Data Centre & Network News – June 2019 by All Things Media

INSIDE

ISSUE 9 | JUNE 2019

LET’S GET PHYSICAL IN TODAY’S DIGITALLY CONNECTED LANDSCAPE, WHY IS PHYSICAL SECURITY OFTEN OVERLOOKED?

SLOWING SERVER MARKET

WHY IS THE SERVER MARKET OFF TO A SLOW START IN 2019?

CENTRE OF ATTENTION

OVERCOMING ENERGY CHALLENGES FACED BY DATA CENTRES

BIG DATA

IS IT TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT THE INTEGRATED PETABYTE?

CONTENTS

IN THIS ISSU REGULARS 4 EDITORIAL

Forget 5G, that’s old hat

6 INDUSTRY NEWS

From EE switching on the UK’s first 5G network to an AI-based tool being more successful at detecting lung cancer than board-certified radiologists

12 CENTRE OF ATTENTION

Dr. Alex Mardapittas of Powerstar discusses how energy storage with integrated full UPS capabilities can overcome energy challenges faced by data centres

16 MEET ME ROOM

From using relevant data to drive decision making, to the proliferation of cloud technologies, DCNN talks to Melanie Parker at Agile Solutions GB

34 PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS Infrastructure Masons offer scholarships for CNet Training

38 COMPANY SHOWCASE

Schneider Electric wins an award for its EcoStruxure Ready Hyperpod system

16 22 2 | October 2018

JUNE 2019

UE… FEATURES 18 OPINION

Marcus Harvey of Targus explores the cost of cybersecurity in today’s digitally connected landscape; analysing why physical security is often overlooked

CONTENTS

22 OPINION

Joe Drumgoole of MongoDB discusses why it is time to get serious about the integrated petabyte

30 OPINION

Yogi Chandiramani at Zscaler discusses how and why traditional networks are becoming obsolete and how, through SD-WAN, organisations can achieve enterprise-grade security

SPECIAL FEATURE: SERVER MANUFACTURERS 26 SLOWING SERVER MARKET

DCNN takes a look at Dell’Oro’s quarterly server report discussing why the server market, after a record-breaking year in 2018, has seen its slowest growth in eight quarters

18 26

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

5G? THAT’S OLD H

elcome to the June issue of DCNN, and what a month it has been for the industry already. From EE launching the UK’s first 5G network on May 29 and Samsung forming a 6G research centre in Seoul, to cuttingedge AI detecting lung cancer and the ongoing US-China trade dispute – which is hurting the server market, but more on that later. Back in February, DCNN mocked President Donald Trump’s futuristic tweet in which he told his Twitter followers: “I want 5G, and even 6G technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current

standard. American step up their efforts, However, it appe Trump – who is clea from the future – an comments about 6G clearly wasn’t too ea of the next, next gen technology. Though are yet to roll-out the Samsung the minor, in the telecom’s equ commenced researc hopes of getting the names like Ericsson, embattled Huawei. But what is 6G, h 5G and when should is still very early day fact that little light ha what will eventually overly surprising.

EDITOR’S NOTE

S HAT

companies must , or get left behind.” ears we owe Mr arly a time-traveller n apology for his G telecoms, it arly to be thinking neration of wireless h many countries eir 5G services, but growing, player uipment world has ch into 6G with e jump over big , Nokia and the

how will it differ from d we expect it? It ys for 5G, so the as been shed on constitute 6G is not

Early predictions, however, suggest that 6G will deliver staggering speeds of up to 1TBPS, and be geared more towards the advancement of industrial and scientific applications – including wireless, real-time remote access to human brain calibre AI computing. Naturally, we shouldn’t be expecting 6G anytime soon. In fact, based on the 3G and 4G timetables, we probably won’t see it commonplace until around 2030. So, if you were holding off upgrading your phone contract until 6G hits then you might be waiting a while. If you wish to contribute to July’s issue of DCNN our special features are Networking Hardware and Routers, we are also looking for thoughtprovoking opinion pieces and case studies. Please email: Jessica@allthingsmedialtd.com

June 2019 | 5

INDUSTRY NEWS

EE LAUNCHES THE UK’S FIRST 5G NETWORK EE officially launched the UK’s first-generation 5G mobile network on May 29, with a 5G-powered performance by rapper Stormzy on the River Thames. BT’s EE subsidiary was the first to launch the service, offering its customers enviable download speeds of up to 200Mbps and, for the avid gamer, lower latency. The caveat to being able to take advantage of the new network, however, is customers are required to have a compatible handset and will need to live in the right place. At first, the service will only be available in limited areas of Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Manchester.

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The lowest-priced deal will set you back £54 a month plus a one-off £170 fee for a 5G handset. But bear in mind that the deal will only buy you a mere 10GB of data, which you’d likely chew through fairly quickly if you plan on downloading lots of media. For many people it may make sense to wait it out, especially as rival Vodafone will switch on its 5G service on July 3. But don’t expect seamless 5G connectivity in these areas straight away. In fact, it will likely be patchy sometimes, only offering outdoor connectivity, and sometimes none at all – so customers will probably default to a slower 4G signal much of the time.

