Magazines

Edge takes centre stage

Schneider Electric is developing an integrated, comprehensive edge ecosystem designed to provide key partners, the Channel and end users with the tools they need to take advantage of the opportunities offered by this key digital transformation building block.

A special blend brings success

DW talks to Tim Wilkes, Marketing Director, Kohler Uninterruptible Power, about all things UPS – covering the company’s products and services portfolio, some key industry issues and ending with some interesting thoughts on power availability into the future.

Is the glass half full or half empty when it comes to security?

Is IT security improving, and will it continue to improve, or are the bad folks winning the battle? Are data breaches inevitable, and therefore it's all about managing the fallout from these, or is it possible to prevent security breaches from occurring? DW asks vendors for their views on the digital security landscape.

Hybrid IT infrastructure - the only game in town?

Hybrid IT infrastructure - the only game in town? And how important is the edge going to become? The DW March issue includes a Special Focus on Hybrid IT and the Edge, with a mixture of articles and comment from leading figures working in the IT industry.

All the Bs – Bang, bucking, batteries, Brexit and beagles

DW talks to Leo Craig, General Manager for Riello UPS Ltd, about the company’s positive start to 2019, battery storage, energy efficiency and smart grids, the edge, Brexit and beagles – yes, beagles!

2019 – Exciting times ahead

In response to our request for technology predictions for 2019, we received more than 150 submissions. The December issue of DW featured the first batch, this January issue contains the second, and the February issue the final instalment. We hope you enjoy reading about what's going to be happening in the workplace sometime soon! Part 1.

A predictable new year?

‘Tis the season of predictions and forecasts – reasons aplenty to be jolly as seemingly everyone has a go at crystal ball gazing for 2019 and beyond. In fairness, I did invite vendors of all shapes and sizes to send through their thoughts to me for this issue of Digitalisation World as my original choice of subject – the edge – was met with a surprising almost total silence. Everyone seems to be talking about edge, but, apparently, no one wants to commit these words to computer screen. As for the predictions and forecasts well, I’ve received so many that it looks as if we’re going to have a Part 1 (in this issue), a Part 2 in the January issue and even a Part 3 in the February issue, if that’s not too late!

Global race for next-generation connectivity

In the November issue of Digitalisation World, there’s a major focus on the advent of 5G technology. Where 4G perhaps underwhelmed, there seems to be no shortage of excitement surrounding 5G technology and its potential to transform the enterprise. As one contributor puts it: “5G is a technological paradigm shift, akin to the shift from typewriter to computer.

Moving with the times

No great technology ideas or insights this month – just a brief message to tell you that we’ve re-designed our ICT publishing portfolio under the Digitalisation World title. We’ve launched a new look website, where blogs, podcasts (DigiTalk) and video content will be very much to the fore. We’ve re-styled our weekly newsletters, under the name of Digital Digests, so that each week subscribers will receive more of a mini-magazine – with articles, video and audio content alongside the more traditional text-based stories...

Keeping cool on NGD expansion

When data centre superpower Next Generation Data (NGD) began the 100,000 square foot, ground floor expansion of its high security data centre in Newport, they relied on trusted supply chain partners Stulz UK and Transtherm Cooling Industries to deliver a substantial package of temperature management and plant cooling technology.

Schneider Electric and Interxion partner to deliver new Dublin data centre

Availability, efficiency, growing customer communities of interest and operational excellence are the drivers for Interxion and their new DUB3 data centre.

Why big data for customer experience needs to get some context

As consumers, we live in a digital ecosystem almost without even realising it. We interact with brand touchpoints many times a day, and in each of these our brand perception is shifting and evolving. More than this, rather than buying products from companies, we buy into their brand. Customers for any product or service are now expecting the personalised touch, and a tailor-made customer experience to be delivered through their screens.

The form factor

From the edge of networks to colocation facilities, prefabricated systems provide a rapid and scalable approach to today’s data centre requirements. - By Wendy Torell, Senior Research Analyst at Schneider Electric’s Data Center Science Center.

Edge or core? Understanding the IoT challenge

From connected utility meters to smart traffic lights, the Internet of Things (IoT) is part of our daily lives with some estimates suggesting 25 billion IoT devices by 2020. - By Pinakin Patel, Head of Solutions Engineering at MapR.

