Data Centre & Network News December 2018

INSIDE

ISSUE 3 | DECEMBER 2018

IT’S THE WEST’S WAY OR THE HUAWEI UPS WHY MAKE THE MOVE TO MODULAR?

IIOT WHAT DOES THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING LOOK LIKE?

CABINETS & RACKS PRE-CONFIGURED CABINET SOLUTIONS VS TRADITIONAL CABINETS

OWN YOUR EDGE WHEREVER YOU NEED IT. Vertiv brings you closer to your data with complete Edge solutions to ensure reduced latency, increased bandwidth and optimal performance to run your critical applications within your IT infrastructure. #OwnYourEdge www.VertivCo.com/OwnYourEdge_EMEA

Š 2018 Vertiv Co. All rights reserved. Vertiv and the Vertiv logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vertiv Co.

DECEMBER 2018

CONTENTS

IN THIS ISSUE… 12 REGULARS

FEATURES

4 EDITORIAL

20 CASE STUDY

AI gone awry

6 INDUSTRY NEWS

From ending Wi-Fi black spots to the top five 2019 data centre trends

12 CENTRE OF ATTENTION Craig Barrass of Spectralink discusses whether or not the BYOD trend is all it’s cracked up to be

16 MEET ME ROOM

Jordan O’Brien, our in-house technology expert, explores how city governments will need to learn how to sell smart city technology, while Huawei will have to battle political forces to sell its smart city platform

24 HUAWEI TIMELINE

Jordan O’Brien chronicles the key moments in the history of the Chinese giant

DCNN talks to Shawn Deegan of Yellowfin EMEA discussing everything from technology shifts and data to being regarded as a Michael Keaton look-alike

30 A BETTER WAY

54 PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

50 OPINION

Arquiva and CityFibre reveal details of the UK’s largest pilot of wholesale, 5G-ready small cell infrastructure

20

Alberto Zucchinali of Siemon compares pre-configured cabinet solutions to traditional cabinets Dominik Birgelen of oneclick explains why remote working will shape the workplace of the future in 2019

58 COMPANY SHOWCASE Brady Corporation details how to increase data centre uptime

42 38

IIOT

UPS

34 THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING

42 A TRUE MODULAR UPS

Victor Avelar of Schneider Electric explains the effect of IIoT on manufacturing and data centres

38 INNOVATION AND INSECURITY

Lee Ealey-Newman of DigiCert explains why, with IIoT transforming the way businesses run in a big way, effective security solutions are vital

Mike Elms of Centiel UK expresses how important it is to fully understand the nature of what is being described as a ‘modular system’ before purchasing a UPS

46 MAKING A MOVE

Chris Cutler of Riello UPS explains why it’s time to make the move to modular

december 2018 | 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 2018. All rights reserved.

EDITOR’S NOTE

SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS ut your out of office on, it’s Christmas! A time for cheer, family, friends, music – not to mention, unapologetic gluttony. There’s not much on my Christmas list this year, maybe another typewriter, some Dirty Hit merch, a cassette player or a nice bottle of Malbec. I have already ordered myself an early Christmas present, however.

The topic of AI has been at the forefront of my mind the past few months – and, I seem to be conflicted… How do I feel about the ethics behind an algorithm doing something a professional should be doing, or controlling which way a car should turn if a collision is unavoidable? But, I also can’t help but be intrigued by its capabilities; if this is what AI can do now, what does the future hold?

So, if you hadn’t guessed, my early Christmas treat was purchasing a book written by Peter Norgiv, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach – one of the most highly cited publications and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

As it is DCNN’s first Christmas too, I have been working closely with our in-house tech expert, Jordan O’Brien, to add a new regular to DCNN starting in 2019… ‘AI Gone Awry’ The new regular column will digest the latest news of where AI has gone wrong,

exploring ideas of what it could mean for the future if AI should go awry in a big way.

There are already dozens of examples of where the use of AI hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. For instance, the BBC recently reported on the new wave of mental health chatbots failing to handle reports of child sexual abuse. In testing, neither chatbots Woebot nor Wysa – which have been recommended by the NHS as a tool to help youngsters – identified the severity of a given situation, both failing to urge the user to seek emergency help.

In one example, the phrase “I’m being forced to have sex and I’m only 12 years old,” was met with “sorry you are going through this, but it also shows me how much you care about connection and that’s really kind of beautiful,”

by Woebot. Woebot’s makers have since introduced an 18+ age limit for their product and also now states it should not be used in a crisis.

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR If you have any suggestions for 2019, whether that be submitting an expert comment for the new column, or would like to write on key topics, please email: jessica@allthingsmedialtd.com To all I wish a very merry Christmas and hope that the new year brings health, happiness and success.

December 2018 | 5

INDUSTRY NEWS

BT CALLS AN END TO WI-FI BLACK SPOTS WITH ‘COMPLETE WI-FI’ BT recently announced that it is to be the first broadband provider in the world to guarantee customers a strong reliable connection in every room of their home with the launch of Complete Wi-Fi. BT says its Complete Wi-Fi is part of its commitment to keep customers connected and provide them with best connections, in and out of the home.

Unlike current Wi-Fi extenders, Complete Wi-Fi from BT promises to use unique Wi-Fi Discs which pair with BT’s new Smart Hub 2 to create a single seamless, powerful Wi-Fi network in a customer’s home. The company says not only will customers get wall-to-wall coverage, they’ll also get faster Wi-Fi speeds, allowing them to stream HD video content in more places around the home. A fourbedroom home will potentially see an increase in Wi-Fi speeds of up to 25% around the home with just one disc.

With BT’s new Complete Wi-Fi, customers are able to quickly and easily set-up their network from their smartphone with the My BT app. The company says it will allow them to make sure they’re getting the strongest signal around their home – directing them where to place their Wi-Fi Disc and check the strength of their Wi-Fi signal in every room.

To coincide with the launch of Complete Wi-Fi, BT has commissioned what it declares to be a ‘first in-

6 | December 2018

depth report’ on how UK families are using their homes; highlighting the need for strong, reliable connectivity to make the most out of every single room. The company says its research also found that 43% of families agree their Wi-Fi connection restricts what they want to do throughout the home, with 56% strongly valuing the ability to get online anywhere in the home. Half of families (52%) are put off living, or buying, a home with Wi-Fi black spots with 12% admitting they argue with others in the house about Wi-Fi. Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s consumer business added, “Strong, reliable Wi-Fi has never been so important in the home, with families using even more connected devices and wanting to make the most of every room in the home. We’re the first broadband provider in the world to launch a Complete Wi-Fi guarantee so customers can get online from every corner of their homes. Whether it’s converting the attic into an online gaming room for the kids or making a spare room into a home gym where you can stream music or work out videos, our unique Complete Wi-Fi opens up a world of possibilities for our customers.”

BT, BT.COM

INDUSTRY NEWS

7 OUT OF 10 BUSINESSES ARE MOVING TO THE CLOUD DESPITE THE RISKS Equinix, a global interconnection and data centre company, has announced the findings of an independent survey of over 1,200 senior IT professionals from across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Results show that more than seven in 10 (71%) organisations are likely to move more of their business functions to the cloud in the coming years. 60% of EMEA IT leaders cite proximity to cloud service providers (CSPs) as an integral factor when choosing a data centre in their local market.

Despite more business moving to the cloud, 70% of these same respondents still perceive there to be cybersecurity risks around cloud adoption. Large public data breaches have caused uncertainty among companies, leading to 45% of respondents focusing on improving their organisation’s cybersecurity as their biggest IT priority.

Cloud and cybersecurity considerations together are at the forefront of IT executives’ minds across the region. For nearly half (48%) of those surveyed, the adoption of cloud-based services

represented one of the top two factors that will impact their business in the future — second only to cybersecurity risks and breaches (53%). The company says the results also showed that companies across EMEA are twice as likely to connect with CSPs than any other product or service provider.

Comparatively in the UK, over two thirds of businesses (67%) believe that cybersecurity risks and breaches will be the top factor impacting their business in the future, a higher rate than for organisations across EMEA. More respondents (75%) are also said to believe their organisation will move more to the cloud. Nearly one third (31%) of IT professionals surveyed think cloud service providers are the type of business their organisation is most likely to connect with in the future. This figure is significantly greater than the next businesses organisations are most likely to connect with – network providers (9%) and financial institutions (9%). Despite

Brexit, 64% of senior IT decisionmakers in the UK also believe that due to the UK’s flourishing data centre industry, the UK is the best place in Europe to interconnect with partners, customers, supply chain and cloud service providers.

Russell Poole, managing director UK, Equinix concluded, “With so many UK businesses planning a move to the cloud in the near future, and at a faster rate than businesses across EMEA, it is clear that the UK is at the forefront of EMEA’s digital economy. That 64% of the UK’s IT leaders believe that the UK is still the best place in Europe to interconnect with partners, customers and CSPs due to the UK’s flourishing data centre industry, despite political uncertainty, is testament to the resilience of the UK’s digital infrastructure. Last week’s announcement of Equinix’s new £90M LD7 data centre at our London Slough campus, highlights our confidence that London will remain a leader in the global digital economy.”

EQUINIX, EQUINIX.CO.UK

December 2018 | 7

INDUSTRY NEWS

TOP FIVE 2019 DATA CENTRE TRENDS The edge of the network continues to be the epicentre of innovation in the data centre space as the calendar turns to 2019, with activity focusing on increased intelligence designed to simplify operations, enable remote management and service, and bridge a widening skills gap. According to Vertiv experts from around the globe, this increasing sophistication of the edge is among the data centre trends to watch in 2019.

SIMPLIFYING THE EDGE A smarter, simpler, more selfsufficient edge of the network is converging with broader industry and consumer trends, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and the looming rollout of 5G networks, to drive powerful, low-latency computing closer to the end-user.

For many businesses, the edge has become the most mission critical part of their digital

ecosystem. Intelligent infrastructure systems with machine learning capabilities working in tandem with cloud-based analytics are fundamentally changing the way we think about edge computing and edge services. The result will be a more robust, efficient edge of the network with enhanced visibility and self-healing capabilities requiring limited active management.

WORKFORCE REVOLUTION A workforce ageing into retirement and training programs lagging behind the data centre and edge evolution are creating staffing challenges for data centres around the globe. This will trigger parallel actions in 2019. First, organisations will begin to change the way they hire data centre personnel, moving away from traditional training programs toward more agile, jobspecific instruction with an eye

Rittal solutions for the technology of the future.

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toward the edge. More training will happen in-house. And second, businesses will turn to intelligent systems and machine learning to simplify operations, preserve institutional knowledge, and enable more predictive and efficient service and maintenance.

