< PreviousNEWS IN BRIEF 10 New executive advisory board established Comprising major broadband companies from across the globe, the new body will ensure that the future investment needs of service providers are addressed, and greater value ultimately delivered to residential and business subscribers. “Broadband continues to evolve, but so too does the broadband subscriber. Within the connected home there is a ’gamer’, a homeworker, an HD video streamer, an IoT and smart home device user, and each need the relevant service quality and experience,” said Craig Thomas, VP of business development and strategic marketing at Broadband Forum. “In addition, the current and future advancements in broadband technologies will make broadband infrastructure truly multi-service and it needs to meet the demands of enterprise, mobile backhaul and Industrial IoT alike.” The EAB will help the wider broadband industry gain new insights to pinpoint industry challenges and explore new market opportunities. “We continue to undergo a paradigm shift from connectivity driven to services-led broadband, but we need investment from the whole industry to increase the value of broadband to end customers,” said Bernd Hesse, BASe chair and CMO of the board of directors at Broadband Forum, “The EAB represents the executive and strategic voice of the industry to drive a future dynamic and proven broadband ecosystem.” The companies involved in the first inaugural meeting included: AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Calix, DZS, Ericsson, Fiber Broadband Association (FBA), FTTH Council Europe, F-Secure, Huawei, Lumen, NBN, Nokia, Orange, and Vodafone. “It is important to align industry-wide standards with the future investment needs of service providers in order to achieve reduced R&D investment cycles and multi-vendor interoperability, so ultimately we continue to deliver best broadband services to our customers,” said Ahmed Hafez, VP technology strategy, DeutscheTelekom. Potential topics on the future agenda could include making broadband truly ‘multi-service and multi- customer’, application-aware and differentiated broadband, network convergence, security, sustainability, and increased network and service agility with artificial intelligence/machine learning and software-defined networking (SDN). The purchase of cybersecurity solutions/services (66%), as well as cybersecurity training (57%), are the most popular IT investments among British businesses this year, according to the newest research by NordLayer. The majority of UK companies (61%) have in-house cybersecurity specialists to take care of that, while 22% outsource such services. “IT and cybersecurity budgeting are two different segments of financing. IT covers overall technology investments, including hardware, software, personnel and cybersecurity. Because cybersecurity is just a fraction of the grand scheme, it explains why budgets can be tight and sometimes even non-existent,” says Carlos Salas, cybersecurity expert at NordLayer. Additionally, the same research shows that the most prominent types of cyberattacks in the UK from the last year were malware (43%), phishing (31%), and data breaches (26%). As a result, financial damage varies from losses of up to £5,000 for 24% of companies and to over £10,000 for 17% of surveyed UK companies. Numbers could be even higher because as much as 25% of companies could not disclose how much they lost due to cyber incidents. Research reveals that British companies combine different measures to achieve security. Nearly eight out of 10 companies utilise antivirus software (79%). Password (63%) and file encryption (66%) managing solutions are the second-highest priority when creating security policies within organisations at the moment. Business virtual private networks (VPNs) maintain their popularity in securing organisation network connections, with over half (55%) of companies using them. Cyber insurance (56%) is a relatively new solution making its way to business cybersecurity, although its focus is on covering the consequences of an incident rather than preventing it. More than a quarter of UK companies plan to allocate up to 24% of their organisational budget for IT needs in 2023. Spending on cybersecurity solutions, services and applications will remain a priority (66%) in the 2023 budget. However, British companies will devote less budget to employee cybersecurity training (57%), hiring dedicated staff for cybersecurity questions (47%), and external cybersecurity audits (45%). Cybersecurity solutions most popular UK IT investments this year, says NordLayer researchNEWS IN BRIEF 11 Schneider Electric has announced a new data centre modernisation project for Loughborough University in collaboration with its Elite Partners, on365. The project saw Schneider Electric and on365 modernise the university’s IT infrastructure with new energy-efficient technologies, including an EcoStruxure Row Data Center, InRow Cooling solution, Galaxy VS UPS and EcoStruxure IT software, enabling the university to harness the power of resilient IT infrastructure, data analytics and digital services to support new breakthroughs in sporting research. Loughborough University is ranked world number one for sports- related subjects, and is home to the UK’s largest concentration of world-class sporting facilities – with an attending body of 19,500 students across its 523acre campus. IT is fundamental to its operations, from its high-performance computing (HPC) servers, which support analytical research projects, to a highly virtualised data centre environment that provisions critical applications including finance, administration and security. To overcome a series of data centre challenges including requirements for a complete redesign, modernisation