Networks Ireland-Issue 2 February 2015

Issue 2 February 2015

Case Study

Feature

Case Study

Improving Network Management

Maintaining Accurate Data with DCIM

Driving Business Strategy

The Dedicated Title for the Irish Network and Data Communications Industry

Your data centre is complex, but your DCIM solution doesn’t need to be.

Cormant-CS: The Easy-to-Use DCIM Solution Cormant-CS DCIM removes complexities for your DCIM success. The easy-to-use software suite manages the full lifecycle of your data centre and campus IT assets and connections in a single view.

Mobility enables 2-click changes to be recorded at the site of the change while Workflow coordinates schedules, tasks and team communication. A simple UI and full configurability ensure the software is properly used and updated to maintain accurate data. See how user-friendly DCIM can be by scheduling your Cormant-CS demo today.

For more information, contact: Darren Walsh darren@temple.ie +353 (0)87 9890390 Visit us at www.cormant.co.uk

CONTENTS

Maintaining Accurate Data with DCIM 06

Network Infrastructure: Northern Health

42

REGULARS News 05 CASE STUDIES Recycling - it’s an art form for N2S The concept of the circular economy

12

A New Digital Strategy 16 Eason and Son use Microsoft to drive transformational retail and business strategy.

Core Transmission Networks 16 BT pave the way for full commercial deployment of 200Gbps and 400Gbps speeds on the BT Ireland core transmission network TransUnion Credit 24 Financial Services Organization Saves $1.5M with groundbreaking IP platform.

Core Transmission Networks 20 400Gbps to be made available to BT Ireland commercial network customers from March 2015.

Improving Performance 44 Sleepless Server Solutions Ltd goes in search of storage providers.

Network Infrastructure 42 Northern Health and Social Care Trust Selects ForeScout CounterACT for Real-time Network Visibility.

Automated Infrastructure Management Plasan deploys advanced network

e-space North Business Centre 181 Wisbech Rd, Littleport, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB6 1RA Tel: +44 (0)1353 865403 info@networksireland.com www.networksireland.com

Core Transmission Networks 16

Plasan Deploys Advanced Netork 46

CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE Flash Architecture Evaluating storage for applications DATA CENTRES Optimising IT Maintaining Accurate Data with DCIM

40

06

Improving Data Centre Efficiency Unravelling the barriers to wider adoption of DCIM solutions

10

Raritan DCIM Software Integrating DCIM software and IT service management

NETWORKS Gigabit Compliance How bandwidth is changing the network landscape

28

22

IT SYSTEMS Automated Cooling Control Making use of data-collection and analysis

36

OPINION Network Labelling is Now a Must-Do Charlotte Hilton explains the importance of network labelling

14

STRUCTURED CABLING Future Proofing Your Network Tony Robinson navigates the challenges surrounding migration

32

46

LGN Media, a subsidiary of The Lead Generation Network Ltd Publisher & Managing Director: Ian Titchener Editor: Nick Wells Production Manager: Rachel Titchener Creative Director Andy Beavis Financial Controller: Samantha White The views expressed in the articles and technical papers are those of the authors and are not endorsed by the publishers.

The author and publisher, and its officers and employees, do not accept any liability for any errors that may have occurred, or for any reliance on their contents.

All trademarks and brandnames are respected within our publication. However, the publishers accept no responsibility for any inadvertent misuse that may occur.

This publication is protected by copyright Š 2014 and accordingly must not be reproduced in any medium. All rights reserved.

Networks Ireland stories, news, know-how?

Please submit to nick@lgnmedia.co.uk

NETWORKS IRELAND 3

FOREWARD

Maintaining Data Accuracy Welcome to the February issue of Networks Ireland, your fix of IT news, features and opinion. Communications infrastructure is fast emerging as the crucial enabler for improving network management. With increasing demand for computing power, storage and connectivity combined with more powerful consumer devices, growth of strategic trends like mobile computing, server virtualisation and the public cloud continues to drive innovation and productivity. The recent release of the Automated Infrastructure Management (AIM) standard for data centres in the EU has obvious applications where it could provide a much-needed focus on efficiency for IT departments who are having to track more data than ever before. It’s been designed to put an end to guesswork and ensure accurate documentation of all network components and their connections. The AIM standard also adds an extra layer of security to communications networks by guarding from unauthorized moves and changes. When the process for maintaining data accuracy is easy, I’m sure that IT Departments will to see the difference in results. Turn to page 46 to find out how RiT Technologies helped Plasan, an international provider of advanced ballistic protection solutions, benefit from implementing such DCIM technology.

Elsewhere, Darren Walsh, Business Development Manager at Temple, and Julie Mullins, Head of Marketing at Cormant, Inc. discuss getting value from a DCIM solution. Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who has emailed in this month. If there’s anything you’d like to see in these pages, then we want to know about it.

Best Regards, Nick Wells, Editor, Networks Ireland

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NEWS

RETN Deploys Infinera 500G Super-Channels Across Europe

I

nfinera, provider of Intelligent Transport Networks, and RETN, an international network service provider, have announced the deployment of the Infinera DTN-X packet optical transport networking platform across RETN’s Pan-European network. The Infinera Intelligent Transport Network, featuring the DTN-X platform, enables RETN to differentiate its service offerings and increase network efficiency as it scales network capacity across its extensive Pan-European backbone.

RETN operates a backbone that stretches over 30,000 kilometres of fiber and connects 26 countries across Europe, Asia and North America. RETN has selected the Infinera DTN-X to power its network core and its crucial points of presence that are located in Europe. RETN’s homogeneous PanEuropean network infrastructure along with associated Internet Protocol circuits is capable of providing 100 gigabit per second (Gb/s) services on multiple routes in Europe. “RETN’s global footprint is growing rapidly due to constantly

increasing traffic between different territories on the one hand, and RETN’s intention to address our customers’ geographical interests and to improve their connectivity between the world’s largest telecommunications nodes,” said Anthony O’Sullivan, Director at RETN Ltd. “At the moment, the RETN network has a total capacity of 5 Tb/s on the four main traffic routes and handles a considerable amount of international Internet traffic.

In order to respond to the traffic growth, we need to scale our network, while complying with strict requirements for high performance WDM equipment.

We consider Infinera’s solution unique as it enables smooth migration toward coherent super-channel technology.

In addition, the Infinera equipment provides us with the ability to meet strict service level agreement requirements and keep the quality of our services at a high level. For these reasons, we use Infinera’s solutions to upgrade and extend the RETN network. One of our latest completed projects – the launching of a trans-Baltic DWDM route from Finland to Poland through the Baltic cities – deploys Infinera DTN-X equipment based on 500G super-channel technology,” www.retn.net www.infinera.com

Ericsson debuts industry first analytics suite

E

ricsson has announced the launch of Expert Analytics 15.0, a software suite allowing operators to predict customer satisfaction and automatically take closed-loop actions to improve it. Expert Analytics 15.0 features the company’s patent-pending service level index (SLI), a customer satisfaction score that continuously captures and measures the experience for each user. Validated by user trials, the SLI is valuable as an indicator of loyalty, as a measure of willingness to spend, and as a predictor of NPS. • Ericsson Expert Analytics 15.0 delivers service level index to complement net promoter score (NPS) with user satisfaction index, available for all subscribers at any time • Leverages pre-integrated network, device, operational and business support systems assets to deliver end-to-end, real-time customer experience management insights and closed-loop actions • At Mobile World Congress, Ericsson will demonstrate multiple use cases, including real-time video experience management, enterprise service level agreement (SLA), customer retention and upsell, location data monetization and OTT application analytics

oreScout Technologies, a leading provider of continuous monitoring and mitigation solutions, has signed value-added distributor Arrow, as it continues to expand its customer base via a bolstered U.K. reseller channel.

Building on the existing relationship between Arrow and ForeScout in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), the two companies decided to expand the current agreement to include the U.K. and Ireland.

David Ellis, director of strategy at Arrow ECS UK and Ireland, said, “We are delighted to add ForeScout to our portfolio and are excited to take their technologies to our resellers. Through ForeScout’s ControlFabric technology, we can add continuous monitoring and mitigation to our existing suite of security solutions by leveraging their CounterACT platform, and in return, allow organisations secure access to business-critical information regardless of time, location, or device.”

Through its unique channel programmes, Arrow provides its resellers with a wide range of value added services including sales, marketing and technical support. “As we continue to grow our business in the UK, our collaboration with Arrow will allow us to further strengthen and expand our position through their network of specialised resellers and system integrators,” said John Hagerty, EMEA director for Channels at ForeScout. “We see this as a huge benefit to our business, and through Arrow’s customer network and services, we can continue to expand our presence in the UK.”

The solution is already being trialed by several operators globally.Justin Vander Lande, Principal Analyst, Analysys Mason said: “By embedding superior network knowledge in their analytics approach, operators can support sophisticated use cases, including real time optimization for complex services like VoLTE or video, that matter to enterprise and other high-value customers. Likewise, operators can monetize location data by offering targeted advertising and other new services to partners.” Elisabetta Romano, Vice President and Head of OSS and Service Enablement, Ericsson commented: “By preintegrating analytics with our broad OSS and BSS portfolio, we are enabling operators to automate a wide variety of use cases, driven by analytics insights.” Ericsson’s domain expertise is embedded in Expert Analytics 15.0, providing superior data models, and business rules. Customers also have access to a unified OSS and BSS product suite that combines business, IT and network capabilities. A support team of more than 64,000 offer services such as consulting and systems integration.

www.forescout.com

www.ericsson.com

Forescout signs value-added distributor

F

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DATACENTRES

Maintaining Accurate Data with DCIM

Optimising IT Getting Value from a DCIM Solution.

By Darren Walsh, Business Development Manager at Temple, and Julie Mullins, Head of Marketing at Cormant, Inc.

Introduction Tracking IT equipment in a data centre or multi-building campus has historically been an inaccurate, time consuming and difficult process. Managers now need to track more data than ever before, but since the information is often inaccurate it is less useful than required.

An estimated 20 – 30 per cent of servers are unmanaged in most data centres due to poor physical process execution and multiple, disparate data sources that don’t allow for simple cross checking. Spreadsheets are the most common form of tracking IT equipment today, but are no longer effective for data centres with more than a few racks. For these data centres, managers are implementing data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) software to achieve increased efficiency and data accuracy with decreased cost and risk.

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infoburst The right DCIM vendor will act as a partner to help formulate a process framework for your DCIM success.

What is DCIM and what is it not?

A DCIM solution consolidates data into a single repository to better visualise, manage and optimise equipment and connections within the data centre. The consolidated data empowers users to make informed, accurate decisions as all teams work from the same information source. Ultimately, DCIM optimises IT capacities, reducing the data centre’s efficiency and cost per compute unit. However, DCIM is not a ‘magic bullet.’ Significant internal work must be completed to get value from a DCIM solution. The right DCIM vendor will act as a partner to help formulate a process framework for your DCIM success.

DCIM is not a Building Management System (BMS) or an ITIL Configuration Management Database (CMDB). While many DCIM solutions interface with such systems, they do not typically

DATACENTRES

replace them. Rather, DCIM creates a holistic view by aggregating information from systems such as the BMS and CMDB as well as data from PDUs, UPSs and more.

Importance of Data Accuracy Managing a data centre with accurate data versus inaccurate data could mean a cost savings of millions of euros. Consider some of the costs associated with having 20 – 30 per cent of all servers unmonitored.

1. Power costs: unmonitored/unused servers, or ‘zombie servers,’ are often powered-on despite being unused. Companies have saved hundreds of thousands of euros in power and cooling energy savings in just one year by decommissioning zombie servers.

2. Server maintenance costs and fees: an average of €550 is saved per decommissioned server.

3. New server costs: accurate data provides insight to available and underutilised servers to maximise capacity and defer the estimated €3,000 cost to purchase a new server.

4. Time: employee time is saved when a change is planned without a physical audit and when changes are executed quickly and accurately.