Flash StorageThe arrival of the all-flash data centreSNS talks to Mark Young, VP systems engineering and field CTO for EMEA at Tintri, examining the impact of flash storage to date, the role flash storage has to play in some of the emerging technologies, such as IoT and AI, and predicting an increasingly important role for flash storage into the future.Read cover story

IoTHow businesses should approach the Internet of ThingsMore and more businesses are realising the incredible value that the Internet of Things (IoT) can add to their operations.Read cover story

CloudAre there any dark Clouds on the horizon?The recent roundtable, The Intelligent Future of Cloud, hosted by Ingram Micro Cloud and the Cloud Industry Forum, was a great opportunity for the Channel to discuss the apparently unstoppable momentum behind Cloud technology. All present agreed that Cloud is a powerful enabler for greater business innovation and agility (and, yes, digital transformation was referenced), but believe that there is still an as yet unfulfilled need for greater education throughout the technology supply chain.Read cover story

Power and CoolingCutting data centre carbon emissions with modular UPSEnergy bills account for up to 60% of a data centre's overall operating costs. With demand for capacity getting bigger and bigger, improving operational efficiency throughout server rooms doesn't just make environmental sense, it's quickly becoming an economic imperative to stop electricity bills spiralling out of control.Read cover story

Energy EfficiencyGoing Green: Energy-efficient data centres are a panacea for IT and the environmentAlessandro Bruschini from Aruba S.p.A. takes a look at the impact green data centres have on the business, IT and renewables sectors.Read cover story

Digital BusinessThe customer must be at the centre of the digital strategyBreak down internal barriers to deliver highly tailored products and services. By Colin Masson, global industry director of manufacturing solutions at Microsoft.Read cover story

IoTRack, stack, deployHyperconverged infrastructure is essential when embracing the demands of the IoT by Lee Griffiths, Infrastructure Solutions Manager, IT Division, APC by Schneider Electric.Read cover story

IoTIoT vs. snowfalls: smart response of Moscow communal servicesMoscow IT Department has completed the implementation of a unified IoT platform monitoring and controlling over 22,000 communal vehicles.Read cover story

AutomationUltima reaps benefits of using Robotic Process AutomationTalk of robotic process automation (RPA) is all the rage, but what can it really do for your business?Read cover story

IT ManagementElevating IT's role within the businessThe digital transformation wave is causing widespread change across businesses in all industries, with the creation of new business models, revenue streams and innovative services.Read cover story

Data CentreKelvin Hughes deploys Schneider Electric StruxureOn for 24/7 monitoring of data centre applicationsThe application forms part of Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure™ solution for data centres, and delivers detailed remote monitoring and critical information direct to the users' mobile phone.Read cover story

Data Centre2018 Data Centre TrendsIn the data centre industry huge advances in critical infrastructure technology are made year on year. By Steven Carlini, Sr Director-Innovation, Data Center IT Division, CTO Office, Schneider Electric.Read cover story

IT ManagementFour ways to avoid IT downtime with proactive monitoringAs the lifeblood of every modern organisation, IT is a business enabler. While effective IT boosts productivity and your bottom line, unplanned downtime puts your business's profitability and reputation at stake, as proven by the IT outage at British Airways.Read cover story

Data Centre DesignScaling Micro Data Centres at The EdgeNew research shows that micro data centres allow a more resilient and cost-effective approach to scaling up IT resources By: Victor Avelar, Director and Senior Research Analyst, Schneider Electric Data Center Science Center.Read cover story

CoolingIt's all about the building and the applicationDCS talks to all things cooling with Alan Beresford, MD,  EcoCooling, covering the company's product range, involvement in the Horizon 2020 EU data centre Research Project, a recent launch and expansion plans.Read cover story

Smart CitiesThe role of big data in smart citiesBig data is critical to the successful implementation of any type of intelligent infrastructure initiative, such as smart cities or mobility-as-a-service.Read cover story

StorageStorage Management and the data revolutionData is redefining the business world, giving organisations the ability to find new competencies, acquire customer insights as never before, and tap into new markets. But the propagation of data, as transformational as it is, creates a whole new set of storage management challenges.Read cover story

StorageImproved customer satisfaction in storeDenmark's leading supermarket chain, Coop, constantly strives to offer top customer service both through reasonable prices and transactional experiences. Given the low-margin, competitive market it operates in, the retailer therefore needed to consider costs while looking at the performance of its infrastructure. Taking the budget set aside for the maintenance of its old server platform, Coop was instead able to implement VMware vSAN, without needing to ask for further investment from the board. The virtual storage solution underpins everything the retailer does and has eliminated system downtime for a more seamless customer experience, all while streamlining costs.Read cover story

Self ServiceBuilding self-service portalsHow organisations can replace manual processes, free the IT-team from mundane tasks and improve efficiency by building enterprise cloud environments and self-service portalsRead cover story

Power and CoolingMaking the data centre of tomorrowHaving revealed that the UK generated £6.8 billion worth of investment in digital tech last year 50 per cent more than any other European country - Tech City UK's Tech Nation 2017 Report highlighted the crucial role the sector plays in economic and business growth.

