< PreviousData is continually growing. In 2020 it was estimated that each person generated 1.7 megabytes of data every second. This explosion of data is driven by demand from consumers and users who want instant, accurate outcomes for a wide range of digital requests and transactions. They are creating the right-now economy we live in today and in the future. Lenley Hensarling, Chief Strategy Officer, Aerospike 4 Real-Time Data Management Strategies Organisations Must Embrace data management www.networkseuropemagazine.com 80But what good are vast volumes of data if they’re not put to good use? Dubbed the new gold of the right-now economy, data is becoming an ever more powerful tool in the armoury of today’s organisations. Having access to good quality data can be the difference between success and failure in today’s real-time digital economy. Investing in the right data management strategies are critical so that the right decisions can be made in the moments that matter. Here Lenley Hensarling, Chief Strategy Officer, Aerospike shares four real-time data strategies that organisations must embrace to remain competitive over the coming year. Use real-time data in decision making This year we will see data change more quickly and frequently than ever before. The days of analysing huge amounts of static data whether it’s on a monthly, weekly or daily cadence will be gone. Organisations will have to gather actionable insights from data streamed in real-time and make decisions accordingly. Navigating data is a little like a fast-running river that needs to continually adapt to the changing environment at every twist and turn. Those that take the time to learn and adapt quickest will be the ones that succeed. Embrace managed service cloud offerings Covid has created supply chain issues that have severely impacted the global supply chain and the cloud is no exception. While organisations will be keen to migrate to the cloud, the shortage of both hardware and human resource may force them to rethink their plans. Organisations will find it hard to get the number of cloud instances necessary and with such high attrition levels of staff, managing cloud operations will also be a problem. For all these reasons organisations should look to third party organisations to support them with full managed service cloud offerings. Reduce the ideation to production time frame While many organisations spent the majority of 2021 in recovery mode from the pandemic, 2022 will be the year that they look to regain momentum and seek new ways to drive revenue up again. Agility is key and organisations will look to make the most of current market opportunities. Many digital businesses have thrived in the new economy as we know it. It’s something that those more established companies must look to match to remain competitive. The ability to think quickly and reduce their ideation to production cycles is essential. Taking advantage of the scalability of the cloud will allow companies to shape compute, network and storage resources according to the needs and pace of their business. Adopting this strategy will ensure they have the agility needed to identify and respond to a need or demand and quickly react to maximise new opportunities. Harness real-time data to recreate customer profiles 2022 will see the end of cookies, the means by which companies have used for years to gather identity and other important information to build a more powerful picture of their customers. Coupled with the fact that more than 70% of the world’s population are protected by privacy regulations, this will see businesses forced to adopt new ways of targeting customers online and to quickly understand if a product is relevant or if a transaction is fraudulent. For both these reasons, identity will become less certain or less of a known data point. Organisations will need to process and analyse huge data volumes to identify patterns to understand their target audience. Rather than a cookied identity, target individuals will need to be gathered from real- time data patterns based on attributes or behaviours. With the volume of data continually going up it’s evident that the real power lies in being able to draw powerful insights from it and quickly act on them. Recent research shows poor data quality is costing businesses up to $14.2 million annually and for those countries like the US who operate in a highly data- driven economy this figure could eventually increase to trillions. Put quite simply, companies can’t afford to get it wrong. This demand for real-time data transactions will grow across all industries because it will simply be essential to survive. One such industry where this is already happening to huge effect is ad tech where global advertising platforms need to serve up ads to targeted audiences at a petabyte-scale. Telecoms is likely to follow a similar growth curve exacerbated by the need to ingest streamed data from mobile, 5G, and IoT sensor applications, and then process it at petabyte-scale with almost no latency. As we move through 2022, enterprises must look to embrace the opportunities and challenges ahead of them and manage real-time data in new ways to drive successful business outcomes in our right-now economy. as estimated tes of data riven by want instant, igital requests ight-now ure. me ent ons ace data management www.networkseuropemagazine.com 81Much has been written about the financial costs of network downtime. Many businesses have lost