< PreviousDigiCert and Atea partner to deliver Managed Certificate Service for Nordic and Baltic regions DigiCert, Inc., provider of TLS/SSL, IoT and PKI solutions, and Atea, supplier of IT infrastructure and system integration in the Nordic and Baltic regions, have jointly announced a partnership to launch the new Atea Managed Certificate Service offering insight into certificate health, usage and endpoint vulnerabilities to ensure the best possible customer experience for secure communication. Delivered by Atea Managed Services and powered by core DigiCert CertCentral technology the new service includes the ability to automatically locate, identify, and track all certificates in use with 24/7 monitoring, management and renewals throughout any network and connected device environment. “In our view, DigiCert is the leader in this space offering a technically advanced solution with root certificates built into everything from operating systems, browsers to applications along with a good reputation and proven longevity within the market,” said Patrick Kvaksrud, Service Owner for Atea. “At an integration level, the well documented API’s and support for Automatic Certificate Management Environment (ACME) protocol has made it easy for us to integrate our operational systems alongside CertCentral to create a unified managed service that is simple to use with flexible yet comprehensive reporting,” Kvaksrud added. The new Managed Certificate service is available via Basic and Plus tiers with a range of management, discovery and reporting features that span TLS/SSL and other digital certificates, PKI, lifecycle management and TCP endpoint reporting. DigiCert is the world’s leading Certificate Authority and one of the original CAs to provide industry requirements and related solutions that assert the value of validated identity, whether that’s organisations, individuals or things. n Schneider Electric releases IP & NEMA rated EcoStruxure micro data centres for rugged indoor environments Schneider Electric has announced the expansion of its IP and NEMA rated EcoStruxure Micro Data Centre R-Series for rugged indoor environments. The new micro data centres offer a fast and simple way to deploy and manage edge computing infrastructure in challenging indoor spaces for industrial use. The six new models are available in 16U, 24U, and 42U sizes starting in December in the United States and Canada. They will be available in Europe early next year. As industrial operators deploy Industry 4.0 technologies to increase productivity, safety, and automation, micro data centres are becoming essential to addressing everything from the convergence of IT and OT to the enabling of IIoT applications — making IT on the factory floor more reliable. “Advanced automation technologies come with significant cost-saving, safety, and productivity benefits, but to reap the benefits, IT must be located closer to the end point — in spaces that weren’t built with IT in mind,” said Jean-Baptiste Plagne, Vice President Offer Management, Rack & Edge Systems, Energy Management, Schneider Electric. “To ensure reliability of IT networks on the factory floor, we are introducing the new IP and NEMA rated R-Series EcoStruxure Micro Data Centre. These micro data centres provide a solution that’s simple-to-deploy and simple-to- manage for IT and industrial channels and for end users like manufacturers and distributors." continued Plagne. EcoStruxure Micro Data Centre solutions are configurable, pre- packaged, enclosed rack systems that include power, cooling, security, and management. They save up to 40 percent in field engineering costs, get systems to market 20 percent faster, and reduce maintenance costs by 7%. Micro data centres take advantage of existing infrastructure and can potentially reduce capital expenses by 42 percent over a traditional build. The new R-Series reinforces these benefits and helps customers alleviate difficulties because it is built to withstand harsh indoor environments and applications and managed remotely with Schneider Electric’s portfolio of software and services when there’s limited-to-no on-site IT staff. It is equipped with security features that allow it to go in unsecured locations and is also able to standardise the client’s design across multiple environments with a single, all-in-one-solution, which is easier to deploy and maintain than disparate systems. n www.networkseuropemagazine.comwww.networkseuropemagazine.com NEWS IN BRIEF 10 Heficed becomes first commercial company with RPKI repository under LACNIC root Heficed has announced launching an RPKI repository under LACNIC—the regional Internet registry for the Latin American and Caribbean regions— making it the only company with RPKI repositories under ARIN, RIPE NCC and APNIC registries. Having its own repositories brings the company one step closer to launching RPKI as a service—a solution enabling clients to centrally-manage IP resources via Heficed interface, instead of having to do so via each registry separately. Every IP address has to be validated by an encrypted certificate, validating the association between the IP resource holder and the IP address. It can be done with LOA, the Letter of Authorisation, or ROA, Route Origin Authorisation—the digital equivalent of LOA, also deemed more secure. The Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), a system aimed at making Internet routing more secure, enables the creation of the aforementioned ROA. This acts as a crucial safeguard against IP hijacking, when hackers aim to exploit network connections of other users, as well as traffic mis-direction due to configuration mistakes. In order to create and publish ROAs, IP holders have to access each Internet registry and their RPKI repositories separately. This means having to navigate through different interfaces, which inherently becomes even more difficult with a large pool of resources. This is where Heficed steps in; having its own repositories under each of the four Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) limits the hassle of back-and-forths as all of the resources can be directly managed via Heficed. “This presents a single plain of glass opportunity to cut down the time spent managing resources, as well as streamline the overall process,” said Aistis Zenkevičius, Director of R&D at Heficed. “Having all of the information conveniently accessible limits room for error, as well as confusion, as IP holders do not have to delve into the intricacies of each registrar’s system to set up ROAs.