, the opportunity has become much larger. However, with this evolution, the focus has also shifted greatly to more energy efficient solutions – this is now driving manufacturers to ensure they have the most energy efficient products and the emphasis is on providing extensive after-sales support.

Edge data centres are still far and few between. The future may be more containerised solutions, with on-chip water cooling or immersed servers in some type of cooling gel, but at the moment this is not making a dent on the industry. Today, the market is mainly focussed on free cooling solutions and this trend is being driven by the need to tackle power usage within the hyperscale space – this is a feature of most of our designs; we have to develop the most energy efficient products to accommodate this evolving market.

Can you tell us about any projects you are currently working on?

One notable project we have been working on has been for NGD’s 750,000ft2 facility, as part of the company’s data centre expansion at its Newport campus. This involved some of the industry’s most challenging lead times.

With an ultimate capacity of over 22,000 racks, NGD’s Tier 3+ data centre is the biggest data centre in Europe and serves some of the world’s leading companies, including global telecommunications provider BT and computer manufacturer

MEET ME ROOM: BRENDAN LEONARD

IBM. Renowned for its industry leading 16week build-out programmes, NGD demand product design and logistical flexibility from their supply chain partners, in order to maintain such strict project timescales.

With a usual lead time of eight weeks, we devised a solution to guarantee delivery within NGD’s extremely tight deadline, while altering the manufacturing process to enable the system to be supplied in two halves. In addition, we have helped them to achieve an extremely low PUE for their data centre, with 114 GE Hybrid Cooling Systems comprising direct expansion (DX) cooling and free cooling technology. The hybrid system allows NGD to maximise its energy savings by switching to free-cooling mode, or mixed mode, during cooler months.

A KEY MOTIVATION IS TO DRIVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY WITHIN THE DATA CENTRE SECTOR. THE WORLD HASN’T GOT THE LUXURY OF UNLIMITED POWER AND WE NEED TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION

What is the main motivation in the work that you do?

In my role at Stulz UK, a key motivation is also to drive energy efficiency within the data centre sector. The world hasn’t got the luxury of unlimited power and we need to be part of the solution. Ensuring uptime is also a key motivation – every cooling design that we deliver has redundancy built in, to meet the critical demands of today’s data centre environment and to avoid the possibility of failure.

In addition to earning a living, how else has your career created value in your life?

I have made some very good industry friends throughout my career both within my company and throughout the industry sector and this has created value in my life.

Operating within this sector has also made me more conscious of environmental issues from an energy perspective. It won’t be long before we are using around 10-20% of the world’s power. When you think of it in these terms, you understand that you need to do everything you can to reduce the impact of the data centre sector for the future of the planet. What we are doing as an industry is

necessary, however – without this data, the fast-moving world in which we live would return to the dark ages.

Which major issues do you see dominating the data/comms industry over the next 12 months?

Due to the world’s growing demand for computing power there is an urgent need for more efficient ways to remove the generated heat due to the lack of available power, so the challenge for us as a manufacturer is to keep up with all the latest technologies through innovative design and development.

There is also a growing interest in micro data centres – but, with a lot of power contained in a small space, you are limited in terms of how you can eradicate the heat.

Using water is more efficient than air, and on-chip cooling is now emerging as an option for some applications.

What are your hobbies/interests outside work?

I love writing music and especially playing piano; I have a grand piano in my living room, a recording studio in my garden, and I also play the drums. Music has always been an important part of my life and I have been playing piano since I was three years old. I like a variety of genres – from classical and pop, to R&B and Jazz. Music is what keeps me sane.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

“There is no elevator to success – you have to take the stairs.” I cannot recall who gave me this advice, but it has stayed with me throughout my career and it is something that I strongly believe. Probably around 90% of people wait for success to come to them, but you have to make it happen. Those who always put themselves forward are the ones that shine through. » STULZ UK, STULZ.CO.UK

May 2019 | 19

AI GONE AWRY: DIVERSITY

DIVERSITY CRISIS? WHY IS THE AI INDUSTRY SUFFERING FROM A

NIKOLAS KAIRINOS, CEO AND FOUNDER OF FOUNTECH DISCUSSES WHY, IF AI IS TO REACH ITS FULL POTENTIAL, WE CANNOT OVERLOOK THE CHALLENGE OF GENDER INEQUALITY

T

he responsible development of artificial intelligence (AI) is a trending topic of discussion amongst academics and tech professionals. Given the increasing prevalence of AI tools across society, there is an impetus for organisations in the industry to ensure AI is developed, and applied, ethically.

In an attempt to spearhead ethical development in Europe, the EU released a set of guidelines for the trustworthy creation and implementation of AI in April

20 | May 2019

2019. Amongst other points raised, the guidelines made it clear that unfair biases must be avoided to ensure all people are able to benefit from future AI innovations.

This infers an important point; namely, if AI is to reflect society at large and be free of social biases, a representative workforce must be responsible for creating it.

Of all the challenges facing the AI industry, there is one particular issue I believe demands immediate attention – gender inequality. A recent report released by the AI Now Institute shows just how big a problem gender inequality currently is for AI organisations.

AI GONE AWRY: DIVERSITY

May 2019 | 21

AI GONE AWRY: DIVERSITY

THE EU RELEASED A SET OF GUIDELINES FOR THE TRUSTWORTHY CREATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AI IN APRIL 2019

22 | May 2019

The report found that women are severely underrepresented in the field, particularly when it comes to leadership roles; only 18% of authors at leading conferences are women, while more than 80% of AI professors are men. This is all the more concerning when we consider the gender disparity in leading AI companies.