Despite looking like the UK was going to give the green light on the use of the Chinese tech giant’s telecoms equipment, Theresa May’s resignation makes things less clear. Barring the use of Huawei’s product would prove a major headache for operators and that’s not just for 5G networks, but 4G too. Both EE and Vodafone, which plans to switch on its 5G network on July 3, would have to strip out their existing kit. While mobile operator Three has also said that its 5G roll-out could be delayed by 18 months if the government bans the use of Huawei’s equipment. EE, EE.CO.UK

INDUSTRY NEWS

CNET LAUNCHES CIIT TRAINING PROGRAMME CNet Training has announced the launch of a brandnew technical education program centred around the installation and commissioning of smart building technical architecture. The first new five day Certified Integrated Infrastructure Technician Program (CIIT) will be delivered by one of CNet’s instructors in July at its dedicated network infrastructure centre in East London. The program is designed to expand existing cable installation and commission skills to a range of intelligent devices that support smart building technical architecture, such as wireless access devices, VoIP telephony, CCTV camera, door access controls and biometric security systems. Each subject area covers the latest standards and codes of practice and ensures technicians are armed with everything they need to undertake installation projects to the highest possible standards. Successful completion of the CIIT program also provides a Level 4 BTEC professional award, official CIIT certification and use of a post nominal title. The program forms part of the globally renowned Digital Infrastructure Education Framework that maps technical education programs, official certifications

and internationally recognised qualifications to knowledge and career progression routes throughout the industry, providing designations that have become key skills reference points that allow those holding them to clearly demonstrate their ability and experience. Andrew Stevens, CEO at CNet Training said, “The Certified Integrated Infrastructure Technician has been designed and launched as a result of our customer demand, and I am delighted that we have achieved this within 12 months of initial discussions about it. Every year we hold an invitation only Infrastructure Technology Curriculum Forum where we invite industry influencers to come together to discuss evolving trends and the needs of the sector from a technical and skills perspective. This highlighted the need to develop both theoretical and practical knowledge and skills centred around smart technology. Initially the CNet technical team is delivering the program in East London, however we are likely to expand this to our other network infrastructure centres across the UK and Ireland in the future.” CNET, CNET.COM

June 2019 | 7

INDUSTRY NEWS

GOOGLE RESTRICTS HUAWEI’S USE OF ANDROID The second biggest smartphone maker, Huawei, has been dealt another blow as a result of the ongoing US-China trade dispute. Following the news that the telecoms giant has been added to America’s ‘Entity List’ – a move that bans the telecom giant from buying parts and components without official approval – Google has barred Huawei from some updates to the Android operating system. On May 20, Reuters reported that Google suspended all business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware, software and technical services, except those publicly available. With new designs of Huawei smartphones potentially losing access to apps such as YouTube, Gmail and Maps. In a response to the Trump administration, Google announced it was “Complying with the order and reviewing the implications.” Google has reiterated, however, that current owners of Huawei phones will retain their access to the Play Store and continue to be able to update their apps.

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In a statement emailed to DCNN, Huawei accentuates its contributions to the growth of Android globally, whilst reassuring current owners of Huawei and Honor phones that they will continue to receive security updates and after-sales service. This promise is extended to phones that are already shipped and in stock at stores globally, though it is unclear about handsets beyond that. “Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world. As one of Android’s key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefitted both users and the industry. “Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products covering those that have been sold or still in stock globally. “We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem,

in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.” Following the official announcement, Huawei’s Founder, Ren Zhengfei, said to Chinese media that the US ‘underestimates’ the Chinese telecom makers strength; alluding to an inevitable conflict with the US in its quest to ‘stand up to the world.’ “Huawei’s 5G will absolutely not be affected. In terms of 5G technologies, others won’t be able to catch up with Huawei in two or three years. We have sacrificed ourselves and our families for our ideal, to stand on top of the world. To reach this ideal, sooner or later there will be conflict with the US.” The Chinese telecommunications equipment maker has become a focal point in a protracted trade war with the US. The new restrictions are set to make it extremely difficult for Huawei to do business with US companies including major companies such as Qualcomm, Intel, Broadcom and Xilinx. HUAWEI, HUAWEI.COM

INDUSTRY NEWS

AI DIAGNOSES LUNG CANCER Lung cancer is one of the most common and serious types of cancer, taking more than 1.8 million lives per year – that’s more than breast cancer, prostate and colorectal cancer combined. Like other cancers, it can go undetected in its early stages as there are virtually no signs and symptoms. Unfortunately, the majority of cancers aren’t caught until later stages, when interventions are more invasive and tend to be less successful. There could, however, be a glimmer of hope on the horizon and it’s AI we will have to thank for it. A US study conducted by Google and researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois suggests that AI is better than specialist doctors at diagnosing lung cancer. The new AI-based tool by Google was used in a study to see if the analysis of scans could be more accurate and more accessible than current screening protocols. The typical screening process for lung cancer is demanding and radiologists have to analyse hundreds of images from a single CT scan. With this new AI model,

Google says it can generate an overall lung cancer malignancy prediction and identify subtle malignant tissue, or lung nodules, which are often difficult to see. The first step in the study was to train the computer software with 42,290 CT lung scans from nearly 15,000 patients. The AI was not told what to look for, just which patients went on to being diagnosed with cancer and which did not. The AI-based tool was then compared against a team of six board-certified radiologists. In this preliminary study, Google’s AI detected 5% more cancer cases than the radiologists, while also reducing false-positive (people falsely diagnosed with cancer) exams by over 11%. Dr Mozziyar Etemadi, from Northwestern University, told the BBC that AI and doctors working side by side would be even more effective and that AI had a ‘huge’ role to play in the future of medicine. The current software is not yet ready for clinical use, but Google says the initial results are encouraging. GOOGLE, AI.GOOGLE

June 2019 | 9

INDUSTRY NEWS

POLAND FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST THE EU’S COPYRIGHT DIRECTIVE On May 24, Poland officially filed a complaint against the European Union’s copyright directive, saying that the legislation is a step backwards and that the filter requirement could lay the foundation for censorship. Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Konrad Szymanski, said that the “System may result in adopting regulations that are analogous to preventative censorship, which is forbidden not only in the Polish constitution but also in the EU treaties.” The directive, which was approved on April 15 and comes into force on June 7, 2019, sparked huge controversy among critics who claimed that the new rules would have a detrimental impact on creators online. The new copyright law will hold tech firms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter responsible for material posted without copyright permission. This will mean sites will now have to be proactive, ensuring that copyrighted content, like music and copyrighted movies, isn’t making it onto the site. EU member states will have until June 7, 2021 to produce their own laws to implement the directive. According to the EU, the legislation is supposed to help direct more revenue to content creators – musicians and journalists – as opposed to the platforms that host and share the content. The most controversial clauses in the new directive are Article 11 and 13. Article 11, otherwise known as the ‘link tax,’ will allow publishers to charge platforms such as Google to display news stories. Whereas Article 13 says that platforms would be liable for content that infringes on someone’s copyright.