“ In an effort to continue refining its product suite to match their clients needs, Heficed has been consistently introducing new features, with the most recent ones being Geolocation, enabling to filter IPs by the desired location, Bring Your Own IPs (BYOIP) functionality, allowing clients to bring owned IPs onto the company's infrastructure, and BGP communities facilitating optimised traffic routing. nADIABATIC AND FREE COOLING SOLUTIONS FOR DATA CENTRES Proven Low Carbon Solution | Trusted UK Manufacturer EcoCooling FRESH AIR COOLING CloudCooler by EcoCooling systems are used by some of the world’s most efficient data centres including Hydro66, CGG, BT and the H2020 funded Boden Type One DC. Visit our website for more details SAVE UP TO 90% ON YOUR COOLING COSTS www.ecocooling.co.uk sales@ecocooling.co.uk 01284 810 586 GRC and Total Data Centre Solutions announce partnership to expand data centre liquid immersion cooling in Europe GRC (Green Revolution Cooling), single-phase immersion-cooling for data centres, announces a new partnership contract with Total Data Centre Solutions (TDCS), provider of mission critical and innovative infrastructure solutions for data centres throughout Europe and the Nordic region focused on carbon reduction and energy efficiency. Through the partnership, TDCS will act as the agent for GRC in Europe, selling GRC’s ICEraQ Micro-Modular, Rack-Based Immersion-Cooling Systems and ICEtank Modular, Containerised data centres to clients primarily in the UK, the Nordic region, Germany and Luxembourg. Additionally, this new partnership now enables GRC to engage and support European data centre customers with a local European presence. “GRC is delighted to partner with TDCS,” said Jim Weynand, Chief Revenue Officer, GRC. “The proliferation of AI, 5G, Edge computing, reduced carbon emissions, and more throughout Europe, which present new challenges for both legacy and new data centre builds. Our partnership with TDCS will ensure clients throughout Europe can seamlessly integrate immersion cooling into their existing infrastructures.” After thoroughly assessing various immersion cooling solutions on the market, TDCS recognised that GRC’s immersion-cooling technology is a differentiator that brings value to their existing and potential clients. European clients can now acquire GRC’s immersion-cooling systems through TDCS in order to reduce energy use or power consumption, solve power and space density challenges, cut energy cooling costs significantly and place HPC compute close to where it’s needed and secure other benefits of GRC’s game-changing immersion-cooling solutions. Being the longest established immersion cooling company, with 11+ years’ experience and many blue-chip clients including The US Government, the US Air Force, and approved by most global server manufacturers – take out the fan and reap all the awards. “It’s exciting to build this new partnership with GRC,” said Jonathan Evans, Founder of TDCS. “Joining GRC as an agent partner is an opportunity for us to offer clients best-of-breed single-phase liquid immersion cooling technology. We are passionate about reducing the carbon footprint and the OpEx of each, of our clients. The partnership of GRC and TDCS helps solve carbon and cost issues facing all data centre owners and operators, which perfectly complements our sustainability portfolio of offerings from technologies to data centres.” n NEWS IN BRIEF 1111 Do you have news to share? Or would you like to contribute a feature article? Contact the editor at: editor.networks@abacus-comms.co.ukAyar Labs secures $35M series B investment solving critical computing challenges through Optical I/O Downing Ventures has completed a $35M Series B funding round in Ayar Labs. Ayar Labs is a Deep Tech organisation that is solving semiconductor interconnect (I/O), bandwidth and power bottlenecks by moving data using light, with its TeraPHY monolithic in-package electronic/photonic chiplet- based solution. The result is a vast improvement in bandwidth, bandwidth density, latency and power consumption across a wider distance. Ayar Labs will use the investment to continue product development and commercialisation of its optical (I/O) solution while also expanding its presence in the UK and Europe. Warren Rogers, Partner and Head of Ventures at Downing Ventures comments “Ayar Labs represents the future of interconnects which have eventual applicability to every electronic device on earth. We have the highest confidence that when their optical I/O technology is applied to computing, the industry will finally break away from Moore’s Law and redefine the boundaries of computing. "We have been extremely impressed with the team at Ayar and how they have proved themselves by already being market leaders in what they do. Charlie and his team are at the frontier of solving critical computing challenges and we are delighted to be supporting Ayar Labs at a global level as they scale up the business and roll out this technology across different markets making photonics the new standard of I/O.” Their patented approach uses industry standard cost-effective silicon processing techniques to develop the optical I/O TeraPHY chiplets and SuperNova Light Supply multi-wavelength lasers to replace traditional electrical based I/O. These smart optical I/O chiplets enable System-on-a- chip (SOC) companies and system-integrators to focus on their core function integration and process scaling while offloading the I/O tasks to low-power, high-throughput and reach optical I/Os, enabling logically connected but physically disaggregated systems. Charles Wuischpard, CEO of Ayar Labs says, “We are excited to have Downing Ventures as a partner and investor, especially as we prepare to expand operations internationally. Integrated Optical I/O (OIO) is a multi-billion dollar market opportunity and Ayar Labs remains at the forefront in terms of demonstrated technology firsts and industry and ecosystem traction.”. n HUBER+SUHNER partners with Comtec to meet increasing fibre optic demands in the UK HUBER+SUHNER is partnering with Comtec to provide smart, simple and scalable fibre optic solutions for communication networks in both the carrier and enterprise markets. As a supplier of high-quality communications systems across the data centre, LAN, WAN and access network markets, HUBER+SUHNER will bring unique offerings to Comtec, beginning with its comprehensive fibre management portfolio for data centres, including the LISA and IANOS systems. “We are excited to deliver the quality solutions from HUBER+SUHNER that customers have come to trust and, by launching this partnership, we are making its premium solutions readily available to our customers throughout the UK.” said Steve Melay, Commercial Manager at Comtec. Comtec was recently acquired by the ETC Group, a major player in the telecommunications industry in the United States and Europe where HUBER+SUHNER is already an established partner, as part of a wider future strategy to claim the forefront of the supplier market. “We are confident that this strategic partnership will enable us to develop and support new opportunities within the carrier and enterprise network sectors, and deliver solutions that meet the increasing demands for fibre optic technology,” said Simon Money, Sales Manager, Data Centre Market at HUBER+SUHNER. “By working in partnership with Comtec, we can ensure that the needs of the market are addressed and that our customers have access to proven solutions that improve network infrastructure performance, enhance operations and drive their business forward.” Following the partnership launch, customers will be able to access the full product portfolio on Comtec’s website, benefitting from a large stock availability to meet a range of requirements and deadlines. n Etex selects GTT for its global SD-WAN deployment GTT Communications, Inc., cloud networking provider to multinational clients, has announced that Etex, a building materials specialist, has selected GTT’s managed SD-WAN service to connect 80 of its sites across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The GTT SD-WAN solution integrates GTT’s global Tier 1 internet backbone with private and direct cloud connectivity to enhance the performance of business-critical applications. GTT is