At Facebook, only 15% of AI research staff are women, while this number is even smaller at Google at 10%.

These startling statistics pose long-term questions about the direction of our digital future, and the consequences this could have on the future evolution of AI toolsets and technologies.

“AT FACEBOOK, ONLY 15% OF AI RESEARCH STAFF ARE WOMEN, WHILE THIS NUMBER IS EVEN SMALLER AT GOOGLE AT 10%.”

THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN AI It goes without saying that we should be striving to achieve diversity across all companies and industries. Indeed, the consequences of an unrepresentative workforce in AI can have severe repercussions, and inadvertently lead to the marginalisation of specific segments of society.

AI GONE AWRY: DIVERSITY

Let’s put things into context. Machines learn from historical patterns, and as such, they can potentially be trained to mirror and amplify existing inequalities – in essence, perpetuating biases. What this means is that AI companies must seriously consider who is designing the algorithms that power AI solutions, what data it will feed on, and how deeply ingrained biases could be inadvertently embedded into tools and programs.

To demonstrate just how serious this issue is, let’s consider how gender imbalance can create an unintended feedback loop. A recent study into Google’s online advertising system found that it showed high-income jobs to men far more often than it did to women.

While Google was quick to point out that advertisers can specify that certain ads be shown to certain users, the researchers questioned whether Google’s algorithm might have determined that men are more suited to executive positions, having learned from the behaviour of its users.

In short, if the people seeing and clicking on adverts for high-paying jobs are predominately men, then the algorithm will learn to show these ads only to this demographic.

WHAT CAN WE DO? The road to equality will no doubt be long and winding. As a priority, we must focus on encouraging women to pursue further education in subjects that have traditionally been male-dominated. These include computer science and engineering, as well as a host of other options spanning STEM studies. Currently, the make-up of females in this field paints a bleak picture; only 15.8% of UK undergraduates in STEM fields are women, and companies cannot hope to address the industry-wide gender imbalance without having a wider talent pool to recruit from.

Once women are recruited into tech and AI companies, organisations must make supporting and developing their employees a priority to give them the opportunity to progress in their careers. Indeed, retaining women in the field presents its own challenges – it is estimated that 56% of women who enter the tech industry leave before they attain mid-level jobs.

And let’s not forget about the importance of role models in inspiring the next generation of workers.

There are plenty of male role models in tech – Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos, to name but a few. But if you were asked to name successful women in tech, many people would struggle. This needs to change, and by having more visible female role models in the industry, this will help encourage the next generation of women to consider a career in AI. At the same time, it can remove the stereotypical image of tech as a sector solely suited for males.

It is up to companies to uncover what the reasons for this are and focus on creating a workplace culture that allows women to follow flexible career paths in various sub-sectors of the industry.

Meanwhile, it is up to us as an industry to ensure that women are well-represented in C-level positions, where they can actively participate in driving change throughout the sector. After all, culture is top-down driven, and having females in visible senior positions will help inspire younger workers.

To avoid perpetuating the diversity crisis, AI researchers and developers must be made up of different races, genders and backgrounds to truly create responsible artificial intelligence. I believe that the future of AI is extremely bright, but we must strive to address the challenges standing in the way of the technology meeting its full potential. » FOUNTECH, FOUNTECH.AI

May 2019 | 23

OPINION: FIBRE CABLING

A FRUITFU FOR FIBRE AS THE HUNGER FOR BANDWIDTH AND SERVICES GROWS, SO TOO DOES THE DEMAND ON FIBRE CABLING. DIETER STUDER, MARKETING MANAGER AT R&M DISCUSSES THE CURRENT NETWORK LANDSCAPE; EXPLORING THE NEW DESIGN AND INSTALLATION PRACTICES FOR FIBRE CABLING. 24 | May 2019

OPINION: FIBRE CABLING

UL TIME

D

emand for cloud services is driving innovation in fibre and connectivity.

As the hunger for bandwidth and services grows, the demand for fibre that can handle external and internal traffic in today’s hyperscale

data centres is increasing. As new installation practices challenge designers and installers, innovations in cable design, fibre construction and connectivity are rapidly taking place. Transmission speeds and formats are also changing the way fibre is managed in data centres, with many systems using parallel-optic transmission to reach required speeds.

May 2019 | 25

OPINION: FIBRE CABLING

TODAY’S FIBRE COUNTS OF 1728, 3456, AND 5184 ARE COMMON, WITH 6912 AND 7776 FIBRES ON THE HORIZON

26 | May 2019

MANAGING INCREASING DENSITIES Just a few years ago, an 864 fibre cable would have been considered a very large trunk. However, today fibre counts of 1728, 3456, and 5184 are common, with 6912 and 7776 fibres on the horizon. In combination with a lack of duct space, this has forced manufacturers to develop smaller cables.

Innovations such as rollable ribbons have allowed more fibres to be packed inside of a cable. Manufacturers have also moved to 200μm buffered fibres to pack 30% to 40% more fibre in cables. Designs that repackage flat ribbons into smaller diameters have appeared, along with cables featuring slotted cores or little or no bundle separation. As gel water block in a cable takes up too much precious space, most cables today are dry blocked.

Data centre operators are also figuring out ways to bring fibre into the facility.