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VODAFONE TO LAUNCH 5G SERVICE IN JULY If you are a Vodafone customer, the long wait for 5G is very nearly over. Last month the British telecoms company became the first mobile operator to announce that it would be switching on its 5G service – though the race to roll-out was lost to rival EE, which launched the UK’s first 5G network on the evening of May 29, 2019. On July 3, Vodafone customers residing in seven cities across the UK – Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and London – will become the second wave of UK customers to benefit from 5G coverage. Unlike EE customers, however, Vodafone has said that 5G will cost the same as 4G. Users will need a 5G-compatible handset or router to take advantage of the technology, but there will be a few 5G phones available to choose from before the roll-out. If you’re not in one of the cities where Vodafone is initially launching 5G, you won’t necessarily have to put up with slow browsing speeds for long. Later in 2019 the network also plans to bring 5G to Birkenhead, Blackpool, Guildford, Newbury, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Warrington and Wolverhampton – though it may be a while before the entire UK has full coverage. Other network providers such as Three and O2 all plan to launch 5G services at some point this year as well, though, like Vodafone, they’ll initially be limited to a handful of cities. VODAFONE, VODAFONE.CO.UK

INDUSTRY NEWS

HPE BUYS SUPERCOMPUTER MANUFACTURER, CRAY, FOR $1.3 BILLION HPE has found itself a partner to usher in the era of quantum computing, with the firm announcing its intention to acquire Cray, the firm best-known for having developed some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, having held the top spot six times since 1976. The deal to buy Cray is worth $1.3 billion, with the purchase price set at $35 a share. The deal is expected to close in HPE’s fiscal Q1 2020, although it’ll be subject to regulatory oversight. We expect this won’t be too much of an issue, however, given the already intense competition in the computing industry.

WHY HAS CRAY AGREED TO AN ACQUISITION BY HPE?

Cray is still building some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, having been the developer of more than 49 of the top 500 supercomputers in the world. Despite this, the company is haemorrhaging cash; it has made significant losses in every quarter since 2017, and while it showed signs of improvement, it was still losing millions.

WHAT DOES HPE WANT WITH CRAY?

In the list of the top 500 supercomputer manufacturers, Cray may have produced 49, but HPE isn’t all that far behind, having produced 45. Despite having built only four less than Cray, HPE’s supercomputers boast notably lower performance when compared to those offered by Cray. In fact, that’s one of the key reasons HPE is buying the company. Cray has amassed a vast array of IP and patents that will help HPE in the transition to quantum computing. That’s seen as the next big frontier in computing, as quantum computers are designed to perform operations much more quickly and use less energy in the process. Cray has already dipped its feet into the market, although it faces stiff competition from the likes of Google and IBM – with the latter announcing the first commercial quantum computer for use outside of the lab earlier this year. Given the steep competition in quantum computing, HPE needs all the firepower it can get in order to compete, and $1.3 billion is a small price to pay for Cray. HPE, HPE.COM

June 2019 | 11

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: UPS

SMART TECHNO OVERCOMING ENERGY CHALLENGES WITH

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CENTRE OF ATTENTION: UPS

DR. ALEX MARDAPITTAS, CEO OF POWERSTAR, DISCUSSES HOW ENERGY STORAGE WITH INTEGRATED FULL UPS CAPABILITIES CAN

OVERCOME ENERGY CHALLENGES FACED BY DATA CENTRES.

he rise of industry 4.0 has seen significant increases in the digital processes of daily and critical operations of organisations from all sectors. The vast amounts of data this accumulates has become something of a double-edged sword for data centres, which face the continuous need to expand and upgrade in order to

stay apace with the influx of data, whilst catering to the demand for instant access to information. This means that data centres need to protect themselves from unexpected disruptions to operations, ensuring the availability and continuous processing of information, as well as safeguarding the data that is held, particularly with revisions to data protection laws and the growing consequential penalties for failing to comply.

OLOGIES June 2019 | 13

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: UPS

One form of interruption being reported in the UK is energy-related failures, such as voltage spikes, voltage dips, blackouts and brownouts, which can cause a disruption to the power supply, and, even if such an event only lasts for a few seconds, can wreak havoc with the sensitive IT systems. Of course, data centres currently protect themselves against such issues through system specific, Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS). However, as energy costs and consumption grow and systems come towards the end of their lifecycle, more advanced alternatives are available that can help reduce energy costs and gain revenues in addition to providing the required resilience â&#x20AC;&#x201C; essentially delivering a secondgeneration UPS with a payback.

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This advanced form of UPS arrives in the shape of leading battery-based energy storage solutions, such as Powerstar VIRTUE. The ability of energy storage to provide UPS capabilities, thus making it a more attractive proposition, is of vital importance as the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy landscape continues to transition towards cleaner but more intermittent sources of energy, such as solar (PV) and wind. As renewables become a greater portion of the energy mix, their intermittent nature causes challenges for the balance of the supply and demand of energy from the system operator, and increases the potential for energy-related failures. Consequently, energy storage is providing a steadfast solution to stabilise renewable generators and safeguard against energyrelated failures.

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: UPS

HOW CAN ENERGY STORAGE SOLUTIONS PROTECT DATA CENTRES? Energy storage solutions with full UPS capabilities can deliver support to the load – which can be the entire site – instantaneously ensuring the continuation of critical processes. Additionally, leadingedge solutions offer seamless UPS which can connect to the load in less than a millisecond, ensuring no loss of power is detected for even highly sensitive electrical equipment.