also delivering SIP trunking services to Etex. The managed SD-WAN service from GTT enables Etex to connect all its locations around the world with an agile, secure network. It also increases the available bandwidth for many of the company’s hard-to-reach locations by combining the primary and backup office connections into one smart, always-on setup. This allows both connections to share the daily traffic load, while still providing a redundant fail-over option if one connection has a fault. GTT SD-WAN also ensures that application traffic flowing across the Etex network always takes the most direct network path available and applies WAN optimisation for the Etex business applications residing in the Microsoft Azure cloud. “Together with GTT, we have been able to build a future-proof network, which accommodates our existing firewall estate as well as delivering all the benefits of an agile and resilient managed SD-WAN solution,” commented Bert Janssens, head of technology at Etex. “GTT has a proven track record of supporting our business with its highly skilled team and professional services capability. Our implementation process has benefited from GTT’s extensive experience in deploying a variety of managed SD-WAN technologies all around the world. We anticipate that this new solution will significantly decrease the total cost of running our network.” “We are delighted to support Etex’s business objectives with our secure, high-performance global SD-WAN and SIP Trunking services,” said Ernie Ortega, GTT interim CEO. n NEWS IN BRIEF www.networkseuropemagazine.com 12Colt DCS launches its largest data centre in Japan, Inzai 3 Colt Data Centre Services (DCS) today announces the launch of its Inzai 3 hyperscale data centre, its largest facility in Japan. The 27MW facility has already achieved over 90% pre-letting and comes at a time of increased demand in the Japanese market. The launch of Inzai 3 represents an expansion of Colt DCS’ Inzai campus, which already houses two other hyperscale facilities. Between the three data centres, there is a total of 50MW of IT power available on the campus. In response to customer demand for larger data halls, Inzai 3’s data halls are 1,000sqm each, optimising space efficiency and enabling higher density compute at an average of 3.375kW per sqm. Inzai 3 also employs the latest construction techniques to counteract the effects of any seismic activity in the region. The hyperscale superstructure sits on a system of seismic isolation mechanisms that will isolate the whole building from any seismic shifts, allowing it to move as one, rather than to sway. The result is a substantial reduction in the impact of any movement, protecting the building, customer hardware and staff on-site. The new facility has been built to satisfy the growing demand for cloud-based solutions in the Japanese market. This is owing in part to the acceleration of Japan’s digital transformation, led by the country’s Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga, and the Minister for Digital Transformation, Takuya Hirai. The nation is committed to unlocking the benefits of digitisation, not only for the government but also the private sector in an effort to transform the economy and society as a whole. “The demand we are seeing within the Japanese market is unlike ever before,” said Hiroshige Sugihara, Head of APAC, Colt DCS. “Hyperscale, and the scalability and agility it provides, will be essential to foster such widescale growth and we are thrilled to be supporting businesses and Cloud Service Providers in the region with the services they require.” Colt DCS possesses over 21 years of experience in the Japanese market. This experience in managing mission- critical infrastructure will be essential as Colt DCS looks to support more multinational businesses and Cloud Service Providers within the Inzai 3 facility in the coming years. Customers will benefit from Colt DCS’ unique ability to provide highly-skilled and experienced multi- lingual staff in-house to manage its facilities and provide support. As a carrier-neutral provider, Colt DCS can also provide Inzai 3 customers with the power and flexibility to choose any network carrier they want. Quy Nguyen, VP Global Accounts & Solutions at Colt DCS said, “While we are quite proud of our latest hyperscale facility, we are even more proud that we were able to deliver it in a responsible manner by ensuring the health and safety of our staff and contractors involved in the construction. We fully expect that demand for our high-quality hyperscale facilities will continue to grow in the Japanese market on the strength of our best-in-class operations and design and delivery expertise.” n Meeting the demand for increased bandwidth and flexible data rates in evolving automotive applications like safety and communication, while further supporting the development of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), Microchip Technology Inc has announced its PIC18 Q84 family — the first PIC18 microcontroller (MCU) family that can be used to transmit and receive data through a Controller Area Network Flexible Data-Rate (CAN FD) bus. Accompanied by an extensive array of Core Independent Peripherals (CIPs) that handle a variety of tasks without requiring CPU intervention, Microchip’s PIC18 Q84 family cuts both time and cost when connecting systems to a CAN FD network. The family provides a simple solution for transporting sensor data to a CAN FD bus, without the need for gateways or sophisticated network switching techniques. In addition, its configurable CIPs make it easy to create custom hardware-based functions for automotive and industrial designs with near-zero latency. Additional code is not required. Available peripherals include a 32-bit Cyclic Redundancy Check with Scan (CRC/ SCAN) and a Windowed Watchdog Timer (WWDT) for functional safety capabilities, and a Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) interface to implement industry-standard testing and debugging. “CAN FD will continue to play a critical role in delivering faster data transfer rates for applications, ranging from the connected car to industrial automation and smart homes,” said Greg Robinson, associate vice president of marketing for Microchip’s 8-bit microcontroller business unit. “Microchip is furthering the adoption of this protocol with our latest 8-bit PIC MCU family, helping designers create cost-effective network nodes at scale.” n Microchip delivers first 8-bit MCU family for CAN FD networks NEWS IN BRIEF 13 Ivanti Neurons improve security posture and optimise asset spend Ivanti has announced the release of Ivanti Neurons for Patch Intelligence and Ivanti Neurons for Spend Intelligence. These solutions build on the Ivanti Neurons hyper- automation platform, first announced in July 2020, which empowers organisations to autonomously self-heal and self-secure devices and self-service end users. “The future of work, where working from anywhere on any device is the new normal, means that proactively managing the ever-increasing security risks and asset spend is top of mind for every enterprise,” said Nayaki Nayyar, executive vice president and chief product officer, Ivanti. “Our latest additions to the Ivanti Neurons Platform for Patch and Spend Intelligence leverage our strength in patching to assess patch reliability and risk-based patch prioritisation using supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms to automate vulnerability remediation and proactively manage software spend.” Ivanti Neurons enables the self-healing autonomous edge with adaptive security and a contextualised, personalised experience for today’s remote workforce. Customers of Ivanti Neurons are realising over 50 percent reductions in support call times, eliminating duplicate work between IT operations and security teams, reducing the number of vulnerable devices by up to 50 percent. nSchneider Electric and Elite Partner APT deliver data centre digital transformation project for Newcastle City Council Schneider Electric has delivered a new data centre digital transformation project for Newcastle City Council in collaboration with Elite Partner, Advanced Power Technology (APT). The initiative included consolidation of existing data centre capacity, upgrades to the physical infrastructure and the deployment of next generation data centre infrastructure (DCIM) management software to ensure operational continuity and efficient digital service delivery for the council’s e-government strategy. The digital transformation project aims to improve the ability of Newcastle City Council to deliver e-government services to the 300,000 citizens and businesses within its constituency. Applications hosted within the facility include council tax collection, social and library services, education and road traffic management in addition to support for other essential public service bodies such as the local National Health Service (NHS) and the Police. The new and consolidated data centre replaces three legacy server rooms, each containing a number of disparate UPS and cooling systems which were old and in need of maintenance. The Council chose EcoStruxure for Data Centres, Schneider Electric’s IOT-enabled, open and interoperable system architecture for its new integrated data centre. The system, designed and built by APT, consolidates the council’s entire mission-critical IT infrastructure in a single data hall, incorporating APC Netshelter Racks and data centre containment, Galaxy UP S and Power Distribution (PDU). To guarantee uptime in the event of a power outage, the Council installed Schneider Electric modular and scalable range of Galaxy range UPS’s, offering N+1 redundant configuration and extended runtimes, together with a standby power generator. APT has also deployed EcoStruxure IT Expert, Schenider Electric’s next-generation DCIM software to drive efficiency and provide anywhere anytime monitoring, improved maintenance schedules and proactive alerts to system issues. The new data centre greatly improves Newcastle City Council’s ability to ensure service continuity and increases efficiency for a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). A key benefit of EcoStruxure IT Expert software is the ability for operators to monitor power consumption within each of the IT racks. With the new data centre designed to house all IT and network devices in contained aisles, visibility of energy consumption and environmental data, together with insights provided by the software, enables the power and cooling systems to be operated with optimum energy efficiency. “Previously, we were able to withstand a loss of power for about 20 minutes,” said James Dickman, Senior ICT Solutions Analyst, Newcastle City Council. “Now we can operate for three hours on UPS batteries if required and can use our backup generator to provide alternative power in the event of a lengthy loss of our mains supply. It’s also reassuring to know that the data centre infrastructure is being constantly monitored, with alerts routed directly to mobile devices if events occur out of hours.” “The monitoring and management capabilities of EcoStruxure IT has resulted in greatly improved visibility of the data centre operations and consequently offers a greater ability to proactively mitigate emerging issues,” said John Thompson, MD of Advanced Power Technology. “With more detailed insight into operations, Newcastle City Council can increase the resiliency of the IT Service delivery to improve the customer experience.” “With IT, connectivity and digital demands growing exponentially, the data centre plays a crucial role in e-government service delivery,” said Marc Garner, VP, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric UK&I. “APT’s expertise in data centre design, build and installation have been pivotal in the success of this digital transformation project for Newcastle City Council, offering them greater resiliency and efficiency.” “As a public body we are always looking for ways to improve cost and energy efficiencies,” continued James Dickman. “Schneider Electric and APT were able to design and deliver a data centre solution that meets our needs and our expectations. The new facility enables us to meet our service commitments to all stakeholders while minimising the carbon impact of delivering IT services.” n Aruba formalises its GAIA-X status as a Day-1 member Aruba S.p.A. has formalised its status as a Day-1 member of the GAIA-X project. With the aim of making a strong contribution to the development of a secure, reliable and certified network infrastructure for sharing and accessing data across Europe, the GAIA-X project is a step forward towards enabling a Cloud offering based on European values. Officially presented at the Digital Summit 2019, GAIA-X was formed with the intention of creating an interoperable and secure cloud infrastructure, based on compliance with European standards and regulations. It helps to create a free and transparent data environment, in which the potential for vendor lock-in is eliminated, and encourages competition between cloud solution providers, providing the highest level of certification, with the guarantee of the full protection of the European law. GAIA-X, due to be launched as early as 2021, acts as a legal entity supported by the European Commission according to the standards set out by its members. It is a project open to all countries that decide to contribute to its growth and join in as members, with the goal to provide European companies with a secure cloud network, using standards guaranteed by the European institutional system. Judging by the number of companies participating in the project and the country they are based in, Italy ranks third, behind only German and French firms. In total, 22 companies and founding associations are behind the project and there are also further providers that have been recently officialised, one of them being Aruba, which is named as a Day-1 Member of the project. “We’re aware how valuable and how much of a strategic resource data represents to every European company and beyond. GAIA-X aims to dictate a new European standard for the creation and provision of cloud services ideal for managing, storing, and processing data for everyday citizens and their businesses. This will most certainly strengthen the innovation and adoption of cloud computing while promoting European digital sovereignty” said Stefano Cecconi, CEO of Aruba S.p.A. He continues, “we joined the project as a Day-1 member because we believe that any service provided to citizens and businesses - either Italian or European - must comply with the same laws and regulations, the same principles and technical standards, in order to guarantee total interoperability between operators that adhere to the project by giving advantages to the