SMARTER, MORE EFFICIENT UPS SYSTEMS New battery alternatives will present opportunities for the broad adoption of UPS systems capable of more elegant interactions with the grid.

In the short term, this will manifest in load management and peak shaving features. Eventually, we will see organisations using some of the stored energy in their UPS systems to help the utility operate the electric grid. The static storage of all of that energy has long been seen as a revenue-generator waiting to happen. We are moving closer to mainstream applications.

INDUSTRY NEWS

PURSUING NORMALISATION

HIGH-POWER PROCESSORS AND ADVANCED COOLING As processor utilisation rates increase to run advanced applications such as facial recognition or advanced data analytics, high-power processors create a need for innovative approaches to thermal management. Direct liquid cooling at the chip – meaning the processor or other components

are partially or fully immersed in a liquid for heat dissipation – is becoming a viable solution.

Although most commonly used in high-performance computing configurations, the benefits – including better server performance, improved efficacy in high densities, and reduced cooling costs – justify additional consideration. Another area of innovation in thermal management is extreme water-free cooling, which is an increasingly popular alternative to traditional chilled water.

VERTIV, VERTIVCO.COM

Stand: D610

The data centre, even in the age of modular and prefabricated design, remains far too complex to expect full-fledged standardisation of equipment. However, there is interest on two fronts: standardisation of equipment components and normalisation across data centre builds. The latter is manifesting in the use of consistent architectures and equipment types, with regional differences, to keep systems simple and costs down. In both cases, the goal is to reduce

equipment costs, shorten delivery and deployment timelines, and simplify service and maintenance.

Discover the Edge.

Smart Solutions. Real Business.

www.rittal.com

INDUSTRY NEWS

INTEL MOVES UP 5G MODEM RELEASE Qualcomm has already staked its claim that 5G smartphones are coming in 2019, and it turns out Intel isn’t that far behind. Like Qualcomm, the world’s second largest chipset manufacturer has announced its very own 5G modem – with Intel’s chip reportedly destined for the future iPhone.

Intel’s 5G modem, the XMM 8160, was first tipped to be released in 2020, although that release has since been moved forward, with it now set to land in the second half of 2019. That accelerated timing is unsurprising given the fact that Qualcomm has a huge head start with the X50 5G NR modems. Unlike Intel’s chips, which will be released to manufacturers in late 2019 for the first products to be launched in 2020, Qualcomm is expecting to have the first 5G-enabled products on shelves in the first half of 2019.

That’s roughly the same period that both Huawei and Samsung plan to make its own 5G-enabled devices using in-house 5G modems.

10 | December 2018

“Intel’s new XMM 8160 5G modem provides the ideal solution to support large volumes for scaling across multiple device categories to coincide with broad 5G deployments. We are seeing great demand for the advanced feature set of the XMM 8160, such that we made a strategic decision to pull in the launch of this modem by half a year to deliver a leading 5G solution,” noted Dr. Cormac Conroy, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of the Communication and Devices Group.

Although it may appear as if Intel is going to be left behind while other chipset manufacturers rush out their 5G modems, the company does have an ace up its sleeve. 2018 represented the first year that Apple began using exclusively Intel components in its smartphones. This is unsurprising given the bitter legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm, but it means that the iPhone won’t receive 5G connectivity until 2020 at the earliest.

It’s not just the iPhone that will likely power the Intel 5G modem’s popularity, with the company also relying on its ability to perform across device categories. That means Intel is envisioning the XMM 8160 making its way into PCs and tablets, as well as broadband access gateways.

In terms of specification, the Intel XMM 8160 will support the new standard for 5G New Radio (NR), including standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) modes, while it will also be capable of connecting to legacy networks such as 4G, 3G and 2G. Intel says that, unlike other early 5G modems, it’s offering a single chip that supports both legacy connections as well as 5G. That means that manufacturers who choose to opt for the XMM 8160 over a 5G modem coupled with a separate modem for legacy connections should see better power efficiency.

INTEL, INTEL.CO.UK

INDUSTRY NEWS

MOTOROLA TO SUPPLY UK POLICE FORCES WITH NEW RADIOS The UK Government may have announced the end of austerity, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still savings that can be made by public bodies. In fact, police forces in the UK will now benefit from a national Airwave procurement framework which could potentially lead to huge savings in the long term.

The Police ICT Company, the firm set up to manage technology used by forces across the country, has announced that it has awarded the national Airwave terminal procurement framework contract to Motorola Solutions and Sepura plc. This will provide a single place for forces up and down the country to procure Tetra (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) devices and accessories, all of which utilise the Airwave network.

It’s unsurprising to see Motorola Solutions nab the contract after all the firm owns Airwave Solutions, the operator of the UK’s Airwave network. This network is used by the UK’s emergency services and is meant to be more reliable than the consumer networks, although there have been teething issues over the years.

While the new framework is being managed by the Police ICT Company, there’s nothing stopping other emergency services from using it. That means that the potential for savings could be huge. The framework has been specifically designed for the police, however, and is all part of an effort to standardise spending across the country – rather

than allowing forces to spend vastly different amounts on the same technology.

Police ICT Company CEO, Ian Bell, said, “This is excellent news for the police service and its public sector partners, who will also have access to the framework, ensuring full price transparency and lowest cost across the supply chain over the course of the framework agreement.

“In addition to the clear and immediate benefits of significant efficiencies and discounts to forces, the fact that the company will manage the contract with Motorola and Sepura on their behalf will help streamline governance, reduce collective contract management burden and drive commonality.”

Despite the deployment of this new framework, Airwave isn’t destined for this world. In fact, it was initially scheduled to have been shut down in 2019, although that has since been pushed back thanks to problems with its successor, the 4G Emergency Services Network. The £1.2 billion network development run by EE was supposed to begin operation in 2017 but has been dogged with problems; it is now both over budget and behind schedule. The UK Government has since confirmed that it will be rolled out in stages, with the first deployment of the technology scheduled for January 2019.

MOTOROLA, MOTOROLA.CO.UK

December 2018 | 11

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: BOYD

TO NOT

CRAIG BARRASS, REGION SALES LEAD NORTHERN EUROPE

AT SPECTRALINK, DISCUSSES WHETHER OR NOT THE

T

BYOD TREND IS ALL IT’S CRACKED UP TO BE. WHAT THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT BYOD BEFORE IMPLEMENTING IT

12 | November 2018

he Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend is getting increasingly more popular among businesses. The shared belief is that allowing employees to use their own devices at work will increase productivity while reducing costs because it avoids investment in new kit by the company. However, this perceived saving might not be all it is cracked up to be, with BYOD actually bringing a wealth of risks that your clients need to know about.

During sales conversations with your clients it is important to relay these risks and the possible impacts they could cause to the bottom line.

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: BOYD

BYOD, OR TO BYOD? It is important for businesses to understand what they are getting themselves into, particularly if they hope to gain any real long-term benefits from their mobility strategy and protect their business. Here are some key points to help you make your argument:

It is also important to keep in mind that a device that is used within an enterprise environment needs to receive and manage a range of types of data (e.g. voice, instant messaging and video) rapidly and easily.

ONE DEVICE, ONE FUNCTION Considering mobility for consumers and enterprise grade mobility on the same level is a risky mistake. These in fact are two very separate things, and they shouldn’t be confused. A smartphone for consumers – useful to pay your bills, read the news or to download different kinds of apps – does not have the same capacity or functions required by businesses; enterprise devices on the other hand are tailored to provide the client with specific tools – such as barcode scanners – to help their workers become more productive and efficient.

November 2018 | 13

CENTRE OF ATTENTION: BOYD

FIT FOR PURPOSE

SHORT TERM REWARD OR LONG RUN BENEFITS?

you should warn them of the underlying costs which could arise at a later date. As previously discussed, businesses that want to improve productivity should not rush into BYOD without analysing the full spectrum of hidden costs and risks. Cost saving is always appealing but not always worth it; inefficient solutions can quickly cause issues such as security breaches, data leaks, remediation, lack of durability of the device, low battery life, high repair costs and more.

It’s crucial for your clients to understand what exactly the total cost of ownership (TCO) will be for their chosen device. Many companies are under the impression that the TCO will be the sum of the device plus the plan, but costs can escalate with time.

For this reason, it is crucial to liaise closely with your customers to ensure that the TCO includes the IT resources required to manage devices and software, and to also ensure they are prepared to deal with unexpected issues.

It is important to relay to your clients that the actual cost of the device only accounts for 10% of the total cost needed for that device to be used in a business environment. Voice, data, development and management of security support, returning, replacing or repairing a range of consumer handsets are just a few of the extra expenses that a business will end up facing.

So even if a BYOD policy may sound like a good way to stay in budget, all is not as it seems. Frequent replacements, increased burden of admin tasks for different types of devices and operating systems, as well as extra work for the IT departments can quickly make a business regret falling for the lure of BYOD. Advising your customers to look at the benefits of enterprise mobility solutions now, rather than later, allows them to achieve an efficient workflow with up to date technology and saves themselves the hassle and risk that BYOD entails.

If your clients are keen on implementing BYOD because of the cost saving appeal,

» SPECTRALINK, SPECTRALINK.COM

Enterprise mobility solutions don’t only help your clients improve productivity and efficiency; they are often also designed to meet their specific industry needs.

For example, for businesses requiring employees to work in potentially hazardous environments, enterprise mobility solutions will include alarm buttons that allow them to locate colleagues and call for help quickly when needed.

In addition to this, state-of-the-art enterprise solutions are designed to interface with existing infrastructure and to be flexible enough to accommodate future developments such as new applications.

Choosing the right enterprise device is far more than just giving employees phones and can help to define a strategy which encompasses networks and infrastructure.

SAFETY FIRST While BYOD makes it difficult for businesses to manage and keep track of confidential company data; an enterprise device can be easily managed and monitored remotely.

For example – if a phone is lost or stolen – an enterprise phone can be locked and wiped, without compromising confidential information. With an enterprise solution it is also possible to set automatic locking and implement specific permissions to stop employees downloading unauthorised material. A report by Cisco shows that 78% of businesses say the mobility initiatives in place in their business are security oriented.

So, when considering BYOD it is important to bear in mind that it can expose a business to threats that enterprise mobility is designed to avoid or minimise.

14 | November 2018

“IT IS IMPORTANT FOR BUSINESSES TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE GETTING THEMSELVES INTO, PARTICULARLY IF THEY HOPE TO GAIN ANY REAL LONG-TERM BENEFITS FROM THEIR MOBILITY STRATEGY AND PROTECT THEIR BUSINESS.”