5. Opportunity costs: money wasted on resolving unexpected problems would be better spent on business improvements.

6. Cost of downtime: a poorly planned and executed change can result in costly downtime.

7. Security risks: security breaches cause financial and reputational risk. Unmonitored equipment can provide (unpatched) platform access to a company’s network, leaving it vulnerable to malicious attack.

A clear vision for future growth of your data centre can only be achieved with accurate data.

The DCIM ecosystem helps improve and maintain accuracy through three principal steps: 1.

2.

3.

Gather data Integrate DCIM with operational processes Monitor and maintain data.

These steps are unattainable without first recognising the need for process change and having the will to implement that change.

Steps to Accurate Data with DCIM 1) Gather Data During implementation, data is acquired by importing current spreadsheets, discovering through SNMP or another network discovery type, pulling data from another system’s API, auditing physical infrastructure on a mobile handheld device, or most likely, some combination of the above. It’s important to recognise that multiple data sources can’t always be imported due to dissimilar data structure, so it may be necessary to use only one database as the main import. The most accurate process uses the DCIM solution to audit the infrastructure to cross-check and update imported data for ultimate accuracy. When gathering data only gather and record what is essential for your organisation’s needs today. A scalable DCIM solution allows you to add more data in the future.

2) Integrate DCIM with Operational Processes Internal processes are either integrated directly into the DCIM solution or changed to better suit new goals. Although DCIM features vary by solution, look for one with configurability to ensure new processes can be seamlessly aligned with current company standards.

3) Monitoring and Maintaining Data Monitoring and maintaining data occur during regular use of the DCIM software. Maintaining accurate data takes process discipline, but the right DCIM tool helps to simplify the process.

Data accuracy is cyclical; a structured change management process enables teams to use the procedure. When teams use the standardised process, data remains accurate. When data remains accurate, processes are easier and the natural cycle continues.

Top 5 Ways DCIM Helps Maintain Data Accuracy It’s important to maintain and improve data accuracy to realise the projected benefits of the DCIM solution. DCIM will help maintain data accuracy in many ways, but the top 5 are listed here.

1) Visibility: DCIM consolidates scattered information, so all teams, both horizontally (ie. IT vs. Facilities) and vertically (ie. Management vs.

Technicians), act off of the same data. Changes only need to be recorded once and are instantly viewable to all users. This functionality enhances communication and reduces rework. Tip: Look for a solution that combines analytics with alerts to be proactive in your decisions.

NETWORKS IRELAND 7

DATACENTRES

2) Configuration/Ease-of-Use: intuitive DCIM solutions simplify the steps required for change management and prevent users from forgetting how to use the software. Configurable solutions provide the option to easily match existing company structure with the DCIM solution. A configurable, easy-to-use solution, such as one with a simple UI and open API, is more likely to be used, therefore maintaining accuracy and reducing the likelihood of errors. Tip: Look for a DCIM tool with a small learning curve since multiple employees will be using the software.

3) Mobility: mobility enables timely database updates at the location of the change. Before DCIM, changes were recorded on a laptop, piece of paper or even someone’s hand, only to be forgotten and not updated. Support for mobile devices differs drastically by solution. Options are available for limited Wi-Fi facilities, users requiring full, seamless functionality across multiple devices, and users requesting enhanced features such as barcode and RFID support for improved efficiency and accuracy during change management.

A comprehensive mobile solution makes the change process as easy as two scans to instantly record the change while almost eliminating the possibility of error. Tip: The cost of a solution with full mobility is not necessarily greater than the cost without it and is worth the savings in assured data accuracy.

4) Incremental Process Improvements: DCIM is a journey where process improvements are uncovered periodically, whether from users discovering features later in the journey or from vendors introducing new features. A powerful, process-enhancing feature in some DCIM solutions is Workflow. Workflow provides a comprehensive view of project status with task lists to reduce costly assumptions and errors and confirm accurate completion. It keeps teams aligned and projects on-schedule until completion.

Tip: Look for a DCIM tool that combines Workflow with mobility for complementary process efficiency.

5) Creating an Ecosystem: data remains accurate with DCIM by creating an ecosystem of data management from the previous four points.

Processes and process improvements develop an efficient flow of information which is augmented by workflow and mobility to maintain accurate

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infoburst Look for a DCIM tool that combines Workflow with mobility for complimentary process efficiency.

data. Control of all required data empowers users to make informed decisions while reducing time, cost and risks during change management. Data is then integrated with other systems to continue the data accuracy cycle for a holistic view of your data centre.

Conclusion Maintaining data accuracy is a cycle that follows the same thought process as good management.

In management, if an employee is always assumed to be wrong, they will stop trying to be right. Management of data is similar. Once data is accurate, teams see the difference in results and are motivated to maintain the accuracy, particularly when the process for maintaining accuracy is easy. By combining ease-of-use and configurability with mobility, DCIM provides the ecosystem to maintain the same level of accuracy on day 1,000 as on day 1.

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DATACENTRES

Forget DCIM software, what you need is a DCIM process!

Improving Data Centre Efficiency Steven Bailey unravels the barriers to wider adoption of DCIM solutions

By Steven Bailey, Managing Director AIT Partnership Group Ltd

commonplace the marketeers had to create another benefit so they sponsored falsehoods about its health giving properties. What has this got to do with DCIM software? Well, like margarine, DCIM software is a very good idea that has been marketed as a panacea because the problem it was designed to resolve, improving data centre efficiency, is not widely acknowledged by customers as a problem. Early adopters have been organisations with a strong culture of improving energy efficiency, but this isn’t widely seen in the UK as a driver.

Introduction Many of us have become bored of the hype and noise generated by DCIM software vendors and their marketing research agencies such as Gartner, 451 and Forrester, much of it resembling the ‘snake oil’ pitch of traveling salesmen in old cowboy films. DCIM is the must have product for every well-run data centre we are told. All you have to do is buy the software and you will magically realise the benefits; lower PUE, higher air supply temperatures, reduced stranded capacity, identification of inefficient hardware, more accurate change management, faster fault diagnosis, better and faster reporting and it will probably make the blind see, the lame walk and improve your sex life as well! All that is left for you to do is to evaluate the products based on the features you want, negotiate the best price for the software licence, install and reap the rewards.

That’s the hype. The reality, of course, is very different.

DCIM software is a bit like margarine.

Margarine was a good idea that originally addressed a genuine problem, which was the need to replace butter due to a lack of refrigeration in the nineteenth century. But it became overhyped, oversold and over time the problem it was designed to solve was forgotten. With fridges

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infoburst Like margerine, DCIM software is a good idea that’s been marketed as a panacea because the problem it was designed to resolve is not widely acknowledged by customers as a problem.

Great Expectations The potential market for DCIM software, like margarine, is big, but probably not as big as was once predicted. A 2014 survey by 451 Research downgraded their previous estimate and predicted that the global DCIM market will grow by 27% each year to reach $1.7 billion by 2018. Of course, the size of the market depends on your definition of DCIM and what solutions are included, 451 Research identified more than 60 suppliers, but there does seem to be an increasing consensus that the market isn’t growing as fast as was previously thought.

Why then, despite all the efforts of some very well funded marketing machines, has growth been below expectations? To be fair 27% growth is still impressive, but this doesn’t match the hype. There are many possible reasons for this mismatch; the hype was always over the top and created as much to attract investors and venture capital as it was to create real demand, the sales cycle on a major DCIM project is very long, the barriers to breaking down departmental silo’s in big organisations can be very daunting, there is often no budget allocated and paradoxically proving a return on investment for a DCIM solution probably requires information to be

DATACENTRES

gathered using a DCIM solution. At AIT we have seen all of these obstacles, but the biggest barrier to wider adoption of DCIM solutions is that senior management teams rarely target the data centre with making efficiency improvements because they rarely understand what’s possible. DCIM software is therefore a product designed to solve a problem of which, in many organisations, there is little recognition. How many senior management teams understand the cost of running a server room or data centre? How often do those who pay the energy bill appreciate how they can reduce the bill by adopting best practise processes? How many are now making strategic decisions to go into co-location hosted space or adopt more cloud services without evaluating how to sweat their assets and make more of their existing facilities?

In my experience the answer to these questions is, not many.Best Practise When senior management does demand greater efficiency, hard pressed facilities and data centre managers may find it hard to respond if they don’t have the information or resources they need. Reaching for the shelf marked ‘DCIM software’ may seem tempting, but it can prove costly if objectives and processes are not put in place before the tool is purchased. DCIM software, like any tool, will only add value if it is in the hands of a skilled practitioner and used in the right way.

More importantly, like any database, it requires the right information to be loaded into it. DCIM vendors consistently underplay the amount of resource required to do this. Auto discovery tools and integration with existing asset management systems can help, but won’t eradicate the need for extensive professional services when implementing a DCIM project.

So, for a DCIM project to succeed several conditions are required; firstly a culture of improvement and a senior management team driving greater energy efficiency, secondly a commitment to adopt best practise processes in the data centre to improve efficiency, thirdly a clear set of objectives and fourthly an understanding of, and the ability to deliver, the extensive professional services required.

This list doesn’t include software! DCIM software might be useful to replace some of the professional services required, although it will itself require a lot of professional services to implement, but you can implement a DCIM project without purchasing software. In fact, the software is probably one of the least important parts of a successful DCIM project. Like any project you have to start off with a clear idea of your objectives and then create a detailed plan of how and when you will achieve them. This will take a lot of resource, but without an experienced DCIM project manager and experienced professional services the chances of realising a return on the investment in your DCIM software licences are

infoburst Software is probably one of the least important parts of a successful DCIM project.

slim. Of course, the software vendors underplay this. They argue that it’s all about the tool and that anyone can use a good tool, but without a skilled experienced craftsman a good tool is useless.

Conclusion Few end users have the resources to implement a DCIM process without the help of a good DCIM system integrator while those that do probably won’t buy DCIM software because once implemented it would necessitate the making of these resources redundant to achieve a return on the investment! This is one of the many paradoxes of DCIM; those that need it can’t implement it and those that can implement it won’t buy it! You can achieve the benefits of DCIM without using any expensive software. Excel is the oldest DCIM software tool and in the right hands it can be very effective in delivering limited outcomes. The efficiency savings that can be delivered by adopting best practise processes do not require that you use an expensive DCIM tool, however a good tool should make it easier and less time consuming to carry out these processes.

If the license cost of the tool is less than the cost of the labour it replaces then it’s a good investment. If it doesn’t then you are probably better off recruiting additional labour or taking on a managed service contract to carry out the processes. Either way, if you want to improve the efficiency of your server rooms and data centres, it is worth considering an investment in a DCIM software tool as a part of a DCIM process, but not as a solution in itself.

“DCIM software, like any tool, will only add value if it is in the hands of a skilled practitioner and used in the right way.”

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CASESTUDY

IT Lifecycle Management

Recycling -

it’s an art form for N2S Jack Gomarsall details the concept of the circular economy

By Jack Gomarsall, N2S Managing Director

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CASESTUDY

Introduction Jack Gomarsall has spent the last 35 years of his working life involved in the recovery and recycling of redundant IT equipment. Jack’s unrivalled experience in his field makes him the perfect person to lead the highly successful Bury St Edmunds based business Network 2 Supplies (N2S). Jack launched N2S in 2002 and the company offers a unique and complete IT lifecycle management service, which embraces the concept of the circular economy. Its principle business involves recovering and sorting materials from redundant or decommissioned computer and communications equipment and associated cabling, which is then despatched for specialised recycling. Much of the equipment is re-used or stripped down for spares, of course only after being wiped of all data.

The Circular Economy “I have been in the business of recovering and recycling IT equipment for 35 years, it is what we do. We are certainly not scrap metal merchants, we embrace the concept of a true circular economy preventing tonnes of waste being sent to landfill. Our clients benefit from us paying for the reusable materials,” said Jack. “ Yes, as a business our priority is to make money, but if we can do so while simultaneously protecting the earth’s health then it is a win, win situation. It’s this circular economy concept that sits at the heart of the recycling agenda. Companies that acknowledge the concept of the circular economy are not only helping to protect our planet but are opening up and benefitting from new financial and profit making opportunities, so let’s all get recycling now.”

