< PreviousUPS Service and Maintenance • Battery Replacements • Impedance Testing • Emergency Call-out • Capacitor Replacements • Fan Replacements • Preventative Maintenance .co.uk 30Improving security isn’t something companies can compromise on. Not only do cyberattacks disrupt productivity, tarnish brand reputation and damage customer trust, they also have more tangible consequences: the average cost of cybercrime in Europe has risen to €50,000 per incident. At a time when resources are precious and companies are working hard to navigate the financial crisis, such losses can be catastrophic. So, companies need to find ways to integrate people, process and technology in a unified approach to security to protect their networks in today’s climate. The importance of employee behaviour While some believe InfoSec teams are the gatekeepers for all things security, it is in fact all employees who must play a crucial role in keeping an organisation safe. Last year, for instance, 90% of security breaches in the UK were due to human error. This explains why a core aspect of cybersecurity is actually represented by company- wide awareness and training: data from our own survey shows 36% of IT leaders in EMEA consider employee security education one of the biggest future IT challenges. Of course, these practices have become fundamental in the age of WFH, where staff are working remotely, outside of office perimeters and far from the protection of their tech-savvy teammates. As workers strive to maintain productivity and efficiency in the face of new challenges, such as using their own personal devices and home WiFi connections to connect to the corporate network, it’s no wonder security isn’t top of their priorities. Instead they are focusing on the need to deploy whatever tools and applications are needed to ensure they can get the job done. According to 35% of IT decision makers, in fact, insider threats increased this year due to employee disengagement and over half of decision makers in IT agreed that WFH has made their companies more vulnerable due to insecure devices. And there’s more – 44% of companies have seen an increase in phishing attacks this year. It’s no secret that cybercriminals have been exploiting COVID-19 in fraudulent emails and texts to workers, to breach their organisations’ defences, so measures need to be put in place to prevent these incidents. The value of a Zero Trust approach While employee education and training are of course important, there are other measures companies can adopt. For example, taking a Zero Trust approach to security – not granting automatic privileges to any users on the network – can reinforce protection. At a time when implicit trust is no longer safe, Zero Trust can help increase protection. In fact, nearly all of the digital leaders we surveyed said this architecture could help their business deal with the current global situation. Specifically, it has the potential to mitigate threats like human error, as well as employee unawareness and disengagement. Our data shows that 49% of IT decision makers are considering a Zero Trust framework in order to prevent workers from compromising the system. Once again, the technology alone isn’t enough: Zero Trust is not a plug-and-play product, it’s a mindset. In fact, nearly 30% of professionals we surveyed said employee support is fundamental to embark on a Zero Trust journey, while 40% believe the biggest obstacle to achieving it is the need for a culture shift. Employees should keep the ‘trust no one’ mantra in their day to day, to establish how to behave when targeted by a phishing attack, for instance. In today’s cyber-threatscape, made more complex by fluid working, risks are lurking around every corner. With so many factors that can compromise infrastructure defences and lead to devastating consequences, relying solely on one tactic – be it security technology or employee training – simply isn’t safe. Companies must apply an all-round, comprehensive approach, coupling technology that enables a Zero Trust security strategy, with employee awareness to safeguard their networks in this new world. n human factors in cybersecurity www.networkseuropemagazine.com 31 With so many factors that can compromise infrastructure defences and lead to devastating consequences, relying solely on one tactic – be it security technology or employee training – simply isn’t safe. cloud bills www.networkseuropemagazine.com 32Misha Cetrone VP Cloud Product Megaport Today, it seems that the business equivalent of an energy bill is a cloud computing bill. The amount of detail from a cloud invoice can be overwhelming for IT and finance teams. For procurement teams who are involved in signing off the cloud costs, monitoring spend and understanding the true operating costs of cloud can be quite taxing. On top of dissecting cloud spend, 50% of businesses surveyed in the latest Flexera State of the Cloud Report said cloud use would be higher than initially planned during the COVID-19 pandemic. For today’s CFOs, the increase in cloud computing and complicated billing can upset the control of operational costs. If you’re leading IT or Finance, cloud management is no longer a “nice to have”, it’s a must. When it comes to monthly utility bills, I think we can all appreciate that the last thing we want to experience is big shock from unforeseen complex fees. According to research from Energy Helpline, energy bills are the most complicated and difficult to understand. Whether it’s electricity meter readings or gas statements, have you ever sat down and checked each line of your bill to understand what you’re actually paying for? Reading between the ‘cloud bill’ lines Take the same analogy for a business as it also applies to how a company manages its IT spend. cloud bills www.networkseuropemagazine.com 33Cloud adoption doesn’t have to mean cloud overspending According to research from Gartner, more than a third of organisations see cloud investment as a top three investment priority. However, Flexera’s report concluded that organisations are struggling to accurately manage cloud spend. Organisations were reported to have overspent on their cloud budget by an average of 23%, and cloud spend is expected to increase by 47% next year. With organisations seeing cloud as a major shift away from traditional ways of managing IT equipment and services, controlling budgets shouldn’t stop them from taking advantage of what the cloud has to offer. To stay