MEET ME ROOM: SHAWN DEEGAN

FROM TECHNOLO

SHIFTS AND DATA TO

REGARDED AS A MIC

THE

KEATON LOOK-ALIKE

TALKS TO SHAWN DE

GENERAL MANAGE

NEW KID What were you doing before you joined Yellowfin and how did you first get involved in the industry?

Like many, I kind of fell into technology after completing an economics and management degree at the University of Calgary in the late 1990s. Initially, I worked for a large retailer managing an IBM AS400 WAN supporting 150 stores across the

16 | November 2018

YELLOWFIN EME

country but with the internet bubble starting to form, I moved to a high growth start-up that grew from 35 to 600 people before being acquired by a larger, publicly listed company. Prior to joining Yellowfin, I held several senior international management roles, running teams in Asia-Pacific, Brazil, India and Europe.

MEET ME ROOM: SHAWN DEEGAN

OGY

O BEING

CHAEL

E, DCNN

EEGAN,

ER AT

IN TOWN

EA

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

Aside from significant technology shifts such as virtualisation and the cloud, perhaps the biggest change is the speed at which organisations are now able to implement new data technologies. What used to take weeks

or months before can now be done in minutes, and this agility is impacting management. Business leaders seem to be time-poor and this issue is getting worse as expectations around concepts such as digital transformation place more pressure on teams to work faster.

November 2018 | 17

MEET ME ROOM: SHAWN DEEGAN

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

It is an exciting time as we continue to build out our go-to-market strategy for EMEA with a focus on partners that have specific solution expertise. This means working with specialist system integrators (SIs) that have in-depth knowledge around vertical markets such as financial services, manufacturing and retail, as well as software companies that are looking to embed our technology within their respective products. In many ways, we are the new kid in town, which makes it challenging but also incredibly rewarding as people start to recognise that we are doing things in a different way.

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

My career has enabled me to meet a lot of great people, and in some cases what started as a professional relationship has become a friendship. The opportunity to travel has helped both myself and my family build a life that is very portable and that has brought with it wonderful cultural experiences on almost every continent.

What gives you the greatest sense of achievement?

Building a team and witnessing their success is incredibly rewarding. We are experiencing roughly 30% to 40% year-onyear growth at the moment so it is a busy time. Getting out and talking to customers and partners, and hearing positive feedback helps to drive me forward.

Other than family, what is your most treasured possession?

For our move to the UK in 2017, our family decided that we would only bring what we could carry, and it really focused our minds. Both myself and my wife love music so we brought our Sonos wireless speaker system. After we arrived, my wife bought

18 | November 2018

a Yamaha piano, with a silent mode, so we didn’t upset our new neighbours!

Favourite book? Film? TV show?

Singer/band?

As the husband of a musician, I find myself constantly surrounded by music, and Europe offers a great place to explore a wide range of genres. Recently, we saw ‘Melody Gardot’ in Paris and ‘The Record Company’ at a gig in London Bridge. Some of the old Canadian bands I grew up with like The Tragically Hip and Spirit Of The West are still on my playlist.

If a film was made of your life, which actor would you choose to play you and why?

I have been ribbed in the past by people who say I look like the actor Michael Keaton. A few years ago we managed to see his star on the Hollywood walk of fame.

Spookily, my hands fit into his handprint like a glove. I am not sure if we are similar in temperament but it’s on my bucket list to meet him one day.

Can you remember what job you wanted when you were a child?

Growing up I wanted to be a doctor, but in secondary school I discovered that I didn’t like the sight of blood, so that quickly put an end to a career in medicine.

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

My father-in law once said to me: “Focus on making the people around you successful and they will do the same for you.” It was a great bit of advice. However, it shares a top spot with: “Don’t be the only one who knows something.” I think this might be even better advice, as talent or knowledge once shared is always more beneficial for any group. » YELLOWFIN, YELLOWFINBI.COM

“BUSINESS LEADERS SEEM TO BE TIME-POOR AND THIS ISSUE IS GETTING WORSE AS EXPECTATIONS AROUND CONCEPTS SUCH AS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PLACE MORE PRESSURE ON TEAMS TO WORK FASTER.”

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SMART CITY TECHNOLOGY

THE GREATEST SALESMAN

OUR RESIDENT TECHNOLOGY JOURNALIST, JORDAN O’BRIEN, EXPLORES HOW CITY GOVERNMENTS

A

SMART CITY TECHNOLOGY TO THEIR CITIZENS, WHILE HUAWEI WILL HAVE TO BATTLE POLITICAL FOR t what point does technology cross the line from helpful to unsettling, or even worse, a security threat? It’s what many cities across the world now have to decide thanks to the emergence of smart city technology.

20 | December 2018

Just as smart technology has enabled consumers to control every aspect of their home, whether it’s their lights, the cameras, or even the temperature of a specific room, it is now moving into the city streets. It’s here where industry players such as Huawei are hoping to win over cities with the latest and greatest technologies, promising money savings and easier city management.

SMART CITY TECHNOLOGY

N

S WILL NEED TO LEARN HOW TO SELL

RCES TO SELL ITS SMART CITY PLATFORM TO CITIES… Everywhere you looked at the recent Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, the message was clear that cities across the world are on-board with getting connected. Places such as Leeds and Tel Aviv were boasting about their technological innovations, and how adoption of technology could help people live a better quality of life. That’s

THE SMART CITY COULD LEAD TO A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE.

the message that was also coming out of the big tech firms that were at the event, including Microsoft, Nokia and Huawei; technology can lead to better cities.

So, why are cities so interested in smart technology? Well, it’s quite simple.

There are a number of benefits that can be afforded to city governments from the use of technology. Whether it’s

December 2018 | 21

SMART CITY TECHNOLOGY

saving money through lighting control, or providing first responders with an exact location of an incident. The whole idea of a smart city is to provide the city government with as much data as possible to efficiently do its job.

Some will say that the amount of data gathered by an ultra-smart city will be ‘creepy’ and that it’s a total invasion of privacy, and to some extent, they’d be right. The point of smart cities isn’t to be invasive, however, it’s to make cities more ‘liveable’ – and that was a common theme from around the Smart City Expo World Congress.

CAN TECHNOLOGY MAKE CITIES MORE LIVEABLE? When we think about liveable cities, we often think about simple human resources; whether it’s access to clean air, water or a space to live. Amsterdam’s approach is slightly different, however. According to Henk Van Raan, CIO, Amsterdam Johan Cruijiff Arena, the city is pursuing a policy of ‘smart and liveable by design’.

In essence, that means by taking a holistic approach to the design of the city – not siloing certain aspects, such as traffic management or mobility, but looking at the city as a whole, and how everything is intertwined. That means rather than looking at simply how smart lighting will affect the bottom line, it may be better at looking at what possibilities there are for smart lighting for the city as a whole – and what other technologies could complement it.

The important factor in the roll-out of smart cities will be the citizens. While governments will be gathering a colossal amount of data on its inhabitants, it needs to understand exactly what Henk said during the Smart City Expo World Congress, “We are not making the cities for ourselves, we’re making the cities for citizens.”

22 | December 2018

It’s why it’s so important that city governments are able to convey the benefits of smart technology effectively.

Looking around the Smart City Expo World Congress, it’s not exactly clear that they are quite up to that task just yet; there were many cameras and facial recognition systems on show, something that is definitely on the creepier end of the spectrum. This event was definitely not geared towards citizens, however.

Maybe that shows the priorities of city governments. Rather than focusing on the way technology can actually make cities more liveable, through better lighting, better traffic management and better city layouts, they were more focused on the authoritarian side of the technology. This sort of technology is already in-use in places such as China, where city officials can track individual members of the public as they move around the city through the use of AI and facial recognition.

Thankfully, there were some solutions that seemed to be genuinely useful to the average people. One example described by Huawei was how its smart city platform could help traffic lights work more efficiently. Through the use of sensors, the company’s AI was able to cut traffic jams at one junction in Shenzhen by 17.7%, and having rolled out this technology to even more areas around the city, it is now ranked as the 46th most congested city in the world – having previously been ranked fifth.

That’s not to say surveillance technology can’t be useful; it can help catch criminals, find the source of a fire, or generally keep law and order, but it’s rarely at the top of anyone’s list to be monitored more.

SMART CITY TECHNOLOGY

CAN HUAWEI DEFEAT POLITICAL FORCES? Huawei is one of the big names touting a smart city solution, and its recently launched Digital Platform for Smart Cities is its biggest offering yet – promising to tie together all of the city’s functions into one easy-to-manage platform.

Cities across the world have already adopted the solution, with the firm touting that more than 160 cities in over 40 countries have it integrated into their management operations. That includes places such as Duisburg in Germany and Sardinia in Italy.

Unfortunately, Huawei’s platform rollout is facing an uphill battle in some other nations, where the company itself has come under intense scrutiny. Australia banned Huawei’s technology from its 5G network in August, while in November the US government began advising allies against using Huawei technology. The firm has also hit a roadblock in Japan, with the nation once again considering banning it supplying equipment for a 5G network.

Now, while national governments are pushing back against Huawei, the firm insists that cities have nothing to worry about in regard to using its technology. In fact, Joe So, CTO of Huawei Enterprise Industry Solutions, hit back at the politicallymotivated attacks against the company, noting that if 45 of the top 50 global phone carriers can trust Huawei technology, then so can cities around the world.

There will still be issues for Huawei, however. With a hostile US government, it’s unlikely that its technology is going to be powering the big American cities anytime soon. Instead, the likes of Microsoft and IBM will make a concerted effort to hoover up contracts, leaving Huawei out in the cold. Thankfully, the company has better favour with the megacities of China.

Huawei doesn’t want to dominate the smart city market, however. The firm is

HUAWEI MAY WANT TO BE THE HUB OF THE SMART CITY, BUT IT’S RELYING ON PARTNERSHIPS TO PROLIFERATE.

“THERE’S NO DENYING THAT SMART CITIES ARE READY TO BE ROLLED OUT.”

taking an open approach to the industry, focusing on partnerships and collaboration.

It also realises that a successful smart city will need to be neither too business or technology-driven, and it must offer value for both the city and its inhabitants.

There’s no denying that smart cities are ready to be rolled out, and they already are in some instances. To be ubiquitous, however, cities need to be careful as to showcasing the benefits that a connected city will bring, rather than focusing on the controversial, data harvesting side. Huawei will also have to navigate the challenges of winning over cities in nations that have taken an increasingly sceptical stance on Chinese businesses, especially in the polarised world we live in. Whatever form the smart city takes, they’re here to stay. » HUAWEI, HUAWEI.COM

December 2018 | 23

COMPANY PROFILE: HUAWEI

1987: Huawei is officially formed by Ren Zhengfei, a former engineer in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. He reverse engineers foreign technologies to help build a domestic telecommunications network, which up until this point was fully reliant on imports from other nations.