The future demands a more agile data centreHyper-converged infrastructure is a key building block for organisations embarked on the digital transformation journey.Read cover story

ConnectivityFocus on the fundamentalsDCS talks to FibreFab Marketing Manager, Gary Mitchell covering the company's extensive product portfolio, its successful development to date, and plans for the future.Read cover story

Edge ComputingWill edge computing blow away the Cloud?Just about every new piece of technology is considered disruptive to the extent that they are expected to replace older technologies. Sometimes as with the cloud, old technology is simply re-branded to make it more appealing to customers and thereby to create the illusion of a new market. Let's remember that Cloud Computing had previously existed in one shape or form. At one stage it was called On Demand Computing, and then it became Application Service Provision.Read cover story

Liquid gold?DCS talks to Rolf Brink, Founder and CEO of Asperitas, about immersed computing and the tremendous potential value to data centres.Read cover story

Power and CoolingKeeping temperature and humidity in the boxWe all know that server equipment doesn't like to get too hot and that costly, inefficient cooling plants are required to remove the heat from data centres. We also realise that the humidity of the cooling air needs to be controlled - but it's probably not something we've thought a lot about.Read cover story

Why customer focus is key for Six Degrees GroupThese are interesting times for Six Degrees Group. Launched in 2011, its strategy was to combine the capabilities offered by a true data centre and converged network operator with the flexibility and service-creation skills of an agile startup..Read cover story

SecuritySome security threats are less visible than othersAs shown by the WannaCry outbreak, cyber-threats can have unexpected origins and solutions. The same goes for the security vulnerabilities inside your network and data centre. By Ian Farquhar, Distinguished Sales Engineer, Gigamon.Read cover story

Data Centre DesignA partnering approach is essential to meet today's data centre challengesJon Healy, Associate Director at Keysource discusses their market observations, new services and success of the business over the last year.Read cover story

Wilde TimesOscar Wilde was dead and buried long before the first data centre was built. Yet, in his play 'Lady Windemere's Fan', he has a character quip that a cynic is 'a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing'. Seems as if the folks running BA's IT operation subscribed to a similar philosophy. And I suspect that they are not alone. If one were able to take an audit of the data centre and IT operations of every business across the globe and work out whether the infrastructure of each such business was more than adequately provisioned and protected against, I suspect that the vast majority would be seriously under-resourced to provide the necessary level of resilience.

Network And SecurityFulfilling the visibility visionDCS talks to Adrian Rowley, Lead Solutions Architect EMEA at Gigamon, about the success of the company's Visibility Platform, and how the mantra 'you can't secure what you can't see' is the foundation for Gigamon's development as a vendor that can help end users address some of today's major IT pain points security, Cloud and managed services, Big Data and IoT.Read cover story

Data Centre Management starts with understandingViewing the data centre in siloes instead of a single system increases the risk of failure.Read cover story

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Arial; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Arial; color: #666666; -webkit-text-stroke: #666666} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Arial; color: #666666; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {font: 12.0px Arial; font-kerning: none} td.td1 {width: 660.0px; margin: 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px; padding: 20.0px 20.0px 20.0px 20.0px} Edging your bets: the future of cloud computing Our lives are increasingly spent online, both personally and professionally. As each day passes our dependence on immediate connectivity grows, and the traffic generated by the communication between devices and machines is mounting. Gartner has predicted that in 2017 there will be 8.4 billion connected things in use worldwide. By 2020 this figure will reach 20.4 billion. With businesses and consumers expecting these connections to happen instantaneously, this will put enormous strain on the data centre load, particularly as many of the services we use most often, for everyday business IT continuity, industrial applications and streaming TV series, are all cloud-based. Read cover story

Seeing Is BelievingNothing spectacular this month (is there ever?!) just the suggestion that visiting Infosecurity Europe in early June could well be time well spent away from your office/desk/data centre. No need to bore you all with the statistics as to how many data breaches there are every minute of every day, of the increase in ransomware and various other malicious attacks, or the impending 'doom' of the GDPR. I'm sure you are all fully aware of the chaos that security is becoming, seemingly in direct contrast to the importance it is now assuming.

In this issue of DCS you'll find plenty of food for thought. Our Uptime Institute article gives a great insight into the thinking behind the Green Mountain data centre operation in Norway where sustainability and energy efficiency are very much top of the agenda. Likewise, the Q and A with The Green Grid has a major focus on the same themes. Cynics might continue to suggest that no organisation will spend money on becoming green unless there's a worthwhile financial payback, but the good news is that, broadly speaking, sustainability and energy efficiency are, more often than not, about improving the performance of some aspect of the data centre, hence there often is some kind of a monetary 'reward'.