of legacy cooling systems and improved cooling efficiencies, and greater visibility of its distributed IT assets, Loughborough worked with on365 and Schneider Electric to undertake a major modernisation project at its Haslegrave and Holywell Park data centres. Delivered in two phases, the project saw on365 modernise the Haslegrave facility by replacing an outdated raised floor and deploying an EcoStruxure Row Data Center solution - an integral part of Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure for Data Centers architecture an IoT-enabled system. The deployment of this integrated row-based data centre solution has significantly improved the overall structure, enabling an efficient data centre design. During the upgrade, on365 also brought other parts of the infrastructure under the IT department’s control, using new InRow DX (direct expansion) units to deliver improved cooling reliability and provide it with greater ability to cope with unplanned weather events, including heat waves, which had adversely affected its IT and cooling operations in the past. Use of the EcoStruxure Row Data Center solution also created new space for future IT expansions and extended a ‘no single points of failure’ design throughout the facility. This made the environment more suitable for a new generation of compact and powerful servers, and the solution was replicated at Holywell Park thereafter. Further improvements in resilience and efficiency were also achieved by replacing legacy UPSs with Schneider Electric’s Galaxy VS UPS with lithium-ion batteries, which offers up to 99% energy efficiency, without compromising availability. “At the foundational level of everything which is data-driven at the university, the Haslegrave and Holywell data centres are the power behind a host of advancements in sports science, and our transition towards a more sustainable operation,” said Mark Newall, IT specialist at the University of Loughborough. “Working with Schneider Electric and on365 has enabled our data centre to become more efficient, effective and resilient.” Alongside the new EcoStruxure Row Data Centre, the university upgraded the software used to manage and control its infrastructure. An early adopter of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Data Center Expert software, Loughborough has now deployed the company’s EcoStruxure IT platform, providing it with enhanced levels of visibility and data-driven insights that quickly help to identify and mitigate potential faults before they become critical. This, in conjunction with a new three-year Schneider Electric services agreement delivered via on365, has given the university 24x7 access to expert maintenance support, reflecting its ongoing commitment to protecting the investments in its new infrastructure, and ensures the equipment is fully operational, reliable and quality maintained. The university also utilises a large, distributed, edge-network environment, which has in excess of 60 APC Smart-UPS single-phase UPS’s protecting it. As part of its services agreement, all critical power systems are monitored and maintained via EcoStruxure IT, providing real-time visibility and helping IT personnel to manage the campus’ network more efficiently. “Having a well-structured, preventative maintenance program is vital to ensure that the data centre and IT systems are optimised and operationally efficient,” said Carl Richardson, Technology Support Manager, on365 Ltd. “At on365, we’ve continued to collaborate closely with the university, not only to provide them with significant value, but to ensure they can meet their strict procurement governance while having access to our extensive support and services capabilities.” Data centre modernisation project for Loughborough University "At on365, we’ve contin- ued to collaborate closely with the university, not only to provide them with significant value, but to ensure they can meet their strict procurement governance while having access to our extensive support and services capabilities.”NEWS IN BRIEF 12 UK-wide edge computing for all Pulsant has launched platformEDGE - a next- generation platform that will enable regional businesses across the UK to harness the opportunity of digital transformation. platformEDGwedge computing enables businesses to exploit data-dense opportunities such as video analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR) gaming, autonomous vehicles, and remote monitoring. platformEDGE has three components: A regional data centre network, offering the capacity to co-locate in any of Pulsant’s 12 secure data centre locations, connected by 100Gbps Zayo fibre with latency of 10ms or less. Low latency connectivity with flexible options designed to maximise edge performance with Megaport’s SDN (Software Defined Network) platform. A distributed compute and storage platform for edge workloads and hyperscale cloud integrations. These three elements help to simplify the journey to the edge for regional businesses, accelerating time to value and ensuring they are well positioned for future growth opportunities. Edge computing is also critical to ensure smart cities remain economically viable as populations (and data) continue to grow exponentially. Rob Coupland, CEO, Pulsant said: “Our heritage is built on championing regional business. platformEDGE is the next stage in this evolution, delivering the technological foundation for these businesses to digitally transform. We have invested hundreds of millions in this technology to collapse the digital divide and accelerate innovation throughout the UK.” Simon Michie, CTO, Pulsant added: “There are just over half a million software developers in the UK. platformEDGE will dissolve the infrastructure constraints they face and unleash