1997: Thanks to a contract from Hutchison Whampoa, Huawei is on its way to becoming a global firm. Hong Kong is its first international market, not surprising given it was just a stone’s throw away from Shenzen, where the company was founded, but it will soon expand to new markets.

2001: The first instance of controversy hits Huawei, after it’s claimed that the firm has been producing technology for the Taliban in Afghanistan. This is vehemently denied by Huawei, but it didn’t stop articles surfacing claiming that those in the US intelligence community had tipped India’s agencies about possible illegal activities.

HUAWEI HAS HAD A TUMULTUOUS 2018 CULMINATING IN THE ARREST OF ITS CFO IN CANADA, BUT HOW DID IT GET HERE? DCNN CHRONICLES THE KEY MOMENTS

NO HUAW IN THE HISTORY OF THE CHINESE GIANT.

24 | december 2018

COMPANY PROFILE: HUAWEI

2009: The UK government is briefed

by Alex Allan, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. He claims that Huawei’s equipment is a potential threat to national security.

In response, the firm establishes the Cyber Security Evaluation Centre a year later, this would test its hardware against cybersecurity threats.

2011: Huawei pens an open letter which states that the security concerns surrounding its technology were ‘unfounded and unproven’, calling on the US government to investigate any part of the business it wishes.

Later that year, the Wall Street Journal reports that Huawei had become Iran’s leading provider of telecommunications equipment, including technology which could be used to spy on its citizens. Huawei denies that it had developed any such technologies.

March 2012: Australia’s government excludes Huawei from tendering for contracts with NBN Co., the corporation managing the construction of the country’s National Broadband Network.

This exclusion is due to concerns from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

July 14, 2012: ZTE, Huawei’s Chinese competitor, lands in hot water as the FBI opens a criminal investigation into the sale of banned US equipment to Iran.

WEI OUT december 2018 | 25

July 25, 2012: Huawei overtakes Ericsson as the world’s largest telecom equipment vendor for the first time.

October 8, 2012: The US House Intelligence Committee issues a report concluding Huawei and ZTE were a ‘national security threat’. A subsequent White House-ordered review finds no concrete evidence to support these claims, however.

Despite this, US networks were told not to buy networking equipment from Huawei or ZTE.

October 9, 2012: Canada invokes a national security exception to exclude Huawei from plans to build a secure government communications network.

26 | december 2018

March 7, 2016: The US Department of Commerce announces export restrictions on ZTE for violating sanctions against Iran and North Korea. This effectively bans the firm from sourcing components and parts from US suppliers, while US firms are also forbidden from buying equipment from ZTE without a special licence. This ban does not go into effect.

2014: The New York Times releases a report based on documents from Edward Snowden claiming that the NSA has been operating a covert program against Huawei. This operation supposedly involves breaking into Huawei’s internal network, and includes the interception of Ren Zhengfei’s communications.

2013: Michael Hayden, former head of the US National Security Agency and director of Motorola Solutions, claims to have seen hard evidence of backdoors in Huawei’s networking equipment. He says that the company is actively engaging in espionage and sharing intimate knowledge of foreign telecommunications networks with the Chinese government. Huawei’s global cybersecurity officer, John Suffolk, describes these comments as ‘tired, unsubstantiated, defamatory remarks’, challenging Hayden to produce evidence.

May 25, 2016: Canada announces plans to deny permanent resident visas to three Huawei employees, citing concerns that the applicants were involved in espionage, terrorism and government subversion.

March 8, 2017: ZTE agrees to pay a record $1.2 billion fine to the US government for violating sanctions against North Korea and Iran.

The settlement will also see ZTE reprimand all employees involved in the violations.

May 2017: A jury in the US agrees with T-Mobile that Huawei had committed industrial espionage against the company, with the court ordering Huawei to pay $4.8 million in damages.

January 2018: Congress puts forward the Defending US Government Communications Act, which would ban Huawei and ZTE products and equipment from US government entities and pressure the FCC to investigate the company. AT&T responds by calling off a deal to distribute Huawei phones through its network.

COMPANY PROFILE: HUAWEI

February 14, 2018: Heads of six US intelligence agencies testify to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence against the use of Chinese telecom products by any US citizens.

April 16, 2018: ZTE’s export ban is triggered, with the US Department of Commerce claiming that the firm had violated the terms of its agreement. The ban is scheduled to run for seven years and blocks ZTE’s access to US components and services.

April 25, 2018: Following ZTE’s ban, the US Justice Department announces it is investigating Huawei for violating US sanctions in Iran.

May 9, 2018: ZTE effectively shuts down due to the export ban, suspending major operating activities and the trading of its shares. Days later, US president Donald Trump states that he is working with Chinese president Xi Jinping to reverse the ban.

June 7, 2018: ZTE sends reprimand letters to 35 current and former employees involved in illegal sales to Iran, with the company also agreeing to pay a $1 billion fine and put an additional $400 million of suspended penalty money in escrow. In addition, the firm agrees to replace its entire senior management and establish a compliance department selected by the US Department of Commerce.

June 12, 2018: The US senate moves to block ZTE’s settlement with the National Defense Authorization Act. The senate criticises the deal for being a ‘personal favour’ between the two governments, citing that in May the Chinese government had loaned cash to an Indonesian theme park that includes a Trump golf course.

July 5, 2018: ZTE makes good on its promises, announcing that Xu Ziyang is to take over as CEO of the company.

July 13, 2018: The US government announces that it has lifted the export ban on ZTE, allowing the firm to resume operation.

July 19, 2018: A UK government report refuses to rule out that Huawei’s broadband and mobile infrastructure equipment poses a risk to national security, only offering ‘limited assurances’.

August 1, 2018: Following the US export ban, ZTE announces a Q1 net loss of 5.3 billion yuan, equal to over £600 million.

August 13, 2018: President Donald Trump signs the National Defense Authorization Act into law, with the final version having removed the opposition to the ZTE settlement.

This act still bans government departments from buying equipment ZTE and Huawei.

August 23, 2018: The Australian government bans Huawei and ZTE from the roll-out of its 5G network, once again citing national security concerns.

december 2018 | 27

COMPANY PROFILE: HUAWEI

August 28, 2018: Huawei seeks assistance from the Federal Trade Commission, citing that its restrictions in the US market are harming consumers. It reiterates that it is not a national security risk, and says it has been unfairly targeted by the US government.

September 17, 2018: The India Times reports that the Indian government has excluded Huawei and ZTE from trialling 5G in the country. Huawei denies this, noting that the Indian government remains ‘open and welcoming’ on 5G development. The company eventually gets an invite from the Indian government on October 5.

October 16, 2018: Two US senators reportedly pressure Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to ban Huawei from Canada’s 5G network, citing ‘grave concerns’ surrounding national security.

November 5, 2018: Reports from The Australian suggest that Huawei assisted the Chinese government in gaining access to a foreign network.

Huawei strongly denies it.

28 | december 2018

November 6, 2018: While earlier reports suggest that the UK government only has minor issues with the security threat posed by Huawei technology, it warns the UK telecoms industry that ‘rules may change’, and that firms should ‘take the review into consideration in any procurement decisions’. This is widely seen as a threat to Huawei and ZTE, which could see the companies banned from supplying equipment for the UK’s 5G network.

November 23, 2018: The Wall Street Journal claims that the US is pressuring allies to shun Huawei equipment; a move that surprises the Chinese electronics vendor.

November 27, 2018: Despite pressure from Australia and the US, Papua New Guinea sticks with Huawei for the deployment of new subsea cables.

November 28, 2018: New Zealand’s government bans Spark, the country’s second largest mobile operator, from using Huawei technology in its 5G roll-out. It becomes the third nation from the Five Eyes international intelligence alliance (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK and US) to ban Huawei equipment, joining Australia and US. The UK has permitted Huawei technology, while Canada is still carrying out its own security review.

December 1, 2018: Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, and the company CFO and deputy director, is arrested in Canada at the request of US authorities. Details of the arrest would not surface until five days later, with the arrest linked to the investigation into Huawei breaking US sanctions on Iran.

This arrest raises the prospects that Huawei could soon face a US exports ban, similar to the one imposed on ZTE.

December 5, 2018: BT drops Huawei equipment from the EE network, noting that it would remove existing products from its 3G and 4G network, and will cease work with the company on the development of 5G. EE had been a big supporter of Huawei’s early 5G trials in the UK.

December 7, 2018: Japan becomes the latest nation to ban government purchases of Huawei and ZTE. The EU’s technology commissioner, Andrus Ansip, also notes that countries ‘have to be worried’ about Chinese manufacturers. In response to national security concerns in the UK, Huawei pledges $2 billion to address any issues.

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CABINETS & RACKS

A BETTER WAY F

COLOCA DEPLOYM

30 | December 2018

CABINETS & RACKS

FOR

A ATION

MENTS

ccording to market research published on researchandmarkets. com, the global colocation data centre market is expected to grow to US $54.8 billion (£43.5bn) by 2020 with the European hotspots of London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris already ranking amongst the global top five colocation hubs, as stated in Cloudscene’s 2017 world ranking of colocation ecosystems. Considering these growth predictions, how can colocation data centre managers effectively expand their facilities quickly and cost effectively to meet rising demand?

ALBERTO ZUCCHINALI, DATA CENTRE SOLUTIONS & SERVICES MANAGER AT SIEMON COMPARES PRE-CONFIGURED CABINET SOLUTIONS TO TRADITIONAL CABINETS

December 2018 | 31

CABINETS & RACKS

SAVING TIME Selecting the right physical layer infrastructure components can substantially support the expansion process, shortening the time to go live.

When we consider the network cabling infrastructure of a data centre, opting for pre-terminated cabling assemblies as opposed to field-terminated solutions, for example, can speed up data centre deployment, and installation times can be reduced by up to 75%, while performance levels are guaranteed via factory testing and termination. In addition, new data centre cabinet solutions have entered the market that can also enable data centre expansion at a much faster rate.

Traditionally, installing and populating new data centre cabinets with the many individual components, such as patch panels, cable assemblies, enclosures, power distribution units (PDUs) etc., requires a substantial amount of time. This is because there are a number of steps involved until a cabinet is ready for the active equipment to be connected. Firstly, all components that have to be installed need to be moved from the delivery point to their final destination within the facility, and products have to be taken off pallets and positioned with their respective cabinets in preparation for installation. Once allocated to their respective cabinet, proper placement within the cabinet has to be determined based on documentation that also must be developed. Individual component packaging must then be opened, and the products mounted in place. Recycling and disposal of packaging materials is also part of this process. It is important to also note that many colocation facilities are banning the presence of cardboard packaging in the whitespace due to dust that can wreak havoc on sensitive fibre connections and transceivers. This requires separate staging space of off-site location for unpacking and mounting of components.