users. " The newly formed GAIA-X company is a non-profit company that will oversee the creation, implementation, and promotion of this digital ecosystem, based in Belgium, Europe’s institutional heart. n NEWS IN BRIEF www.networkseuropemagazine.com 14The Iceotope, Avnet and Schneider Electric partnership to jointly develop innovative, chassis- level immersion cooled data centre solutions has been joined by Lenovo to deploy its ThinkSystem SR670 servers in a highly scalable, GPU-rich, liquid-cooled micro data centre solution. Sealed at chassis level, the new solution enables Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and High Performance Computing (HPC) workloads to be deployed in close proximity to the location of data generation and use regardless of how harsh or hostile the environment. The Lenovo ThinkSystem SR670 2U rack server delivers uncompromised HPC performance with support for up to four double-width GPUs per server. Integrating the servers with Iceotope’s Ku:l Chassis eliminates the requirement for any air cooling, delivering game-changing efficiency in energy consumption. >95% of the heat is captured and rejected via an in-rack Heat Rejection Unit (HRU) (5kW solution) or dedicated external HRU (46kW+ scalable solution). Iceotope’s new Ku:l Micro DC solution enables many industry-standard servers to be liquid cooled and deployed outside the data centre. The new solution is offered in two scalable configurations: the Ku:l Micro DC (Small) <5kW and the Ku:l Micro DC (Medium) 46kW+. Using Iceotope’s fully serviceable Ku:l liquid- cooled chassis, servers are partially immersed in a small quantity of dielectric coolant precision delivered to hotspots. This means there is no front-to-back air cooling, no bottom-to-top immersion constraints and no physical space wasted. By removing the need for fans or moving parts, service intervals are greatly increased allowing low-touch compute and near-silent operation in any location. Industry standard form factors allow maintenance to be carried out on-site with familiar ease and no mess. The Ku:l solution provides further unique value by completely isolating the critical IT from the environment with a perfectly sealed and resilient enclosure. This renders the IT impervious to dust, gases and humidity, enabling HPC in places that were not possible until now. The new micro data centres are optimised for use in remote locations and harsh, edge environments with the inclusion of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure IT, cloud-based DCIM to enable remote monitoring and management capability. The vendor-neutral solution sets a new standard for proactive insights on critical assets that impact the health and availability of IT environments, with the ability to deliver actionable real-time recommendations to optimise infrastructure performance. As an additional option, Avnet can integrate a MaaXBoard IoT single board computer to enable RedFish-compliant, out of band management of the IT equipment even when the servers are powered down or have become unresponsive. David Craig, CEO Iceotope commented, “The infrastructure to provision edge expansion will be installed where space provides, outside traditional data centres – we call this the Fluid Edge. Iceotope is dedicated to ensuring the durability, reliability, efficiency and long-term viability of Fluid Edge facilities, where air cooled approaches have a limited future. Partnering with Lenovo to bring the Ku:l Micro DC to life has accelerated our capability to provide a proven and warranty- backed, chassis-level immersion cooled HPC design solution to this expanding market.” Steven Carlini, VP Innovation and Data Center, Schneider Electric stated: “This integrated, immersion cooled solution brings highly intensive and efficient compute capability that “drop into” applications from the edge to large scale HPC’s. The ability to bring these ready-to-deploy liquid cooled solutions to market proves the strength of the Avnet, Schneider Electric and Iceotope partnership.” Scott MacDonald, President Avnet Integrated Solutions said: “Companies looking to deploy IT in edge and other remote locations demand a non-disruptive, conventional form factor, without the need for a cost-prohibitive IT container to be installed on site to support a few enterprise grade servers. The new Ku:l Micro DC with Lenovo ThinkSystem SR670 servers provides a powerful, adaptable and scalable solution for the majority of edge deployments. The partnership with Avnet brings unique capabilities and technologies including integration of the liquid-cooled solution in its Global Technology campuses, the MaaXboard to provide out of band management, and lifecycles services to deliver global warranty and support.” n Iceotope and Lenovo partner to take HPC to the edge Ericsson completes acquisition of Cradlepoint Ericsson has completed its acquisition of Cradlepoint, the US-based market leader in Wireless Edge 4G and 5G solutions for the enterprise market. The investment is key to Ericsson’s ongoing strategy of capturing market share in the rapidly expanding 5G enterprise space. Closing of the acquisition follows the announcement on September 18, 2020, of Ericsson’s intention to acquire Cradlepoint. At closing, a consideration of around USD 1 b. was paid using Ericsson’s cash-in-hand. Cradlepoint’s sales for 2019 were SEK 1.2 b. with a gross margin of 61%. Ericsson’s operating margins are expected to be negatively impacted by approximately 1% in 2021 and 2022 — where half is related to amortization of intangible assets arising from the acquisition. Cradlepoint is expected to contribute to operating cash-flow starting in 2022. Through Cradlepoint’s solutions, companies can connect sites, vehicles, mobile workforces, and IoT devices in a simple and secure way using cellular technology. By leveraging the combined offering, Ericsson will be able to create valuable new revenue streams for its customers by supporting 5G-enabled services for enterprise, and boost returns on investments in the network. Ericsson’s global presence and long-standing relationships with the world’s leading service providers will also help accelerate Cradlepoint’s international expansion. Cradlepoint will operate as a stand-alone subsidiary within Ericsson and continue to build on the current market momentum as 5G is speeding up digital transformation and increasing the need for advanced connectivity services for enterprises. Cradlepoint will be part of Ericsson’s Business Area Technologies & New Businesses. Åsa Tamsons, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Technologies & New Businesses, says: “I am very excited to welcome Cradlepoint to the Ericsson family. With Cradlepoint’s market leading solutions, we are strengthening our enterprise offering and taking an important step to lead the next wave of enterprise network transformation. Together, we will power solutions to the customer edge that help improve productivity and deliver real-time services, enabling us to drive faster adoption of 5G in enterprise segments. This is good news for our customers as it helps them to accelerate their returns on 5G investments.” n NEWS IN BRIEF www.networkseuropemagazine.com 15Getronics resets business with global rebrand Getronics has announced a global rebrand marking the culmination of months of work following its acquisition in July 2020. The rebrand will make Getronics stand out in a