Materials routinely salvaged by N2S include precious metals such as gold, silver and copper and hazardous materials such as mercury, as well as steel and plastics. Much of the work is done by hand, often the only technology used in the process is at the shredding stage, which serves a double purpose of preparing materials for recycling and destroying all data at the same time.

The N2S self-professed ‘obsession’ with recycling and the circular economy has lead them to the impressive figure of just 0.3 per cent of the materials they handle ending up in landfill.

And, this is not a figure simply plucked out of the air, but one which is fully quantifiable. Jack said: “Obviously, there is a value to all the materials we handle, so they have to be handled with a great deal of care, with precise attention to detail.

It is an art form really. The landfill boys don’t get much out of us, we have a real obsession of

“We are certainly not scrap metal merchants, we embrace the concept of a true circular economy preventing tonnes of waste being sent to landfill.”

ensuring we recycle as much material as possible.

“All waste is weighed when coming into our possession and then tracked with details of the volume recycled passed on to the client for use in the event of Environment Agency inspection.”

Security In addition to opening up commercial and profit making opportunities to its client, and of course supporting their ‘green’ credentials, N2S plays another salient role, which can be summed up in one word – ‘security’. The company is committed to ensuring sensitive, personal and confidential data of its clients is safe and secure. It provides a fully bespoke service for data erasure, destruction and shredding, both on-site and off-site. The value of this service cannot be overstated due to the huge financial penalties facing company’s found guilty of data breaches. “For some time now here at N2S we have been issuing warnings amongst UK businesses over the implications of failing to effectively protect data. As far back as 2012 we carried out a national survey amongst organisations in the public and private sectors to see how aware they were of the rules on the destruction of confidential information.

Our survey revealed more than 75 per cent of companies were not aware they could be fined up to £500,000 for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act.

infoburst Materials routinely salvaged by N2S include precious metals such as gold, silver and copper.

Conclusion Now, with the EU data protection laws in the process of being overhauled, the situation has become even more alarming. “The proposed new EU General Data Protection Regulation has been in debate for the past two years and in March the European Parliament backed plans to fine companies up to 5 per cent of their annual turnover if they breach the new data protection laws. It is ultimately important all businesses and public sector organisations have stringent data protection policies in place and this extends to all hard drives, smartphones, media devices, tapes or any other device which may store and hold critical information.”

To find out more about N2S unique IT lifecycle management services go to ww.n2s.co.uk

NETWORKS IRELAND 13

OPINION

Why labelling cables and other kit is so essential

Network Labelling Is Now A Must-Do Charlotte Hilton explains the importance of network labelling...

By Charlotte Hilton, Managing Director, Sharpmark Solutions

infoburst Incorrect or inaccurate labels can cause delays in sign off, which can mean penalty charges or payment delays.

Introduction When contractors are dealing with multi-million pound data centres and comms installations, labelling can be considered small fry. However, there are some solid reasons for paying the matter very close attention. From my experience of working with customers in the datacomms cabling industry over the last 23 years, I am aware of the great importance that labelling plays in a project.

Despite the fact that labe ling may constitute only a minor part of the overall cost, getting it right is crucial. Installers are under more pressure than ever before to complete projects in less time and at a lower cost. Due to the size and complexity of many projects, timescales are often shifted and squeezed - and the time available for final checking and labelling is often pressurised.

Labelling is often implemented on the last day on site and without complete and accurate labelling the project may not be signed off, meaning payment may not be released. From the client’s perspective, labelling is a very visible part of the project when it’s complete. Consquently, in the eyes of the client, the quality and professionalism of the labelling reflects the quality and professionalism of the whole project, so it has to look perfect. In addition, labelling’s role is vital in assisting engineers to trace network problems.

Clear and accurate labelling will mean problems are solved faster, reducing downtime and the associated costs to the company.

Incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate labels cause project delays and increased costs. It may mean that engineers have to return to site to complete the labelling when a project should have already been finished, increasing costs and taking them off another job. Delays in sign-off can mean penalty charges or payment delays, so affecting cash flow and profitability.

Professional Installers are increasingly using Traffolyte-style engraved labels for labelling their installations, which provide a highly professional finish, which is being increasingly demanded by their clients. Clear and sharp labelling, permanently applied with the option of colour-coding gives the client confidence in the whole job.

Engraved labels also have the benefit of great durability, so will last as long as a 20-year warranty,

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OPINION for example. In the past, time was allocated for engineers to produce labels on site, using handheld label printers. Not only does this result in a less professional appearance, it’s a time-consuming, laborious task that isn’t cost-effective use of an engineer’s time for large quantities of labels. When the pressure is on to complete a project, every minute counts.

The Complete Labelling Solution for Network Cabling

Rapid delivery There is, however, still the issue that the exact labelling scheme and the data for the labels are sometimes not determined until right at the end of the project. Labels are often required the next day, which can be the last day on site.

This was a problem for traditional engraved labels, which require a 2-3 day turnaround. However, at Sharpmark we have invested in unique bespoke software that enables us to produce labels with greater speed and production accuracy.This software, combined with highspeed laser engraving, enables us to provide better quality engraved labels and deliver them the next day. Scenariio Intelligent Infrastructures specialise in the design, implementation and support of solutions deployed over traditional structured cabling solutions.

Mark Palmer, the firm’s Managing Director, says that, as a long time installer of structured network cabling solutions, Scenariio know the importance of using high quality labelling systems. “Within our industry we have many clients who have to adhere to strict installation regulations when running cabling through sensitive food production areas or in military ducts, for example, where clear and precise cable labelling is mandatory,” he said. “We require a good range of colours, typefaces and mounting options that allow the client to design their own numbering identification systems. As our industry evolves and new technologies are developed we need things like high density fibre patch panel labels that were always a challenge to label in the past,” he added.

Palmer went on to say that, in short, his company’s customers want to work with a supplier who understands their requirements and makes their job easier, reducing the stress and pressure that builds at the end of a project. “They [also] want to receive high quality labels, at the right time and the right place – at a good price,” he explained.

Conclusion At Sharpmark we have all the latest dimensional data from equipment manufacturers so our customers are confident that their labels will fit exactly. We also receive data in any format, which we can then convert to suit our system - we appreciate how precious the installer’s time is.

From the foregoing, I hope it should be clear that labelling may represent a small part of the cost of a project, but our observations are that getting it absolutely right at the very end can influence the client’s view of the whole project. www.sharpmark.com

Products Include: Labelling Software Wrap-Round Cable Labels Patch Panel Labels Faceplate and Module Labels Cabinet and Logo Labels Tie-On Cable Labels Engraved Labels Warning Labels

Download your FREE full version Sharpmark Labelling Software now:

www.sharpmark.com All our products are available to purchase from our website. Order before 2pm to receive your order the next day*. *Subject to product availability

NETWORKS IRELAND The complete labelling 15 solution

CASESTUDY

16 NETWORKS IRELAND

A New Digital Strategy

CASESTUDY

Eason and Son Retailer uses Microsoft to drive transformational retail and business strategy

Introduction With over 60 stores across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, Eason is one of Ireland’s most recognised flagship brands and the country’s leading multichannel retailer of books, newspapers and magazines, cards, stationery and gifts, including an expansive selection of own brand goods. Launched in 1998, the company’s award winning website, www.easons.com, has since grown into Ireland’s most successful book and eBook store.

Business Needs Faced with the most challenging and competitive market environments in its 128 year history, fueled by a recession, drop in discretionary spending and the digitalisation of content both from a book and news and magazine perspective, Eason developed a comprehensive new business and retail strategy to arrest declining sales, transform its brick and mortar retail estate, enhance efficiencies across its business and position the company as a leading multi-channel retailer through a new digital strategy.

A key enabler to achieving its objectives under this transformational strategy was replacing its existing outdated IT infrastructure with a new completely integrated system and implementing new processes throughout the business. “The driver for implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX was the need for greater system integration and flexibility across our business and the fact that departments within the business were operating on separate systems,” explained Gerry Martyn, Eason’s Head of IT and Customer Service.

He added, “For Eason, it a crucial component of our strategy was to integrate our business functions across the supply chain from our warehouse, into our stores and out to our

customer, regardless of channel. We wanted to have visibility as the product is shipped to the warehouse, the warehouse is used by the staff to replenish the shops, and the shops sell it to the end customer.”

Having selected Microsoft Dynamics AX as the foundation for its Omni-channel vision, Eason sought a partner to deliver company-wide implementation and chose Microsoft Consulting Services. “When you are talking about a project of this scale it is highly reassuring being able to go direct to the developer of the product,” Martyn stated. “If Microsoft doesn’t know the end product, who else does? Not having direct access to the manufacturer potentially puts your business at risk and delays the process. It’s a good insurance policy to have.”

Solution What most impressed Martyn in working with Microsoft Consulting Services was their understanding of Eason’s needs and requirements. The process involved a series of workshops between the Eason team and Microsoft Consulting Services. “That was the most significant standout at the start of the process,” he said. “They asked the right questions such as ‘what does the customer want?’, ‘what does the business need out of the system?’, and then came up with a bespoke plan to help us deliver that.” He emphasised the role of the Microsoft Services Account Executive (SAE) in bringing in the right resources at the right time and overseeing all elements of the complex implementation.

By consistently providing options that met their business, timeline and budgetary objectives, Microsoft Consulting Services helped Eason develop an appropriate implementation plan for an integrated Microsoft Dynamics AX solution,

NETWORKS IRELAND 17

CASESTUDY

enhanced with additional functionality. “It was very much a partnership,” Martyn added.

Trust and communication between Eason and Microsoft Consulting Services was critical. “We know that 70 - 80 per cent of all IT projects fail or aren’t delivered on time, or within budget,” said Martyn. “So every executive that engages or leads a project of this scale and magnitude is putting his or her reputation on the line.”

Benefits Working with Microsoft Consulting Services, Easons Microsoft Dynamics AX implementation came in on time and on budget, while providing the scope and functionality that Eason sought.

“Working with Microsoft means getting the most out of the product in terms of functionality and capability.” Martyn summarised. The benefits Eason is seeing from the engagement include: Company-wide engagement, which maximizes efficiencies and performance.

Microsoft Consulting Services not only worked in Eason head office, but in Eason stores and the warehouse as required to complete the implementation. They also conducted three broad project review phases: architecture review; design review; and performance review. “The architecture review is where you discover the breadth of the Microsoft world,” Martyn stated. “It moves the needle from a product engagement to a Microsoft global engagement. If I develop ‘an architecture’ with a third party, it is only that third party’s knowledge. An architectural review with Microsoft means that you have access to other Microsoft experts to make sure the architectural design is in line with the very best the Microsoft organisation knows.” The design review helped make sure that the team was maximising efficiency and making the best use of the out-of-the-box Microsoft Dynamics AX solution, which helped minimise the time and money spent in customisation.

Finally, the performance review helped verify the customised aspects of the implementation.

“The performance of an ERP is not only the product, but also the customisation and data. You can only check that 100 per cent after its goes live. We conducted that review at several levels, including an SQL level, a Microsoft Dynamics AX level, and a custom code level,” said Martyn.

A Single, Integrated Solution Eason now has a company-wide Omni-channel retail solution that enables integrated processes across all business functions. “Before, we had many versions of data. The same question was answered in many different ways with different answers. Now, with an integrated solution we have one answer.” The solution has also aligned Eason ecommerce, website, and bricks and mortar shops.

18 NETWORKS IRELAND

“The architecture review is where you discover the breadth of the Microsoft world. It moves the needle from a product engagement to a Microsoft global engagement.”

Gerry Martyn, Head of IT and Customer Service Ease of Use Martyn explained that ease of use is about more than just familiarity. “Familiarity means that I know it already. Ease of use means that even if I’m not familiar with something, I can pick it up.

Microsoft always has been very good at that. It means that if you’re used to Outlook or Excel or PowerPoint, it is very easy to throw Microsoft Dynamics AX in and be able to use it as well.”