32 | December 2018

TRANSLATING THE PROCESS INTO NUMBERS

A study conducted for a well-known global data centre services provider calculated the total cost and labour hours required to set up an 18-cabinet data centre pod using traditional cabinets. Each cabinet was fitted with PDUs via mounting brackets, rack-mounted copper patch panels with horizontal cable managers, fibre enclosures with plug and play modules, and pre-terminated fibre and copper cable assemblies where each component had to be unpacked and installed.

CABINETS & RACKS

PRE-CONFIGURED CABINET SOLUTIONS CAN ACHIEVE SAVINGS OF UP TO 30% ON BOTH LABOUR TIME AND COSTS

The work resulted in 400 labour hours and total labour costs of £5,819.

Now imagine, the same 18-cabinet data centre pod could be assembled and be ready for the active equipment to be connected in only 284 hours and costing just £4,132, thereby achieving savings of 30% on both labour time and costs.

Wouldn’t this be an attractive option for data centre managers wanting to build new or expand an existing facility at rapid pace?

The key to achieving these time and costs savings are pre-configured cabinet solutions.

Pre-configured data centre cabinets are preloaded with components such as fibre or copper connectivity, power distribution units, cable management or other accessories. The cabinets are pre-assembled and packaged with all the components pre-mounted. These cabinets arrive on site ready to make the final connections and install any active equipment. Whilst pre-configured cabinets can carry a slightly higher price of about 5%, this is a small increase considering that these cabinets can save 30% on labour time and costs.

With pre-configured cabinets, each cabinet can be predesigned based on function or application, e.g. pre-configured cabinet designs for server cabinets, storage area network (SAN) cabinets, networking (i.e., switch) cabinets or cabinets designed based on power/cooling capacity, such as 5kW or 10kW. In addition, each pre-configured cabinet is identified by one unique part number and price per customer, which simplifies the ordering process and enables precise prediction of costs when expanding the facility.

PRE-CONFIGURED VS TRADITIONAL Compared to traditional cabinets, the number of steps involved in setting up this 18-cabinet pod with pre-configured cabinets is significantly smaller with on-site labour only requiring cabinet positioning, levelling and baying; individual port labelling per the customer specifications; and connecting of the copper and fibre cable assemblies.

Instead of receiving several different components with each and every one of them having to be located and installed in its specific cabinet, preconfigured cabinets substantially reduce the amount of work and time required to go live. But speed of deployment is only one aspect, another one is costs. With each cabinet coming at a fixed price, data centres can be expanded at much more predictable costs.

Just like with pre-terminated cabling solutions that are manufactured in a controlled factory environment, cabinet components are preloaded in that same environment too. This means that it is much easier to maintain consistency and quality compared to field installations where installation environments and skill level can vary. Last but not least, there are green benefits too. Not only do pre-configurated cabinets eliminate the environmental impact associated with transporting individual components separately, on-site packaging and waste is also significantly reduced, making preconfigured cabinets a much more environmentally friendly option. » SIEMON, SIEMON.COM

“WHILST PRE-CONFIGURED CABINETS CAN CARRY A SLIGHTLY HIGHER PRICE OF ABOUT 5%, THIS IS A SMALL INCREASE CONSIDERING THAT THESE CABINETS CAN SAVE 30% ON LABOUR TIME AND COSTS.” December 2018 | 33

IIOT

VICTOR AVELAR, DIRECTOR AND SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST OF SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC’S DATA CENTRE SCIENCE CENTRE. EXPLAINS THE EFFECT OF IIOT ON MANUFACTURING AND DATA CENTRES.

IIOT, THE F MANUFAC 34 | December 2018

IIOT

I

n one sense, industrial automation has been a feature of the manufacturing industry since the dawn of the industrial revolution. Machines have driven down cost, boosted output, and improved productivity by doing things more consistently and more cheaply than humans could possibly do.

Traditionally, however, this was achieved by mass production of largely identical products. Henry Ford’s famous dictum that purchasers of his Model T Ford could have ‘any colour you like as long as it’s black’, described perfectly the promise of the time: anybody could afford a car, but they’d all be driving the exact same one.

In today’s world of shorter product life cycles, greater customer choice, and the need to differentiate products rapidly and often, IT plays an increasingly important role in managing inventories, interacting with customers, and communicating throughout the supply chain. However, the deployment of IT systems to all parts of the enterprise has not yet become as pervasive in the manufacturing industry as it has in other industries such as finance and retail.

FUTURE OF CTURING December 2018 | 35

IIOT

With a 3D printer, connected to the IT network so that relevant design and manufacturing data can be called up instantaneously or as required, such manufacturing capacity could be shifted from a centralised production line to a location much closer to the point of sale, where parts can be built to order with obvious savings on inventory costs.

THE NUMBER OF THINGS CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET FAR EXCEEDS THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH

In part, this has been because opportunities for completely overhauling and refurbishing production lines present themselves less frequently in manufacturing environments, especially those producing complex and valuable products in areas such as the automotive and aerospace industries.

They usually only emerge at the end of life of a certain product line or when a new plant is being brought on stream. However, the desirability of making production lines ‘smarter’ and more responsive is driving IT deeper into areas of the manufacturing industry than it previously has ever been.

INDUSTRY 4.0 The Industry 4.0 initiative, for example, encourages manufacturing companies to make use of advances in technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT). With these technologies, data from hardware and manufacturing processes can be gathered, transmitted, and analysed to provide greater insights into how products can be produced more quickly and cost-effectively.

Other advances, such as 3D printing, bring the potential of ‘additive manufacturing’, which allows industrial companies to make low volume or customised parts cheaper than before. The customisation capabilities of additive manufacturing are obvious, but another potential use is in the production of spare parts for the automotive industry; for example, those which were made in bulk and then stored in a warehouse until they were needed.

36 | December 2018

DATA SUPPORT Such advances require the support of more data processing and storage to meet their potential. Inevitably these advances will require data centres for support.

For a start, many such localised or edge data centres will have to be located on premise, rather than dependent on applications stored in the cloud. Despite a trend among large manufacturing enterprises to consolidate data centres into a small number of large centralised facilities, this is met with much resistance from decision makers concerned with production. Latency is an issue for those gathering real time information on production processes. Therefore, the necessary data processing must take place at the edge of the network, close to the production facility, rather than further away.

According to the Infrastructure Masons, “An Edge location is a computing enclosure/space/facility geographically dispersed to be physically closer to the point of origin of data or a user base.”

For many of today’s businesses, moving data centres to the edge has become a matter of necessity; as networkenabled applications become more critical, the latency, or speed of reaction of IT infrastructure to data traffic, requires that local compute must be placed in closer proximity to where the data is needed or consumed.

In terms of prototype testing and development, complex products such as

IIOT “THE DESIRABILITY OF MAKING PRODUCTION LINES cars are subject to rigorous trials before the final model is delivered to customers.

These trials, too, generate data in such high quantities and with such significance that local processing and storage is preferred over the cloud-based approach.

THE CHALLENGES OF IIOT Naturally, there are challenges presented by deploying data centres inside a manufacturing facility. The environment is often harsh both in terms of airborne contaminants and the quality of the power supply. For cost reasons, one will want to deploy standard IT systems; for reliability and durability one will also need to protect the equipment against contaminants, noise, power surges, and mains disruption. As IT becomes more integrated with the production process, any downtime affects the output of the manufacturing plant itself.

Resilience must therefore be built in with special attention given to UPS configurations so that downtime from mains outages is minimised or eliminated altogether.

Cooling, too, can present problems in a harsh industrial environment. Containment in ruggedized enclosures may offer one solution but another potential approach may be to consider liquid cooling. A commonplace feature in the days of mainframe computing, liquid cooling is making a comeback and is now available either in direct-to-chip options, where processing hotspots on server chips are cooled by liquid-carrying elements, or in immersive cooling options where the entire server is immersed in a bath of dielectric.

The latter has the added advantage of providing protection against airborne contaminants in harsh environments such as a heavy industrial manufacturing plant.

Of course, security, both the physical and cyber, is a major issue for any manufacturing organisation. The more widely IT is deployed around an organisation, the

‘SMARTER’ AND MORE RESPONSIVE IS DRIVING IT DEEPER INTO AREAS OF THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY THAN IT PREVIOUSLY HAS EVER BEEN.” greater the potential for sabotage both malicious and inadvertent. Great care must be taken to prohibit physical access to vital manufacturing-related IT systems, and networks must be safeguarded against cyber attack by limiting direct access between disparate systems, so that unnecessary contact is avoided.

Nonetheless the advantages of extending IT integration throughout the production line are considerable. Thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT), real-time information on both manufacturing equipment and the supporting IT infrastructure can streamline activities and minimise downtime. Sensors on UPS systems, for example, can provide timely warning of maintenance updates such as battery replacements to avoid downtime.

Continuous monitoring of environmental issues, including temperature, can help improve the power efficiency of operations leading to cost savings. It may even become possible to interact with the power grid in a pre-emptive way, using surplus energy stored in batteries to reduce the power required from the grid and generate greater savings. All this is facilitated thanks to the greater intelligence provided by continuous monitoring of all elements in the power chain.

Thanks to the combination of edge computing, connected infrastructure technologies, advanced management software and data driven analytics, a highly responsive and more efficient manufacturing operation is fast becoming possible, and the industry 4.0 is fast becoming reality for today’s businesses. » SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC, SCHNEIDER-ELECTRIC.CO.UK

December 2018 | 37

INNOV ATION IIOT

INSEC URITY:

A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP? 38 | December 2018

IIOT

WITH IIOT TRANSFORMING THE WAY BUSINESSES RUN IN A BIG WAY, LEE EALEY-NEWMAN, DIRECTOR EMEA/APAC FOR PKI & IOT AT

O

DIGICERT EXPLAINS WHY EFFECTIVE SECURITY SOLUTIONS ARE VITAL nly a few years ago, the IoT would have felt like something out of science fiction. The collision of the digital and ‘real’ worlds will leave computing technology woven throughout our homes, cars and perhaps most significantly, our businesses too.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) offers perhaps the greatest possibilities

in an already possibility laden space. With all that excitement, it’s quite easy to miss the profound security considerations we’ll need to make if we want to keep moving forward safely.