crowded market, where it is already a leader in managed workplace services (*Gartner Magic Quadrant February 2020). Getronics delivers end-to-end capabilities designed to build digital experiences that drive exceptional business outcomes. Getronics has over 2000 customers, including Credit Agricole, Intersnack, and Inditex, as well as Ford Motors, which the company has served for over 35 years. “Our company is on a mission to harness technology to transform our clients’ businesses. Our rebrand gives us the opportunity to re-energise our entire organisation. We have not needed to buy anything or create anything new from scratch to do this, it was all there within our business,” says Kenton Fine, Executive Chairman. “Now we have brought it all together, with a new brand and clarity to our offering. It is hugely exciting for us, our talented teams, and our fantastic customers. We know this will give us the fuel to propel our organic growth and to ensure that our customers thrive.” The rebrand, led by Getronics senior leadership team – CTO, Harsha Gowda, COO and Head of Global Delivery, Rogier Bronsgeest, Group Transformation Director, Andre Ribbens, Getronics CFO, Mike Field, and recently appointed CCO, Tom Regent – will enable the Getronics team, customers, and partners together to harness the power of technology and to revolutionise the digital experience, thereby transforming businesses and advancing communities. “We have reimagined what our digital future might look like, not just for the team at Getronics, but for all of our clients. Our previous identity did not stand out in the way we wanted. Because of our journey of expansion, we had some legacy brands which were not distinct and did not clarify our offering. Our new identity, of which all of our 4000 colleagues have had a sneak preview, makes Getronics distinctive,” concludes Getronics CTO, Harsah Gowda. Getronics offers the following integrated services: Digital Workplace, Cloud Services, Smart Spaces, Business Applications, Security & Compliance, Field & On-Site Support, Service Desk, and Network Services. Getronics now has a striking visual identity, distinguishing it in the marketplace, establishing the group’s role in reimagining a digital future for business. n CNet launches NEW narrated data centre fundamentals program CNet’s US, LATAM & Canada Technical Manager and 7×24 Exchange International Career Development Mentor, Melissa Chambal now narrates the 8-hour distance learning program material for learners to watch at their own pace. Melissa joined CNet with over 20 years’ data centre and network infrastructure experience, plus five years teaching Data Centre Design and Network Design programs. She has taught at the Top Gun Marine base in California and performed a Data Centre Audit on Department of Defense facilities. The Data Centre Fundamentals program has been designed for individuals who are either new to the data centre sector (technicians with limited experience or exposure to data centre facilities) or for those who sell products and services to the data centre sector. The program has been created to introduce people to the industry and to help de-mystify the world of data centres. The program covers key areas including an introduction into the data centre industry, the current market and trends as well as understanding the importance and different types of data centres. Key aspects relating to basic design and design philosophies are also examined as well as the essential considerations of data centre management. The program can be undertaken at the learner’s convenience over a period of three months, this allows for self-paced learning so the learner can study at times convenient for them, fitting it around other life and work commitments. On successful completion, learners are rewarded with a CNet Certificate of achievement and gain use of the official Data Centre Fundamentals Digital Badge. With this good fundamental knowledge of data centres, learners can also explore further learning to help enhance their career within the data centre sector. n NEWS IN BRIEF www.networkseuropemagazine.com 16 Solidatus achieves inaugural Gartner Magic Quadrant listing Solidatus has achieved its first placement on the Gartner Magic Quadrant for metadata management as one of 17 market leaders in its field. Solidatus is the only new entrant in the field to be added to this year’s Gartner Magic Quadrant, and is one of the youngest companies to attain placement in the Quadrant’s history. Gartner’s assessment of Solidatus notes the business’ “immense experience” working with financial services organisations, providing regulatory and compliance expertise in one of the world’s most heavily regulated industries. It has also identified the uniqueness of Solidatus’ lineage-first approach. Gartner also identified their clients’ recognition of its flexibility, ease of search and visualisation, and its “investigate and fix” offering. Their assessment also praised Solidatus’ ability to easily bind and integrate other applications, bookending organisations’ data into a single, visual lineage set. The achievement comes during the London-based firm’s most successful year to date, which has seen it more than double in size, quadruple in revenue and announce strategic commercial and investment partnerships with Tier 1 client Citi. 2021 is shaping up to be an even bigger year, with the company again expecting to more than double in size, as well as expand further into new territories. Philip Miller, co-CEO of Solidatus, comments, “Making the Magic Quadrant is an important milestone for the business, recognising the incredible growth Solidatus has seen since its inception. For it to occur in a year transformed by the global COVID-19 pandemic is simply exceptional. This affirms our vision is truly unique with its visual, adaptable ‘lineage-first’ approach to solving the complex issues of corporate metadata management. We’re on course for further growth and breaking into new sectors, demonstrating the efficiencies the platform can bring to sectors beyond our current bases in financial services, government, pharmaceutical and retail.” Philip Dutton, co-CEO of Solidatus, adds, “To have achieved the Magic Quadrant listing just three years after securing our first client is a ringing endorsement of how quickly we’ve managed to address client needs and how our solution is driving the industry forward. We couldn’t have imagined obtaining this achievement in such a short period. Being recognised for the value we bring to the data management space by such a prestigious organisation is a feat for Solidatus. Our goal is to become not only the industry leader, but also the benchmark for metadata management delivering on the promise of data.” Placement in the Magic Quadrant also comes in the same year as Solidatus’ successful rollout of its latest software update, Version 4.0, featuring its integrated, elevated and enhanced industry-leading Data Catalog. In support of this significant growth phase, it also expanded its senior team with the appointment of several new hires. nDstl award £2.3 million Optical Ground Station contract to QinetiQ QinetiQ has been awarded a £2.3 million contract to build a relocatable Optical Ground Station (OGS) capable of receiving high-speed data transmissions from space. Awarded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) through the Serapis Lot 2 commercial