Information that Improves Decision-Making Through providing a comprehensive source for easily-accessible business information, the Microsoft Dynamics AX implementation has enabled faster and smarter decision-making.

According to Martyn, it’s about “providing the right information to make the right decisions in a timely manner.”

Improved Metrics Eason expects the Microsoft Dynamics AX implementation to continue enabling improved performance measurement company-wide.

This will let Eason clearly track the Return On Investment of the Dynamics AX implementation.

Already, he believes that the tool is allowing department leads to better manage their business units by using information generated by the system to enhance margins, eliminate wastage and reduce costs.

A Better Customer Experience “The world is a very small place within a great solution,” said Martyn. “We have moved from a concept of going into one store and buying a product, to that same customer being able to look across the entire estate for the stock-level of the product. With Microsoft Dynamics AX, the Eason website is considered another store in our estate, even though you can’t physically go into it.”

Tel: Fax: Email:

01 866 040 0 01 832 0 050 info@kedington.ie

Kedington Direct are now sole distributors in Ireland and Northern Ireland for the entire range of Matrix structured cabling products

All products are available with a 25 Year Performance Warranty

www.kedingtondirect.ie

CASESTUDY

Core Transmission Networks

Meeting Next-Generation

Demands 400Gbps to be made available to BT Ireland commercial network customers from March 2015 accelerate our plans to deploy with confidence in the very near future.”

Karl Penaluna, Managing Director Global Network Services, at BT said, “Innovation in communications technology is core to our business.

This trial proves the robustness of cutting edge optical transmission technology that we have developed in our labs, by placing it in a truly testing environment in our live network. It demonstrates to our customers in a very direct way that we are able to deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions that will future proof our global network infrastructure.”

Introduction BT and Huawei have announced the successful completion of a 400 Gigabit-per-second trial over the optical fibres that form BT Ireland’s live network between Dublin and Belfast, the first trial of its kind in either the UK or Ireland. The trial was conducted by running 400Gbps transmission through existing live 10Gbps, 40Gbps and 100Gbps wavelengths, proving that BT’s current core network has the capability to support this future, next generation transmission technology. The trial also revealed how BT’s core fibre optic infrastructure could work even more efficiently in the future, thus reducing the need to invest in more infrastructure as customers’ bandwidth demands grow.

The Results The trial has now paved the way for full commercial deployment of 200Gbps and 400Gbps speeds on the BT Ireland core transmission network by March 2015 from both Dublin and Belfast. Alex Crossan, Managing Director, Commercial Networks, at BT Ireland, said, “The combination of BT Ireland’s leading-edge network, the expertise of our local team and the optimum geographical distance between Dublin and Belfast, made Ireland the perfect location for our innovative 400Gbps trial. The results essentially demonstrate how we will now be able to maximise the efficiency of our network investment, building on our core network infrastructure, while continuing to meet the ever increasing needs of our customers in a fast evolving digital world. These in-life trials have also been crucial in understanding the capabilities of these new technologies, and have allowed us to

20 NETWORKS IRELAND

infoburst With the rapid growth of mobile broadband and video services, the time is now for 400G technology.

Conclusion Ryan Ding, President of Products and Solutions at Huawei, said: “This is a landmark innovation, which Huawei is very excited to be part of. With the rapid growth of mobile broadband and video services generating tremendous volumes of traffic for backbone networks, the time is now for 400G. At Huawei, we’re proud to be leading this development in 400G technology and fully understand carriers’ network reconstruction requirements. We are dedicated to improving network performance, expanding bandwidth capacity, and eliminating bandwidth bottlenecks to help carriers build future-ready backbone networks.”

Key Facts: The link between Dublin and Belfast is approximately 200km long, and shares wavelengths with an existing live commercial BT Ireland DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) network between Dublin and Dundalk carrying existing 10G, 40G and 100G customer wavelengths. The 400G signal comprises 2 x 200G (16-QAM) in adjacent 50GHz wavelength slots and can be selectively configured to any wavelength slots available on the live network.

Key technical achievements included: • Successful error-free transmission of 400G (2 x 200G (16-QAM)) DWDM over a 200km long link between Dublin and Belfast, together with live 10G, 40G and 100G traffic (Dublin to Dundalk), demonstrating the potential of seamless upgrade and future proofing of the existing network to 400G. • Successful demonstration of end-to-end Ethernet using a mix of fully loaded 10GE and 100GE traffic over the 400G signal.

• Successful error-free transmission of 400G signal in adjacent (50GHz) wavelength slots to 10G traffic, thereby demonstrating the ability to maximise traffic capacity on the existing network link.

Save the Date!

10 - 11 Nov Save the Date

2015 RDS, Dublin

INFRASTRUCTURE. SERVICES. SOLUTIONS. Whether you’re running a couple of stacks, a nationwide network of comms rooms, a small datacentre or a mega-shed, you face similar challenges: to operate more sustainably, boost efficiency and cut costs‌ All without compromising speed, resilience, service continuity or security.

DataCentres Ireland Conference & Exhibition is where you can get the knowledge, ideas and see the technology that can help you.

To find out how you can get involved, call the team on +44 1892 518 877 or email datacentres@stepex.com For the latest information visit www.datacentres-ireland.com

TESTANDMEASUREMENT How bandwidth is changing the network landscape

Easier Testing For

Gigabit Compliance

Alfred Huber explains the need for network diagnostics...

By Alfred Huber, Technical Manager, Psiber Data

Introduction Field-testing passive networks intended for later use as Gigabit networks can be a complicated, prolonged and costly business. By carrying out three simple tests - checking the bit error rate, signal to noise ratio and determining delay skew in a single session - you can check for suitability and cable quality.

In taking this approach, you can not only almost instantly find out whether the network is performing as it should but you can also track errors and build up a documentation database.

Today’s ever-growing bandwidth demands mean a vast increase in the number of network cables used for communication (data, telephone, coaxial, audio...) as well as building management (security, access, alarms...).

The importance of Ethernet is clearly growing and its role is expanding. As systems are increasingly linked together, and moves, adds and changes become more frequent, it is vital to ascertain whether individual cables and bundles are working in accordance with specifications and make sure there are no bottlenecks along the line.

This testing is more complex than it may seem at first glance. Installers are required to present ‘proof of performance’ documentation and perform pre-tests.

The IEEE 802.3ab 1000BASE-T standard gives minimum requirements on multiple test parameters for verifying Gigabit devices.

If network testing is late, inaccurate or incomplete, pretty much anything can go wrong this can drive up the cost of the network.

Testing must be an integrated part of the design and rollout processes. Connections are often separately checked for certification, qualification and verification.

22 NETWORKS IRELAND

That is to say: is the cabling system compliant to industry standards, can an existing cabling link support certain network speeds and technologies and is the cabling connected correctly?

A fourth common element is active troubleshooting. Of these, certification might be considered the most rigorous. Based on TIA and ISO standards, these either ‘Pass’ or ‘Fail’ a measured connection.

Multiple tests In practice, qualification is often the main thing, which needs to be tested in the field.

Operators and installers simply want to know whether a cabling network works and can support Gigabit bandwidth, not only whenever new networks are built, but also whenever existing networks are changed or extended.

Qualification can be tested by taking a few carefully selected parameters from the relevant transmission standards and using these basic tests to get valuable results.

However, if tests show up that a network doesn’t live up to expectations, it is handy to find out where the problem is and get an indication of what’s causing it - without having to test extensively on LF and RF parameters.

Short circuits, miswires and split pairs will all affect system performance - so identifying these is crucial to taking effective steps to remedying failure.

Checking for Bit Error Rate (BER), Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and determining delay skew are common test methods, but by performing all three in a single session and cross-referencing the results, test accuracy is increased to a very considerable degree.

TESTANDMEASUREMENT

(BERT) the NetXpert 1400 tests the error-free data transmission up to 1Gbit/s.

Adding to this, parameters affecting signal quality can be displayed including signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) and delay skew. Delay skew in a 4-pair cable indicates the signal time delay between pairs and can impact Gigabit Ethernet performance.

Continuity test results of all 8 wires and the shielding are displayed in wire map format in full colour while showing cable faults such as opens, shorts, mis-wires, and split pairs in a clear and easy to understand way.

Cable length and distance to the cable fault are determined using advanced TDR (Time Domain Reflectometer) and capacitance technology.

Most of the profession al test devices normally used for this are, however, very costly. You would need to carry around multiple expensive devices in sometimes very harsh environments.

Cost-effective testing This is where NetXpert 1400 comes in. This small, portable, rugged device can test for BER, SNR and delay skew but is some five times cheaper than other devices.

The unit has been designed specifically for checking smaller installations, such as SOHO networks, clinics, law firms and so on. Operation requires no special skills.

The cost-effective NetXpert 1400 allows installers and operators to quickly and easily find out whether their network cabling systems qualifies for IEEE 802.3ab standard compliant Gigabit Ethernet, and also enables troubleshooting of active networks.

A ‘Pass/Fail’ result indicates whether existing cabling link supports data rates up to 1Gbit/s.

infoburst Psiber Data NetXpert 1400 - new comprehensive cable qualifier and network diagnostic tool

Network testing Featuring a bundle of active network testing capabilities, the NetXpert 1400 assists you with verifying network configuration and troubleshooting networks as any moves, adds & changes (MACs) performed will require a renewed verification.

In use, the NetXpert 1400 verifies, when connected to a telecommunications outlet, if a link can be established to the switch and which connection speeds are supported (up to 1Gbit/s).

The Ping test detects the availability of individual and lists of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and any user-selectable URLs. User can also choose from a range of other network tests, such as LLDP/ CDP and VLAN discovery and comprehensive PoE tests, including a load test.

The full-colour touch screen and 4 additional buttons make the NetXpert 1400 easy to use while the high-resolution colour screen guarantees excellent readability in any environment.

Its rugged design is ideally suited for rough handling environments. Results can be saved in the NetXpert 1400 and detailed, full colour reports can be generated for documentation purposes.

Internally stored test data can be moved via USB Flash to a PC or tablet in PDF or CSF format and printed without special software.

Testing network links by combining three key parameters means accurate results with an easyto-use, purpose-built, portable and rugged device is the fastest, most cost effective way to verify whether cabling links will support a maximum data rate of up to 1Gbit/s. www.psiber-data.co.uk

Verifying links NetXpert allows the user to verify whether cabling links will support a maximum data rate of up to 1Gbit/s irrespective of the category of the cables, patch panels, or outlets installed.

Performing standards-based tests with real data as per IEEE 802.3ab and bit error rate tests

NETWORKS IRELAND 23

CASESTUDY

Creative Problem Solving

Life in the

Fast Lane

Financial Services Organization Saves $1.5M with groundbreaking IP platform.

By Tony Christopher, Network Engineer, Voice/Data TransUnion Credit.

Executive Summary TransUnion Credit Industry: Financial Services Location: Chicago, Illinois Number of Endpoints: 1,400+ CHALLENGE • Migrate 1400+ users in a single site to Voice over IP without disruption to the operation.

• Multiple data closets in a 10-story building requiring upgraded power, cooling and backup power.

• Requirement to stay within budget.

SOLUTION • Avaya solution powered by Phybridge Long Reach Ethernet switches.

RESULTS • Leveraging existing infrastructure eliminated all disruptions and risks.

• Secure network with a separate physical path for voice.

• Substantial cost savings freed up budget to be used for better phones and applications for the end users.

PRODUCT LIST • Phybridge UniPhyer Switch Series

24 NETWORKS IRELAND

About TransUnion TransUnion is a global leader in credit information and information management services. For more than 40 years, TransUnion has helped businesses become more efficient in managing risk, reducing costs and increasing revenue, and has advised consumers on ways to improve personal credit health in order to achieve their financial goals.

Today, TransUnion provides solutions for over 45,000 businesses and an estimated 500 million consumers in 25 countries around the world.

Challenge Communications in any company is a challenge in today’s fast-paced, digital world. By the time we read a newspaper article or write a letter, the printed story or crafted message is already

infoburst TransUnion’s management team recognized the need to improve its communications infrastructure in order to keep up with digital age demands.