If a high-fibre-count cable lands directly inside a building, there’s no need for street access and traffic. This scenario also tends

to be more secure and tamper-proof.

Indoor rated cables can radiate from the cabinet and go directly to the top of the rack. Building entrance facility cabinets are now designed to be stacked vertically to allow for more splice capability.

As rack space is valuable, high-density panels are now commonplace. Just a few years ago, a common fibre patch panel would be a static 4U offering containing 144 fibre terminations with SC duplex or 288 fibre termination with LC duplex adapters.

Now, high-density offerings employing slides and special patch cables enabling port access are widely available. Panels with up to 240 fibre terminations for LC duplex per 1U have been introduced. Some users now favour MPO ports, bypassing the use of LC duplex terminations altogether. To reach the required high port density, panels are designed with sliding or swing trays. Cable slacks are captured in a cabling manager that ensures safe movement of the sliding tray for maintenance or extension.

OPINION: FIBRE CABLING

NEW INSTALLATION PRACTICES Working with large-count rollable ribbon cables and panels requires a whole new set of skills and equipment.

When breaking out a large-count cable, technicians need to be more careful, organised and aware of what they are doing. It is easy to mix up different fibre bundles when breaking out a 3456 fibre cable. A damaged fibre during breakout often requires the technician to start over.

Some companies offer toolless fibre bundle sheath removal to help eliminate this problem. Once the fibre bundles are identified, they need to be furcated with a protective sock or tubing. These furcated fibre bundles need to be housed in a breakout kit, which will keep them protected from being twisted or kinked.

Labelling fibres, furcated bundles and splice trays are all essential.

Working with high-count cables in data centres also requires different approaches.

An installer will need more launch boxes and test cables and damaged test leads need to be replaced immediately to meet deadlines. The installer may consider using a fibre-optic switch in conjunction with their OTDR and OLTS to test MPO terminations.

The large number of ports that need to be tested often require additional test equipment and personnel. Many data centres do not allow recording devices to leave the facility and prohibit test equipment with a cloud interface.

A solution to this problem is for the test equipment to remain on site upon completion of the job. This creates calibration issues and drives up the job cost. A partial solution may be to leave the test equipment mainframe and to remove the optical heads, which contribute significantly to equipment cost.

“THE DEMAND FOR FIBRE THAT CAN HANDLE EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL TRAFFIC IN TODAY’S

INNOVATIONS SUCH AS ROLLABLE RIBBONS HAVE ALLOWED MORE FIBRES TO BE PACKED INSIDE OF A CABLE

HYPERSCALE DATA CENTRES IS INCREASING.”

» R&M, RDM.COM

May 2019 | 27

SHOW PREVIEW: UC EXPO 2019

ACCELERATING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AT UC EXPO DCNN TAKES A LOOK AT WHAT INDUSTRY CHALLENGES THIS YEAR’S UC EXPO WILL ADDRESS AND WHY YOU SHOULD VISIT

28 | May 2019

SHOW PREVIEW: UC EXPO 2019

T

he UC EXPO, a European unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) event, opened its doors today. But what can you expect to learn from day two of the event and who should you expect to meet?

With a laser focus on the next evolution of collaboration in businesses and the future of work, this year’s UC Expo is set to see over 6,500 IT professionals, leading UC&C experts and specialist suppliers come together to discuss the solutions needed for modern UC&C challenges.

Taking place over the course of two days, May 15 -16 2019, at ExCeL London, the UC EXPO 2019 is set to address how organisations can improve collaboration throughout every aspect of businesses including cloud, network, AI, security, and customer contact projects.

This year’s UC EXPO attendees will be able to access Customer Contact X, a new co-located event dedicated to helping contact centre and customer experience professionals evolve and meet the needs of the modern customer, providing the best possible service through collaboration and new technologies.

“Technology is a clear enabler in driving improved collaboration, supporting a more productive workforce, and delivering the best possible customer experience,” commented Andy Steed, Director of Content for UC EXPO. “We’re looking forward to having the world’s leaders in UC&C at UC EXPO 2019. From the biggest technology providers to industry experts, we’re bringing them together to challenge common perception of how technology can impact the workplace and share opinions and experiences with organisations looking to accelerate their transformation journeys, pushing what is possible to get the best business outcomes”.

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHT SPEAKERS FOR UC EXPO 2019 raig Northveth, CTO at Network Collective C Dave Lewis, Advisory CISO Global at Duo Security Gail Smith, Director SD-WAN Practice & Education Services at Cavell Group Karolina Lewandowska, Change and Transformation Lead at Google Jeff Schertz, Microsoft UC Architect, Skype for Business MVP at Polycom Rami Houbby, VP Cloud International at Mitel

Also making a return to the UC Expo for 2019 for attendees looking to find out what’s next for the UC&C industry, are the industry analyst sessions. Analysts Blair Pleasant of CommFusion, Dave Michels of Talking Pointz, and Zeus Kerravala of ZK Research will be coming together discuss and debate what they believe will be the next big steps in UC&C. » FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE SHOW OR TO REGISTER VISIT: UCEXPO.CO.UK

May 2019 | 29

CLOUD COMPUTING

ENCRYPTION AND DECRYPTION TIPS FOR

REDUCING CLOUD COSTS LORI MACVITTIE, PRINCIPAL THREAT EVANGELIST AT F5 NETWORKS DISCUSSES THE PRACTICAL CLOUD CONSIDERATIONS THAT PROVIDERS AND COMPANIES SHOULD PUT INTO ACTION WHEN

C

IMPLEMENTING NEW CLOUD STRATEGIES.

loud computing can certainly be a costeffective strategy for many businesses, but it definitely isn’t free.