UPS WITH A PAYBACK Leading energy storage solutions with integrated second-generation UPS can also provide a return on investment due to their ability to provide cost savings through a number of techniques. The most popular of which include peak shaving, the practice of using stored energy at peak DUoS tariff times to avoid using energy directly from the grid and therefore providing cost savings on the non-commodity aspects of a business’ energy bill. The financial benefits of switching from traditional UPS systems to energy storage with full UPS capabilities are not limited to cost saving activities; energy storage assets also gain revenue through National Grid contracts. This is because the National Grid needs to ensure that energy supply and demand is balanced, and therefore rewards business that can be flexible and smart with their use of energy through a process called Demand Side Response (DSR), which is where organisations supply energy to the grid in times of high demand, increase their consumption when the grid has an excess of supply, or temporarily reduce demand. These are all achievable capabilities for any organisation with a grid connected energy storage asset.

“THE FINANCIAL BENEFITS OF SWITCHING FROM TRADITIONAL UPS SYSTEMS TO ENERGY STORAGE WITH FULL UPS CAPABILITIES ARE NOT LIMITED TO COST SAVING ACTIVITIES; ENERGY STORAGE ASSETS ALSO GAIN REVENUE THROUGH NATIONAL GRID CONTRACTS.” Perhaps the most notable example of a DSR revenue stream is energy arbitrage. This works in a similar way to peak shaving, in that the user stores energy generated in low DUoS periods or through renewable generation. However, instead of using this energy, the user will then sell this energy to the grid for a profit. All of the above exemplifies the benefits that an integrated energy storage solution with full UPS capabilities provide an organisation; allowing the solution to pay for itself through the savings it achieves and the potential revenues it creates whilst being able to protect against the costs of energy-related failures. Centrica, an energy and services company, reported that this can total up to 17% of annual revenues, therefore, the more critical that energy resilience is to an organisation, the higher the return on investment. It is clear that energy storage solutions, such as Powerstar, can offer a variety of benefits to data centres during the rise of Industry 4.0 and rapid upscaling of data centres. By overcoming the pressing challenges associated with the processing of big data, organisations can protect their operations and reputation, whilst also accessing additional revenue streams, through leading energy storage solutions with integrated second-generation UPS; helping data centres to evolve and thrive in the UK’s attempt to decarbonise. » POWERSTAR, POWERSTAR.COM

June 2019 | 15

MEET ME ROOM: MELANIE PARKER

DRIVEN BY DATA FROM USING RELEVANT DATA TO DRIVE DECISION MAKING, TO THE PROLIFERATION OF CLOUD TECHNOLOGIES, DCNN TALKS TO MELANIE PARKER, PRINCIPLE CONSULTANT AT AGILE SOLUTIONS GB. Looking back on your career so far, is there anything you might have done differently? I would have taken a lot more risks early on. There were individual mistakes along the way that would have been nice to avoid, but they were part of developing my overall personal growth.

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What are the biggest changes you have seen in the data/comms industry? Firstly the big shift of using more and more relevant data to drive decisionmaking agendas and business model survival and innovation. And secondly the proliferation of cloud technologies, powerful machine learning and artificial intelligence to speed up business logic to drive operational decisions.

MEET ME ROOM: MELANIE PARKER

What is the main motivation in the work that you do? Through story-telling and simplifying hard technical facts, I am passionate about using data and technology to drive innovation, change and underpin governance. My main goal is to ensure the right teams are empowered with the right skills to nurture critical thinking from traditional approaches.

What is the toughest lesson you have ever been taught in your career? The lesson for me is definitely ‘never assume anything’. It’s so dangerous to draw conclusions without understanding the full context, in terms of organisational risk, maturity or appetite for change. It’s important to persist with questioning and relationship building to get the ‘whole’ picture.

Which major issues do you see dominating the data/comms industry over the next 12 months? Organisations need to really believe in information leadership, not just solely in technology leadership; it is essential for any digital transformation activity. This will allow them to create new opportunities that can drive revenue and differentiation with data, whilst protecting assets and privacy considerations.

What gives you the greatest sense of achievement? For me, this is all about talent development. Being able to pay forward those skills to help mentor and coach new data professionals who can empower themselves to achieve new things.

How would you encourage a school leaver to get involved in your industry? What are their options? Don’t spend too much time focused on your limitations. Become as well-rounded as possible. It’s not just about your technical skills, you need to invest in yourself and your career. Understand how all parts of business must work together and what your purpose is. Find a mentor who has achieved a level of success that you aspire to.

Agile Solutions GB is a consultancy focused on helping clients to harness value from their data. The company has over 16 years of experience in designing and delivering datacentric solutions, including IPaaS, data quality, MDM, open source technologies and DevOps Practices.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given? Learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. You’re not going to win every battle, choose the important objectives and be a strong advocate for them, but at the end of the day, you must be able to align. » A GILE SOLUTIONS, AGILESOLUTIONS.CO.UK

What part of your job do you find the most challenging? My expectations of managing company aversion to change and risk. Because in most cases, if the company is not open to change, it can make moving forward very difficult.

“ORGANISATIONS NEED TO REALLY BELIEVE IN INFORMATION LEADERSHIP, NOT JUST SOLELY IN TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP; IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR ANY DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ACTIVITY.” June 2019 | 17

OPINION: SECURITY

LET’S GET PHYSICAL MARCUS HARVEY, SALES DIRECTOR EMEA AT TARGUS, EXPLORES THE COST OF CYBERSECURITY IN TODAY’S DIGITALLY CONNECTED LANDSCAPE; ANALYSING WHY PHYSICAL SECURITY IS OFTEN OVERLOOKED.

here’s a material that can cost up to £10,000 a gram, yet you’ll find it in most homes and every office. It’s not an illegal drug, nor is it a precious metal. It’s a humble USB stick and, in spite of this astronomical price tag, that’s not all that it could cost. Flash drives are the perfect portable storage medium. They typically weigh about 10 to 12g and can store up to 256GB of data – and often more. This makes them eminently easy to lose or steal, while

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their huge storage capacity means that a misplaced USB can have devastating, ruinous consequences for its owner. Heathrow Airport found this out the hard way when it lost a flash drive containing the sensitive personal information of up to 50 security workers, as well as a training video that exposed the names, dates of birth and passport numbers of a further ten. The loss of this little data stick cost Heathrow a cool £120,000 fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office, proving that data really is worth more than its weight in gold.