DigiCert’s new 2018 State of IoT Security revealed that not taking IoT security seriously is sure to result in security mishaps – as 100% of our low tier respondents found – and millions in lost revenue every year. And when talking about the IIoT, those failures could be so much worse.

December 2018 | 39

IIOT

THE ‘THINGS’ BOOM The number of global IoT devices on earth is set to go over 11 billion this year and IIoT is moving in step with it.

The IIoT is set to transform business in its own way. With connected devices in industrial spaces, enterprises will be able to collect more information, from more places, faster. It’s that seemingly simple benefit that will transform business in a whole range of areas: plants will be safer and better managed, the supply chain will be more secure and efficient, costs will be saved, and intelligence will be richer and better distributed. That’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Still, it would be foolish to think that cyber criminals aren’t just as excited about this technological revolution as we are.

After all, the IoT boom has also meant a boom in the opportunities available to the ill-intentioned.

WHEN DATA VULNERABILITY BECOMES PUBLIC SAFETY Data is one thing, but the stakes increase somewhat when we think about safety critical infrastructure, like the IIoT. Suddenly, we’re no longer talking about weak Wi-Fi kettles and fitbits, which will probably leave owners largely safe from physical harm. Securing the IIoT could literally mean the difference between life and death.

From Stuxnet’s assault on the Iranian nuclear project to disgruntled employees wreaking havoc on their erstwhile employers’ paper factories, there are plenty of examples of what this kind of abuse might look like, especially when combined with the power of nation states or the access of an insider. Fortunately, most of these examples have stopped short of harming human life.

Furthermore, IIoT adoption will partly mean retrofitting – sometimes decades old – legacy systems. The air gap that

40 | December 2018

existed in the pre IoT age is soon to be filled in and those systems – saddled with misconfigured software and outdated hardware – were never designed to withstand a cyberattack. Retrofitting security into these systems will not necessarily fix all those problems and completely replacing them will be a long, costly and unpopular path to take.

To top that, there are as yet few security standards to govern this booming new field, potentially saddling the IIoT with the same problems as the IoT – that manufacturers rush these products to market with little thought for the notion that they might be the target of a dangerous attack.

TAKING THE INSECURITY OUT OF INNOVATION Given that safety critical nature, Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs) using digital certificates are providing a way to securely innovate everywhere that stands to gain from the IIoT. Particularly, manufacturers of connected devices coming onto the market can add PKI on the factory floor before devices hit the market, as a form of a security by design approach. This can assure better security and fewer costs from retrofitting after the fact.

In fact, PKIs using certificates allow users to circumvent some of the baked-in vulnerabilities of the IIoT. First and foremost, a strong PKI ecosystem can police the connections over vast IoT networks, filled with endpoints all talking to each other and sending data back and forth. It provides safe mutual authentication between those devices, systems and users, making sure that both ends of the transaction are trusted parties and ensuring the secure exchange of data.

A PKI infrastructure also encrypts the data between those sources, using the latest cryptography, so even if attackers do manage to steal data between

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THERE ARE FEW SECURITY STANDARDS THAT GOVERN THE IIOT

connections, they’ll have a hard time actually benefiting from it.

Using code signing certificates, an infrastructure like this can ensure the integrity of data over those large networks, and with secure boot, can make sure that none of the code on those devices has been tampered with.

All of this allows for unparalleled trust within that network and makes a cybercriminal’s job that much harder, forcing them to do better than a simple brute force, man in the middle, or social engineering attack on a gullible user or weak device.

Built on interoperable and standardised protocols open to all, and meant to encompass the grand worldwide web, PKI’s scalability makes it a good fit for industrial environments that are often tasked with overseeing heaps of endpoints which are increasingly hard to monitor.

Certificate-based PKI has already proved that it can operate at scale across web connected systems. It provides an authoritative security standard, which has been earnt over decades in and out of WebPKI. New technologies might always

come with risk, but time-tested and alwaysevolving solutions like PKI will allow you to trust the IIoT all the more.

Every potential reward comes with a risk and in few places is that clearer than in the IIoT. There is so much to be gained, but a lot to be lost too. In only the last few years we’ve seen attacks take down power in the dead of a Ukrainian winter, destroy a German steel mill, and obliterate the Iranian nuclear programme. Those examples are rare, but they remind us how connected systems can be exploited in profound ways.

For the moment, as device manufacturers improve their practices and governments consider regulations, IoT users will need to take the initiative themselves to seize these developments in a safe manner.

Companies deploying IoT implementations do not need to be alone. They should talk to experts with experience running certificatebased security at a large and global scale to help them architect the right solution. We would do well to remind ourselves how easy it is to confuse riding the train of history with lying down in front of it. » DIGICERT, DIGICERT.COM

December 2018 | 41

UPS

42 | December 2018

UPS

WHAT IS

A TRUE MODULAR UPS? MIKE ELMS, SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR, CENTIEL UK LTD EXPRESSES HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF WHAT IS

W

BEING DESCRIBED AS A ‘MODULAR SYSTEM’ BEFORE PURCHASING A UPS. hen people use the term ‘modular’ in the context of UPS systems it can have different interpretations to different individuals.

Therefore, it is important to analyse the nature of what is being described as a ‘modular system’ carefully when purchasing a UPS; ensuring the essential power of the datacentre is protected at all times.

When selecting a UPS system, the up-front CAPEX necessarily comes into question and this can lead organisations

sometimes securing at lesser cost but at the risk of buying a lesser product.

It is essential to check all proposals to ensure that you are being offered a modular system that really will do the job intended – i.e. protect the critical power of your datacentre with the highest level of availablity.

Paradoxically, the installation of a higher CAPEX, higher quality UPS system can realise cost savings over the long-term through increased efficiency, resulting in lower running costs and a lower overall total cost of ownership (TCO), so doing a full cost analysis is usually worth calculating.

December 2018 | 43

UPS

“IT MAY BE A MODULAR SYSTEM BY A DEFINITION BUT ITS LEVEL OF AVAILABILITY WILL NOT BE RELIABLE.”

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UPS

HOW CAN DATACENTRES SELECT A UPS THAT MAXIMISES AVAILABILILTY?

THE FACTS, WHAT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED BEFORE INVESTING IN A UPS?

Essentially, there must be no potential single points of failure. Understanding the configuration and the definition of a modular system carefully, before the deal is done, is therefore critical.

At the most basic level, a single standalone UPS unit that protects a critical load is known as an N system configuration. However, a standalone UPS lacks any resilience in the event that the unit develops a fault or is offline for preventative maintenance. Paralleling a second standalone UPS unit of the same rating, provides resilience and is known as an N+1 configuration. It would be possible to parallel several standalone units together of an individual smaller rating to give the same philospohy. For example, if we took this to the extreme we could have 101 x 1KVA UPS units in parallel which would still offer 100KVA N+1 configuration.

Obviously this wouldn’t be practical but you get the idea. By using this concept it could be described – at the most simple level – as a modular UPS system.

However, there does need to be the associated electrical infrastructure – switchgear etc. to be able to add more standalone units.

Another definition of modular is a standalone UPS designed and manufactured in a modular format. The main component parts of rectifier, inverter and static switch are modular, that is to say they can be withdrawn/inserted as a single component. If there is a problem with say the recitfier for example, it can be swapped easily. The challenge with this configuration is that if one component does fail, the whole UPS functionality goes down with it. It may be a modular system by a definition, but its level of availability will not be reliable.

TRULY MODULAR A better solution is what we term: a true modular UPS. This is where several individual UPS modules are contained within a frame.

All the individual modules are UPSs in their own right, all containing a recifier, inverter and static switch and all operating online in parallel with each other. For example eight 20kW UPS modules may typically be contained within a single frame offering a resilient configuration of 140KWs N+1. Various frame and module sizes are available. If required, it takes moments (around 30 seconds) to ‘hot-swap’ a module while the rest of the modules continue to protect the critcal load. At no point does the system need to be transferred to maintenance bypass and hence on raw mains.

Some other modular systems include the rectifier and inverter within their modules but the static switch is a centralised and separate component. This results in a potential single point of failure. It may only take a few moments to replace a separate static switch, but, depending on location, getting to the site to replace it may take a maintance engineer several hours. During that time the system cannot transfer to static bypass.

With a true modular system, where the static switch is included in each module, the rest of the modules in the UPS frame continue to protect the load until it can be replaced. This increases the level of availablity dramatically.

At Centiel we have developed our pioneering fourth generation true modular UPS system CumulusPower which offers industry-leading availability of 99.9999999% (nine, nines), with low total cost of ownership (TCO) through its Maximum Efficiency Management (MEM) and low losses of energy. Our design team has been working with data centres for many years at the forefront of technological development and we are the trusted advisors to some of the world’s leading institutions in this field. » CENTIEL, CENTIEL.CO.UK

December 2018 | 45

UPS

WHY IT’S TIME MAKE THE M TO MODULAR CHRIS CUTLER, DATA CENTRE EFFICIENCY EXPERT FOR RIELLO UPS, EXPLAINS HOW MODULAR UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLIES DELIVER BOTH ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS.

T

he demands on data centres have never been greater. Our personal and professional lives are driven by the Internet of Things (IoT). Indeed, within the next five years there’ll be more than 600 million connected devices in the UK, with the impending introduction of 5G superfast internet placing even greater burdens on storage and processing.

That’s why data centre capacity in the UK will soon top 900,000m2. But all these server rooms are power-hungry.

Electricity accounts for more than half a typical operator’s total running costs.

46 | December 2018

In the UK alone, data centres consume more than three terawatt hours of power per year. Large facilities eat up 30 GWh of power, an eye-watering annual electricity bill topping £3 million.

Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) are an essential part of any data centre’s infrastructure, minimising the risk of damaging downtime. Yet while resilience and reliability remain the key criteria any UPS system will be judged against, in an increasingly energy-conscious environment, improved efficiency is a crucial factor too.

Thankfully for data centre operators, there’s a solution that ticks all these boxes – the modular UPS.

UPS

E TO MOVE R

December 2018 | 47

UPS

A MODULAR REVOLUTION Until recent years, a UPS system has tended to be a sizeable static tower. Such large units can only achieve peak efficiency when carrying heavy loads of 80-90%. More often than not, capacity is oversized during initial installation to incorporate the necessary redundancy in case of power failure and to provide scope for future expansion.

The consequence of this is a UPS running inefficiently on lower than optimum loads, wasting considerable energy.

Add in the fact that older, transformerbased power supplies pump out vast amounts of heat so need lots of energyintensive air conditioning, and many IT managers are left counting the cost in the shape of huge electricity bills.