The vast majority of today’s apps are delivered via secure HTTP. That means TLS or the increasingly frowned upon SSL. It means cryptography, which traditionally has been translated to mean performance problems.

30 | May 2019

TOO MANY ENDPOINTS MAKE FOR AN EXPENSIVE JOURNEY Thanks to advances in technology, CPUs are incredibly fast and much client (and server-side) hardware natively integrates what was once specialised cryptographic hardware. This means that, on a per-connection basis, speed is not as much of an issue on an individual basis for cryptography as it once was.

CLOUD COMPUTING

May 2019 | 31

CLOUD COMPUTING

But that doesn’t mean that cryptography still isn’t a source of performance and operational expense.

Applications today are not comprised of a single endpoint, instead they have multiple intermediaries and proxies through which a message must travel before that ‘single endpoint’ is ever encountered. They are made up of security and access control, load balancing and routing endpoints, and each needs to inspect the message – in the clear – in order to execute its designated role in the complex dance that is the modern data path.

Here is where the argument that cryptographic isn’t as expensive starts to fall apart. On its own, a single endpoint introduces very little delay. When repeated multiple times at every endpoint in the data path, however, those individual delays add up to something more noticeable, and, particularly in the case of public cloud, operationally expensive.

NOT GETTING YOUR BANG FOR YOUR BUCK Cryptography is naturally a computationally expensive process. That means it takes a lot more CPU cycles to encrypt or decrypt a message than it does to execute business logic. In the cloud, CPU cycles are analogous to money being spent. In general, it’s an accepted cost because the point is to shift capital costs to operational expense.

But the costs start to add up if you are decrypting and encrypting a message several times. You are effectively paying for the same cryptographic process multiple times. What might be computed to cost only a penny when executed once, suddenly costs five pennies when executed five times. Do the math for the hundreds of thousands of transactions over the course of a day (or an hour) and the resulting costs are staggering.

32 | May 2019

Remember, too, that each CPU cycle consumed by cryptographic processing is a CPU cycle not spent on business logic. This means scaling out sooner than you might want to, which incurs even more costs as each additional instance is launched to handle the load.

Suffice to say that ‘SSL everywhere’ should not result in ‘decrypt everywhere’ architectures in the cloud.

REDUCING DECRYPTION TO AN AFFORDABLE AMOUNT To reduce the costs and maximise the efficiency of the CPUs you’re paying for, it is worth the time to design your cloudbased architecture on a ‘decrypt once’ principle. ‘Decrypt Once’ means you should minimise the number of endpoints in the data path that must decrypt and re-encrypt messages in transit.

Naturally, this requires forethought and careful consideration of different application services you’re using to secure and scale applications. If you aren’t subject to regulations or requirements that demand end-to-end encryption, architect your data path such that messages are decrypted as early as possible to avoid additional cycles wasted on decryption later. If you are required to maintain end-to-end encryption, the combining of services whenever possible will net you the most efficient use of compute resources.

Combining the services – i.e. load balancing with web application firewall – on a single platform means reducing the number of times you need to decrypt messages in transit. It also has the added advantage of reducing the number of connections and time on the network, which translates into performance benefits for users and consumers. But the real savings are in CPU cycles that aren’t spent on repeated decryption and re-encryption.

CLOUD COMPUTING

“TO REDUCE THE COSTS AND MAXIMISE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE CPUS YOU’RE PAYING FOR, IT IS WORTH THE TIME TO DESIGN YOUR CLOUD-BASED ARCHITECTURE ON A ‘DECRYPT ONCE’ PRINCIPLE.”

It may seem a waste of time to consider the impact of encryption and decryption for an app that’s lightly used today. The pennies certainly aren’t covering the cost of the effort.

But as apps grow and scale and live over time, those pennies are going to add up to amounts that are impactful. Like pennies, microseconds add up. By considering the impact of cryptography across the entire data path, you can net benefits in the long run for both users and the business.

WHAT ARE THE PRACTICAL CLOUD CONSIDERATIONS THAT PROVIDERS AND COMPANIES SHOULD PUT INTO ACTION WHEN IMPLEMENTING NEW CLOUD STRATEGIES?

» F5 NETWORKS, F5.COM

May 2019 | 33

CLOUD COMPUTING

PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS

AT THE EDGE OLI BARRINGTON, MANAGING DIRECTOR

UNITED KINGDOM & IRELAND, R&M, EXPLORES WHY, WITH DATA TRAFFIC GROWING AT AN EXPONENTIAL RATE, A NEW APPROACH TO DESIGNING NETWORKS IS REQUIRED

34 | May 2019

B

CLOUD COMPUTING

usiness and private data traffic is growing exponentially, with the likes of IoT, 5G, intelligent transport systems and an increasingly vast number of wireless connections only boosting growth further. All this data requires a huge increase in high-bandwidth, low-latency connections, and a new approach to designing networks.

Within a few years, today’s hyperscale data centres will no longer be capable of fully meeting network latency requirements.

Huge data transmission and processing necessities are driving the creation of edge infrastructures, which extend and support centralised structures with computing power at the edge of the network. Edge data centres take the ‘edge’ of the internet further away from traditional internet hubs. Frequently referenced content and applications are cached on servers that are closer to less densely networked or ‘tier-two’ markets. This improves the quality of highbandwidth applications outside large urban areas, adding excellent user experience to HD video, mobile computing and cloud services.