framework, the OGS will support Dstl’s Space Programme by providing a solid platform on which to undertake research and experimentation into free-space optical communications (FSOC) from space. The OGS will directly support the “Titania” Capability Demonstrator that aims to develop the science and demonstrate the military utility of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Direct-to- Earth (DTE) free space optical communications. This supports the concept of Information Advantage (IA), by providing the ability to increase the rate at which data can be transferred from space, whilst also increasing resilience and protecting our data in Radio Frequency (RF) contested and congested environments. Initial emphasis will be on rapidly transferring Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) data from satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to the ground. Additionally, this leading edge science will inform choices for future LEO programmes, and will be investigated as a communications technology for interconnected orbits and for the Skynet 6 programme. James Willis, Group Managing Director Cyber and Information at QinetiQ, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for QinetiQ that continues to expand our world-class capabilities in free space optical communications for defence and supports our ambition to deliver enhanced communications capacity to UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) whilst enabling operations in RF denied environments.” Mike O’Callaghan, Space Programme Manager at Dstl, said: “The use of space-based optical communications offers many military benefits: potentially large data rates, low probability of interception/detection, and freedom from spectrum management. The OGS will provide a solid foundation on which to conduct experimentation into FSOC and allow the science to be developed. The OGS will also allow the UK to develop interoperability and common approaches with our International partners. We are delighted to be working with QinetiQ on this highly innovative project and provide real impact for MOD.” n IP House partners with Console Connect to offer hyperscale cloud connectivity IP House, a supplier of resilient data centre and cloud services has today announced its partnership with Console Connect, a global Software Defined Interconnection platform enabling predictable, secure and simple connections to cloud-based, business- critical applications. Launched in 2018, IP House offers a privately owned and purpose built, enterprise-class colocation data centre, in the heart of London. Console Connect allows users to spin-up high speed connections across one of the world’s highest performing networks and manage and monitor them in real-time. The availability of Console Connect at IP House enables customers to self-provision connectivity within a fast- growing ecosystem of clouds, SaaS, IX, IoT, UcaaS enterprise and carrier partners. It enables direct access to all leading clouds, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and many more. The partnership also enables direct connections to +400 Console Connect-enabled data centres across more than 45 different countries, from North America and Asia through to Europe and other locations throughout the UK. London, and the Docklands in particular, is one of the country’s most important connectivity and data centre hubs. It is home to many major carriers, enterprises and cloud providers that serve the capital city and situated in E14, IP House’s facility is at the heart of this hub, providing secure data centre space and highly connected capacity, at a competitive cost. Mark Saunders, Sales Director at IP House commented: “The collaboration between IP House and Console Connect offers customers best-in-class data centre and cloud services. With the recent launch of our collaborative IP Cloud Connect solution, the relationship with Console Connect offers customers additional options for fast, simple and secure connections to industry-leading cloud providers.” Neil Templeton, VP of Digital Innovation Marketing, PCCW Global added: “The Console Connect platform offers unrivalled interconnect choice to data centres throughout London and the UK, and we are delighted to add IP House, which is situated in a key strategic location within the Docklands, to our growing partner ecosystem.” The partnership between IP House and Console Connect enables customers and end users from both parties to benefit from the others’ expertise and experience. IP House is EN50600 certified and has achieved multiple ISO accreditations to-date, providing 14,221 square feet of resilient data centre capacity, equipped with the latest power, monitoring and security systems. n CLIMB receives Honours in 2020 HPCwire Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards The Cloud Infrastructure for Microbial Bioinformatics (CLIMB) project has been recognised in the annual HPCwire Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards, presented digitally during the virtual 2020 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC20) via HPCwire.com. CLIMB was recognised with the Readers’ Best High Performance Computing Collaboration award for its role supporting the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium. This UK-wide partnership is sequencing SARS-CoV-2 virus genomes to understand the spread of the virus and advise local and national control strategies. CLIMB has proved pivotal to this, providing the computing infrastructure and bioinformatics analysis capability that has so far helped sequence over 100,000 virus genomes. CLIMB was launched in 2014, supported by a grant from the Medical Research Council (MRC) to meet the needs of medical microbiologists handling the vast amounts of data coming from high-throughput genomics. It is an open, cloud-based computing infrastructure for developing and sharing datasets and bioinformatics software, tools and methods to interpret Big Data. It is a partnership between the Universities of Bath, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leicester, Swansea and Warwick, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Quadram Institute Bioscience. As well as giving access to the resources and computing power individual researchers or groups don’t have, CLIMB provides training courses to help researchers make the most of its capabilities. n NEWS IN BRIEF www.networkseuropemagazine.com 17Multiple Edge solutions in a single Vertiv™ VR Rack : • • • • • Vertiv™ Edge UPS reliable, eicient power protection Avocent® ACS advanced serial console servers Avocent® LCD local rack access console Vertiv™ VRC rack-based cooling Vertiv™ Geist™ UPDU universal connectivity You've Come to the Right Place. Lead your Edge revolution with the latest power, cooling and remote access technology from Vertiv to quickly deploy and protect your IT spaces. © 2020 Vertiv Group Corp. All rights reserved. Vertiv™ and the Vertiv logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vertiv Group Corp. All other names and logos referred to are trade names, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. What’s Your Edge? Vertiv.com/WYE-NetworksEurope Time for a Tech Refresh?NEWS IN BRIEF www.networkseuropemagazine.com 19 Riverbed unified network performance management takes centre stage at global user conference Riverbed has announced key updates to its Network Performance Management (NPM) portfolio, delivering greater visibility that is crucial to monitoring productivity and performance, as organisations continue to shift toward hybrid-networks and work-from-anywhere models. Riverbed NPM now includes: more cloud options, increased visibility and analysis of encrypted traffic, and use of artificial intelligence (AI) for behavioural analytics of packets, apps and users for automatically defining baselines and outliers. Additionally, with Riverbed NPM solutions, organisations can now also create customised dashboards that provide IT and business leaders with real-time insights into overall app performance and the connectivity infrastructure critical for remote working. IT responsibilities were already stretched far beyond conventional network boundaries due to the rise of cloud and hybrid networks. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses also now need more visibility into hybrid and distributed workforces as users are increasingly connecting beyond corporate networks and facilities and working from anywhere. In Riverbed’s Future of Work Survey, 37 percent of business leaders surveyed said they needed better visibility into network and application performance to ensure a better remote work environment, as increased visibility provides greater insight into business productivity and performance. Even after COVID-19 passes, remote working and distributed workforces are expected to see a sharp increase from the past—growing to 600 million remote employees by 2024, up from 343 million in 2019. “This rise in remote work has not only led to much more geographically dispersed organisations, but to a significant increase in SaaS apps and cloud-based services, which has in turn exposed major gaps in visibility across the hybrid landscape,” said Rich McBee, CEO of Riverbed. “With IT and digital performance linked to the overall business performance of an enterprise, our customers rely on Riverbed NPM solutions to assure the reliability, security and performance of their networks as no other visibility solution can measure every single packet, and flow, across all devices and networks. With the innovations we’re announcing today, and our application acceleration solutions to drive performance, we’re making it easier than ever before for enterprises to have the tools to deliver productivity across the business, even in the face of unprecedented network complexity and an increasingly work-from-anywhere world. We’re excited to be joined by more than 1,000 customers and partners at Riverbed’s Global User Conference, to share exciting new solutions and to provide training for IT leaders to help organisations maximise performance and visibility for any user, network and application, anywhere.” “More broadly than ever before, the digital enterprise is spread across on-prem, IaaS, SaaS and work-from-anywhere environments. Many NPM tools monitor only some of these environments, leaving big gaps in understanding for IT leaders,” said Dante Malagrino, Chief Development Officer, at Riverbed. “In the latest release of Riverbed’s unified NPM solution, we updated the industry’s most trusted solution to collect and analyse even more information, delivering powerful new insights into encrypted traffic and user activity. Coupled with new behavioural analytics and anomaly detection, Riverbed NPM continues to provide the most holistic and normalised view throughout the enterprise network for efficient troubleshooting and decision-making.” “Organisations have accelerated digital transformation initiatives to adjust to the new normal – a highly distributed work force and applications environment. ESG research highlights that the top goals of these initiatives are to drive greater operational efficiencies and deliver differentiated customer experiences, yet many struggle with the increased complexity and lack of visibility in these dispersed environments,” stated Bob Laliberte, Senior Analyst, ESG. “Riverbed’s enhanced cloud and AI solutions enable organisations to deliver positive application experiences and increased productivity for remote workers, while the holistic visibility and centralised cloud-based portal means operations can quickly regain control of these highly complex and distributed environments.” Additionally, with the digital enterprise spread across on-prem, IaaS, SaaS and work-from-anywhere environments and with many workers using their own devices and connecting to company networks using personal WiFi connections or mobile data, attack areas and vulnerabilities have increased. In order to safeguard these newly exposed environments and manage their expanded workloads, IT and security pros need to have unobstructed visibility as explained by customer Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation: “If we did not have the level of visibility achieved with Riverbed NPM, we would have had to examine data from all affected devices to determine exactly where the attack originated,” said Bryan Juan, Senior Network Tools Architect at Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation. “Instead of resolving the security breach in a couple of hours, we would have still been spending time during the week.” n LogicMonitor launches log intelligence for IT operations LogicMonitor, the cloud-based IT infrastructure monitoring and observability platform, has announced the general availability of LM Logs, the company’s new cloud-based log intelligence product. With LM Logs, 100 per cent of an organisation’s log data is automatically analysed using machine learning and AIOps algorithms to help IT Operations teams uncover the root causes of alerts and predictively uncover issues before they disrupt the business. LM Logs uses extensible, out-of-the-box integrations to automatically collect logs from all components of an organisation’s IT infrastructure. It then intelligently analyses these logs to highlight anomalous events using algorithms. These key log events are automatically correlated with metrics in LogicMonitor’s IT infrastructure monitoring platform to provide deep insights that show users why issues are occurring. “LM Logs eliminate manual processes of what used to take hours, days or weeks to understand the intelligence in log data. LM Logs surfaces meaningful log data automatically and makes it available in the context of existing troubleshooting workflows,” said Kevin McGibben, CEO of LogicMonitor. “LM Logs helps businesses recover time spent context- switching between log file management and monitoring tools, and empowers IT operations teams with the insights they need to resolve issues quickly so they can focus on the customer experience instead.” LogicMonitor customers who gained early Beta access to LM Logs are already experiencing positive impacts to their businesses. "LM Logs is a game-changing product we already see immense value in," said Ant Molloy, CEO of Aurora. "LM Logs enable engineers to automatically locate the ‘needle in the haystack’, versus spending hours searching through log data. It reduces escalations and speeds MTTR, making our business more efficient.” LM Logs is the result of LogicMonitor’s strategic acquisition of Stockholm-based log analytics company Unomaly, which took place in January 2020. Since the acquisition, LogicMonitor has worked to integrate Unomaly’s patented algorithms into LogicMonitor’s existing AIOps capabilities to create a unique cloud-based log intelligence solution. nNext >