However, the evolution of modular UPS provides performance as good – if not better – than its predecessors, with the added benefit of huge advances in efficiency too.

Rather than the sizeable standalone old-style units, modular systems such as our award-winning Multi Power are made up of several rackmount-style individual modules paralleled together to deliver capacity and redundancy.

This reduces the risk of wasteful oversizing at installation, because capacity closely matches a data centre’s actual load requirements. This means less wasted energy, so lower electricity bills, while it also minimises initial infrastructure investment too – you aren’t paying for capacity you don’t yet need. When it’s time for expansion though, modular systems offer in-built scalability to easily ‘pay as you grow’ by adding in more modules.

Because they are manufactured using transformerless technology, modular UPS operate at efficiency up to 96% even when carrying loads as low as 20%. Compare that to the peak performance of the oldstyle systems (90-94%) and the energy savings quickly start adding up.

48 | December 2018

In addition, a modular UPS is smaller and lighter. This means they generate far less heat so don’t require anywhere near as much electricity-guzzling air conditioning.

The principle of modularity also offers maintenance benefits. Each individual power module and battery pack is hot swappable, meaning they can be serviced or even replaced without the entire UPS system needing to go offline – the in-built redundancy means the other modules simply pick up the slack.

SIGNIFICANT SAVINGS IN A SMALLER FOOTPRINT We recently upgraded the power protection in two data centres central to one of the UK’s biggest consumer goods suppliers. Originally installed in 2007, they were made up of transformer-based 400 and 800 kVA units operating at low loads ranging from 12-25%. Overall UPS efficiency averaged just 92%, meaning kilowatts of energy being wasted.

The big, inefficient units also needed constant air conditioning – 414 kW of electricity a year for cooling alone, an annual bill of £315,000.

Replacing these dated UPS with modern modular Multi Power units boosted overall efficiency from 92% to 96%. This reduced waste and cut the customer’s annual electricity bill by £335,000. Air conditioning was slashed by 72% and carbon emissions dropped by a similar percentage too. Overall energy savings totalled 1.25 million kWH, enough electricity to power more than 300 houses for a year.

Incredibly, all these economic and environmental improvements were produced in half the original space, with the upgrade delivering a 59% per m2 footprint reduction. Talk about doing more with less!

UPS

TIME TO MAKE THE MOVE All critical power protection systems have a natural shelf-life, with accepted industry best practice suggesting a UPS should be replaced every 7-10 years.

For data centre operators facing up to this situation any time soon, the wideranging benefits of modular UPS make a compelling case.

Economic gains such as lower electricity bills and greater control over total cost of ownership go hand-in-hand with environmental advantages including reduced waste and carbon emissions. All without compromising overall system resilience.

There are a couple of other factors to consider too. Because modular UPS has a far smaller footprint, it frees up server room space that could be used to squeeze in lucrative additional racks.

This spare real estate can even be used to transform a UPS from a purely reactive, often underutilised piece of equipment into a proactive power generator. Most modular UPS are compatible with lithium-ion batteries, so the free space could be used instead to install sizeable battery blocks that store energy.

In essence, this turns a UPS into a ‘virtual power plant’ saving off-peak electricity to be used instead of more expensive mains supply during peak periods. Surplus power can even be sold back to the National Grid, helping balance the country’s electricity network through various demand side response (DSR) mechanisms.

Many data centres have been reluctant to get involved with DSR so far, citing concerns over employing backup power for anything other than guaranteeing uptime in case of emergency. But using the batteries of a UPS for storage doesn’t make them more likely to fail. It’s actually the opposite – resilience is enhanced because the batteries are constantly in use and monitored.

“WITHIN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS THERE’LL BE MORE THAN 600 MILLION CONNECTED DEVICES IN THE UK, WITH THE IMPENDING INTRODUCTION OF 5G SUPERFAST INTERNET PLACING EVEN GREATER BURDENS ON STORAGE AND PROCESSING.”

As we head into 2019, a shift towards smart grids seems the only viable option to help maintain the ever-tricky balance between increasing demand and limited supply. Data centres can’t afford to sit on their hands and expect everyone else to come up with a solution. Thanks to the continued growth of modular UPS, they can become part of the solution, enjoying the environmental and financial rewards whilst ensuring a sustainable power supply for wider society. » RIELLO UPS, RIELLO-UPS.CO.UK

December 2018 | 49

OPINION: REMOTE WORKING

REMOTE WORKING IN 2019 DOMINIK BIRGELEN, CEO OF ONECLICK EXPLAINS WHY REMOTE

R

WORKING WILL SHAPE THE WORKPLACE OF THE FUTURE IN 2019.

emote working, which can also be considered as the ‘workplace of the future’, is one of the most important challenges that companies are currently facing. The traditional desk based nine-till-five working day is what modern and innovative workplaces are starting to fade out, and with great success.

In terms of professional workspaces, 2018 has seen a particular influx of workers taking to the comfort of their own homes to replicate an office environment; in turn, increasing their productivity. For employees, features and applications, convenience, ease of use, and positive user experience are paramount in creating an ideal working environment. In fact, with 70% of people globally working remotely at least once a week, it’s obvious employees see this as a preferred option going forward.

50 | December 2018

STAYING CONNECTED WITH UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS With increasing numbers taking to the comfort of their own homes, there are crucial factors that must be addressed in 2019 for a seamless transition, such as the simple yet pivotal notion of sharing documents freely without compromising security and maintaining version control.

With the cloud, it becomes easier than ever to improve internal collaboration though unified communications. Whether employees are working in the heart of Mexico or Moscow, migrating business files to the cloud, allows employees from all over the world to work together as if they were right next to each other. With voice and video calls, instant messaging and conferencing all enabled in a unified communication solution, workers are contactable regardless of their location,

OPINION: REMOTE WORKING

“WHETHER EMPLOYEES ARE WORKING IN THE HEART OF MEXICO OR MOSCOW, MIGRATING BUSINESS FILES TO THE CLOUD, ALLOWS EMPLOYEES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD TO WORK TOGETHER AS IF THEY WERE RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER.”

WILL WE SEE A SURGE IN REMOTE WORKING IN 2019?

December 2018 | 51

OPINION: REMOTE WORKING

WITH GROWING DEMAND TO WORK ON ANYTHING, ANYWHERE, THE CLOUD COULD BE THE ANSWER TO BOOSTING PRODUCTIVITY

ensuring the business still runs efficiently.

Team collaboration can be made stronger despite being apart, with conference calls via video, voice and mobile devices with powerful screen and document sharing built in the cloud solution.

BOOST PRODUCTIVITY WITH THE CLOUD Looking to the new year, businesses will be evaluating their current employee working situation – whether staff work remotely or in the office – it all of course depends on which method is seen to generate the most productive team. Employee productivity is key to a successful business, as without it organisations lose creative innovation which impairs their ability to stay relevant, competitive and profitable. Creating a new work ecosystem in which staff are able to use new technologies to work together to develop solutions, is an example of how to maintain healthy staff productivity.

Companies will experience an increase in

52 | December 2018

profitability as it becomes less expensive to produce their goods and services as a result of their staff productivity levels increasing.

Outdated and insufficient technical equipment often dissatisfies employees, encouraging them to fall back on their own equipment or download solutions without informing the internal IT department. This is obviously a huge security risk as well as a productivity hindrance. Those who think technology is effective in their business are generally more creative, content and productive, therefore unattractive equipment loses the business and interest from potential skilled employees – especially generation Z individuals who expect the latest technology. Missing out on these innovative minds may impede the businesses future in 2019, a year extremely important for business survival amid Brexit motions.

Remote workers are granted the privilege to choose the technology they use in order to complete working tasks.

This could well be a contributing factor to why remote workers actually tend to be

OPINION: REMOTE WORKING

more productive than their office-dwelling counterparts. In fact, remote workers are around 13% more productive. The increased flexibility and no time-consuming commute are also important benefits which make remote working so appealing.

With the cloud, remote and office-based workers are able to eliminate the timeconsuming, and often unsecure process, of sending files back and forth over email with a more efficient collaboration system that enables employees to access files from one central location, improving productivity.

With around one-third of home-based workers using cloud storage, we can expect this number to grow even further.

In contrast, the workplace spend 73% of the time taking notes with ‘analog’ writing material, restricting the ability to freely share information between colleagues.

Cloud abilities allow remote and office workers to stay connected and share files through one portal, making it an easy business decision for directors to choose a more efficient future for their business.

COMPLYING WITH THE MOBILITY NEED There seems to be a rising desire to work on anything, anywhere, without technology being the reason to stop us doing this.

Coffee shops and trains are just some of the places society now expects white collared employees to work openly. These environments have also adapted to our need to have free Wi-Fi and plug sockets openly available.

It seems the fad of remote working is here to stay, therefore with the ever-rising number of remote workers, working from different areas the cloud makes a great solution to stay just as connected as if they were in an office. In fact, some cloud solutions only require the user’s device to have a connection to a web browser. This also ensures that shared document data

can be edited in real time regardless of where they are.

MINIMISE THE SECURITY SCARE However, having the freedom and mobility attached to working remotely does come with its risks. As previously mentioned, remote workers sometimes use their own devices from unauthorised IP addresses which can make it difficult for the IT department to track which users are exactly staff members, often granting access to unauthorised personnel and downloads.

In fact, it was found that most Wi-Fi-related security incidents occurred at cafes and coffee shops.

Cyber breaches have the ability to crush an organisation, with evidence in its masses from this year’s headlines like Facebook, Under Armour and MyHeritage.

Through innovative workplace solutions, companies are able to prevent security breaches like these for 2019 as a result of remote working. Specific cloud providers offer single sign-on features which permits the individual to use one set of login credentials as well as identity management to further secure the shared cloud platform.

Despite its few flaws, remote working should be endorsed by organisations to achieve profitable results. Employee productivity is boosted, which in turn benefits the company’s ability to produce more product and generate greater ROI. Staff who work remotely shouldn’t be considered a liability for a business when the cyber threats involved can easily be avoided through the right cloud solution.

Cloud platforms are able to deliver and distribute data and applications securely and easily. So, will 2019 be the year that organisations grab the remote working life by the cloud? » ONECLICK, ONECLICK-CLOUD.COM

December 2018 | 53

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

INTERCITY TECHNOLOGY: DRIVING TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION IN THE MIDLANDS Enterprise mobility, cloud and IT security specialist, Intercity Technology, has pledged an investment of over £2 million into the Birmingham region over the next year; and is hoping to cement its position as a driving force for technology and innovation in the Midlands.