SecurityPutting visibility at the heart of IT securityCybersecurity breaches are happening at an industrial scale. The unabated volume, scale, and magnitude of these breaches are forcing the entire industry to re-think how security should be managed, deployed, and evaluated.Read cover story

Designing and optimising a data centre for the futureIn 2007, data centre efficiency was just emerging as a serious issue. Increases in data centre density and capacity were driving up energy bills, while concerns over global warming were spurring conversations and government pressures about energy consumption. Since then, the industry has responded with a number of tactical approaches and has been searching for cohesive strategies to optimise efficiency. Read cover story

HyperconvergenceWhy scalability is key for hyperconvergenceThird-platform pillars such as social, mobile, big data and cloud are growing and companies are becoming increasingly digital. This creates a strain on the underlying IT infrastructure, and as this strain increases, businesses are needing infrastructure solutions that provide the agility and scalability to adapt to rapidly-changing business needs and IT dynamics. Read cover story

Power and CoolingIntegration - minimising disruption in the data centreDW talks to Maeve Fox, Global ITD Channel Strategy Manager, IT Channel, IT Division APC by Schneider Electric about the new APC by Schneider Power and Cooling Services MSP initiative, focusing on the benefits it provides for both MSPs and their customers, with integration being a key differentiator.Read cover story

Let's Go Blues'Let's Go Blues' might be the chant of the St Louis Blues ice hockey fans, and it might also be the name of a song composed by jazz legend Duke Ellington, but, in the data centre world, if there's a company that best epitomises the energy and enthusiasm behind the simple expression 'Let's Go', and has every reason to make a song and dance about its infrastructure technology innovation, then it has to be Schneider Electric. DCS editor, Philip Alsop, looks back on his recent visit to the US. Read cover story

2017 the year the data centre gets smart?No need to tell everyone that the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and virtual reality are going to be playing an increasing part in all our lives, whether we like it or not, over the coming years. Less certain is how much of what goes on in the consumer world will infiltrate the business environment. Data centres run by robots (and no jokes that some of them are already!), employees connected to the workplace with VR technology implanted in their brains, and every single movement by humans and machines measured, monitored and analysed, to ensure that there's no wastage, whatever the task.No one seems to read books any more, but, for those of you who do, and might just have read Orwell and Huxley, you may well find that what's going on is disconcertingly close to the story lines of such classics as '1984 and 'Brave New World'. Neither book ends happily.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Arial; color: #666666; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 20.0px Arial; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Arial; color: #666666; -webkit-text-stroke: #666666} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {font: 20.0px Arial; font-kerning: none; color: #000000} td.td1 {width: 660.0px; margin: 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px 0.5px; padding: 20.0px 20.0px 20.0px 20.0px} DCIM: the next generation DCS talks to David Lee, Managing Director of MPL Technology Group, about the company's work in the IT and mission-critical infrastructure arena.

IoT in the Gotthard TunnelTo mark the start of operations on the 11th December, Laurent Moureu, General Manager at ALE Switzerland GmbH points out the Gotthard Base Tunnel is not just a major engineering feat. It is also one of the first major global engineering projects to incorporate advanced IoT technology to transform the delivery of essential services. It uses a web of IoT devices to manage passenger and vehicle safety 24x7 in one of the world's most challenging operational environments.Read cover story

It's easy to obtain the impression that the road to digitalisation requires a wholescale 'trashing' of traditional technologies and approaches to business, and the exclusive use of new, smart thinking. While there's no doubt that the journey to becoming a digital business is much easier achieved with a blank piece of paper, than a whole stack of legacy kit and mind-sets, whatever the starting position, the foundation of any 21st century organisation remains a reliance on traditional IT components compute, networks and storage. 

Total Data Protection - anytime, anywhereAndrew Stuart, Managing Director of Datto's EMEA business, talks through the company's success to date, its product portfolio, and its plans to expand its global presence providing storage solutions to the MSP market.Read cover story

Divide and conquer, unite and thrive?Seems like everyone has an opinion as to just how catastrophic, or not, will be the after effects of either Brexit and/or Trump's election as the US President. Having thought long and hard about both scenarios, and read plenty of negative and positive opinion, conclusion number one is that neutral, objective advice is very hard to come by. Either Brexit will be a disaster, and UK citizens will be walking around in sack cloth and ashes for years to come, or we'll all be driving around in expensive (obviously non-European) cars, unable to spend all that money we are making as the UK thrives while Europe nose dives into a never ending recession. As for Trump, he's either going to upset so many folk that, sooner or later, a third world war will start; or he'll teach the rest of the world just how great, and self-sufficient, the USA can be. 