OPINION: SECURITY

June 2019 | 19

OPINION: SECURITY

A MISPLACED USB CAN HAVE DEVASTATING, RUINOUS CONSEQUENCES FOR ITS OWNER

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TIME TO TAKE PHYSICAL SECURITY SERIOUSLY Significant as fines for data loss incidents can be – up to 4% of turnover in the case of GDPR – it’s arguable that the reputational damage from a major breach is even worse. So why are businesses not doing more to protect the physical security of corporate devices? For all the money spent on antivirus, threat detection, encryption and other logical security measures, physical protection remains the Cinderella of cybersecurity. No-one denies that it’s important to protect corporate networks

and endpoints from unauthorised access, but why do so few organisations take the necessary steps to prevent device theft or ‘shoulder surfers’ who need nothing but good eyesight to read sensitive data off the screen? In 2018 businesses spent almost $100 billion on information security, even though the proportion of global firms that experienced breaches rose in the same year. It’s not that businesses are wrong to invest in logical security systems – far from it. It’s rather that many are neglecting some very simple and highly affordable measures that would have a major impact on their ability to protect against data breaches.

OPINION: SECURITY

LIGHT FINGERS AND PRYING EYES Perhaps it’s no surprise that physical safeguards are taken far less seriously than logical security. Invisible threats seem more insidious and mysterious – the mystique of a North Korean hacker stirs the imagination far more than a lightfingered thief or a snooping shoulder surfer on public transport. But no less an authority than the FBI cites laptop theft as one of the world’s top three computer crimes. Meanwhile the cost of letting someone read sensitive information off your screen – perhaps a rival from a competitor company – is impossible to quantify. Businesses need to teach their employees to take better care of sensitive data when they’re on the move. This is a matter of education, of course, but will also involve a small outlay on physical security devices. Privacy screens are an affordable and effective way of protecting data from prying eyes. By massively reducing the angle from which the monitor is viewable, privacy screens ensure that sensitive data and documents can’t be seen by anyone but the user.

“FOR ALL THE MONEY SPENT ON ANTIVIRUS, THREAT DETECTION, ENCRYPTION AND OTHER LOGICAL SECURITY MEASURES, PHYSICAL PROTECTION REMAINS THE CINDERELLA OF CYBERSECURITY.”

Businesses can also help their employees to guard against hardware theft by issuing them with cable locks to be used whenever they are away from their device for more than a few seconds. It’s astonishing that we seem to take more care of an old bicycle than we do for a device that may cost several thousand pounds and which could contain data worth immeasurably more. Of course, these physical measures must be accompanied by employee education so that every business traveller is aware of the potential threats to corporate data and the consequences of a breach. Using privacy screens and cable locks needs to become second nature, not a behaviour that’s only learned after they’ve been successfully targeted by a criminal. Compared to the consequences of an easily-preventable breach, however, the amount of time and money needed to make a real difference to security is negligible. When data is worth far more than gold, it makes sense to treat it accordingly. » TARGUS, UK.TARGUS.COM

June 2019 | 21

BIG DATA OPINION: BIG DATA

THE PETABYTE AGE

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OPINION: BIG DATA

JOE DRUMGOOLE, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPER ADVOCACY OF MONGODB DISCUSSES WHY IT IS TIME

TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT THE INTEGRATED PETABYTE. petabyte is a lot of data. Even in these days where the term ‘big data’ is tossed around like a sea of plastic, a petabyte is almost

unfathomably large. While most large organisations have had a petabyte or more of data scattered across disparate systems, this generation is the first to start to both accumulate and query across petabytes of data under a single governing domain. For organisations to navigate this brave new world successfully, how they plan, build and manage data must change dramatically. There are many complexities of operating at this scale, and these are some of the fundamental steps that must be taken to make our petabyte more manageable.

June 2019 | 23

OPINION: BIG DATA

HOW DO YOU STORE IT SAFELY?

THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE OF THE PETABYTE AGE WON’T BE STORING ALL THAT DATA, IT WILL BE FIGURING OUT HOW TO MAKE SENSE OF IT

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A lot of data means a lot of disks and, while we all get very excited about the performance of SSDs, you are unlikely to be storing your petabyte of data on SSDs anytime soon. So, lots of spinning disks means lots of failures. Google found that in large populations of disks, up to 2% of them fail annually. For stable storage we can simplistically assume you need three 2TB disks for each 2TB of storage. That means that for 1,000TB of storage you will need 1,500 disks. Based on Google’s analysis you can expect 30 of those disks to fail each year, but you can’t tell which 30 – hence the reason you deploy stable storage in the first place. But what about backup? Well assuming you are using a single Linear Tape Open (LTO) drive for storage (you wouldn’t of course, but bear with me) which can backup 500MB a second (500MB is 0.0000005 of a petabyte), that backup would take 23 days. In this case running parallel tape drives (23 of them) would reduce this backup to one day. To make this system work effectively you are already looking at an LTO tape robot and tape management system and those systems are not cheap. I’m not saying don’t backup to tape, I’m saying this can’t be the only solution.