CASESTUDY

old news. Combine this need for speed and desire for instant information with the need to communicate in varying time zones and different languages, and that challenge increases tenfold.

The 1,400 employees located at TransUnion’s headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, rise to that challenge each and every day as they strive to provide information and services to their colleagues and customers around the globe.

And with every additional phone call made or email received, TransUnion’s management team recognized the need to improve its communications infrastructure in order to keep up with digital age demands.

Tony Christopher, Network Engineer Voice/ Data of TransUnion Credit, wanted to modernize their communications platform and was looking to move the 1,400 employees to Unified Communications and IP Telephony. The challenge was mitigating financial and operational risk as they migrate to a converged platform.

Like many organizations, TransUnion initially planned to achieve their communications enhancements by building on their Local Area Network (LAN) infrastructure to support an IP Telephony solution (the deployment of their IP phones layered on their data network with the IP phone acting as a switch for the data device connected to it). Layering voice and data is quite common in today’s communication world.

It can also be costly and time consuming to implement. TransUnion estimated that local area network readiness would cost the company over $1.8 million and take more than 12 months to complete.

TransUnion advocates continuous process improvement and creative problem solving to its customers. They also practice these same recommendations in their own day-today operations, so when a Phybridge partner prospected Tony he was intrigued. “I would like to introduce you to a proven innovation that delivers Ethernet and Power over your existing voice infrastructure with four times the reach of traditional switches. It was designed to optimize and future proof your LAN for convergence and beyond and we believe we can save you money while eliminating risk,” said the partner. Tony agreed to a meeting to better understand the Phybridge value proposition.

Solution The Phybridge UniPhyer offers the ideal solution for customers who are looking to optimize and future proof the LAN for convergence and beyond.

The Phybridge UniPhyer is the only data network switch in the world to deliver Ethernet and Power over Ethernet over a single pair of telephony grade wire with 4 times the reach of traditional data switches. Customers are leveraging their existing, proven reliable voice infrastructure to create a separate network path for voice communications, complementing an existing data network, while

optimizing an organization’s IT infrastructure for voice and data convergence.

Tony learned that installing the UniPhyer switch would allow TransUnion to optimize their local area network and create a separate physical path for voice communications. Phybridge claimed that the ongoing management of the network would be simpler, and the risk of issues compared to a layered network solution would significantly be diminished. Additionally, a plug and play deployment solution would not require major infrastructure changes, resulting in a lowercost solution.

Tony found the Phybridge value proposition very interesting. It fit with TransUnion’s mandate to seek alternative information resources to make sound financial decisions. He admits however that he was skeptical. The old adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” was running through his mind. He agreed however, to meet with a local Phybridge partner to get more information.

At that meeting, Tony was provided an estimate of $300,000 to install the Phybridge UniPhyer switch supporting all of the IP telephones in TransUnion’s Chicago corporate office. If true, this would result in a $1.5 million savings. To mitigate risk, Tony agreed to a pilot deployment to test the Phybridge solution and confirm that it would meet all of TransUnion’s requirements.

Management Considerations TransUnion’s senior management team recognized the technical and economic benefits of the Phybridge solution. The IP Telephony system was purchased and installed at a cost drastically reduced from initial budget forecasts. Project costs and operational impacts are two concerns that are commonly expressed by management teams in all industries, regardless of size or scope.

However, each organization usually has additional considerations when choosing a solution for their IP Telephony needs: TransUnion welcomed the UniPhyer’s ability to improve upon their emergency preparedness planning by creating a more robust 911 system.

•

•

•

The point-to-point topology leveraged by the UniPhyer allowed Tony to map all ports on the Phybridge switches to a specific physical location in the 10-story building creating a robust E911 location database.

Once in place, the wiring will not have to be touched whatsoever. IP phones can move from one location to another and the E911 location database will be automatically updated with the new location of the IP phone; achieved through SNMP integration.

Ongoing management of the converged LAN was greatly simplified with the physical separation of voice further reducing the total cost of ownership.

NETWORKS IRELAND 25

CASESTUDY

•

• •

•

•

The Phybridge backbone was easily integrated into the overall management of the network through SNMP. The entire network is managed from a single central location.

QoS on a Phybridge backbone complementing the existing data LAN is achieved by physically separating voice with each IP phone to have a dedicated point-topoint infrastructure to support requirements.

Future data requirements are greatly simplified. The physical separation of voice on its own Phybridge switch fabric greatly reduces future financial considerations and potential risks when needing to increase bandwidth speeds for data users.

Data switches do not need to be PoE and the IP phone does not need to be changed to support higher bandwidth speeds needed to support the data device connected.

Creative Problem Solving

infoburst The transition during the pilot was seamless for TransUnion’s employees and had no adverse effect on their productivity.

Deployment Given all the telephony pairs supporting the IP end points can be clearly identified in the main closet, TransUnion decided to consolidate the pairs by department for easy management once fully deployed. They calculated the power and back-up power requirements for the project. Given all the Phybridge switches were in a single location TransUnion realized significant savings in back up power costs while reducing power management complexity. Prior to cutover, TransUnion was able to configure and test all the switches to ensure a successful migration. The following is a summary of the strategy applied by TransUnion: • • • •

The Pilot With Phybridge’s plug-and-play deployment solution, TransUnion was able to easily test the usability of the UniPhyer solution without making any financial investment. This same level of real world testing is not possible if voice communications are layered on the data LAN network. TransUnion would have had to make significant LAN investments before being able to test even a single phone.

Tony identified end points throughout the building to test. He tested some of the furthest end points from the central closet and chose the most difficult office locations to ensure an accurate test was conducted in a real work environment. Several IP phones, including key executive desktops, were connected to the Phybridge switch on various floors of TransUnion’s headquarters. This allowed users from all levels of the company to test the solution and experience first-hand the ease of using an IP phone in their day-to-day activities.

The transition during the pilot was seamless for TransUnion’s employees and had no adverse effect on their productivity. Tony was satisfied with the results of all testing and was confident that the Phybridge solution would support TransUnion’s migration to IP Telephony. With the pilot complete, Tony recommended the UniPhyer to TransUnion’s executive team and outlined how the Phybridge solution could be implemented faster and cheaper, but with the same technical results as the layered solution they had initially considered. TransUnion’s senior management team was impressed with the pilot’s results. They found tremendous value in the ability to test the solution in a real operating environment, thereby eliminating project risk and proving the solution’s viability without having to make a financial investment up front.

26 NETWORKS IRELAND

•

•

•

Configured WAN routers for QoS and kept the PSTN connectivity for DID/DOD traffic.

Configured the Phybridge switch fabric for redundancy, enhanced security and optimum performance using VLAN and Redundancy strategies.

Clustered the 48 port UniPhyers into 6 groups of 5 on three racks.

Created specific VLANs for each of the clusters. This minimized the amount of unnecessary traffic on each cluster.

For redundancy, Tony daisy-chained the cluster of Phybridge switches together connecting the top switch to a gigabit data switch and the bottom UniPhyer to a different gigabit data switch. If either one of the data switches failed or a UniPhyer in a cluster failed, there was a redundant path available to minimize down time.

Racked all the Phybridge switches, connected to the PBX and tested switches based on configuration strategy and locally tested some end points without any business impact prior to cutover day.

Results The installation of the Phybridge solution began on a Friday evening. Over the course of two days, a team of 8 to 12 people worked to complete the transition. Part of the team unpacked and delivered 1,400 IP phones to employees’ desks. At each desk, they disconnected the RJ11 cable from the old phone, connected it to the PhyAdapter, and plugged the PhyAdapter into the new IP phone. Other team members began working on the wiring consolidation and mapping. The more accurate the wiring records, the less time this part of the project would take. With consolidation complete and the RJ21 cabling connected to the Phybridge switches, the IP phones were powered up, registered and tested to ensure functionality.

On Monday morning TransUnion employees arrived at work to find the new IP phones on their desks. Like every other day at the head office, numerous calls, faxes, video conferences and voice messages were transmitted worldwide, all without a single quality of service issue.

SignalTEK CT

Data Cable Transmission Tester

Proof of Performance The new SignalTEK CT issues a PDF report to prove that your installed data cables can carry Gigabit Ethernet traffic at full speed with no errors, and confirms correct wiremap results.

STEP 1 Enter job information

STEP 2 Press Autotest and review test results

• Fast - Autotest provides proof of copper cable performance in seconds

• Performance - Second handset allows Gigabit data traffic to be transmitted in a real world scenario

• Intuitive - Automatic generation of PDF reports uploaded

STEP 3 Download reports

to USB memory stick without a PC

• Dependable - Test to the IEEE802.3ab standard

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© IDEAL Networks 2014

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See how the SignalTEK CT can help you, please visit www.signaltekct.com or call 01925 444446 for your nearest distributor

17/06/2014 10:04:52

DATACENTRES

Raritan DCIM software

The Physical Heart of

ITSM

Integrating DCIM Software and IT Service Management

infoburst While ITSM and DCIM solutions have often been used independently, both share a number of components.

Introduction Information Technology is so fundamental to every business that every organization needs to establish formal processes to ensure that IT services are continually aligned to the business, and deliver efficient and reliable support over the entire lifecycle of products and services. These processes, commonly classified as IT Service Management (ITSM), may follow a well-known model such as IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) or, more likely, a set of internally-developed best practices.

Regardless of the chosen approach, it will typically include a database (or repository) that defines the current overall IT function status accompanied by a set of ITSM processes with well-defined steps and workflow rules for planning, designing, implementing, managing

28 NETWORKS IRELAND

and changing all components of the IT function.

Many organizations have deployed ITSM software to automate and control some of these processes, especially to manage and document the workflow for changes to any component of the IT function.

At the heart of the overall IT function is the data centre where an analogous discipline categorized as Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) has evolved to guide the management of data centre assets, their environment and overall operations. Many organizations will effectively use both ITSM software and DCIM software independently.

However, since DCIM can be categorized as a subset of ITSM, there can be added value to tying the management of the physical data centre to the general IT management framework. In this paper, we discuss how Raritan’s DCIM software

DATACENTRES

similarities. In fact, much of the power and value of both ITSM and DCIM are attributable to four very simple, analogous concepts and their implementation:

can be integrated with existing ITSM software to increase efficiency and reliability.

What is a DCIM System?

Practical definition: A DCIM system collects and manages information about a data centre’s assets, resource use and operational status.

This information is then distributed, integrated, analyzed and applied in ways that help managers meet business and service-oriented goals and optimize their datacentre’s performance — 451 Group.

• • •

•

These concepts can be related directly to:

A DCIM system will typically include: •

•

•

•

•

•

Single, accurate, centralized database of all physical and virtual data centre assets.

What assets do we have? Where are they located? What are they connected to? What is their purpose? What are their detailed specifications? What is their service history?

Accurate, real-time data on space, power and cooling utilization and availability. Where can we move or add equipment?

Real-time dashboards that monitor operations. Are there potential power or cooling issues?

Complete data centre visualization including: equipment, power, network, connections.

Where is the problem, what is its impact down the line?

Information and insights for capacity planning/optimization. Where do I have spare space, power and energy resources?

How and when do I best expand?

A workflow management feature with ticketing system integration. What is the status of the request move, add, or change of an item?

In short, your DCIM system is the trusted source of data centre information to answer all questions.

How are ITSM and DCIM Connected?

An ITSM system will provide processes for documenting, managing, and changing all components of traditional IT functions, such as server management, and provides a central repository for storing ITSM information. In most ITSM software implementations, that central repository is called the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and it normally includes the same information you might find in a DCIM database. Furthermore, a key component of both ITSM and DCIM best practices is a ‘ticketing’ process and a workflow engine that manages change requests. So, it’s clear that ITSM and DCIM have both conceptual as well as practical

Accurate definition of the current status of system elements.

Formal processes to request and implement changes to the current status.

Single point of control for change request initiation/incident logging (ticketing).

Automated tracking of process steps.