regional innovation for local businesses, governments, service providers and suppliers, in a way that can’t be achieved today.” Netskope Intelligent SSE has integrated with Amazon Security Lake to enable faster threat detection and response in hybrid work environments. The new integrated solution provides ability to rapidly identify potential security threats by Netskope security logs and threat information. Amazon Security Lake is a service that automatically centralises an organisa- tion’s security data from across their AWS environments, leading SaaS providers, on-premises, and cloud sources into a purpose-built data lake, so customers can act on security data faster and simplify security data management across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Organisations want more visibility across all their security data sources, including on-premises and cloud, to quickly identify and respond to potential threats. To do this, they must enable logging across their security infrastructure, but often face challenges with incompatible data formats and no centralised place to store the logs for useful analysis. To help solve these chal- lenges, Netskope customers can now export logs from the Netskope Intelligent SSE platform to Amazon Security Lake. Amazon Security Lake manages data throughout its lifecycle with customisa- ble data retention settings and converts and conforms incoming security data to the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework (OCSF), an open community schema. This makes it easier to automati- cally normalise security data from AWS and combine it with dozens of pre-integrat- ed third-party security data sources. Netskope and AWS can help customers detect and investigate threats faster, by providing: > Centralised visibility: Organisations can now export logs, events and alerts collect- ed by Netskope Cloud Exchange to Amazon Security Lake to get a holistic view of threats and vulnerabilities in their overall environment. Centralise years of cloud and on-premises security data at petabyte scale for detailed analysis. > Stronger security posture: Organisations can use Netskope logs and Amazon Security Lake analysis tools to quickly discover and remediate threats and vulnerabilities across their environment to strengthen their security posture. > Centralised threat remediation: Organisations can use Netskope and AWS services to respond to alerts and remediate threats from the centralised Amazon Security Lake console. “As security threats increase along with the ongoing shift to hybrid work, organisations want to be confident that their data, employees and resources are safe from potential attacks and other nefarious activities,” said Andy Horwitz, VP of business development, Netskope. “Netskope has helped thousands of customers improve their security posture through the use of our Netskope Intelligent SSE platform. By meeting the rigorous standards in support of Amazon Security Lake, organisations can have greater confidence in Netskope's deep technical expertise on AWS and our proven track record in securing even the most complex cloud environments.” Netskope Intelligent SSE integrates with Amazon Security Lake “As security threats increase along with the ongoing shift to hybrid work, organisations want to be confident that their data, employees and resources are safe from potential attacks and other nefarious activities”NEWS IN BRIEF 13 Stolt-Nielsen has chosen Orange Business to provide a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution. The solution combines SD-WAN connectivity with global Security Service Edge (SSE) to securely support the company’s global, hybrid workforce and drive business growth. Stolt-Nielsen has a diverse business portfolio, including the world’s largest fleet of chemical tankers, terminals for the safe storage and handling of bulk liquids, and bulk door-to-door chemical delivery logistics. It prides itself on being a trailblazer in adopting technology in its field. The multinational enterprise was an early adopter of SD-WAN and is now moving to the next generation of advanced solutions. It was looking to replace a set-up of internet providers and network solutions with one integrated service to optimise performance and security for its 2,500 hybrid users globally. Stolt-Nielsen wanted a trusted partner to help migrate from its former infrastructure and develop a phased SASE strategy. It chose Orange as the integrator, impressed by its global network capabilities, security expertise and broad portfolio of services. The fully managed Orange SASE advanced offering, created for Stolt-Nielsen in partnership with Netskope, provides enhanced global connectivity and consistent internet security on and off the network. With Netskope’s SSE infrastructure located across more than 70 regions globally, plugging it into the Orange network ensures data security can be managed centrally without affecting business productivity. “As part of our transformation, we needed to define a secure, centralised, future-proofed digital infrastructure to support our business growth and innovation. We chose Orange because of its ability to provide seamless, reliable global connectivity with the highest security standards delivered via SASE,” said Peter Koenders, CIO at Stolt-Nielsen. “This innovative approach will help to drive the company’s secure digital transformation plans, advancing operational efficiency and propelling digital business growth,” said Nemo Verbist, senior VP, Europe, at Orange Business. Stolt-Nielsen deploys fully integrated Orange SASE solution A new report from Aggreko has identified that insufficient grid power is a key concern for operators across Europe. The Uptime on the Line report presents insights from 700 data centre