within their cloud spend estimates, IT should look into costs where they can either control or save money, such as by reducing spend on cloud connectivity. The economics of connectivity The rise of cloud service providers has meant that organisations are now able to take a hybrid approach with their IT infrastructure using public and private cloud systems, in addition to on-premises infrastructures. In order for companies to make the most of the cloud, organisations should ensure they have the flexibility in their network connectivity to do so. This means being able to connect to the cloud based on business-specific workloads and requirements at any time. Having this network flexibility is a great way to manage a component of cloud spend. For example, an organisation can have their production and non-production resources designated to certain days and hours of the work week, with their network connections being able to adjust to control operational costs. A more traditional approach to network connectivity, however, can see businesses stuck in multi-year contracts, rigid infrastructure, and an inability to scale up with demand. Therefore, for organisations to truly reap the benefits of the elastic cloud model, they need a solution that allows them to optimise network connectivity in an equally flexible manner. Yet, who has the time to check every complex billing item when these tasks are competing with many other urgent business priorities? As more organisations turn to the cloud, and IT spending is being allocated, or reallocated to fund cloud-related initiatives, managing cloud spend shouldn’t be a pressing problem. With organisations seeing cloud as a major shift away from traditional ways of managing IT equipment and services, controlling budgets shouldn’t stop them from taking advantage of what the cloud has to offer. A more traditional approach to network connectivity can see businesses stuck in multi-year contracts, rigid infrastructure, and an inability to scale up with demand. cloud bills www.networkseuropemagazine.com 34The cloud brings so many great benefits, don’t let billing knock all that good work backwards. Data egress — the hidden cost Another challenge IT departments face when thinking about reducing cloud spend is data egress fees. With any bill, be it your energy bill or your phone bill, it’s not pleasant when you find out that you need to pay more than you had planned for. In business, it’s the same with cloud bills. You want to avoid unforeseen costs, especially when staying within budgets is a top priority. Cloud egress charges are the cost for data leaving your cloud provider, and these fees can make up a big chunk of cloud expenses during large spikes in sustained traffic and end user consumption. In March NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was faced with an unpleasant surprise with their cloud forecast costs. The space agency received an audit review of their plans to store over 200 petabytes in the cloud by 2025 with unexpected data egress charges in the millions. As scientists begin to download the many NASA missions that observe our planet from the cloud, NASA faces the possibility of substantial cost increases for data egress that were initially not budgeted for. Planning usage in advance NASA’s story is one we can all learn from. It’s critical for organisations to plan usage in advance and find ways where they can save on these costs to avoid bill shock. One of the best components to reducing data costs is understanding cloud data egress fees. Accessing major cloud providers using direct connectivity instead of the public internet can save your organisation 50% or more on their data charges. There are also great tools aimed at helping customers manage cloud costs from the major cloud providers, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google and Oracle. The exact suite of features varies from provider to provider, yet they typically include price calculators, billing APIs, and notification on spend. Getting the ROI you were promised A Network as a Service (NaaS) platform presents a solution to these connectivity and data egress challenges, allowing enterprises to fully reap the benefits of the cloud. Using a NaaS solution means that enterprises can scale network connections at any time, which would allow them to save costs and optimise connectivity performance for each of their cloud resources. What’s more, it avoids enterprises having to commit to long term contracts, paying one-time charges for set-up fees, and relying on implementation teams to deploy ongoing direct connections to cloud services. Taking this approach also means you can greatly cut down data egress costs. The cloud brings so many great benefits, don’t let billing knock all that good work backwards. Plan ahead, think about the hidden costs, budget for connectivity, and relax. n cloud bills www.networkseuropemagazine.com 35Andrew Toher Head of Customer Insights Enel X UK Data centre pathways to decarbonisation Despite a huge increase in traffic and workloads, data centre energy demand has increased only relatively modestly over the past 10 years. Building highly efficient hyperscale data centres has certainly helped to limit overall energy demand. These facilities are functional and efficient, equipped with servers that are stripped to the bare essentials; there’s no need for video connectors and blinking lights when nobody sees them. Smaller data centres have also played their part by investing in a range of energy efficiency measures such as more efficient power supplies, cooling technologies and low-power computing infrastructure. While the data centre sector has invested heavily to minimise its energy use, globally it still accounts for 2% of the world’s energy demand. As major power users – and especially where data centres are located in clusters – data centre growth must align with grid capacity. On their part, electricity grid operators are constantly challenged to maintain a stable pathways to decarbonisation www.networkseuropemagazine.com 36Data centre pathways to decarbonisation Despite a huge increase in traffic and workloads, data centre energy demand has increased only relatively modestly over the past 10 years. Building highly efficient hyperscale data centres has certainly helped to limit overall energy demand. supply as well as ensuring that there is sufficient supply to meet peak demands. With intermittent renewables growing as a proportion of the