THE NEED FOR HIGH DENSITY The edge trend is leading to a paradigm shift in the way networks are designed, provided and monitored. There can be no bottlenecks between the edge and the centralised data centre. Inherent limitations of wireless solutions mean that fibre and high-density architectures are required to successfully cable and connect billions of sensors whilst enabling extremely high, uninterrupted, lowlatency symmetrical bandwidth.

A high-density solution can boost capacity whilst preparing for the future.

Higher density makes it possible to gain space for further racks and switches. You can start off with, for example, a single

May 2019 | 35

CLOUD COMPUTING

rack unit and grow as required. Current high-density fibre solutions for data centres generally offer up to 72 LC duplex ports per rack unit, however, this can be tricky to manage.

As hyperscale data centres accommodate hundreds of thousands of fibre-optic connections, in sensitive operating environments, these can no longer be managed in a traditional way. They have to be monitored fully automatically to be able to guarantee operational reliability. Preferably in a way that not only supports technical management, but also compliance and economy management.

Higher density can often result in unmanageable cabling, making moves, adds and changes (MACs), cable tracking and fault-finding practically impossible.

Dynamic data centre environments require on-going, precise and efficient asset management. An integrated hardware and software system is required to automatically detect when cords are inserted or removed, documenting the cabling infrastructure and all of the connected equipment. The entire infrastructure is represented in a consistent, up-to-date database, offering precise, real-time information on the current state and future requirements of the data centre. Everything can be monitored and administrated from a common software tool.

Dedicated high-density patch panels and patch cables save rack space and improve airflow, supporting consistent operating temperatures and reducing downtime risk. It’s important to realise that HD racks and patches can overload existing rack systems, placing considerable strain on rack equipment and cabling.

As cables are more difficult to grip and manipulate in more densely packed racks, it becomes harder to see what you’re doing. Push/pull connectivity is one way of making things easier and reducing risk.

36 | May 2019

Pre-term installation cables and cable systems significantly reduce handling and installation time and guarantee functionality.

PRECONFIGURED SOLUTIONS

“WITHIN A FEW YEARS, TODAY’S HYPERSCALE DATA CENTRES WILL NO LONGER BE CAPABLE OF FULLY MEETING NETWORK LATENCY REQUIREMENTS.”

The case for preconfigured cabinets in edge data centres is a strong one. Cabinets that come pre-fitted with connectivity infrastructure, power distribution, cable management and raceway, cooling, fire suppression and rack monitoring functionality – all based on the client’s specific IT needs – enable organisations to deploy services rapidly, using a single physical infrastructure platform. This incorporates multiple services without having to consider interoperability, working with multiple vendors, and managing concurrent installation works – often in sensitive environments.

Of course, preconfigured cabinets should suit the different environments in which edge computing is a requirement.

In office spaces, for example, the solution must be aesthetically aligned with the room. In manufacturing facilities, IT assets need to be protected from particles, contaminants and fluctuating power quality.

Outdoors, protection from the elements and unwanted human interference is required. This scope is likely to increase as IoT and technologies like 5G open up opportunities for new applications that require local compute capabilities.

Preconfigured cabinets offer a number of compelling financial benefits. When designed and deployed correctly, the cabinets and physical infrastructure within are far less obtrusive to the building. If leased, this leads to significant cost savings at the beginning, as well as end of, a lease period. A modular approach at all levels within preconfigured cabinets means that they can easily be redeployed as needed, increasing the potential ROI. » R&M, RDM.COM

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BIG DATA CLOUD COMPUTING

COULD IT BE THE BIG ADVANTAGE IN A COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE? ELTJO HOFSTEE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, LEASEWEB UK EXPLORES HOW IT IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT FOR COMPANIES TO

D

EMBRACE BIG DATA IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN A COMPETITIVE EDGE. ata is everywhere; there is no denying its power and pervasiveness.

According to an Accenture study, 79% of executives agree that companies not embracing big data are

38 | May 2019

at risk of losing a competitive edge, with an additional 83% confirming that they have pursued big data projects at some point to stay ahead of the curve. Considering that data creation is on track to grow 10-fold by 2025, this isn’t surprising, but it also drives home the fact that companies need to fully embrace big data to stay relevant.

CLOUD COMPUTING

May 2019 | 39

CLOUD COMPUTING

DATA IS ONLY GROWING IN IMPORTANCE WITH THE DIVERSE, AND LARGE, AMOUNTS THAT BUSINESSES PRODUCE

40 | May 2019

Big data has had its time in the buzzword sun, there is no denying this, but the lingering question remains around who really understands what it means.

At its most pure, big data is the label for extremely large data sets that can be analysed and provide insights around trends and patterns to influence better business decision making.

That may sound straightforward, and although lots of resources are available about big data and technologies that can help tame the masses of data, few have actually mastered the art of using big data to its full potential. In a survey undertaken

by Capgemini, only 27% of executives who have embarked on big data initiatives claim they have been fully successful, reinforcing that while many are talking about it and have dreams of the success it could bolster, most still have much to learn.

While it can seem like a big task to process large amounts of data in an efficient and effective way, there is no doubt that taking on this challenge will provide ample benefits. Data is only growing in importance with the diverse, and large, amounts that businesses produce.