Component

ITSM Software

DCIM Software

Database

CMDB (includes static DCIM information)

Physical Asset

Processes

Management

Management, Monitoring

Ticketing Process for Change Management

Services Desk for all changes

Physical change requests

Workflow Engine

Controls all changes

Controls physical changes

As we see ITSM and DCIM software have common and overlapping elements, and thus DCIM can be viewed, to some extent, as a subset or extension of ITSM. So, organizations that have already adopted ITSM software and also want to realize the benefits of DCIM software may gain even greater operational efficiencies by integrating the two and leveraging their combined strengths.

Objectives and Relative Strengths The primary goal of ITSM is to better align IT with the business throughout the product or service delivery lifecycle, while the primary goal of DCIM is to optimize the performance of the data centre that serves that same business. This commonality indicates there are benefits to be gained with integration.

The adoption of a complete set of ITSM processes requires extensive time and resources - something very few organizations are able to commit to. Most organizations will build a simplified CMDB to document the current status of all IT assets — e.g. IT services, applications, data centre equipment, and relationships, and they will often implement only those processes for managing changes using available ITSM software

NETWORKS IRELAND 29

ITSM and DCIM -- Objectives and Relative Strengths The primary goal of ITSM is to better align IT with the business throughout the product or service delivery lifecycle, while the primary goal of DCIM is optimize the performance of the data center that serves that same business. This commonality indicates there are benefits to be gained with integration.

DATACENTRES

The adoption of a complete set of ITSM processes requires extensive time and resources - something very few organizations are able to commit to. Most organizations will build a simplified CMDB to document the current status of all IT assets—e.g. IT services, applications, data center equipment, and relationships, and they will often implement only those processes for managing changes using available ITSM software tools from providers such as BMC, HP and Service Now. The core strength of an ITSM system lies in the comprehensive documentation of the current status of all IT assets (CMDB) along with robust processes and tools to request and manage any change – i.e. the IT service desk, a ticketing system and workflow engine.

tools from providers such as BMC, HP and Service

cooling usage, and physical connections of both

power chain and data communications cable Now.will often lack crucial data center asset detail, especiallythe On the other hand, the standard CMDB a dynamic dashboard with real-time and historplant.and Thisdata information is crucial for plant. reliable and The coreand strength of connections an ITSM system liesthe in power chain ical information on space, power, cooling usage, physical of both communications cable This day-to-day operations, as well as capacity comprehensive documentation current information is crucial for reliable andthe efficient day-to-day operations, as wellofasthe capacity planningefficient of the data center; this is the strength of DCIM. status of all IT assets (CMDB) along with robust

planning of the data centre; this is the strength of

So, an organization that has deployed both ITSMand andtools DCIMtosystems realize operational and reliability by leveraging the ITSM change DCIM. processes requestcan and manage any efficiency management tools and incorporating DCIM’s–extensive center information into a single ITSM central So, an repository. organization that has deployed both change i.e. the ITdata service desk, a ticketing system

ITSM and DCIM systems can realize operational

and workflow engine.

infoburst efficiency and reliability by leveraging the ITSM On the other hand, the standard CMDB A comprehensive DCIM supports IT change management tools and incorporating will often lack crucial data centre asset detail, assets as they flow through various A comprehensive DCIM supportsespecially IT assets as they flow through various lifecycle changes DCIM’s extensive data centre information into a a dynamic dashboard with real-time lifecycle changes.

single ITSM central repository.

and historical information on space, power,

Install Item Request

Power-off Item Request

PLANNED

INSTALLED

Take Item Off-site Request

POWERED OFF

Power-on Item Request

Bring Item On-site Request

Decommission Item to Storage Request

OFF-SITE

Decommission Item to Archive Request

STORAGE

ARCHIVED

Install Item Request

Decommission Item to Archive Request

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ENCLOSURES

30 NETWORKS IRELAND

POWER DISTRIBUTION

CLIMATE CONTROL

DATACENTRES

Benefits of Integrating ITSM and DCIM Several organizations are already integrating their Raritan DCIM software with their ITSM software and operational support elements, e.g.

CMDB, Service Desk, change ticketing systems and workflow engines.

Requested changes to the DCIM system information flow to and back from the ITSM system. In this way there is operational consistency in handling all change requests and a single, accurate repository of all IT assets that can be populated with real-time and consolidated historical data collected by the DCIM monitoring tools. This results in significant operational benefits.

• •

• • • • •

•

Single Service Desk systems increase IT staff effieciency.

ITSM is primary change request, ticket control, and work flow engine for all IT including data centre staff.

Tickets automatically flow into the DCIM system for parallel processing.

Updates flow back to ITSM as changes are implemented.

CMDB becomes the single source for all IT data.

Asset information accuracy is far greater.

Physical data centre asset information (moves, adds, changes) automatically flows-back to CMDB from the DCIM system.

It automatically populates CMDB with real-time and historical space, power,

•

• • •

cooling usage data from DCIM system (‘as built’ item details) and updates accordingly.

Data centre asset look-up from CMDB allows for immediate and confident action.

All authorized users access information from identical source.

Expedites all physical/virtual equipment provisioning and incident tracking.

Single, complete database for detailed asset information, data analysis, planning.

Conclusion Several organizations are already using DCIM in an integrated fashion. For example, one Raritan customer is using DCIM as the single version of truth for data centre configuration information and using an IT CMDB as the single point of truth for IT service information. Used in this fashion, the data centre organization has the ability to get information that correlates data centre physical information (from their Raritan DCIM solution) and IT service information (from their IT CMDB).

While ITSM and DCIM solutions have often been used independently, these two solutions share a number of components, and in fact DCIM can be viewed as a subset of ITSM. Tying management of the physical data center to the general IT management framework helps to deliver efficiency and reliability and thereby increases the value of your data centre operations.

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NETWORKS IRELAND 31 www.rittal.co.uk

STRUCTUREDCABLING

Future proofing your network

Copper’s

Big Bump

In The Road

Tony Robinson navigates the challenges surrounding migration

By Tony Robinson RCDD CDCDP - EMEA Enterprise Datacentre Marketing Manager, Corning Optical Communications

Introduction 100M, 1G, 40G, 100G… You don’t jump to greater data centre speeds; you ‘migrate’.

Migration is an evocative word that conjures up images of birds flying south for the summer, or the politically charged idea of people looking for a better life travelling across the world from poor to rich nations. Migration is about opportunity and necessity; ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors. Above all, migration is a process that carries risk, and the rewards only really start happening once migration is complete.

32 NETWORKS IRELAND

infoburst The hierarchical ‘tree’ data centre is becoming replaced by a ‘leaf and spine approach

If your data centre has been built on copper cabling infrastructure then your migrations so far are likely to have been smooth and successful. The big jump to 40G, however, represents a significant challenge with many barriers in its way.

A New Standard The 40G standard for copper is unlikely to be ratified until 2016 or 2017, and many copper data centres will be patiently waiting for this to happen so that they can test and adopt the resulting technology. The standards have

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been in development for a long time already and much is understood about their likely composition. Whatever they precisely end up being, two things are absolutely certain: it will use completely different cabling and completely different connectors. It will mean a whole new infrastructure for anyone wanting to continue with copper as they migrate through the 40G barrier and beyond, and at shorter distances than those currently employed today.

Such a transformation immediately begs the question: why not adopt a fibre infrastructure instead? To my mind, fibre cabling means future proofing your data centre rather than simply building for its immediate future need. To use a migration analogy, take the example of the islanders of Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Maldives.

Faced with the prospect of being submerged beneath rising oceans in the coming decades, these and other countries are actively looking to purchase land for their citizens to live on before it’s too late. Some are looking to the security of the mainland far higher above sea level, while others are looking to neighbouring islands where the same issues risk following them in years to come. Whatever they choose to do, they are still going to be moving everything lock, stock and barrel. It’s the same with the choice facing data centre managers about copper continuation or a new move to fibre.

Performance Gains There will be those data centres where existing 1G or 10G architectures are sufficient for the foreseeable future, and where an upgrade to optical fibre could be considered ‘overkill’ in their business model. Copper has served well in these environments, and across the LAN, offering a continuous network medium able to cope with all but the most extreme distance requirements.

Indeed, copper’s robustness and ability to continue extracting new performance gains seemingly knew no bounds, at least until now.

The 40G copper blueprint is currently being drawn up on an entirely new basis. Forget about RJ45; a new interface is essential. Existing copper cable will be obsolete, with new Cat8 cable emerging as the minimum 40G requirement. Additionally, 40G copper distances will decrease from the current 100m for 10G to a proposed 35m for 40G. There will be power issues, because the additional power requirements of 40G copper conflict with the power and cooling restrictions of the modern data centre. And there is little hope in sight for greater density as 48 copper pairs will continue to be the maximum for a 1U housing, compared to x4 that number with fibre.

Density is a huge issue for data centres and this is being exacerbated by the hyper-scale, mega data centre trends that demand far greater interconnectivity between networked devices in the data centre. Virtualisation, cloud and SDN are

34 NETWORKS IRELAND

infoburst Mega data centre trends demand far greater interconnectivity between networked devices.

causing data centre architects to move away from their traditional three-tier ‘north/south’ orientated data centre designs toward a much flatter, broader two-tier environment that promotes socalled ‘east/west’ traffic flows.

All the leading networking vendors are now vociferously advocating extremely dense switching and routing topologies that create an ‘Ethernet fabric’ for dynamic, on-demand, lowlatency services. As such, the hierarchical ‘tree’ data centre is becoming replaced by a ‘leaf and spine’ approach. This challenging architecture is ultimately crying out for fibre cabling; not just being of the availability of ratified 40G and 100G standards, but because of the density advantages.

Conclusion Copper has a track record of supporting migrations to higher speeds and capacity, albeit over progressively shorter distances. But with 40G it comes up against a giant obstacle that will necessitate all adopters to execute a major forklift upgrade in cabling infrastructure. If 40G is a requirement today, then fibre must be the wise alternative because it may be another two years at least before 40G copper is a ratified standard.

Even when it is, will you be able to swallow the density limitations, distance restrictions and power problems?

Future proofing your network - by installing fibre rather than copper - is the logical approach to navigate these challenges, and to embrace the nascent data centre trends and opportunities around flatter, more dynamic and interconnected architectures. www.corning.co

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List of Training Courses 2015 of Training Courses 2015 City & List Guilds Combined Fibre - (5 Day) Multimode / Singlemode Certified Fibre Course - 5 days (Design, Installation & Testing)

City & Guilds Combined Fibre ab - (5 Day) Multimode / Singlemode Certified Fibre Course - 5 days (Design, Installation & Testing) City & Guilds Structured Cabling - (3 Day) - Cat5e/Cat6/Cat6a Structured Cabling Copper Certified Course (Design, Installation & Testing) ab City & Guilds Structured Cabling ab- (3 Day) - Cat5e/Cat6/Cat6a Structured Cabling Copper Certified Course (Design, Installation & Testing) Wireless Networking Course (1 Day) An Introduction to Wireless Technology & Developing Trends Practical / Theory ab Wireless Networking ab Course (1 Day) An Introduction to Wireless Technology & Developing Trends Practical / Theory Structured Cabling Course (1 Day) Cat5E / Cat6 / Cat6A - Design /ab Theory & Practical including testing Structured Cabling abCourse (1 Day) Cat5E / Cat6 / Cat6A - Design / Theory & Practical including testing Fibre Optic Course (1 Day) Design / Theory & Practi abcal including testing Fibre Opticab Course (1 Day) / Theory & Practical including testing Data CentreDesign Operati onal Management (2 Day) (DCOM) 2 Day Data Centre Operati ab onal Management Data Centre Operational Management (2 Day) (DCOM) ab 2 Day Data Centre Operational Management Data Centre Design (3 Day) (DCD) 3 Day Data Centre abDesign Course Data Centre Design (3 Day) (DCD) We can assist with designing a Course specific to your needs and on occasion facilitate off site.