Making the most of managed servicesFollowing on from our recent Managed Services & Hosting Summit, we asked some of the event sponsors for their thoughts and advice on how this market is developing. The full article will be appearing in the November issue of our digital publication, Digitalisation World, but I thought it worth sharing some of the sound bites in DCS:"End-customers shouldn't be fearful of a perceived "loss of control" from outsourcing elements of their current, internal IT function. Just ensure that safeguards are clearly built into formal agreements and relationships, to enable you to hold your service provider to account."

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Different by designDCSUK talks to Darren Watkins, Managing Director of VIRTUS Data Centres, about the state of the UK data centre market, focusing on the impact of the Cloud, edge computing, and the Internet of Things, as well as understanding how VIRTUS plans to develop its business over the coming months.Read cover story

Managed services the final assault?The recent Managed Services and Hosting Summit 2016, organised jointly by IT Europa and Angel Business Communications, publisher of DCS, was a major success. There was a buzz of activity at the event all day long whether in the conference or in the sponsors' exhibition area, showing that managed services has definitely moved from the 'disruptive' phase to become mainstream.

Shaping The Storage Industry

True convergence - will it ever happen?Earlier in the summer, Angel Business Communications, working alongside the DCA, organised the latest in its highly successful series of Data Centre Transformation events. Professor Ian Bitterlin, Visiting Professor Leeds University & Consultant Critical Facilities, and a well- known figure in the international data centre industry, gave the first Simon Campbell-Whyte Memorial Keynote in Manchester. As ever, Ian gave an entertaining overview of the many issues that the data centre industry faces right now highlighting many of the misunderstandings and pessimistic outlooks that tend to overshadow the industry as it appears to be losing the battle between data growth and data centre costs and efficiency or, to use Ian's chosen word, 'effectiveness'.Ian's key message was that the data centre industry is very far from meltdown, so long as data centre owners, operators and users understand some basic best practices. The primary issue that needs to be addressed is increased utilisation of the IT assets that are housed inside a data centre. Average present usage rates are no better than 10 per cent, but there's no reason why this figure cannot reach 60 per cent in the future. Alongside this simple measure, Ian also suggested that refreshing IT assets on no more than a two year cycle would lead to further significant energy savings, as vendors are constantly reducing the power requirements of their hardware units.

The calm before the storm?Having been involved in a couple of recent research projects around some of the current emerging/buzz technologies (ie IoT, Cloud, SDN, Big Data and the like), I was a little surprised that the results of the initial surveys on which the projects were based revealed that the vast majority of IT and data centre end users seem to be more than happy with their current IT/data centre environments.Given the pace of change, both now and into the future, and the many demands being placed on IT/facilities around not just the topics mentioned above, but also BYOD, security and compliance, I was near-on amazed that the level of confidence was quite so high.On the face of it, such confidence should be a reason to celebrate no matter what is thrown at it, the data centre and the IT it houses are well able to cope. However, drilling down into the research surveys a little further, it seems that only a minority of end user actually have any concrete plans around issues such as Cloud, SDN, IoT and other emerging technologies. So, while it's great news that IT professionals are happy with their IT and data centre infrastructures right now, I would suggest that this situation may well change dramatically over the coming months, as they realise that they cannot afford to ignore these game-changing technologies. Companies who do not take on board these opportunities might just struggle to stay competitive, and their IT and data centre personnel may not be quite so content, in the near future!

A picture paints a thousand wordsSo, post-Brexit Armageddon has been, at the very least, postponed for the summer holidays. Once the politicians return to work mode, we'll all be able to understand a little bit more about what is, or isn't going to happen, but for now, the general business mood seems to be rather positive with some economic statistics to back up this feeling.Right now, of rather more concern for the majority of businesses is the apparent extraordinary growth of IT security problems. Ransomware might be at the top of the pile at the moment, but hardly a day goes by without some new hacking/security breach revelation, often based on a new kind of security attack. Those who predict that the wars of the 21st century will largely be fought in cyberspace, rather than physically, will, hopefully, take little satisfaction from being proved right.

If memory serves, the poet Thomas Hardy wrote a poem entitled 'The Convergence of the Twain' which described the creation of the Titanic and the 'creation' of an iceberg,  and the eventual coming together of these two objects, with disastrous consequencesRight now, it would appear that the respective creators of the facilities and ICT functions of any organisation must be big poetry fans, as they seem scared stiff of the anticipated consequences of the convergence of their separate domains. Happily to report, where an iceberg + The Titanic led to a major catastrophe (that's the movie as well as the original event!), the coming together of data centre facilities and ICT is something not only to be wished for but also acted upon. Our recent DTC conference covered many, many data centre topics, but the overwhelming conclusion from listening to the many of the presentations and subsequent debates is that, until such time as facilities and ICT seek to understand and help each other, the idea of an optimised data centre will remain nothing but a pipe dream. 