THE UPDATE PROBLEM At petabyte scale, you can’t hope to manage complexity where applications are constantly overwriting or deleting data. It’s all too easy to get it wrong and destroy your data. Stable storage won’t help you here, it will just blindly replicate your updates and deletes to all of the disks. To properly protect your data, you must move to an event sourcing model. In event sourcing, instead of updating records in place, state changes are represented by a time ordered set of deltas that define the current state. Source code control systems like Git use this system to store all of the changes to a file and hence can reproduce all intermediate versions of the file. Event sourcing is not a new pattern and can be traced back to a method used by merchants in Venice during the Italian Renaissance period. The essential components of an event sourcing system are an immutable operations log that records events, a timestamp of when each event occurred – so that events are temporally ordered – and then some mechanism for producing snapshots that give summary status (eg the current balance on an account with hundreds of credits and debits). At the petabyte scale we ensure that changes to the data are represented as new time stamped events with new state values appended to the immutable log. Once a log entry has been created it can only be read, never deleted or updated in place. This approach ensures we keep original data that was inserted by external sources pristine.

OPINION: BIG DATA

WHAT WILL IT COST? Various rack manufacturers now offer a petabyte of stable storage in a single rack and the retail cost of that storage is around $100,000. That doesn’t seem too bad, until you realise you now need a data centre to host that rack – data doesn’t come on its own. If you actually want to process that data, you will need several virtual machines and/or containers to run all those parallel data processing jobs. Remember, if we want to process 1000TB in parallel we need 1,000VMs partitioned across an appropriately configured IO backplane. So now we need to provision hardware and routers to support this stack of infrastructure. Once this hardware is provisioned it becomes a capital investment and a depreciating asset – nothing loses its price faster than second hand computer hardware. Basically, provisioning a petabyte of data yourself is a futile endeavour. At first glance a petabyte of data in AWS comes in around the same price as the rack of disks you would deploy yourself. But the way in which costs accrue rapidly outstrips the on-premise offering. For one, this is because before you can write your first byte on premise you have to deploy some physical hardware. That takes time.

For sure it’s possible to grow your storage organically as you consume it but running out of disk space is the kind of surprise that can take out most systems, so we endeavour to pre-purchase hardware to ensure that doesn’t happen. But, unless you are physically shuffling disks, that kind of hardware growth involves lots of copying of data and that’s generally a bad idea as you edge towards petabyte scale. In the cloud you can grow from a byte to a petabyte with no disruption in service and no explicit copy operations. And compute? Well compute to your heart’s content, all the CPU and memory you need is just a click and credit card away. Better still, you can turn it off when it’s not in use and reduce your compute costs to near zero.

CLOUD: THE END GAME, NOT THE OPTION When you realise that the costs for an Ethernet cable deploying a petabyte may run to $50,000, the cloud starts to look less like an option and more like an endgame. Of course, if you put your data in the cloud and you want to process it anywhere else then you have to contend with the latency of a wide area connection but to all intents and purposes, cloud is king. With GDPR driving new challenges in controlling, managing and analysing data at any scale, dealing with petabytes becomes a herculean effort for the unprepared and uninitiated. While petabytes of data may be the reserve of large businesses for now, this will soon be the norm for SMEs too. We are about to enter a revolutionary period as we enter the petabyte age. However, it’s not a revolution without losers. The losers in this next phase are those organisations who continue to cling to technologies and approaches that predate the internet. » MONGODB, MONGODB.COM

June 2019 | 25

SERVER MANUFACTURERS

SLOWING SERVER MARKET DCNN TAKES A LOOK AT DELL’ORO’S QUARTERLY SERVER REPORT DISCUSSING WHY THE SERVER MARKET, AFTER A RECORD-BREAKING YEAR IN 2018, HAS SEEN ITS SLOWEST GROWTH IN EIGHT QUARTERS.

ccording to Dell’Oro’s recent quarterly server report, the worldwide server market grew at its slowest rate in eight quarters; increasing 1% year-overyear in quarter one, 2019.

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SERvER MANUFACTURERS

THE SERVER MARKET IS OFF TO A SLOW START IN 2019

June 2019 | 33

SERVER MANUFACTURERS

“IN THIS QUARTER, SERVER UNIT SHIPMENTS DECLINED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FIVE QUARTERS, AND GROWTH IN SERVER AVERAGE SELLING PRICES STARTED TO PLATEAU AS THE REFRESH CYCLE WINDS DOWN.” The report, which details the current state of the server market environment, attributes the lower market growth rate to spending deceleration by cloud service providers and enterprises. However, such depreciation is only expected to be shortlived, with forecasts projecting a stronger server market growth by late 2019. “After a record 29% revenue growth last year, the server market is off to a slow start with a modest 1% growth,” said Baron Fung, Director at Dell’Oro Group. “In this quarter, server unit shipments declined for the first time in five quarters, and growth in server average selling prices started to plateau as the refresh cycle winds down. Furthermore, the major cloud service providers are slowing capex in aggregate to digest excess infrastructure capacity, resulting in fewer server purchases. Looking ahead, as the enterprise continues to shift workloads to public cloud, we expect the cloud service providers to resume capex growth to expand capacity by late 2019,” Fung detailed. Arguably the $75 billion server industry is experiencing many disruptive changes that influence the growth rate of the market. From public and private cloud adoption growing as companies change their business models, to the cloud demanding new and more complex server requirements to those of the classic enterprise. Traditional equipment vendors are also facing challenges from white box manufacturers, while widespread virtualisation and the

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ccording to Dell’Oro, in order to take advantage of the opportunities in this market, component manufacturers, equipment vendors and service providers need to answer these critical business questions: • Which segments of the server market are growing the fastest? • Which vendors are transitioning most rapidly to higher server speeds? • What is the trend in cloud data centre capex and what portion of the capex spend is allocated on servers vs networking vs data centre build costs? • What portion of the market is white box vs traditional server vendors? • How do virtualisation and SDN change the market dynamics and where do the new opportunities lie?

onset of SDN are answering the call for ever more effective network management.