millions of pounds from outages, and the resulting fines. Depending on the industry and the length of downtime incurred, the reputation of the business can be hit, leading to further financial damage. What has been less extensively reported, however, is that outages also have a significant impact on every organisation’s most valuable asset – their staff. Alan Stewart-Brown, VP EMEA, Opengear The Hidden Cost of Downtime: the Impact on Staff Wellbeing staff wellbeing www.networkseuropemagazine.com 82Throughout the pandemic, the well-being of staff has, or at least should have, become a top priority for every organisation. The global safety assurance specialist, Lloyds Register, surveyed 5,500 individuals across 11 countries to understand the impact of changing working conditions caused by Covid-19. Its report found that 69% of employees reported higher levels of work-related stress while working from home, driven by increased workloads and changes to working patterns. Against that backdrop of strained mental health, the stress of coping with an outage and its aftermath including having to deal with unhappy or angry customers can prove all but unbearable for service staff. Many IT support teams, for example, have had a great deal to cope with through the pandemic. From the outset, they had to provide remote access and IT support for other remotely-located employees, often while having to adapt themselves to homeworking and the isolation it can bring. Many organisations rushed to implement cloud computing in the early days of Covid. For all the manifest benefits of the cloud, mistakes and misconfigurations were inevitable. That potentially gave hackers opportunities to exploit. At the same time, with many networks under growing strain from increased traffic and surges in demand as digitalisation accelerated, the potential for outages to occur also increased. Just keeping networks operational has been an ever- present concern for these staff. Cyber-security threats have been on the rise since Covid-19 emerged. A new report has found that 70% of organisations have seen increased phishing attacks since the pandemic began. According to Sophos’ Phishing Insights 2021, all sectors were affected, with central government experiencing the highest increase (77%), closely followed by business and professional services (76%) and healthcare (73%). More specifically, cyberthreats lead to outages and downtime can take their toll on engineers facing long journeys to investigate outages, followed by a battle against time to get systems up and running again. With travel still restricted in parts of the world, sending engineers out to remote sites to address downtime issues may still risk compromising their health and safety, or entail the need for quarantine. Rapid recovery All the above indicates that over and above the financial drivers, organisations also need to consider the human cost of outages. That in turn highlights just how important it is that when disruption occurs, companies have an IT business continuity plan that enables them to recover quickly. They above all need to ensure their network is resilient. One priority must be ensuring businesses have visibility and the agility to pivot as problems occur. Many are not proactively notified if something goes offline. Even when they are aware, it may be difficult to understand which piece of equipment at which location has a problem. To solve errors, an organisation might need to perform a quick system reboot remotely. If this does not work, there may be a problem with a software update or other serious issue. That’s where the concept of Out-of-Band comes into play. In this context, when outages occur, organisations can use Smart Out-of-Band (OOB) management to establish an alternative path into the network and then start working on resolving the problem, without having to send in engineers to visit the relevant site and fix affected devices in person. The OOB management network is separate from the main production network so even if the business is infected internally, it will still have a healthy OOB management network. OOB allows network admins to provision, maintain and manage components such as servers, WAN and security devices and resolve malfunctions via secure remote access. If there is an issue with connectivity, out-of-band solutions offer a failover solution, with cellular often providing an alternative to wired connectivity. In short, having an effective Smart OOB management network in place will enable the business to securely access the affected network and devices, resolve problems and support business continuity. In addition, a network automation or NetOps approach can also help in automating responses to specific malicious occurrences. It will additionally provide real- time visibility of events regardless of the production network's state. Such an approach to delivering network resilience is critical if businesses are to drive network uptime, ensure business continuity and significantly reduce the impact that downtime can bring to employee health and wellbeing. staff wellbeing www.networkseuropemagazine.com 83Movers and Shakers www.networkseuropemagazine.com MOVERS AND SHAKERS 84 EXA Infrastructure has named Adeel Ahmad as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), responsible for financial planning, accounting, tax and treasury, as the business sets its sights on further growth and investment. Ahmad joins EXA Infrastructure from ADVANZ PHARMA, a