Add to this the permeation of cloud computing into almost every aspect of business and it is the perfect time to couple the two and ensure you are crunching big data into business success.

BIG DATA AND CLOUD COMPUTING – A MATCH MADE IN IT HEAVEN Engines and frameworks for data processing are key components in taking big data dreams and making them a reality. By definition, there is no difference between an engine and a framework, but when used in a data system context, they are differentiated in terms of an engine referring to the component responsible for operating on data, while frameworks are typically a set of components designed to do the same.

The engines and frameworks that handle the whole data lifecycle can, at first glance, be rather complex, but ultimately, they are working towards the same goal — to operate over data in order to broaden understanding and surface patterns while gaining insight on complex interactions.

To make all of this work, however, the underlying infrastructure needs to be able to support large workloads – and this is why cloud is a perfect answer. Working in the cloud has a few key benefits for enterprises who are looking to harness business intelligence from big data, namely the ability to scale to accommodate big data tools and applications like Cloudera and Hadoop.

CLOUD COMPUTING

“THE AVAILABILITY OF BIG DATA TOOLS IS

FINDING THE RIGHT FRAMEWORK FIT One thing that IT has never had a problem with is options - there are always lots of tools and solutions that claim to fix the latest and greatest problem. When it comes to big data, there are a few that stand out from the crowd: Hadoop – This Java-based programming framework supports processing and storage of extremely large sets of data. This is an open source framework and is part of the Apache project, sponsored by Apache Software Foundation, which works in a distributed computing environment.

Hadoop-supporting software packages and components can be deployed by organizations in their local data centre.

Apache Spark – Apache Spark is a fast engine used for big data processing that is capable of streaming and supporting SQL, graph processing, and machine learning. Alternatively, Apache Storm is also available as an open-source data processing system.

Cloudera Distributions – This is considered one of the latest open-source technologies available to discover, store, process, model, and serve large amounts of data. Apache Hadoop is considered part of this platform.

BOOMING AND THE CLOSE CONNECTION TO THE CLOUD MAKES NOW AN IDEAL TIME TO HARNESS THE POWER OF BIG DATA AND TRULY DRIVE BUSINESS FORWARD.”

HADOOP ON CLOUDSTACK LEADS THE WAY Hadoop, which is modelled after Google’s MapReduce and File System technologies, has started to stand out from the crowd in this area due to its strong adoption rates.

This framework is similar to CloudStack and is implemented in Java.

As the first ever cloud platform in the industry to join the Apache Software Foundation, CloudStack has quickly become the logical cloud choice for organisations looking to work opensource options for their cloud and big data infrastructure. The combination of Hadoop and CloudStack is truly a brilliant match made in the clouds.

The availability of big data tools is booming and the close connection to the cloud makes now an ideal time to harness the power of big data and truly drive business forward. » LEASEWEB UK, LEASEWEB.COM

May 2019 | 41

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

EQUINIX EXTENDS THE DIGITAL EDGE WITH 12 NEW DATA CENTRES AND 23 EXPANSIONS OPENING IN 2019 Equinix, a global interconnection and data centre company, will open 12 new International Business Exchange (IBX) data centres and expand 23 existing IBX data centres in 2019 as part of an expected $1.730 to $1.920 billion non-recurring capital expenditure expansion programme for the year.

The company’s substantial investment includes new and expanded sites across Europe. Growth markets include London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Helsinki, Madrid, Paris, Sofia, Stockholm, Warsaw and Zurich.

Equinix acknowledges that it plays a strategic role in advancing enterprise digital transformation, for which global businesses are demanding increasing levels of direct and private connectivity with customers and partners. This interconnection is optimally achieved through the robust ecosystems of clouds, networks and services which are available at Equinix globally. By providing new capacity in 2019, Equinix continues to extend Platform Equinix; stating that this further enables companies to deploy their IT infrastructure and services at the digital edge in more than 50 metros across the globe.

The following new IBX data centres will open in 2019 and, where applicable, will be directly connected to other Equinix IBX data centres within each metro via fibre links between the sites.

Q1 OPENINGS S hanghai – In February 2019, Equinix opened its fifth IBX in Shanghai. Located in the Pudong FreeTrade Zone, the SH6 IBX data centre is the largest Equinix facility in Shanghai and is a hub for the trading and financial services sectors.

P aris – In March 2019, Equinix opened PA8—its eighth IBX in the Paris metro, and the first new build dedicated to hyperscale customers.

42 | May 2019

ondon – In April 2019, Equinix opened, LD7, L its eighth IBX in London to support the growing demand of this strategic market. Including current expansion projects, Equinix will have invested over $1.2 billion to build and expand its presence in the London area.

Q2 PLANNED OPENINGS Helsinki – Equinix will open its seventh IBX data centre in Helsinki, HE7; a digital gateway bridging the gap between Russia, the Baltic states and the rest of Europe through direct digital routes.

Sofia – Equinix will extend its presence in Bulgaria, opening its second IBX in Sofia, SO2.

Tokyo – To support the growing demand for increased levels of interconnection from the cloud, network, and financial services sectors, Equinix will open its eleventh and largest IBX in Tokyo, TY11.

Q3 PLANNED OPENINGS Melbourne – Equinix will open its fourth IBX in Melbourne, ME2.

Seoul – South Korea is one of the top 15 largest economies in the world and one of the most vibrant digital economies globally—with high bandwidth and advanced applications driving many of its industries. To support this high-growth market, Equinix will open its first IBX in South Korea, SL1.