overall energy mix, grid operators are finding it even more difficult to balance supply to demand. Instead, they are looking to increase the flexibility of the grid through a number of demand-side strategies – either storing, shifting or transporting electricity. Today, more than ever, grid operators need partnership from their largest energy users. This requires businesses to embrace a degree of innovation in their energy use that can be used to support network security, stability, and sustainability without having a negative impact on their business. pathways to decarbonisation www.networkseuropemagazine.com 37pathways to decarbonisation www.networkseuropemagazine.com 38Decarbonisation strategies There are many pathways to low-carbon energy, and data centre operators have to decide what strategy is right for them. The range of options varies from simple contractual agreements (such as Guarantees of Origin) with green energy suppliers, to more active involvement in the operation of the energy grid. Growth in renewable energy is set to continue as many countries pursue net-zero carbon targets. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), over 75% of onshore wind and 80% of solar PV project capacity is due to be commissioned in 2020 without subsidies and should produce cheaper electricity than any coal, oil or natural gas option. One of the easiest low-carbon options for data centre operators to take is to buy their energy from a green supplier. Energy suppliers can use Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) certificates to calculate their Fuel Mix Disclosure and substantiate their green tariffs. One concern with this approach is that suppliers can trade REGOs separately from the unit of electricity that came from the renewable asset and attach them to fossil-fuel generators in order to pass them off as green. Critics of REGOs also argue that they fail to incentivise the building of new renewable sources of power. Renewable energy leadership The industry is showing strong leadership on corporate renewable procurement; the top four corporate off-takers of renewables in 2019 were all ICT companies. Heavy energy use is driving hyperscale operators closer to grid operators – often by working with partners to develop strategies that enhance their corporate reputations. Data centres are increasingly looking to Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) as a route to good grid citizenship. PPAs enable off-takers to procure long-term contracts with operators of renewable assets. However, negotiating PPAs can be technically complex. Some key PPA parameters include the term of the agreement; whether the PPA is a corporate arrangement, includes a private wire and/ or storage; how risk is allocated between procurer and generator, including the volume risk. Optimising these parameters to deliver a bespoke agreement that suits both generator and off-taker requires a depth of knowledge and experience. Demand Response supports resilience Using time or price triggers to shift demand away from peaks, by implementing demand side response mechanisms, has proved to be a successful flexibility strategy for grid operators for several years. Demand Response (DR) is a good fit for data centres but there are still questions around how data centre operators should participate in such schemes. For example, colocation data centres operate within strict customer service level agreements, and operators are understandably cautious about adopting measures that are perceived as a threat to uptime. On the other side of the debate, some colocation data centre operators have actively embraced DR. They see participating in DR as part of their resilience strategy as they receive advanced notice of grid problems and can prepare for trigger events or pre-emptively move to back-up power for the duration of the grid instability. On-load testing that more accurately replicates the utility fail risk is another benefit of working with a partner to participate in flexibility schemes. As well as being a means to more robust resiliency measures, DSR provides data centres with capacity payments simply for being on standby; valuable income to help offset energy costs. Broader energy initiatives Energy management initiatives extend beyond the matter of supplying power to the data centre itself. Increasingly, businesses are seeking holistic approaches to manage their energy needs. For example, as the use of electric vehicles grows, workplaces are integrating charging infrastructure for employee and visitor use. Smart EV charging can play a role in grid balancing by integrating these more flexible, non-critical loads into an overall energy efficiency plan. A holistic approach to managing energy typically incorporates efficiency measures, alongside other initiatives such as DSR, PPAs, EV infrastructure and even utility bill management, which provides detailed insights into energy spend that can inform planning. While major energy users see the benefits of planning a broad approach to energy strategy, finding capital to fund the measures can be a barrier to moving forward. A potential solution to address the funding barrier is to work with a specialist partner on an ‘as-a-service’ model. Energy-as-a-Service, or EaaS, helps to overcome the issue of having to find capital to fund improvements and forges a long-term relationship with a partner who can advise and deliver on PPAs, flexibility solutions, energy efficiency measures, utility bill management and so on. As well as monetising the flexibility of energy assets and reducing costs, EaaS enables profitability, improved resiliency, sustainability and better risk management – especially with respect to compliance and market exposure. Driving grid innovation As large energy consumers and one of the fastest growing users of power, data centres have the potential to make a tremendous impact on grid innovation. Given the data and power industries’ growing interdependence, many now advocate that it’s time for data centres to contribute to the overall stability of electricity systems by becoming better grid citizens. Multiple strategies are available to meet different data centre business models, enabling them to meet decarbonisation goals while bolstering profitability and resilience. All the while supporting the security, stability, and sustainability of the grid system that powers their business. n pathways to decarbonisation www.networkseuropemagazine.com 39Next >