It's all about freedom of movementIn an ideal world, politics and Digitalisation World should never meet, except that it would be difficult, and somewhat naà¯ve, to pretend that the technology we discuss operates in some kind of a vacuum away from the real world. After all, the endless discussions over data compliance and security are very much mixed up with the political landscape, and the social impacts of technology are very hard to ignore, although it's probably not DW's place to start moralising over whether replacing more and more humans with more and more machines (as has been happening since the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions of the late 18th century onwards) is, overall, a good or bad thing for any particular society.

Looking backwards and forwardsFirst up congratulations to all our DCS Awards winners (see Page 14). We had a great evening in the City of London celebrating the achievements of the many companies and individuals who make the data centre industry the success that it so clearly is. End user projects were recognised, along with the whole range of technologies that can be found in today's modern, optimised data centre (most of them are getting there!), and the vendors who brought these new ideas to market.

Storage takes centre stage - againVeterans of the storage networking industry will be familiar with the fluctuations in the fortunes of this technology. One minute it seems to be the most important part of the whole IT stack, the next minute it's little more than an IT commodity, barely worth any consideration. Right now, thanks to a perfect storm of other IT developments around such issues as Cloud, Big Data and Compliance, storage networking is near enough centre stage as folks have come to realise that data is the lifeblood of any business, and not the IT infrastructure that supports it. In other words, IT is not the be all and end all, but the enabler, that allows data to be created, accessed, stored and retrieved in the most cost-effective and dynamic environment for any particular application. In order for this idea to work properly, the IT infrastructure has to become all but invisible ie not be an obstacle to data use.

It's all about customer service, no matter how clever the technologyRegular readers of my DW column might think that I have some kind of an obsession with IT security. I'd like to state here and now that it's not IT security itself with which I'm obsessed. There is, nor ever will be, any such thing as 100% total security, so my obsession, if that is what it is, is actually about what happens when things go wrong. 

The Digital concern"The Cloud plays a crucial role in the Digital Transformation journey for enterprises no matter what the size and scale"

Cloud continues to cause 'chaos'While the whole Cloud/Managed Services debate has moved on from the level of ignorance that allowed a UK government minister to ask, in all seriousness, what was going to happen to all the redundant data centres if IT was moving to the Cloud, there is still a substantial amount of uncertainty surrounding the subject. With AWS and Azure making moves on Europe, at the same time as one or two existing Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) are getting out of the game, end users could be forgiven for scratching their heads, holding a finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing, and then deciding to use a pin to select their CSP from a long list of possibles. Some are offering little more than the bare data centre infrastructure, some are offering the full works, from nuts to soup, and many others are somewhere between the two.

What's in a name?That which we call a 'CSP' Receiving a press release that included the abbreviation 'CSP' in the headline, I fully expected to be reading all about Cloud Service Providers. But, no, in this instance, CSP stood for Communications Service Providers, a rather different part of the ICT (hopefully this abbreviation is well understood?!) community.

Spring is here - and it's time to kick some tyresWhile the global IT event calendar is so busy that hardly a day goes by without some 'must-attend' event taking place somewhere on the planet whether organised by a vendor, a trade association, The Channel, an analyst house, or a dedicated media organisation the major spring events are coming thick and fast right now. We know that DCS does an excellent job of keeping you informed of the major technology and hot topic trends that currently dominate the data centre landscape, there's no doubt that a day or two out of the office, spent talking with vendors and your peers at a trade conference and/or show, is time well spent. Face to face meetings are a great way to cut through the hype of the social media channels, the seemingly endless surveys reported on in the news and the impression that magazines can give that 'everybody is doing this', to understand the reality. And that reality is often quite comforting not everyone has yet got to grips with Big Data, Cloud, Internet of Things. Indeed, it seems that, despite many years of education, even some of the most basic data centre practices concerning such technologies as power and cooling, asset management and the like, are not as common as might be supposed in terms of their implementation. That's the 'good' news.

IT benchmarking a barren land?On the eve of the UK's major data centre and cloud exhibition, and not long after a major data centre event in the US and Germany's major CeBIT event, it seems like a good time to ask how do end users understand what their peers are up to in terms of their respective IT journeys? Clearly, there's a great deal of secrecy, as organisations who think that a key application or their overall approach to IT is providing a major business advantage are reluctant to tell others just why they are so successful. Set against this, how can any organisation be completely confident that what it is doing is 'as good as it gets' isn't there always the need to talk to others to understand what they are doing?

