< Previousby the Ponemon Institute, 68% of organisations have experienced one or more endpoint attacks that successfully compromised data and/or their IT infrastructure. Regardless of business size, it is clear that endpoint hardening is a necessity and there are several ways endpoints can be made more secure. Some of the examples include requiring strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication and operating only on secure networks. Other examples include uninstalling unused applications, programmes and databases, and requesting IT authentication for new downloads to ensure they are trustworthy. Additionally, technology solutions such as patching and vulnerability management play a crucial role in ensuring that each endpoint is secure. Vulnerability management is key Vulnerability management has been recognised as one of the ten steps for organisations to protect themselves in cyberspace by the National Cyber Security Centre. This is because a majority of cyber attacks are the result of attackers exploiting publicly disclosed vulnerabilities to gain access to systems and networks. Some vulnerabilities may be harder to fix and therefore, a good vulnerability management process will help businesses to understand which risks need to be prioritised. By implementing vulnerability management tools, IT teams are provided with increased visibility into network and device vulnerabilities, and can regularly monitor the company’s network, operating systems and applications for potential weak points. Thus, a regular scan will reveal any existing, and/or potential weak points in the IT infrastructure, such as outdated software that should be patched, giving IT teams a complete view of the business's IT infrastructure. Patching: a fundamental principle Patching is the process of applying updates from software developers, hardware suppliers and vendors to improve security — and is one of the most important things businesses can do to mitigate vulnerabilities. This software update ensures that all applications are up to date in real-time and have the necessary protection, by plugging any possible gaps before attackers can exploit them. “Exploitation of known vulnerabilities in software remains the greatest cause of security incidents. Patching - the process of applying updates from software developers, hardware suppliers and vendors, to either enhance functionality or to improve security - is one of the most important things you can do to mitigate vulnerabilities,” emphasised the UK National Cyber Security Centre. However, patching can be a very manual, costly and repetitive task, meaning mistakes can be made. And, of course, it is difficult to maintain accurate, up-to-date inventories across larger IT businesses. Instead, by utilising patch management and automation solutions, IT teams can deploy the necessary patches as soon as they are notified that an update is needed, or if a system has become out of date, neutralising any potential security threats and improving network security. "Exploitation of known vulnerabilities in software remains the greatest cause of security incidents. Patching - the process of applying updates from software developers, hardware suppliers and vendors, to either enhance functionality or to improve security - is one of the most important things you can do to mitigate vulnerabilities" – UK National Cyber Security Centre. SECURITY www.networkseuropemagazine.com 50A combined approach Both patch and vulnerability management are fundamental components of a layered cyber security strategy. However, with all the tools and technologies required to strengthen a business's security posture, this can become both complicated and costly for IT managers. Systems exist which combine both vulnerability management and patch management into one solution, with automated processes in place to harden endpoints. By having a single, compressive tool in place, IT teams can handle such relentless attacks by gaining visibility of threats posed by third- party applications, while prioritising any areas of weakness. In turn, this provides a cost-effective and streamlined platform for IT Managers to manage and monitor all existing endpoints, while also respecting the productivity needs of the business by removing the complexities of having multiple platforms scattered across the business. Today’s modern security environment is more dangerous and dynamic than ever before as cyber criminals relentlessly seek out any weaknesses and vulnerabilities in an organisation’s network. Maintaining robust network security requires constant vigilance because new vulnerabilities and patches are emerging with relentless frequency. IT teams are under increased pressure to implement a comprehensive security strategy that ensures endpoints don't provide vulnerabilities. In order to close any open doors to cyber criminals, it is crucial to have an endpoint protection solution that takes into account both vulnerability management and patch management. SECURITY www.networkseuropemagazine.com 51Amy Young Sales Director Custodian Data Centres Data centres are beginning to look to less centralised locations, due to the competitive landscape of existing data centre sites. Research from JLL highlights this in its latest report, “available land sites in key data