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DCIM

Making use of data-collection and analysis

Automated

Cooling Control Henrik Leerburg reports on automated cooling control in dynamic data centres

By Henrik Leerburg, Product Line Director, Schneider Electric StruxureWare for Data Centers

Introduction Fine tuning the operations of the cooling equipment needed to keep a busy and constantly changing data centre up and running is an onerous task, requiring concentration on safety and continuous computing availability, while keeping costs under control. However, Influence Maps and diligent analysis of temperature data can be used to design an optimal cooling plan and automate the on-going cooling effort for optimal efficiency.

36 NETWORKS IRELAND

infoburst An influence map is unique to each room, containing within it data specific to its layout and contents.

Maintaining IT infrastructure at safe operating temperatures while minimising the cost and energy wastage of the cooling equipment needed to do so is a delicate balancing act for data centre operators. A crude but simple approach is to cool the ambient temperature of the room as a whole.

However, outside of particularly cold climate regions that becomes a prohibitively expensive proposition. A far more attractive proposition is to allow the ambient temperature of a computer room or data centre facility to be as warm as

DCIM

possible while directing cooling effort with pinpoint accuracy to the IT equipment where it is most needed.

Depending on the occupancy and utilisation of the servers and storage arrays in the data centre’s racks, the cooling load will vary continuously. Deciding how much cooling effort to deploy to individual racks is a process that needs constant monitoring and adjustment. Frequently this has to be done manually, with operators assessing the temperature of equipment at points within the data centre and adjusting the local computer room air conditioner (CRAC) units accordingly. This is far from ideal as it represents a very tight process window, placing a heavy burden on operating personnel. It also introduces the risk of inaccurate temperature measurement, which can lead to inefficient, or worse, inadequate utilisation of cooling resources.

Influence Maps Part of the problem is assessing the overall impact of adjusting the output of a particular CRAC unit. Upping the cooling output of one unit may have an effect, positive or negative, on the temperature of a rack some distance away thanks to the flow of air throughout the cooling system infrastructure. This necessitates further adjustments whose effects must also be taken into account. A more proactive method of maintaining adequate cooling at maximum efficiency is to use Influence Maps: schematic tools that allow operators to model the effects throughout a data centre of adjustments made to one or more CRAC units.

An Influence Map is unique to each computer room, containing within it data specific to its layout and contents. This data is captured automatically by software, which at the point of first installation ‘learns’ the specifics of the site in which it is deployed, as CRAC units are turned on and off and the effects of these actions are measured. In this way a baseline map of the cooling processes in a computer room is drawn up.

These maps can then be used as the basis of an automated cooling plan, providing operators with an accurate picture of the effects of adjusting the outputs of CRAC units so that optimal cooling can be realised. Of course, no data centre operates in a steady state. Changes in load are continuous with more racks of servers, storage arrays and communications equipment being added and older ones replaced. Each rack will have different load and cooling characteristics and the automated cooling plans must be adjusted to take account of these. Adjusting the baseline of an Influence Map is therefore a regular, typically a weekly, process.

Cooling Optimize Module Schneider Electric’s Data Center Operation: Cooling Optimize module is an add-on for the company’s existing StruxureWare for Data Centers

“Cooling Optimize makes use of a dense array of temperature sensors to determine exactly where the heat load is within a data centre.”

Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software. The module makes use of Intelligent Analytics technology to gather data in real time and produce the necessary Influence Maps. These in turn allow the Cooling Optimize module to react to this data in a closed-loop system, automatically identifying and eliminating hot spots and helping to diagnose potential overheating risks.

Cooling Optimize makes use of a dense array of temperature sensors to determine exactly where the heat load is within a data centre. This temperature data is aggregated and transmitted wirelessly to a purpose-built appliance where it is analysed by control software, which then sends adjustment commands to the cooling equipment.

As the server and storage load changes, the builtin machine learning automatically adjusts cooling output to match the requirements of the data centre.

The module balances the need for cooling with the lowest possible energy expenditure, allowing the ambient temperature of the facility to rise while delivering sufficient cooling to where it is needed, resulting in immediate cost savings.

The intelligent control provided by Cooling Optimize improves the manageability of a data centre with its automatic closed-loop adjustments making the necessary changes in real time and the influence maps providing greater insight to operators of the systemic effects of those adjustments.

Thermal Airflow Thermal airflow is constantly adapted to match the cooling needs created by the data centre’s changing characteristics. The continuously optimised cooling capacity allows operators to increase both the load and capacity of IT equipment in their data centres, confident that the cooling infrastructure deployed is sufficient to keep the facility operating.

The constant collection and aggregation of temperature data helps mitigate risks to the safe operation of the IT equipment in a data centre.

NETWORKS IRELAND 37

Above Temperature Threshold DCIM Temperature Rack Count Above Rack Exceedance Threshold 27,0 °C

12

Below Temperature Threshold

Time (Hours)

Temperature Threshold

690,0 (29,9 %)

22,0 °C

Rack Count Below Rack Exceedance Time (Hours) 12

526,0 (22,8 %)

12 / 35 racks have sensors with measurements.

Up to 95 per cent of hotspots are automatically resolved and data is also provided to help operators diagnose trickier issues. In the event of an emergency, cooling units will automatically run at maximum capacity and thereby ensure a cool facility until such time as the issue can be resolved and the data centre can return to optimal efficiency. This safety feature applies even if the Cooling Optimize module is unable to connect to or control the cooling units in question.

Providing optimal control of cooling equipment, tailored dynamically to the changing load, can dramatically reduce the running costs of a data centre. As much as 40 per cent of cooling energy costs can be eliminated by directing cooling effort only where it is needed and removing redundancy. Further cost savings in the long term are delivered by efficient use of

infoburst Providing optimal control of cooling equipment can dramatically reduce the running costs of a data centre.

“As much as 40% of cooling energy costs can be eliminated by directing cooling effort only where it is needed and removing redundancy.”

38 NETWORKS IRELAND

cooling equipment. The more optimally 1 it/ is used, 2 the less unnecessary wear and tear is experienced and therefore the equipment requires less maintenance yet lasts longer.

The Cooling Optimize Module provides operators with rich and detailed reports of the operations of the cooling equipment, allowing greater fine-tuning and long-term planning based on the insights delivered. A Benchmark Report verifies energy and cost savings as well as greenhouse-gas reductions achieved through the use of active cooling control. A Temperature Compliance report determines whether rack temperatures have complied with required set points, and if they have not, it also records the time period for which racks have been in violation of these limits. This allows easy detection of potential problems within a data centre so that they can be addressed before they become critical.

Conclusion Making use of the data-collection and analysis capabilities of the Cooling Optimize module, coupled with its intelligent use of Influence Maps allows data centre operators to fine tune their operations to deliver sufficient cooling while avoiding the twin perils of over provisioning and therefore increased cost and overheating.

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CONVERGEDINFRASTRUCTURE

Evaluating storage for applications

Flash

Architecture How flash architectures have changed the storage market.

Flash on Server For performance-intensive applications, flash on server can be effective. It delivers very low, sub-microsecond level latencies.

However, there is a limit to the amount of capacity that can be supported.

It can also be challenging to use common data protection techniques like snapshots and replication. Flash on server works well for high performance applications where data availability is not as critical or is guaranteed through other mechanisms.

Introduction Flash leverages solid-state technology to store and retrieve data making it significantly faster than hard disk, which is especially beneficial in virtualised environments where data access is highly random. However, flash technology has limitations. On average, it tends to be between 8 and 20 times more expensive than hard disk. It also suffers from wear leveling: a particular cell in flash can only be ‘written to’ a certain number of times (also referred to as a P/E cycle) before it becomes invalid.

Flash can be deployed on both servers and storage to accelerate data access.

The right approach is determined by the application’s particular performance, capacity, and data protection needs.

Flash on Storage This can be divided into: (1) Old-school architectural models that retrofit flash over hard disk architecture, and (2) Newer architectures designed for flash. Flash offers improvements in both cases. With model (1) above, flash is used as cache or tier. In the caching model, read accesses are accelerated, but writes to storage are not.

The tiering model uses flash as an intermediate tier for storing hot data (while cold data resides on disk). In general, this model works well in instances where the data being accessed is on flash. When it is not, data must be ‘promoted’ from disk to cache while other data on the cache is ‘demoted.’ That requires significant system overhead since the promotion process is not triggered until the number of cache misses reaches a certain threshold. Only then is data promoted, and in large chunks that increase the chances of cold data taking up precious flash capacity.

Furthermore, in tiered models, flash is used as a staging tier. While write performance can be improved in this manner, this also leads to other overheads. Firstly the flash capacity needs to be large enough to accommodate peak load conditions. In addition, flash needs to be RAID protected to ensure data integrity. Finally, such models introduce bottlenecks when draining data to disk.

40 NETWORKS IRELAND

infoburst By storing a copy of data in disk at all times, there is no need for overprovisioning or RAID protection.

Modern Architecture Modern architectures are optimised for flash’s unique capabilities. Again, there are two popular models: One in which flash is the only storage repository (known as all-flash arrays), and another in which flash is combined with hard disk (flash-disk arrays).

All-flash arrays effectively improve the system’s responsiveness. These systems use data reduction techniques like deduplication and compression to increase flash’s usable capacity, but they’re expensive because flash suffers from wear leveling, requiring the architecture to significantly over-provision to lengthen its life span. When flash is the only storage repository it must be RAID protected to prevent data loss from drive failures. Finally, these models require snapshots to be stored in flash, which is often unnecessary.

Conclusion An intelligently architected flash-disk system delivers the same level of latencies/responsiveness as an all-flash array without the overhead. If the array allows flash quantities to be flexibly varied depending on workload, it eliminates the need for an expensive all-flash array. And, flash-disk architecture allows capacities to scale to petabytes of storage. By storing a copy of data in disk at all times, there is no need for overprovisioning or RAID protection; snapshots and cold data are stored in disk where they belong. A well-designed flash architecture will ensure that customers do not have to trade-off one requirement for another.

LANactive

Switch to the future

FTTO Active & Passive Solutions Nexans is pleased to announce LANactive, an alternative approach to structured cabling. Using fibre-to-the-office (FTTO) topology together with access switches installed near to the work place, it provides Ethernet services via standard copper based RJ45 technology to the device.

• Long distance transmission • Elimination of costly floor distribution • Reduced cable containment • Refurbishment with minimum disruption

The approach offers significant cost savings and other benefits in specific circumstances:

• Redundancy at user level

ncs.uk@nexans.com www.nexans.co.uk/LANsystems

Global expert in cables and cabling systems

CASESTUDY

Network Infrastructure

A Simple Solution to a Complex Problem Northern Health and Social Care Trust Selects ForeScout CounterACT for Real-time Network Visibility and Control of Endpoints Introduction The Northern Health and Social Care Trust (Northern Trust) is one of five health Trusts in Northern Ireland that became operational on 1st April 2007. It provides a broad range of health and social care services across ten local council areas and includes two large acute hospitals and six non-acute hospitals. The Northern Trust provides services for a population of approximately 460,000, the largest demographic area of any Trust in Northern Ireland, and has approximately 12,000 employees. It has a rural geography, with 150+ sites connected using a range of network infrastructure technologies – from superfast broadband to high capacity short haul data circuits with a capacity of typically 100Mbps or higher. Northern Trust’s network serves approximately 15,000 endpoints.

For some time, the Trust had been concerned about the limited visibility and control it had over the ever-increasing numbers of endpoints that are neither Trust-owned nor managed connecting to its network – such as medical, clinical engineering and BMS (Building Management Systems) devices. This presented a risk in terms of ICT network security and governance, as an ICT security incident could have the potential to directly impact the delivery of health and social care services to patients and clients. Northern Trust required a solution to address these issues.

Why ForeScout?

During Northern Health and Social Care Trust’s in-depth research into the most appropriate solution, it found ForeScout CounterACT to be the only one without a dependency on additional equipment or specific software version requirements. “We found other solutions that we considered, which were quite expensive, plus they wouldn’t give us the complete coverage that we needed,” said Pat Black, ICT Network

42 NETWORKS IRELAND

Objective Northern Health and Social Care Trust (Northern Trust) wanted to increase its visibility and control of the ever-growing numbers of network-connected devices that are neither Trust-owned nor managed.