Perception versus realityA couple of recent incidents have served to put in focus some of the issues that need to be addressed as businesses across the globe take the digitalisation road. First up, suffering from a particularly virulent form flu (turns out it was swine fever, but no jokes, please!) I was not able to book an appointment to see my GP in anything like the near future, so settled for a phone call.

London reclaims data centre top spotCourtesy of CBRE, some news on the European data centre market:London saw the most demand for colocation data centre space across Europe in 2015, displacing Amsterdam from the top spot, according to the latest data from global real estate advisor CBRE.In 2015, London outperformed its European counterparts with 26MW of customer IT power sold during the year.Its Q4 total of 10MW marked the highest quarterly take-up in any European market for two years. Underpinning this trend is ongoing momentum from IT infrastructure firms as they continue to host directly from London, having served the market from Dublin. These companies are responsible for the vast majority of transactions as they continue to dominate the European landscape. Furthermore, ongoing prospects for London remain strong. Large numbers of enterprise firms can now accesscloud services as IT Infrastructure companies have started to provide on-off ramps across data centres in London. The major markets of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris (FLAP cities) enjoyed an overall healthy yearwith 62MW of take-up during 2015.

Remember ILM?Once upon a time, the storage networking industry came up with the idea of Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) the idea of managing information or data from its creation to its deletion (not, of course, that anyone would be foolish enough to ever delete anything!). For some reason, the idea never really took on. Maybe it was the fact that, despite all the marketing hype, you couldn't actually buy an ILM solution off-the-shelf I was an idea not a technology; or maybe it was the fact that data management requires the involvement of employees right across the company, from apps, through networking and security, to storage networks. Of course, in that dim and distant past, technology silos prevented the meaningful cooperation that was a prerequisite for ILM to work. (I remember talking to a storage networking professional at the time, asking him why the different departments didn't talk to each other, and the response was a laugh, followed by the suggestion that the day the storage folks talked to the networking folks would be the day that hell froze over, or some such sentiment!). 

Be confident in CloudAt a time when the global financial markets are in potential free-fall (apparently triggered by the low cost of oil, and Chinese turmoil; but wasn't the last cliff-falling moment caused by the price of oil being too high?!), 2016 could be a(nother) nervous year for us all. This will be particularly disappointing as the ICT and data centre sector had gained significant momentum during 2015 and, prior to the Davos-inspired (?) doom and gloom, 2016 was looking to be more of the same optimism and investment in a bright future for Cloud, Big Data, data centres large and small, and the Internet of Things. Let us hope that the financial meltdown being predicted at the time of writing by those media organisations who love to celebrate the bad, rather than the good, does not materialise into large black clouds that will signify a return to the turmoil of the recession we thought we were leaving behind.

Sorting the hype from the realityWhile our news headlines suggest that all businesses are rushing headlong to embrace one or more of the latest hot technologies or ideas ((Digital transformation spending to surpass $ billion; Public Cloud services market to reach $204 billion; Analytics and algorithms continue to grow; Public cloud storage spending will double), the excellent article from Freeform Dynamics Tony Lock (see Page 8) does a great job of putting the endless IT hype into a very sensible, realistic perspective.

Keeping the customer satisfied In the rush to embrace the Cloud, managed services, Big Data, IoT and any other new IT developments, it can be easy for businesses to lose sight of the main reason that they are in business (presumably): to serve their customers. Done properly, and the digital relationship between seller and buyer can be every bit as good as, if not better, than a face to face transaction. Find out more about this and other features in our February 2016 digital edition from Digitalisation World

The best of times, the worst of times?WITH APOLOGIES TO ONE OF MY FAVOURITE READS, this phrase, as so often, seems to sum up rather neatly the current state of the data centre and ICT industries. It is the best of times because so many positive changes are taking place new technologies, new ideas, new companies all having a significant impact on the way that the data centre and the IT infrastructure it hosts will operate in the future. Cloud is almost old hat, but Big Data is gaining significant momentum and the Internet of Things is still in its infancy, but promises major change for the good.It is the worst of times because we seem to be rushing headlong into this new, 'ultra-tech' world, where less and less people truly understand what is happening, and how it all works, and, perhaps most alarmingly, we seem to be making it easier and easier for the bad guys to cause mayhem. Physical files under lock and key require a very determined burglar, and a very energetic one if they want to steal files from multiple companies; computer files seem to be vulnerable to anyone with the knowledge and determination to carry out online security hacks and attacks.

Big really is betterThe question that Bettina Tratz-Ryan asks in our lead news article: 'Can IoT improve sustainability?' is a timely one and not just because of the recent environmental gathering in Paris. Closer to the IT world, visits to recent data centre events have uncovered a significant trend towards more intelligence in these IT hubs and, most importantly, useful intelligence that can be used to improve their performance.Traditionally, data centre owner/operators have used basic spreadsheets, or even pencil and paper, to map the IT assets within their facility. Inevitably, such a manual approach leads to a high degree of inaccuracy/lack of updating, and provides only very basic information on which future data centre planning decisions can be based.