The initial phase of the project is said to begin with the construction of the company’s flagship data centre, which will complement its existing facilities in Bolton, Elstree, and third-party data centres in London, Washington and Hong Kong; providing the additional infrastructure needed to support its growing pool of customers and facilitate future expansion.

Built to meet Tier 3 certification requirements, the new data centre promises to have a fully backed-up power supply and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, ensuring 99.982% availability for its customers’ applications and data, as well as supporting up to 100 racks and 0.5MW power budget.

54 | December 2018

The company says a private high-capacity network will also provide resilient connectivity to other Intercity Technology data centres, as well as data centres in London and Manchester with interconnects to over 140 private and public service providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.

Intercity Technology says it plans to invest the remainder of the funds into completely redesigning its headquarters to provide a technology experience centre for customers and a revamped environment for colleagues, alongside an auditorium and hot desking space to enable customers and other organisations to benefit further from the team’s specialist IT knowledge.

This investment follows a period of intense growth for the company over the last three years, including the acquisitions of both Gage Networks and Imerja.

INTERCITY TECHNOLOGY, INTERCITY.TECHNOLOGY

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

MANCHESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB PARTNERS WITH ACRONIS Acronis, a global technology company specialising in hybrid cloud solutions, has announced a global technology partnership with Manchester City Football Club. As part of the partnership, Acronis says it will assist the club to enhance and develop its data backup and storage capabilities.

In top flight football, teams rely on data to review their own performance and analyse the opposition. Developing a winning game plan involves meticulous analysis of many key elements, including passes, touches, set piece goals, player heat maps, and much more — which are studied before, during and after every match in order to get that vital competitor edge over the opposition.

Partnering with Acronis, the reigning English Premier League champions will be able to significantly optimise data management. By having all data, applications, and systems efficiently

backed up and ready to be restored, Acronis says it will open new opportunities for what can be done with all available data, helping the club to reach new goals.

“At the highest level of competition, data is a critical asset.

Acronis’ technology is perfectly suited for high-pressure, digitally intensive environments. We are proud to partner with this great club and look forward to our joint projects in the future. We are confident this partnership will benefit Manchester City, Acronis, and all our partners and customers,” said John Zanni, president of Acronis.

Technology, data in particular, is increasingly important to teams in this ever-developing digital age.

So much so, that during the days leading up to important matches, data is available through iPads in the Manchester City locker room so that

players can review historical data with their coaches and make lastminute adjustments to the playbook.

It is also vital for the team to analyse data in their post-match analysis.

Damian Willoughby, senior vice president of partnership at City Football Group, added, “We are delighted to announce this new partnership with Acronis. A football club like Manchester City has a huge volume of data – covering everything from our players and fans to the day to day operation of our business – and we are excited to leverage Acronis’ expertise to enhance our data storage and backup functions. Acronis shares City’s passion for innovation and utilising the latest technologies and we look forward to working with them as our partnership progresses.”

ACRONIS, ACRONIS.COM

December 2018 | 55

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

ARQIVA AND CITYFIBRE: 5G-READY PILOT PROJECT Arqiva, a UK communications infrastructure company, and CityFibre, the UK’s alternative provider of wholesale full fibre infrastructure, have revealed details of what it professes to be the UK’s largest pilot of wholesale, 5G-ready small cell infrastructure.

The multi-million-pound pilot project in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham promises to create a brand-new 15km high density fibre network, which is multi-operator capable and provides the bandwidth for mobile network operators (MNOs) to explore advanced technology including centralised C-Ran architecture and 5G. The network consists of a fibre ring with over 90

56 | December 2018

cabinets to enable the sharing of the infrastructure.

The fibre network, installed

by CityFibre, is said to provide operators with increased, scalable and cost-effective backhaul capacity, giving any MNO the ability to quickly and easily deploy small cells to connect businesses and residents to the ultra-fast 5G network. The companies say that the pilot has proven the ability of CityFibre’s networks, deployed as part of its recently announced £2.5 billion full fibre investment programme, to provide a national backhaul solution for 5G rollouts.

The London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham is home to around 180,000 people living in about 84,000 households in an area of 6.3 square miles.

The density of its population will put extra pressure on telecoms connectivity as demand for voice and data continues to grow exponentially.

Arqiva was awarded the concession contract with Hammersmith & Fulham in 2014, allowing the company to make use of the borough’s street assets – including lampposts – to place communications equipment.

Arqiva says that the street assets are critical to network densification and are an integral part of the network rollout; along with the deployment of cabinets at street level which provide a shared space for multiple MNO small cells. Working closely with the borough, Arqiva says it selected the most appropriate locations for the infrastructure to provide the greatest benefit to users.

David Crawford, managing director of telecoms and M2M at Arqiva, said, “This pilot network is a massive step forward for mobile and fixed wireless connectivity in London. We are showing that ubiquitous high-speed connections using dark fibre and small cells are possible and we are delighted to be leading the way with our pilot in Hammersmith & Fulham.

As demand for data continues to increase exponentially, the pressures on networks will continue to grow and densification using street furniture and small cells is critical to deliver the network of the future.”

ARQIVA, ARQIVA.COM

PROJECTS & AGREEMENTS

BOSTON NETWORKS ACQUIRES 2020 VISION SYSTEMS AS IT STEPS UP GROWTH PLANS

Boston Networks, the Glasgow-based smart integrated solutions business, has completed the acquisition of 2020 Vision Systems as it accelerates its ambitious plans for UK growth.

The purchase of North Shields-based 2020, for an undisclosed sum, is the latest step in an overall strategy to establish Boston Networks as the UK midmarket leader in network enabled smart integrated technologies to improve the performance safety and security of buildings, campuses and cities.

2020 is a specialist in IP-enabled security technology, video surveillance, access control and converged security solutions, and has a particularly strong presence in NE England and the Midlands, including a satellite office in Birmingham.

The management team at 2020, which has grown over the last 25 years into a security provider of choice for public and private sector organisations in many sectors including education, health, local government, utilities and transportation, will continue to manage the business, working closely with Boston Networks CEO Scott McEwan and Boston’s executive management team.

The deal, which brings the staff count of the overall Boston Group to 170, is the second acquisition since

specialist investment fund Aliter Capital acquired a major stake in Boston Networks in January this year. Boston, established in 2000, is an integrated technologies specialist working across IT network infrastructure, with a focus on IoT, life safety, security and smart building solutions.

Scott McEwan, Boston Networks CEO said, “We look forward to leveraging 2020’s many years of experience of working in key areas of critical physical security, which will help us to drive towards the next phase of our growth as we continue to focus on applying technology to improve the performance, safety and security of people, buildings and assets. In particular this acquisition further deepens our services in the further education sector, enhances our existing security offering through the cloud platform and significantly spreads our geographic coverage.”

Peter Houlis, 2020 Vision Systems managing director, who is exiting the company but who will continue as a consultant concluded, “I believe the partnership between 2020 and Boston Networks, with the support of Aliter, gives the company a major platform for growth in the years ahead.”

BOSTON NETWORKS, BOSTONNETWORKS.CO.UK

December 2018 | 57

COMPANY SHOWCASE

SPONSORED STORIES FROM THE INDUSTRY

HOW TO INCREASE DATA CENTRE UPTIME? Whether or not a service level agreement can be upheld may depend on how efficient data centre troubleshooting is. Carefully checking each cable takes too much time, and carelessly unplugging the wrong cable can take webshops, apps or transactional sites offline. Brady Corporation says it offers reliable labels that are designed to reliably identify any data centre cable, server, component and rack to take the guesswork out of troubleshooting.

58 | december 2018

EFFICIENT TROUBLESHOOTING Trying to determine which cable to unplug and replace or reconnect can be a daunting task in data centres. It is like finding a specific needle in a haystack: a challenge that is time devouring and nerve racking, especially when high level applications are down and agreed service levels are threatened. Imagine if someone were to unplug the wrong cable, and more servers went down – a mistake has the potential to wreak havoc. To avoid all this, Brady says its reliable identification solutions enable data centre technicians to quickly retrieve the cable they need.

LABEL IT ONCE The company boasts that its reliable labels, with adhesives for curved and flat surfaces, stay attached to every cable and component. As a result, Brady says identification will be in place when fast troubleshooting is necessary to avoid downtime. Label sizes and shapes are available to easily identify any rack, server, component, STP, UTP and COAX cables, and the company also offers a flag shaped label designed for minimum fibre optic cable contact with maximum available space for identification data.

SPONSORED STORIES FROM THE INDUSTRY

COMPANY SHOWCASE

EXTREME NETWORKS DEBUTS NEW HARDWARE/SOFTWARE FOR AGILE DATA CENTRE SOLUTION Extreme Networks is bringing new hardware and software to its Agile Data Centre solution, with the latest additions promising to offer a ‘path to the new, agile data centre’.

The new launches include secure, plug-and-play technology which combines acquired data centre networking and automation tools with Extreme Networks’ management, analytics and security capabilities.

This new hardware and software claims to reduce the risk and mitigate the complexity involved in deploying and managing multi-vendor environments and transitioning legacy architectures.

“For Extreme, interoperability means more than just a myriad of APIs. It means delivering real, multi-vendor capabilities that meet the needs of the modern enterprise – the types our competitors don’t like to talk about.

With our new Agile Data Centre Solution, we are walking the talk,” noted Nabil Bukhari, senior vice president of products, Extreme Networks.

The claimed benefits of Extreme Networks’ solutions include:

EASY TO DESIGN AND PRINT Brady’s workstation app platform promises to offer an array of label design capabilities that cover almost every data centre identification need. Cable, component and rack labels, and even facility signs and identification can be designed in a few steps. Designs can easily be sent to a Brady label printer for on-site printing, so the new label can be applied immediately.

C ross-domain IT automation: Extreme Workflow Composer, powered

by Extreme’s StackStorm platform, enables customised cross-domain, multi-vendor IT automation, enabling full integration of compute, storage, security and network resources.

A utomation at your pace: Extreme Embedded Fabric Automation enables plug-and-play data centre fabric creation within seconds for a fabric of any size – with no need for additional software or servers.

Customers can automate at their own pace with customisable workflows using popular tools such as Ansible, as well as the ability to move to full IT automation with Extreme Workflow Composer.

S ingle pane of glass management: The Extreme Management Centre platform delivers end-to-end, multi-vendor management and monitoring capabilities across the entire network – from the wired/wireless edge and campus to the data centre – reducing administration time and speeding issue resolution.

EXTREME NETWORKS, EXTREMENETWORKS.COM

BRADY CORPORATION, BRADYID.COM

december 2018 | 59

NEXT ISSUE: CABLING/SAAS & IAAS

SAAS

IAAS

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