Sydney – Equinix will open its eighth IBX in Sydney, SY5 – which will be Equinix’s largest IBX in Australia.

Warsaw – Continuing its investment in Eastern Europe, Equinix will open WA3, its third IBX in Warsaw, Poland.

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

Q4 PLANNED OPENINGS amburg – HH1, the first IBX in Hamburg, H extends Equinix to its fourth metro in Germany.

HH1 will be strategically located in proximity to the North Sea, which will provide easy access for subsea cable landing stations, as Hamburg is a top interconnection point for cables connecting to Frankfurt.

Singapore – Equinix will open its fourth IBX in Singapore, SG4. This new data centre will be strategically situated at the East of Singapore in one of the country’s five data centre clusters— Tai Seng Industrial Estate—providing location diversity from the three existing Equinix IBX data centres in Singapore.

In addition to the 12 new IBX openings in 2019, Equinix expansions of existing IBX data centres include 23 projects that will open in 2019 in the

Amsterdam, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt (three expansion projects), Hong Kong (three expansion projects), London (four expansion projects), Madrid, New York, Osaka, Paris, Perth, Seattle, Stockholm and Zurich (two expansion projects) metros.

Charles Meyers, CEO of Equinix, added, “As digital transformation is reshaping virtually every industry across the globe, companies are thinking differently about how they interact with every element of their supply chain, and a clear architecture of choice is emerging – one that is cloud-first, distributed and hybrid. To achieve this, their architecture needs to be deployed at the digital edge, where Equinix resides and continues to expand its unmatched global reach with the investments we are making in 2019 and beyond.”

EQUINIX, EQUINIX.COM

May 2019 | 43

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

FORD AND AUTONOMIC COLLABORATES WITH AWS TO ADVANCE VEHICLE CONNECTIVITY Ford, Autonomic and Amazon Web Services (AWS), have announced that they have formed a collaboration which aims to advance the availability of cloud connectivity services, as well as connected car application development services for the transportation industry.

Through this collaboration, Autonomic’s Transport Mobility Cloud (TMC) will be powered

by AWS and be used as the standard connected car solution for Ford vehicles.

Ford Mobility and Autonomic said they selected AWS for its global availability, and the breadth and depth of AWS’ portfolio of services, including: Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, analytics, and compute services.

44 | May 2019

The collaboration with AWS promises to allow additional partnership and business opportunities for auto makers, public transit operators, largescale fleet operators, and software developers.

As a Technology Partner in the AWS Partner Network (APN), Autonomic said it will also work with Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and System Integrators (SIs) to offer vehicle connectivity services and capabilities for developing connected vehicle cloud services, vehicle features, and mobile applications for automotive manufacturers and mobility application developers.

Marcy Klevron, President at Ford Mobility commented, “This

collaboration will significantly expand our opportunity to deliver the very best experiences to Ford vehicle and mobility customers. I am excited that our future cloud standard for connected vehicle solutions will be powered by AWS in addition to Autonomic’s Transportation Mobility Cloud. Working with AWS and Autonomic, Ford and our mobility partners will have access to the industry-leading mobility platform.”

The collaboration represents an expansion of the existing relationships between Ford, Autonomic and AWS. FORD, FORD.CO.UK; AUTONOMIC, AUTONOMIC.AI; AWS, AWS.AMAZON.COM

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

DIGITAL REALTY OPENS NEW IRISH DATA CENTRE Digital Realty, a global provider of data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions, has announced the official opening of its second data centre on its Profile Park campus in Dublin, Ireland.

According to the company its five-megawatt expansion provides new and existing customers on the campus with additional runway for growth in the capacityconstrained Irish market.

Research carried out by the data centre provider found that nearly half (47%) of Irish IT decision makers feel optimistic about the growth of the tech sector in Ireland.

As a result of this optimism, Digital Realty’s Clonshaugh facilities will also undergo further development later this year as part of the company’s continued growth in the region.

The new research, with 250 senior Irish IT decision makers, revealed that the areas they forecast to have the biggest impact on the sector in Ireland in the next five years include, Brexit (56%), GDPR (36%), and 5G roll out (23%).

However, IT decision makers foresee barriers to the growth of the market, which include, tax on bonuses

(40%), housing shortage (36%) and a lack of funding for tech start-ups (32%).

As political uncertainty in the UK rumbles on, 46% of Irish IT decision makers see Ireland as a safe harbour for data, with Ireland fast becoming the digital hub of Europe due to its skilled workforce (38%), competitive corporate tax regimes (37%) and GDPR (30%).

“Our new investment in Profile Park and ongoing investment in Ireland highlights our confidence that the technology sector in the region will continue to grow.

Our research shows that decision makers in the sector share this optimism and expect the market to flourish in the coming decade,” said Val Walsh, Senior Vice President of Portfolio, Digital Realty.

“The new facility has been built to a market-leading, quality standard that maintains Digital Realty’s global standards and sets the benchmark for data centres worldwide. As we further invest and develop the campus, we will continue to innovate in our data centre design and construction.”

DIGITAL REALTY, DIGITALREALTY.CO.UK

May 2019 | 45

COMPANY SHOWCASE

SPONSORED STORIES FROM THE INDUSTRY

SMART MODULAR ANNOUNCES RUGGED 3D TLC NAND-BASED SOLID STATE DRIVE Smart Modular Technologies, a manufacturer of specialty memory solutions, has announced a new addition to its Smart Rugged product offering, the HRS-T5E 2.5” SATA SSD. Powered by a flexible, custom flash controller, the company says its HRS-T5E SSD provides read/write performance ideal for high throughput applications such as flight data recorders and sensor data capture. It is also said to be well suited for high-reliability telemetry, surveillance and other mission critical storage applications.