OTHER REPORT HIGHLIGHTS Dell ranked number one in vendor revenue share, followed by HPE, Inspur, Lenovo, Cisco, Huawei, and IBM. Data centre-related capex of the top four cloud service providers grew in the mid-single digits year-over-year. White box servers, which are primarily deployed by the top four cloud service providers, continued to gain share from the branded OEM vendors despite the year-onyear decline. » DELL’ORO GROUP, DELLORO.COM

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OPINION: SECURITY

SECURING

SD-WAN YOGI CHANDIRAMANI, VICE PRESIDENT OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AT ZSCALER, DISCUSSES HOW AND WHY TRADITIONAL NETWORKS ARE BECOMING OBSOLETE AND HOW, THROUGH SD-WAN, ORGANISATIONS CAN ACHIEVE ENTERPRISE-GRADE SECURITY.

s organisations increasingly move workloads, infrastructure, data, and applications to the cloud, they gain an unprecedented level of flexibility and agility â&#x20AC;&#x201C; particularly as employees have access to applications anytime, anywhere. According to recent research, nearly a third of UK businesses have more than three quarters of their business applications in the cloud, with more than a third claiming the primary reason is increased flexibility. However, while organisations benefit significantly from moving to the cloud, to do this successfully they must re-examine their approaches to network architecture and IT security.

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Decentralised architectures, with mobile employees and cloud-based applications, can, without doubt, present real headaches for IT departments. Before, the full chain of communication took place within the company network, data was stored in a central location on a few servers; placing security appliances on the perimeter was deemed sufficient. Today, the picture has completely changed. The concept of backhauling traffic to a centralised data centre worked when applications and users resided there. But with users in branch offices and applications moving to the cloud, backhauling traffic across a hub-and-spoke network provides a poor user experience that is not only expensive, but also increases security risk. Businesses end up paying to backhaul traffic to bring remote users onto a network that they do not need to access.

OPINION: SECURITY

June 2019 | 31

OPINION: SECURITY

In an IT world shaped by the cloud and mobile workers, the internet has subsequently become the network where business takes place. Applications such as Office 365 are driving the growth of internet-bound traffic. Indeed, the flood of data from users through the security infrastructure and out to the internet – then back to the user – is sending traffic volume through the roof. In order to deliver the same level of security as the centralised internet gateway, organisations must replicate the stack of security appliances at every branch, which is expensive to buy, deploy, and manage. Traditional firewalls and UTMs are a poor alternative as they cannot handle SSL-encrypted traffic or nonstandard ports and protocols. Furthermore, because of these challenges, organisations are increasingly turning to SoftwareDefined Wide Area Networks (SD-WANs) to establish local internet breakouts and deliver a fast user experience.

THE RISE OF SD-WAN SD-WAN simplifies the way traffic is routed in branches and makes it easy to establish local internet breakouts. That means a quick rollout and less administrative time and effort. Software-defined policies are used to select the best path to route traffic connecting the branch to the internet, cloud applications, and the data centre. By defining policies for all branches — in the cloud through a single interface — organisations can easily deploy new applications and services, and manage policies across many locations. Indeed, businesses need to make sure they can prioritise critical applications such as Office 365 over the likes of YouTube and streaming media, and that they have the ability to define and immediately enforce security and access policy changes across all locations.

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“AS ORGANISATIONS INCREASINGLY EMBRACE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, SENDING MORE AND MORE APPLICATIONS TO THE CLOUD, THE BENEFITS OF SDWAN WILL BECOME MORE APPARENT.”

This is a significant benefit for organisations, therefore it is not surprising that it is rapidly gaining ground as a costeffective enabler of transformation from hub-and-spoke to a direct-to-internet network architecture. The implementation of local internet breakouts is at the heart of SD-WAN. One benefit is rapid access to cloud data from every location; another is containing costs for MPLS traffic. However, there’s one aspect of local breakouts that SD-WAN doesn’t account for: the security of data flow toward the internet. Local internet breakouts must be accompanied by security for each location. SD-WAN enables organisations to reduce MPLS costs and shrink their branch hardware footprint. As such, they do not want to incur new hardware and administrative overhead at each location to deploy and manage security appliances.

OPINION: SECURITY

SECURITY FOR LOCAL INTERNET BREAKOUTS Businesses subsequently need a cloudbased firewall approach that makes proxy functionality and the entire security stack, including sandboxing, IPS, and DLP, available at every location. This ensures the security of local internet breakouts without adding to admin workload. Clouddelivered internet security and access controls – SaaS – replace security hardware, so organisations no longer need to buy, maintain, and upgrade appliances. Subsidiaries and branches can be secured simply by routing traffic through the cloud security platform, and updates take place in the cloud. Security infrastructure is perpetually up to date in all locations. A combined solution that delivers secure SD-WAN will quickly pay dividends

through dramatically reduced MPLS costs and for the flexibility such a solution brings to IT and for users. Employees quickly access the applications they need, and costs remain manageable. It’s a big step toward making digital transformation a reality – offering fast access without compromising security. As organisations increasingly embrace digital transformation, sending more and more applications to the cloud, the benefits of SD-WAN will become more apparent. A cloud-first SD-WAN infrastructure ultimately allows businesses to take advantage of a network that enables the business and simplifies the branch, rather than the business having to conform to the constraints of the network.