Size does matterThe news that Dell plans to acquire EMC should come as no surprise in an age when consolidation and convergence (both in the ICT department and amongst the vendor community) is the order of the day. Less obvious is the desirability of the creation of fewer and fewer, larger and larger ICT providers a trend which seems to be growing, as many a start-up company with some smart technology is quickly 'hoovered up' by a Tier 1 vendor keen to plug a gap in its portfolio that, apparently, has to offer one seamless end to end ICT solution for end users.

When will consolidation come to an end?For those that subscribe to the view that, true to its utility moniker, the ICT landscape will end up being dominated by half a dozen or so huge, global corporations providing all our compute needs whether those of private individuals, public bodies or enterprises the news that Dell plans to acquire EMC should come as no surprise. The acquisition is just one of many logical next steps that need to happen before the true utility computing model reaches maturity.

Anyone who thought that storage networking has become little more than a footnote in the brave new world of clouds, Big Data and the Internet of Things, had only to visit the recent VMWorld Europe event (and I presume the same held good in other regions) to realise that approximately two-thirds of the exhibiting companies were very much focused on...storage networks. Okay, so a visit to a Cloud or IoT event might produce a rather different result, but the point is that, for anyone interested in any aspect of the information and communications infrastructure that is the essential foundation of all the clever things being done right now in the digital age, storage is a critical component. Similarly, the daily security catastrophe stories appearing on a news programme, website or in a good old-fashioned newspaper might have been avoided with a more judicious application of ICT not just security software, but the storage and networking 'plumbing' as well. 

News, features and views on the Data Centre industry from a UK perspective.  Articles from SNIA, DCA, UPS, Virtual Instruments amongst others.

The drive to digitalisationIf there is one certainty about digitalisation, it's the fact that doing nothing is simply not an option, regardless of what type of business you work in, or how irrelevant you think that digital technology is to your company.For example, at the most basic level, digital communications are a great way of keeping in contact with your (actual and potential) customer base. Yes, most of us are fed up with the endless spam emails, the phone calls telling us that the banks owe us millions in mis-sold insurance policies of one kind or another and the texts telling us much the same (the banks do seem to have done an awful lot of mis-selling!); but I suspect that this is a manageable price to pay for all the positive interaction we have special offers, new product announcements and the like.

Welcome to the first issue of Angel Business Communications' new, flagship publication, Digitalisation World.Read The New MagazineAt a time when end users from all areas of the enterprise not just the ICT function, but business development, marketing, human resources, sales, engineers and many others are struggling to come to terms with the pace and direction of technology change, now seems a particularly good time to launch a digital magazine that brings together the many, increasingly interlinked subjects that need to be understood as organisations head towards digital transformation. 

The European small and medium business (SMB) cloud services market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17 per cent by 2018 (from €18.9bn to €30.1bn), according to findings from the latest European SMB Cloud Insights™ report from Odin. Now in its fifth year, the Odin annual report identifies critical trends within the cloud computing industry and its impact on SMBs within the European market.

The IT world is moving at a very fast pace right now, leaving end users with plenty of tricky decisions to make. As the news pages make clear, the Cloud is continuing to dominate the business landscape right now, and right on its heels comes the Internet of Things - including the world of wearables. As the digital world dawns (or at least becomes mainstream), the trick is to decide what makes sense to your business (both your employees and/or your customers) and what doesn't.

Just a month ago, in the May issue of DCS, I wrote that the IT landscape was changing very quickly, and that end users needed to make sure that they were up to speed on their Clouds, IoT, Big Data and the like so that they did not get left behind.

THE IT SPACE is in danger of overheating right now - there's so much activity, so many companies all trying to position themselves as the only supplier you'll need to meet all your business needs - despite the fact that we're in the era of open, eclectic solutions, where end users should be able to pick and choose a range of services and technologies from different suppliers and have them work all together. No sooner has the buzz around the Cloud and Managed Services started delivering real benefits to end users, and judicious use of the real technologies behind Big Data is also reaping rewards, than the goalposts are moved, or more accurately, widened, to encompass the Internet of Things (IoT) and the whole idea of digitalisation.

With the latest security horror story, courtesy of the Carphone Warehouse, fresh in everyone's minds, I can't help but return to the CIF/Cloud Security roundtable that DCS reported on back in the spring - with the overwhelming conclusion being that, while there would never be anything called 'absolute security', the vast majority of organisations have a long way to go in terms of ensuring that their IT security is anywhere near 'best-in-class'.