Solution • Agentless solution that’s simple to set up and use, with no need to install agents on endpoints • Enables a continuous risk assessment of the wide variety of devices connected to Northern Trust’s network, including embedded systems and medical devices • Automatic identification and inventory of devices, users, operating systems and software – in each of Northern Trust’s 150+ rural sites Results • Comprehensive, real-time visibility of the network, including endpoints, that are neither Trust-owned nor managed, e.g. medical, clinical engineering and BMS (Building Management Systems) devices • Real-time visibility of ~15,000 endpoints and proactive remediation, to keep rogue users, devices and applications at bay • Secure and continuous network connectivity, helping Northern Trust to deliver uninterrupted critical health and social care services • Increased ICT security and governance controls via simple policy configuration • Easier and faster compliance reporting, e.g. Information Governance and ISO 27001, reducing manual overhead • More rapid internal threat identification and remediation

& Security Manager at Northern Health and Social Care Trust. Black and his team were particularly impressed with the agentless aspect of CounterACT. The ability to have device visibility, security scan/profile, and to be able to run a risk assessment of everything connected to the Trust’s network - without having to install anything on to the individual devices - was seen as a significant benefit.

With a scope of work completed, and professional services provided by Foursys, Northern

CASESTUDY

Trust arranged for ForeScout’s Proof of Concept (PoC) solution to be set up within Antrim Hospital, its largest acute hospital.

How ForeScout Helped Pat Black commented, “Within a matter of hours of the appliance being installed, we began to witness the power of CounterACT. The network infrastructure environment that we work within has a significant number of connected devices that are neither Trust-owned nor managed. If a device presents a security or governance risk, a decision needs to be made quickly on how to effectively manage that risk, particularly if it is a compromised medical device. ForeScout has allowed us to reduce the risk associated with these non-Trust owned and unmanaged devices, and enabled us to respond to incidents and alerts more quickly than we had ever been able to do in the past.”

Policy Creation and Enforcement Northern Trust has created a range of custom security policies using CounterACT. Black explained, “You can leverage ForeScout’s solution to manage devices in many different ways. For instance, we have a number of staff who need VPN access over 3G from their corporate laptops.

Endpoint protection could not block the 3G SIM when connected to the corporate network and presented a vulnerability/security risk. We easily configured a policy in CounterACT to block the 3G SIM while on the corporate network and it worked brilliantly. We wouldn’t have expected this capability prior to the Proof of Concept.”

Uninterrupted Delivery of Services Black commented, “The approach we’ve been taking is to manage restrictions on connectivity such that they are at an absolute minimum, while maintaining appropriate levels of security and governance. In the health sector connectivity and security for medical devices is essential in terms of uninterrupted delivery of critical health and social care services. With ForeScout we can achieve this safe in the knowledge we have visibility and, all importantly, control over most types of network-connected devices.”

Easier Compliance Reporting Prior to deploying CounterACT, producing compliance reporting against ICT Security, ICT Governance, Information Governance, ISO 27001 and other policies and standards was time consuming for Northern Trust, as well as difficult to execute accurately. ForeScout, combined with Foursys’ professional services, gave a simple solution to a complex problem.

Conclusion Pat Black concluded, “The Internet of Things

is upon us, and there is an almost exponential growth in the number of network connected devices, so this is why we arrived at the ForeScout solution. With the help of Foursys, CounterACT was easy to deploy, didn’t need a lot of associated hardware to run, even for an organisation of our size, and ticked all the boxes with regards to assessment, policy enforcement and compliance.

CounterACT is acknowledged as an integral part of our network infrastructure and security toolset, and there is more to come, as we continue to develop our knowledge, skills and experience of using it.”

About ForeScout ForeScout enables organisations to continuously monitor and mitigate security exposures and cyber attacks. The company’s CounterACT appliance dynamically identifies and evaluates network users, endpoints and applications to provide visibility, intelligence and policy-based mitigation of security problems. ForeScout’s open ControlFabric architecture allows a broad range of IT security products and management systems to share information and automate remediation actions. Because ForeScout’s solutions are easy to deploy, unobtrusive, extensible and scalable, they have been chosen by more than 1,800 of the world’s most secure enterprises and government agencies in over 62 countries. Headquartered in Campbell, California, ForeScout offers its solutions through its global network of authorised partners.

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CASESTUDY

Cloud-based Infrastructure

Improving

Performance

Sleepless Server Solutions Ltd Goes in Search of Storage Providers

Introduction Operating since 2011, Sleepless Server Solutions Ltd is a managed services provider that offers cloud-based infrastructure services to businesses in Ireland. The business works with over 200 companies to deliver enterprise grade solutions, such as cloud backup and storage, disaster recovery, and secure email hosting.

The Problem As the company brings additional services to market or acquires new customers, its storage requirements can change dramatically. When looking to upgrade its storage systems at the end of 2013, Sleepless needed a SAN that could provide the company with the flexibility and capacity to support its changing needs. In particular, Sleepless needed a solution that would enable the business to improve efficiency and serve its existing client base better, with a faster system, greater flexibility and a reliable disaster recovery. Given that disaster recovery is a core component of the company’s offering, it needed a system that would enable it to act quickly for its clients when required.

The Solution In the search for storage providers, Sleepless struggled to find a flexible system that would allow room for growth and continuous change. In many cases, a greater investment was required to receive less flexibility. After evaluating a number of options, Sleepless approached Nimble Storage following a recommendation by Avita Communications, one of the company’s partners.

After reviewing Nimble’s flash storage solutions, it was clear that the product was different from others and would fit in perfectly with its business needs, so Sleepless decided to procure a Nimble CS-Series array in January 2014. Providing the flexibility and scalability that it required, the company has enjoyed a range of business benefits since its implementation including:

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•

•

•

•

•

Improved performance – 300 per cent improvement in performance across the estate Improved customer response – the Nimble solution can react to changing client demands instantly and can deliver huge performance where required Increased efficiency - better operational efficiency has freed up time and resources Scalability – easy to scale across the whole infrastructure, providing a simple upgrade path for systems Lowered TCO – Nimble’s solution lowered the total cost of ownership, offering greater value with more performance and other features than competitors

Conclusion The deployment of Nimble’s technology is also helping Sleepless in its wider objective of growing the business and continuing to add new services.

As a result of the implementation, Sleepless plans to add at least an additional four services this year, including Nimble Disaster Recovery as-aService, which will give it a significant competitive advantage in the market.

infoburst The deployment of Nimble’s CS Series provided the flexibility and scalability that Sleepless required to add new services and grow the business.

w w w a .d n ce ta ew tr ld or om .c

Schneider Electric White paper

CASESTUDY

Improving Network Management

Automated Infrastructure Management Plasan Deploys Advanced Network with the Help of RiT Technologies PatchView+ Intelligent Infrastructure Management (IIM) Executive Summary Plasan, an international provider of advanced ballistic protection solutions, decided that as part of their relocating to new offices they wanted to upgrade their communication infrastructure to streamline and improve network management. For this purpose the Company deployed the PatchView+ Intelligent Infrastructure Management (IIM) solution; hardware and software-based solution that’s designed to provide advanced management tools for computer networks in data centres and communication rooms. As a result they improved their response time to equipment problems and were able to maintain a more accurate and complete documentation of their network topology.

The Requirement Plasan is an international leader in design, engineering and manufacturing of advanced defence solutions for vehicles and personal ballistic protection, with customers that include security organizations such as the IDF, the U.S. Army and NATO. Recently the company relocated to a new building and the company’s IT manager, Chen Finkelstein, decided to take advantage of this opportunity to upgrade the communication infrastructure by deploying a management system to the network physical layer. “Like any company our size, cabling infrastructure and terminal equipment takes up a significant part of our time.

If an employee moves to another location or a new server is deployed there’s always guesswork involved in finding the optimal placement and connecting it to the right switches and ports. In addition, after expanding to two sites I needed one unified system to manage them both with the ability to support additional sites in the future.

We wanted to put an end to the guesswork and to have full view of the connectivity map.”

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infoburst The RiT system is easy to implement and operate, with a browser-based interface that can be accessed from any computer.

In addition, as a company committed to high standards of manufacturing for defence agencies, Plasan needed a solution that would ensure the stability and reliability of their network infrastructure.

The Selection Process According to Chen, “we checked a number of suppliers, but selected RiT because they provide full end-to-end cabling solutions including passive cabling equipment, so had a one-stop shop for all of our communications needs. When we evaluated the RiT PatchView+ infrastructure management system it met our requirements for monitoring and controlling the physical network

CASESTUDY

layer. We could see at any given moment a graphic representation and full connectivity of all IT assets, from switch ports to equipment, such as computers and IP phones, including all elements in between, even when the cables and patch cords are connected back or front.”

The RiT system is easy to implement and operate, with a browser-based interface that can be accessed from any computer. Alerts are generated according to pre-set criteria, such as overheating in the cabinets or an unscheduled connect/disconnect of patch cords. “We find this feature particularly useful for reducing troubleshooting time. For example, when we get a service call from an end user complaining of lost internet connection, we can instantly see which port they’re connected to and the exact physical location of the user and the port.” In addition, the PatchView+ system supports all types of network configurations, including any future network that might set up, which increases the company’s return on investment.

The Deployment The system was initially deployed in a four story building in Kibbutz Sasa. PatchView+ panels were installed and connected to switch ports with patch cords that communicate directly with the PatchView Manager software. Once PatchView Manager was installed, a network map was generated that shows the two sites, floors and cabinets layout. At the second stage, a module called IP Discovery was activated, which recognizes all the IP connected equipment in the network; its MAC address, host name and type, and the links between the devices, switches, panels and ports. At the third stage, the IP equipment was positioned in the network map according to its physical location. The result is the PatchView+ ‘working tool’: a logical and visual map of the entire network infrastructure. 100 per cent accurate and updated in real time this network map provides precise information on location and status of each piece of equipment, even when turned off.

The final stage was connecting with the

infoburst The PatchView+ system supports all types of network configurations.

second site in Hod Hasharon (via fiber optic). The IP discovery module identified the equipment onsite automatically, and it was then placed in the network map according to its physical location. Adds Yaron Ofer, Head of Support at RiT Technologies: “PatchView+ identifies the communication infrastructure at all sites and provides a complete picture, whether the sites are in different floors, buildings or continents”.

After initial setup, IP Discovery was used daily by the IT Department in order to connect users and equipment, and verify connections were done correctly, and also for ongoing troubleshooting.

Chen states “Today, when someone calls IT with Internet connection problems, we can see straight away whether it’s a physical connection problem, a software problem or something else. Even when the equipment turned off we know exactly where it is, so that the technician can fix the problem quickly without wasting hours of guesswork trying to find the right switch, panel and port.”

Conclusion The deployment process of the PatchView+ system at Plasan took three weeks, at the end of which the IT Department gained complete view and control of the physical network layer in all the company sites. According to Chen, “the main advantage of PatchView+ is end-to-end visibility. For me as an IT manager, it’s a matter of convenience: there’s an end user, he’s got a problem, I can track it straight away and fix it quickly. We deployed PatchView+ before we populated the buildings, so all the process of placing, connecting and verifying users was a completely different ball game than what I’m used to. There’s no comparison. I’d also like to mention the good work of RiT’s team, which demonstrated the professionalism and dedication to the project. At each point, if a problem arose, their response was super quick and the answer always came from the most qualified source.

They didn’t keep us waiting, and did everything to ensure that we adhere to the original deployment schedule”.

The advantages of PatchView+ for the customer: • Full command and control of the physical network.

• Real time view of the connection between endpoints and equipment, and the switch ports.

Summary of details of the regulation: • PatchView Manager Software • Tablet application software • PatchView+ copper and fiber smart panels • PatchView+ Environment Controllers • PatchView+ Collectors • PatchView+ ID Keys • Rack Indicators.

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