specialist pharmaceutical company committed to improving the lives of patients by enhancing critical medicines, where he also served as CFO. He was instrumental in setting the strategic direction for ADVANZ, streamlining the business and playing a lead role in its $2.1 billion sale in 2021. EXA Infrastructure was formed last September after its Europe-wide, sub-sea and North American network infrastructure and data centre assets were acquired by I Squared Capital, enabling the business to focus on meeting rising customer demand for core services. The company now serves customers across 103,000 route km of fibre network that connects 300 cities. Ahmad, who is based at EXA’s London headquarters, has a long track record of financial leadership success in technology and telecoms businesses. Prior to ADVANZ, he was the CFO of the Indian operations of Ingram Micro Mobility, formerly BrightPoint, based in India. He previously held several senior finance roles at Nortel Networks over the course of a decade, based in Canada and South Korea. “Adeel’s experience and qualities are ideal for leading our financial function as we pursue our growth strategy and maintain a sharp focus on delivering the infrastructure services that our customers need,” said Martijn Blanken, Chief Executive Officer of EXA Infrastructure. “As we invest in new routes and technologies, and increase the quality and sophistication of our customer service capabilities, he will play a pivotal part in the growth of our business as we continue to build out our leadership team.” Ahmad holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. He also holds a Canadian Chartered Accountancy designation. “EXA is a young company with such strong potential, given the market demand for core infrastructure services and the willingness of the business to invest in the network. We have an assertive growth strategy, an expert team and network assets that set us apart,” said Ahmad. EXA Infrastructure has appointed telecoms industry veteran Andrew Haynes as Senior Vice President of Product and Technology, responsible for continued development of the company’s product and network strategy. Formed last September after its Europe-wide, sub-sea and North American network infrastructure and data centre assets were acquired by I Squared Capital, EXA Infrastructure is focused on meeting rising customer demand for core services. Haynes will join EXA’s senior leadership team and report to CEO Martijn Blanken. He will oversee product management, pricing, further network development, and IT and network technology as the business sets its sights on further growth, backed by capital investment. He was previously Chief Operating Officer of Telia Carrier, now Arelion, where he spent five years leading product, procurement, delivery, networks, customer services and IT. He previously oversaw product management, network expansion and sales engineering for all data services for Telia Carrier. Before that, Haynes had executive roles at both euNetworks, in product management and corporate development, and at Level 3, now Lumen, in product and strategy. He will be based at EXA’s London headquarters. “Andrew will focus on delivering exceptional products and the best technology that can be offered across our expansive network infrastructure, and exploring new route possibilities too,” said Martijn Blanken, Chief Executive Officer of EXA Infrastructure. “We intend to expand our network through capital investment and have the strong financial backing required to do so, enabling us to deliver what customers need, when and where they need it. “This means being able to provide the right levels of capacity now, but also the intelligence and automation that the market will expect in the future. Andrew’s product and technology leadership will come to the fore in growing our capabilities, and will make him a core member of our leadership team,” he said. Haynes began his career in investment banking at JPMorgan Chase, and prior to that was an experimental physicist at GEC. EXA Infrastructure Names Adeel Ahmad as CFO and Andrew Haynes to Lead Product and Network Strategy Adeel AhmadAndrew HaynesMOVERS AND SHAKERS www.networkseuropemagazine.comwww.networkseuropemagazine.com 85 John Little joins Logpoint as CFO Logpoint has announced the appointment of John Little as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Reporting to LogPoint CEO Jesper Zerlang, Little will be responsible for all aspects of corporate finance with a particular focus on investor relations as Logpoint moves towards series C funding to further fuel its hypergrowth. “We are excited to have John join the Logpoint team. He is an accomplished financial executive with deep experience in the cybersecurity and software industry. With his strong background in corporate finance, investor relations and executive leadership, he brings a wealth of experience and proven performance to Logpoint as we continue to scale and invest in our future growth,” says Logpoint CEO, Jesper Zerlang. John Little has over 30 years of international financial experience from Europe, the US and the Middle East. He served as the CFO and Managing Director of NYSE-listed AVG Technologies, one of the largest global antivirus software companies. John has also worked in other roles in the technology and financial services sectors. “I believe Logpoint is well-positioned to disrupt the SIEM market and change the way enterprises navigate the increasingly complex threat landscape. By converging foundational cybersecurity technologies such as SIEM and SOAR, and security for business- critical applications, Logpoint is providing a much needed holistic view on enterprise security,” says Little. Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with offices across Europe, the US and Asia, Logpoint is a multinational, multicultural, inclusive cybersecurity company. Logpoint bolsters organisations in the fight against evolving threats by giving them a single source of truth — an intuitively designed platform with the powerful capabilities needed to ensure their safety. Powered by machine learning and backed by an industry-leading support team, Logpoint’s cybersecurity operations platform accelerates detection and response, allowing organisations to respond to tomorrow’s threats. i3 Solutions Confirms Luke Neville As Managing Director i3 Solutions Group has announced the appointment of Luke Neville CEng, as Managing Director of the company’s UK operations. Neville said: “With data centres evolving and increasing in complexity at such a rapid pace, today’s clients face a raft of new technical challenges, from achieving higher levels of energy efficiency and capacity utilisation, to delivering greater sector sustainability. It is the role of critical systems engineering to ensure client challenges are met with a cost-effective and elegant response. I’m looking forward to growing personally during this new career chapter, bringing together my engineering experience and management responsibilities.” Founder and Chairman, Ed Ansett, i3 Solutions said: “Luke Neville has been an important member of our global family since joining i3 in 2016. Always a first-class Mechanical Engineer, Luke has been taking a greater role in managing the company and its design resources, as well as providing leadership support to both internal and external clients as we have grown. In many respects, this new role is confirmation of a position he already holds at the company. “Today, i3 Solutions Group is working hard to exceed client expectations in the field of mission-critical design. We are also delivering thought leadership together with solid, objective engineering information to help guide the data centre sector on the topic GHG Abatement, providing a route map towards net-zero carbon emissions.” i3 Solutions Group to Lead Kao Data Slough, UK Facility Design i3 Solutions Group has announced the company has been appointed Principal Consultant by Kao Data, to lead design engineering work at its 16MW, carrier-neutral data centre in Slough, West London. Founder and Chairman of i3 Solutions Group, Ed Ansett said, “We’re naturally delighted to have been appointed for this project by Kao Data – a company which, like i3, takes very seriously the need for greater sustainability throughout the data centre lifecycle. This can be seen in both the cooling design and the use of HVO to fuel stand-by power generation at the Harlow Campus. We believe that our shared values will make this a successful partnership.” Gérard Thibault, Chief Technical Officer at Kao Data, said, “As a developer and operator of high-performance data centres for advanced computing, from inception, Kao Data has set out to provide customers with hyperscale-inspired digital infrastructure. Working with i3 Solutions Group is a meeting of like minds; our values, as well as our design and engineering ethos, are all well aligned. We look forward to working together to scale our sustainable infrastructure platform to serve cloud, enterprise and intensive computing requirements.” Situated in the West London Availability Zone within the world’s second-largest data centre hub, the new Kao Data Slough facility will bring to market up to 16MW of Tier 3 equivalent resilient space for mission-critical IT equipment. The new capacity will conform to Kao Data’s established high-performance design and sustainability principles, delivering energy-efficient operations with an SLA-backed PUE <1.2, even at partial loads. NETWORKS EUROPE reaches a readership of 26,000 network infrastructure professionals throughout Europe, landing on the desks of Data Centre Managers, Facilities Managers, CIOs, CTOs, ICT Directors, Consultants, Network Managers, Integrators and many others in the Data Centre industry. NETWORKS EUROPE features editorial contribution from worldwide industry figureheads, ensuring that it's the world's best publication for information on all aspects of this constantly evolving industry. NETWORKS EUROPE The magazine for network and data centre professionals If you would like to contribute a feature article, please contact the editor, Laura Vallis at editor@networkseuropemagazine.com If you would like to advertise in any of the upcoming issues please contact sales@networkseuropemagazine.com The media pack for 2022 is out now. To download, please click HERE 2022 EDITORIAL PROGRAMME MAY/JUNE Copy deadline - 14th May Publication date - 8th June • Zero Carbon / Recycling • Power Distribution • Maintenance JULY/AUGUST Copy deadline - 16th July Publication date - 10th August • Smart Buildings • Heat Recovery • Training and Development SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER Copy deadline - 17th September Publication date - 5th October • The Remote Data Centre • Cooling • The Hybrid Data Centre NOVEMBER/DECEMBER Copy deadline - 19th November Publication date - 7th December • Energy Management • Connectivity and Cables • Data RecoveryNext >