professionals from the UK, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and the Nordics. The report suggests that the announcement that British coal plants will be unavailable to support the National Grid this winter could present an opportunity for energy-intensive data centres to level up decentralisation efforts. It looks at tactical, short-term solutions and more strategic, long-term options to lower grid dependency during this period of intense disruption, and, while more intermittent renewable power sources are implemented into the continent’s energy mix. Though previously shuttered coal plants were brought back online last winter to support the grid, two facilities are now confirmed to be in the decommissioning process and will be unable to supplement existing supply. With the UK instead reliant on power imports from abroad and further strain expected, Billy Durie, global sector head, data centres at Aggreko, is advocating for facility operators to use this uncertainty as an opportunity to diversify their power mix, increase resilience and avoid downtime. He said: “Concerns raised for the data centre sector from this lack of consistent supply are not new, but the situation is becoming increasingly challenging. Combined with increasingly stringent environmental legislation such as the expansion of the London ultra-low emissions zone, owners and operators have an opportunity to continue green progress while increasing resilience. Green and efficient decentralised energy solutions, including battery energy storage systems, supporting, or working independently of existing grid supply, can help avoid downtime and relieve grid strain.” Durie added, “There is no doubt that some industries will need more power than ever as we evolve into a renewable future and rely increasingly on digital innovations. For the data centre sector, where uptime is absolutely crucial, it is going to pay to get ahead of the game on decentralisation to avoid falling short when the grid is under more strain.” Insufficient grid power a key concern FEATURES 14FEATURES 15 In the aftermath of the pandemic over the last three years, companies have continued to migrate their workloads to the cloud. However, a new trend is appearing within this overall migration. Fewer companies seem to be moving information just to a single cloud solution. Why? In short, businesses want as much as flexibility as possible. Today, the main goal for most organisations is to speed up their digital transformation journey in order to remain competitive in today’s volatile market. For many companies, especially those with on-premise workloads, the rise of remote working has also led to the requirement of being able to access resources differently and more extensively, in a range of different locations. In light of these developments, organisations are under immense pressure to keep up with the pace of innovation and digitisation, and so, are turning to cloud models like the multi-cloud, to not only survive this period of business transformation, but also to thrive and grow through added agility. According to a recent study from Gartner, roughly 92% of enterprises have adopted a multi-cloud strategy, which essentially involves a set of clouds being chosen to work in combination with on-premise physical infrastructure, virtualised resources and private clouds. Therefore, a multi-cloud environment is not limited to the use of multiple public providers, but also has the capacity to include every aspect of a complex IT infrastructure. Greater flexibility So why is the multi-cloud approach so popular this year? Both the need for flexibility and the concerns around possible lock-ins with specific vendors are two of the main drivers behind the adoption of a multi- cloud strategy. Massimo Bandinelli, enterprise marketing manager at Aruba, talks flexibility and convergence www.arubanetworks.com Multi-cloud: the new reality for data centresFEATURES 16 Businesses are waking up to the fact that they don’t need to be limited by factors such as cost, scalability and location that might come with sticking to one provider. The multi-cloud model allows organisations to leverage the different capabilities offered by different providers in different geographical areas for instance. With a multi-cloud approach, companies are also able to use a private cloud environment for critical or more sensitive data, while also managing other areas of the business in a public or hybrid cloud environment. They can even locate their most sensitive data and any workloads that need as low a latency as possible on-site, as close as possible to the end-user. Proper planning of where and how workloads spread across multiple clouds can also help with reducing overall costs. Given the current economic situation, cost efficiency has shot to the top of the agenda for businesses today. Data sovereignty In addition to this, data sovereignty is another factor that comes into play when opting for more than one type of cloud, for regulatory reasons. As mentioned, the functionality of the model allows organisations to store sensitive data on-site while keeping less sensitive workloads in the public cloud. In other words, it can save the organisation from a whole host of legal issues while still adhering to data sovereignty laws set out within that jurisdiction. For instance, in the case of an EU company using a US-based cloud service provider, the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act governs any data processed by the US cloud service provider. Under this law, US authorities can request that data belonging to the EU business be handed over to them, even if the data is stored outside of the US. As you can see, this can quickly become complex. Having a multi-cloud strategy in place can