THIS GRAPH ILLUSTRATES THE GROWTH OF OFFICE 365 RELATIVE TO OTHER POPULAR CLOUD APPLICATIONS OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS, BASED ON TRAFFIC GOING THROUGH THE ZSCALER CLOUD

» ZSCALER, ZSCALER.COM

June 2019 | 33

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

NATIONAL 5G TEST CENTRE OPENS AT MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY RadioSpace, a new €1.5 million national test centre for next-gen wireless technologies such as 5G and IoT, has been opened at Maynooth University in Ireland. The new 5G test centre, which is one of the first of its kind in Europe, has been designed to provide a range of services to developers of 4G mobile networks, IoT-enabled products, 5G and mmWave devices. RadioSpace, will be open to enterprises, SMEs and start-ups, and will provide a unique, large scale, interference-free facility for scientists and engineers from industry and universities, in Ireland and internationally. The facility consists of a specially constructed anechoic chamber that provides perfect isolation for radio signals. Nothing can enter, and nothing can leave. With advanced test equipment and specialist

34 | June 2019

engineers, this allows for very sensitive measurements to be made, essential for the development of modern wireless devices. RadioSpace connects industry and academic researchers. The aim, to address the full range of challenges in developing new technologies and products for the next generation of wireless devices. The €1.5 million facility, which has received €638,000 funding from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), is part of Connect – the world-leading SFI Research Centre for future networks and communications. This service is available to SMEs, and access can be facilitated via the Enterprise Ireland Innovation voucher scheme. This ensures that both SMEs and larger organisations can avail of the technology and expertise of researchers in Maynooth University.

According to Professor Philip Nolan, President of Maynooth University, “This facility will serve as the national 5G test centre for Ireland, providing a space for nextgeneration wireless technologies to be tested, refined and applied on an international scale. I’m pleased to say that RadioSpace will be available to all those who can make good use of it, from leading researchers and innovators to students just starting their careers, from the largest multinational to the smallest of start-ups. Until now Irish industry working in this space has needed look abroad to avail of similar facilities and I’m proud we are now in a position to provide this centre of excellence right here in Maynooth.” RADIOSPACE, RADIOSPACE.IE

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

HUAWEI PARTNERS FOR 5G SHOPPING MALL Huawei, China Mobile and the China Real Estate Association have jointly launched the world’s first 5G shopping mall. The Shanghai Lujiazui L+ Mall uses the 5G digital indoor system (DIS), which enables next generation network connectivity in certain parts of the 12 floors and over 140,000 square metres of floor area. China Mobile and Huawei have deployed 5G DIS at the ‘life aesthetics’ zones on the first floor and fifth floor of the mall. During the launch event, customers experienced HD video calls on 5G networks, along with shopping assistance, delivery and destination guidance offered by 5G smart robots. Other services available in 5G-covered shopping areas include AI-based face recognition, precise indoor navigation and people flow analysis.

“The deployment and implementation of 5G network capabilities will accelerate the transformation from traditional buildings to smart buildings and provide new opportunities for the further development of the real estate industry,” said Cai Yun, Secretary General of the Commercial Cultural Tourism Committee at China Real Estate Association. Zhang Hanliang, Deputy General Manager of China Mobile, explained, “In recent years, users in shopping malls have higher requirements of their mobile communication experience, such as HD online video, mobile payment, and immersive VR/AR gaming. “The arrival of 5G will not only increase the download rate of users, but also drive digital transformation of the entire industry,” he added. HUAWEI, HUAWEI.COM

June 2019 | 35

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

INFRASTRUCTURE MASONS OFFER SCHOLARSHIPS FOR CNET TRAINING CNet has partnered with Infrastructure Masons to provide valuable scholarships to those wanting to progress their career within the data centre sector. iMasons is offering scholarships for programs throughout the global digital infrastructure education framework, from the entry level Data Fundamental program, which introduces the learner into the data centre sector, to the Certified Data Centre Technician (CDCTP), and data centre design, management,

36 | June 2019

energy, audit and sustainability, all the way through to the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only level seven masters degree program in data centre leadership and management. The objective for the iMasons is to prepare people to enter, or to succeed and move up in, the digital infrastructure industry. The scholarships cover a variety of potential positions throughout the data centre sector and the CNet programs also provide official certifications with post-nominal titles and qualifications.

The industry is rapidly growing and with the predicted forecast rate of growth in the sector, there is quickly becoming a talent shortage issue within the industry. The scholarships offered by iMasons are designed to inspire and grow the sector by offering training from CNet that can help learners excel in an industry they might not have considered previously. CNET, CNET-TRAINING.COM; INFRASTRUCTURE MASONS, IMASONS.ORG

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

LUXTURRIM5G ECOSYSTEM BUILDS THE SMART CITY OF THE FUTURE A Nokia Bell Labs driven industry group is building enablers for fast 5G networks based on smart light poles – a solution that is hoped to form the backbone of future smart cities. The LuxTurrim5G ecosystem project has developed the 5G smart pole concept whereby 5G base stations, a variety of different sensors, video cameras, displays and other devices have been integrated in light poles. Nokia Bell Labs says this creates a novel platform providing fast, low latency mobile communications and possibilities to exploit huge amounts of data to make new digital services for smart cities. Over the past two years, the solutions have been piloted at Nokia Campus in Espoo, Finland, and now the plans are to expand the piloting to a real environment in the Kera region of Espoo. As the demand to improve safety, energy efficiency, air quality, effectivity of transportation and quality of living grows, so too does the demand for a new generation digital service infrastructure for smart cities. However, within a few years the capacity of mobile networks will become inadequate. This problem can be solved only by taking into use small cell radio frequency (RF) technologies and higher

frequencies. This needs dense networks of antennas setting new requirements for the network infrastructure. According to Nokia Bell, LuxTurrim5G offers a solution to this critical problem. Small cell radio network technology and higher frequencies are a prerequisite for significant improvement in data transmission capacity. The smart light poles with integrated small 5G base stations and sensors developed in the project enable implementation of a smart pole infrastructure, such as the current street lighting network, which provides high data transfer capacity, a lot of new data available and a variety of new smart city services available for all users. “The communications network based on the 5G smart light pole concept creates a platform for a variety of smart city digital services, bringing new business opportunities to many actors. The pilot environment created by the LuxTurrim5G ecosystem makes it possible to test them in practice, which will significantly speed up the development of the 5G smart city,” said Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks business group and Finland Country Senior Officer at Nokia. NOKIA BELL LABS, BELL-LABS.COM

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COMPANY SHOWCASE