centre markets have been limited due to competing industrial demand, power deployment constraints and supply chain issues for critical infrastructure.” As the digital transformation across all industries expands, investment in data centre infrastructure continues. As reported by CBRE, 2021 was a record year across Europe with industry investment totalling €1 billion (£863 billion), with nearly three-quarters (70%) of these assets being located in the UK, with a significant percentage of this investment taking place outside of London. Rapidly rising costs, transport congestion, slow innovation and a lack of personalised services are all cited as reasons businesses are actively assessing how OOC (Out-of-City) data centre services could support their data and connectivity needs as they re-focus their enterprises post-pandemic. Location, Location, Location: Why Colocation Data Centres are Connecting with the Edge COLOCATION www.networkseuropemagazine.com 52n, Location: cation Data Centres ecting with the Edge COLOCATION www.networkseuropemagazine.com 53The investments being made are driven by enterprises' need to future-proof their data centre deployments. In addition, as commercial real estate in major cities continues to be in short supply, shifting their focus to out-of-city locations offers the expandability and flexibility businesses are looking for. Fast access to data has always been a critical driver for all businesses. As digital services across all industries and sectors increasingly rely upon low-latency access to information, the need to move this access closer to the end-user resulted in the development of edge computing. With 5G, IoT, AI and the expansion of digital twins, edge computing is a significant component all these technologies are built upon. The future of colocation A hybrid approach that mixes data centre services is increasingly moving away from large cities, with new edge computing services to deliver the flexible data networks enterprises need to support their customers and innovation programs. From healthcare, to gaming and entertainment, every business sector is being transformed by changes in its approach to data management. London, as the only reliable and secure option for data connectivity, is being challenged as businesses look to re-draw their digital transformation roadmaps in the wake of Covid-19. As technologies continue to mature and evolve, enterprises are looking further afield for more convenient, cost-effective and flexible alternatives for their data centre needs. These companies can see the imminent need for low- latency data services, to support their processes and the demanding needs of their customers and commercial partners. Increasingly their search is taking them out of the major cities to innovation hubs that have deployed data infrastructures to support client growth. Data centre support in smaller metropolitan areas is a clear trend shaping many businesses' data strategies. From massive data users to smaller companies that need flexible data centre infrastructure support but also need this to grow with them in increments, data centres outside of large conurbations are structuring their services to support all these needs. Few industries won't be touched by the shift towards data centres being built outside large cities, and the additional services edge computing can offer. From retailers, banking and e-sports, not to mention the burgeoning use of digital services by the health sector, the data ecosystem that is coming into focus for many enterprises means considering their current data infrastructures with fresh eyes. Interconnecting these data services is the key to their success. Data centre service providers have a tradition of developing their services as their customer needs evolve. These needs will accelerate as technologies like AI and IoT move from burgeoning to essential mission-critical applications. The partnership between colocation services and edge networks delivers the high level of interconnected services needed. Decentralised and hyperconnected The data colocation marketplace continues to shift towards out-of-city centres, acting as satellites where data hubs can embrace the flexibility that edge computing services can offer. Without the traditional issue of city-based data centres, the growth of colocation services in the South of England is tangible evidence of this significant shift from the more traditional data centre sites. The trinity of colocation data centres, hybrid cloud services and edge computing is creating a new approach to data management. The partnership of colocation data centres and the developing edge computing ecosystem offers the best of both worlds. The relocation of data centres offers clear advantages, including the space to scale, power availability, low- latency connectivity and resiliency. While the tech headlines may be dominated by the development of the so-called mega campus data centre developments, the most interesting and business- orientated changes are taking place on a smaller, more targeted scale. Core out-of-city colocation data centre services anchor the needed data environment. The edge services offer the flexible additional interconnectedness that post-pandemic businesses need to thrive in this increasingly data-driven