help to manage this tricky compliance landscape, as personal data can be stored on-premises or with regional cloud service providers based within specific borders, that aren’t subject to these specific laws. Improved protection Unlike hybrid solutions, where several clouds work together, sharing and intersecting datasets, the multi- cloud has the capability to compartmentalise tasks, environments and applications, adding an extra layer of depth to the approach’s capacity to protect data and provide service continuity. On average, when there is a problem with a service hosted on the multi-cloud, organisations can resolve it and restore the service much faster, compared to those operating only on-premises. With this in mind, colocation in a data centre can represent a real competitive differentiator in meeting a companies' cloud needs. Embracing multi-cloud in the right way can also reduce time and data wastage that may occur as a result of power outages or external attacks. Many will agree that multi-cloud is still a complex solution to get your head around, but leaning on companies that specialise in the provision of data centre services can be a huge help with this. Agile and forward-thinking data centres are designed to be multi-cloud ready, offering companies the opportunity to completely tailor their cloud stack based on their individual needs. Cloud convergence The next step for multi-cloud is convergence between different types of cloud. In essence, resources hosted through colocation services or on-site at their own facility, and resources distributed on various public clouds, become interconnected. All of the most well- established public environments are already at the forefront of this development, and are paving the way for a more widespread shift. Essentially, cloud companies that own their own data centres are going to be a step ahead here, because they allow customers to have the best of both worlds - access to a more tailored private cloud inside, as well as the ability to connect to an on-premises public cloud. What’s more, they are equipped to offer packaged multi-cloud options that will allow for distributed workloads in the public cloud to be more effectively managed, and will encourage fast and secure interactions between on-premises applications and applications hosted in hyperscalers. Here, data from public cloud for Disaster Recovery as-a-Service can be replicated and stored for back-up, data sovereignty and data protection purposes. All in all, cloud convergence makes it possible to distribute workloads across multiple environments, while also integrating applications distributed on various public clouds. Fully embracing cloud convergence - what it can help accomplish and how to evolve cloud processes and approaches to get it done - is the next logical step in digital transformation. Long-term reward The new reality for data centres is multi-cloud, and that’s not going away anytime soon. While it might be seen as a complex approach to begin with, when done right, an effective multi-cloud strategy can provide businesses with unparalleled digital dexterity. Ultimately, with multi-cloud comes the ability to dynamically move workloads between different cloud players in a simple, transparent way, and perhaps even in real time. From this, companies can benefit from improved performance and minimised latencies, enhancing the efficiency of overall business operations.FEATURES 17 According to a recent study from Gartner, roughly 92% of enterprises have adopted a multi-cloud strategy, which essentially involves a set of clouds being chosen to work in combination with on-premise physical infrastructure, virtualised resources and private clouds. FEATURES 18 Prefabs offer speed, scalability and efficiency, says Alex Brew, regional director, Northern Europe at Vertiv www.vertiv.com/ As the world's demand for digital services continues to surge, the data centre industry is undergoing an extraordinary transformation. In this rapidly evolving landscape, data centres are embracing a new era of innovation by turning to prefabricated modular solutions that offer unprecedented speed of construction, scalability, efficiency and cost- effectiveness. These groundbreaking designs are reshaping the industry and revolutionising the way data centres are planned, deployed and operated. Traditional approaches to data centre construction and expansion are being challenged by the emergence of prefabricated modular data centres. These innovative solutions provide a range of benefits that traditional data centres struggle to match. By harnessing the power of modularity, data centre operators can unlock new levels of agility and adaptability, enabling them to keep pace with the ever-changing needs of businesses and consumers. In this article, we will explore the possibilities that prefabricated modular data centres bring to the table. We will delve into the advantages, challenges and opportunities presented by these transformative designs, offering valuable insights to navigate this dynamic market. Understanding standardisation versus localisation Before we look at specific benefits of standardisation, it’s important to understand the subtle difference between standardisation and localisation. A prefabricated data centre is a modular, pre- engineered facility that is built off-site and then transported to the desired location for quick and efficient deployment. Hyperscalers across the globe are increasingly using this approach to benefit from accelerated deployment timelines and streamlined operations. However, while this practice may be more acceptable in areas such as the US or certain parts The future of data centres – embracing the power of prefabricated modular designFEATURES 19 of es ng of ed esignNext >