Available in capacities up to 4TB, Smart Modular says its new 3D TLC NAND flash storage solution offers more reliability, superior performance and requires less power and cooling in applications where traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) are typically used. According to the manufacturer, the recent improvements in 3D NAND – enduranceenhancing data placement and error correction technology – make the T5E perfectly suitable as a cost-effective replacement for 2D planar based SSDs for read-intensive applications.

As part of the Smart Rugged product offing, the T5E can be configured with a host of optional security features. These include Smart’s security data elimination technology (SDET) which meets current declassification standards, as well as AES-XTS 256-bit encryption, which automatically protects all data written to the drive.

The HRS-T5E also passes MIL-STD-810G standard and can be configured for OPAL 2.0 compliance.

“What makes the T5E unique versus the competition is that, from a configuration standpoint, it is very flexible,” said Mike Guzzo, General Manager of Smart Rugged. “In addition to inclusion of our standard ruggedization features, this drive can be configured with an impressive list of optional security features, mil-erase sequences or other customer specific requirements.”

SMART MODULAR TECHNOLOGIES, SMARTM.COM

46 | May 2019

MICRON INTRODUC OF HIGH-PERFORMA Micron Technology has unveiled its new series of flagship solid-state drives (SSDs) featuring the NVM Express protocol, which promises to bring industry-leading storage performance at higher capacities to cloud and enterprise computing markets. The company says its Micron 9300 series of NVMe SSDs enable companies with data-intensive applications to access and process data faster, helping reduce response time.

Enterprises deploying advanced cloud infrastructures require systems that can store, retrieve, process and quickly analyse massive amounts of business-critical data. Driven by this need, many enterprises are transitioning primary storage from SATA-based SSDs to NVMe. According to the company, the Micron 9300 series equally balances its 3.5GB/second throughput on both reads and writes to deliver faster response times for data-centric applications in comparison to other NVMe SSDs available on the market. Combined with its class-leading write latency and sequential write performance, the Micron 9300 series is claimed to excel in even the most demanding data centre environments.

Micron says its new series of drives performs nearly nine times faster than leading enterprise SATA SSDs and is 35% more efficient. The Micron 9300 series is also supposed to consume 28% less power than earlier

SPONSORED STORIES FROM THE INDUSTRY

CES NEW SERIES ANCE NVME SSDS NVMe drive generations, helping reduce operational costs. The availability of the SSDs in high capacities allows customers to scale according to their changing storage needs and keep up with the explosion in data growth.

“The introduction of our third generation of NVMe SSDs endorses our tradition of continued innovation for cloud and enterprise markets,” said Derek Dicker, Corporate Vice President and General Manager for Micron’s Storage Business Unit. “The Micron 9300 is our flagship series of NVMe SSDs, which feature industryleading sequential write performance and latency, increased capacities, and delivery of a 28% reduction in power over the previous generation.”

The Micron 9300 series provides storage densities that were once reserved only for hard disk drives (HDDs) by offering capacities up to 15.36TB. Large capacities and up to 32 NVMe namespaces allow enterprises to tailor deployments more efficiently for maximum storage use.

MICRON TECHNOLOGY, MICRON.COM

COMPANY SHOWCASE

https://youtu.be/8zka2BqiD7o

SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ADDS EASY UPS 3M TO THE EASY UPS 3 SERIES Schneider Electric has announced that it has added the new Easy UPS 3M, a 60 kVA to 100 kVA (400V) Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS), to its 3-Phase UPS family of products. Available in most countries, the company says its Easy UPS 3M personifies simplicity as it is easy to install, easy to use, and easy to service; providing business continuity for small and medium businesses and making it an excellent fit in both the data centre space and in industrial environments.

With an optimised footprint design and enhanced product features, Easy UPS 3M is said to protect critical equipment in a multitude of physical environments from damage due to power outages, surges, and spikes. This unit saves on CapEx investment while also delivering up to 99% efficiency in energy-saving ECO mode. According to Schneider Electric, customers benefit from the included start-up service to ensure the Easy UPS 3M is properly and safely configured for best performance, reliability, safety, and peace of mind.

The company says its new offer is rugged, with a wide input voltage window and strong overload protection, all in a compact footprint. The latest edition to the series features an intuitive display interface for easy configuration and monitoring, and, with optional network management card, customers are able to monitor and manage the UPS status remotely through Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure IT cloud-based software suite.

Schneider says its global service setup with strong, local networks of service specialists provides customers with a complete range of services throughout the entire Easy UPS 3M lifecycle.

SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC, SCHNEIDER-ELECTRIC.CO.UK

May 2019 | 47

NEXT ISSUE: E-COMMERCE/SERVER MANUFACTURERS

NEXT TIME… AS WELL AS ITS REGULAR RANGE OF FEATURES AND NEWS ITEMS, THE NEXT ISSUE OF DATA CENTRE & NETWORK NEWS WILL CONTAIN MAJOR FEATURES ON E-COMMERCE AND SERVER MANUFACTURER. To make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to advertise your products to this exclusive readership, call Ian on 01634 673163 or email Ian@allthingsmedialtd.com.

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