market. COLOCATION www.networkseuropemagazine.com 54COLOCATION www.networkseuropemagazine.com 55Why Engineers Should be Embracing the Move to Automation Network automation is not yet a concept embraced by all networking teams. Many still view it as too complex, too time-consuming or too costly to implement. Others fear that automation may eliminate jobs. But the truth is that all employees in the company, not least the network engineers themselves, can benefit from implementing network automation. AUTOMATION www.networkseuropemagazine.com 56Understandably network operations teams are under pressure as the world around them becomes more convoluted and more dynamic. A perfect storm is beginning to emerge, threatening to engulf them in multiple workloads on multiple private and public clouds, while these systems need to communicate seamlessly for their companies to maintain the same operational agility. The immediate solution for NetOps teams – who by the nature of the critical workload responsibility are all too often encouraged to maintain systems stability, rather than prioritising agility – is to create ticketing systems, ‘change control boards’ or any number of other processes to ‘protect’ themselves from the broader organisation. This often includes adding more staff to existing manual processes to cope better with the workload. Unfortunately, it is not just technological or organisational challenges that NetOps professionals face. By opting for short-term fixes that can be managed quickly, they can become seen by their colleagues upstream – such as development – as lacking agility, or as being a costly resource ripe for replacement by automation. We have seen this scenario before. It reflects exactly the conditions that brought about the DevOps and DevSecOps movements. When companies reach the point where existing processes fail to scale, automation is often the best way out, and the good news for NetOps teams is that they can stand on the shoulders of those who went before them. d be o Automation Mark Coleman General Manager NetBox NS1 AUTOMATION www.networkseuropemagazine.com 57Starting the automation journey A Network Source of Truth (NSoT) is the first step that companies need to take on their automation journey. As Gartner’s Andrew Lerner explains: “The SoT is the single source from which the automation tools will gather the data they need to execute the pipeline. The SoT represents the desired state of the network.” This is what NetOps teams need as the backbone for levels of automation, monitoring and reporting, allowing them to be in full control of their networks. While an NSoT provides the view of the network at a level that automation tools will understand, teams who are coming from disparate tooling immediately gain operational benefits by being forced to agree on a common view of what the network should look like, even before they consider the step to network automation. Too often the networking knowledge in teams is tacit and when something breaks or somebody is sick or on holiday, tacit knowledge doesn’t scale. The earlier organisations invest in an NSoT, the faster they recoup the investment and realise performance improvements. NetDevOps As with all tech movements, the exact definition of this move to network automation is evolving, but the term gaining the most traction is NetDevOps. As with DevOps before it, NetDevOps is more than just network automation and will likely grow over time into an umbrella term for a collection of processes, practices and tools that help NetOps teams to manage this shift. This can, however, be difficult. There will be dissenting voices, just as there were for all previous tech movements. As with DevOps, for example, it is best for AUTOMATION www.networkseuropemagazine.com 58both practitioners and leaders to regard the movement as an exciting shift to stay close to. Not all aspects of NetDevOps will be useful in all contexts, but it’s almost inevitable that it will be the movement to watch in the networking space over the next few years. Take engineers with you For existing network engineers, while automation can seem like additional overhead on top of an already demanding role, we see many indications that those who are willing to make the investment end up both saving time, and also seeing new career paths open up for them. For those concerned that network automation may “automate them out of a job” history doesn’t suggest this will happen - there are more DevOps engineers today than there were systems administrators a decade ago, and the same will apply in the network environment for those willing to adapt. Network engineers will not need to become full-blown software engineers over the next few years, but many will need to become familiar with scripting, and the good news is that there’s never been a better time to start. Network engineers can relatively safely focus on Python for the foreseeable future, and there are a plethora of resources online to get started, often for free. As we have seen with previous movements, the lines between traditional roles will blur to some extent but concerned networking leaders can take solace in the fact that it takes far longer to teach a Python scripter to be a network engineer than the other way around. AUTOMATION www.networkseuropemagazine.com 59Next >