CLOUDCOMPUTING

WORLD
Issue 25 April/May 2017

BIG DATA Cloud

Infrastructure

The Era of Data 3.0

Cyber Security Machine Learning Bespoke IT
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 CONTENTS
6
CCW News
All the key news in the world of cloud.

8
The need for Hybrid Cloud
5nine Software’s Morgan Holm looks at why hybrid cloud is the best solution
for most businesses.

10
New security challenges in the cloud
Danielle Russell examines how security teams can defend their organisations
from the latest security threats.

14
Barriers of the cloud
It’s becoming an increasing challenge for companies to deploy cloud services.
Paul Burns reports on a recent study by Oracle. CLOUDCOMPUTING
WORLD
16
A new dimension in security
e-space north business centre
Could machine learning help build a defence from identity hackers?
181 Wisbech Rd, Littleport, Ely,

18
Cambridgeshire CB6 1RA
Bespoke IT Tel: +44 (0)1353 771460
How Insight UK & SystemsUp implemented a bespoke IT infrastructure in just [email protected]
seven days for Colt Data Centre Services. www.cloudcomputingworld.co.uk

20
GDS moves to cloud native
Deborah Saunby shares her views on GDS’ move from ‘cloud first’ to ‘cloud
native’ LGN Media LTD

22
Publisher & Managing Director:
The IoT explosion Ian Titchener
Jordan O’Connor is at hand to help you avoid getting lost in the IoT explosion Editor: Nick Wells
Creative Director: Andy Beavis

24
Group Sales Director: Lee Morris
Blockchain Production Manager: Rachel Titchener
Financial Controller: Samantha White
David Trossell explains how data acceleration can make blockchain more secure.

28
The views expressed in the articles
‘Have you tried turning it off and on again?’ and technical papers are those of
the authors and are not endorsed
Trevor Mould explains how computer downtime costs UK companies by the publishers.
£12 billion per year The author and publisher, and its
officers and employees, do not

30
A cloud approach
accept any liability for any errors
that may have occurred, or for any
reliance on their contents.
Tom Goodmanson explains why former doubters should consider a cloud
approach for their contact centre platform. All trademarks and brandnames
are respected within our publication.

32
Embracing the technology However, the publishers accept
no responsibility for any inadvertent
Thomas Cook travels to the next level of supplier management with eSourcing misuse that may occur.

34
This publication is protected by
The era of Data 3.0 copyright © 2017 and accordingly
must not be reproduced in any
Greg Hanson explains why data-driven insight is the single biggest medium. All rights reserved.
differentiator for businesses.
Cloud Computing World stories,

36
news, know-how?
Digital Transformation Please submit to
[email protected]
Matt Leonard argues that digital transformation is more than just moving to
the cloud.

CLOUDCOMPUTING 3
 The BICSI Membership Advantage
Your Industry. Your Future.

Why BICSI?
BICSI® is a professional association supporting the information and communications technology (ICT)
industry. ICT covers the spectrum of voice, data, electronic safety & security, project management and
audio & video technologies.
BICSI members and credential holders design, install, manage and mantain ICT projects. These projects
involve pathways, spaces, optical fiber- and copper-based distribution systems, and wireless-based
systems and infrastructure.
BICSI serves nearly 23,000 ICT professionals through training, conferences, publications and
credentials. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, USA, BICSI membership spans nearly 100 countries.

Our mission is to:

n Lead the information and communications technology industry with excellence in publications,
education and knowledge assessment.
n Advance our members’ ability to deliver the highest quality products and services.
n Provide our members with opportunities for continual improvement and enhanced
professional stature.

Visit www.bicsi.org/membership for more information.

Contact BICSI at +1 813.979.1991 or 800.242.7405 (USA and Canada
toll-free), or email at [email protected].
 FOREWORD

Best of Both Clouds...

The cloud market continues to shift with recent reports
suggesting that cloud adoption has accelerated over the past
12 months. But having moved various parts of their business
into the cloud, many organisations are starting to realise that
certain data is best kept on-premise. Deciding where to put
data requires an element of trial and error, but it should come
as no surprise that hybrid cloud has seen the fastest adoption
rate in the last year. With a hybrid platform, businesses can
merge public and private models, but as with any migration to
a new system, deploying and operating a hybrid cloud also has
its challenges. These are made worse if a company is unsure
of how much data it actually generates. When it comes to
adopting cloud technologies in 2017, there are certainly less
barriers than there were a few years ago. IT departments are
increasingly splitting their budgets between public and private
cloud, which will continue to fuel the demand for a hybrid
approach.

Nick Wells, Editor, Cloud Computing World

CLOUDCOMPUTING
WORLD
Issue 25 April/May 2017

BIG DATA Cloud

Infrastructure

The Era of Data 3.0

Cyber Security Machine Learning Bespoke IT

CLOUDCOMPUTING 5
 REGULARS

CCWNEWS
All the key news in the world of cloud.
Please don’t forget to check out our Web
site at www.cloudcomputingworld.co.uk for
a regular weekly feed of relevant news for
cloud professionals.

immediately, without disruption to the cloud brought several pluses, but authorities
general use of the portal. For companies tend to make the shift too hastily, with
where Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is one council instantly hit by hackers. “These
severely monitored, this advantage of findings have messages for both local
application upgrades and changes is vital, government and central government,”
especially when committed to digitally said Dr Uthayasankar Sivarajah at Brunel
transform its services - without the added University London, part of the research
costs legacy systems can bring.” team. “One of the authorities faced an
 Basheer Shahul, Digital Solutions Director, immediate security breach that caused

A
mido, a vendor-agnostic technical at Coats, adds: “We are breaking new chaos,” said the lecturer in operations and
consultancy specialising in assembling ground in our industry with this platform. information systems management. “Data
and integrating proven cloud Speed is everything so scaling and adapting was accessed illegally by an unauthorised
technologies, was selected by Coats to is very important to us. We needed to find third party and the private sector cloud
help build a scalable platform that will a system that would offer flexibility when provider blamed human error.”
help its customer base to manage its we have to change or adjust applications so Government strategists predicted in
corporate responsibility during the supply we looked for a partner that understood all 2011 that switching to the G-Cloud or
chain process, furthering the company’s technologies, platforms and applications to Government cloud could save £3.2bn
commitment to digitally transform its help us. Amido met these requirements and because as a shared service, costs are
services. The application went live in we were able to create a system that not spread among organisations. But despite
December 2016 and is one of the first only challenged container-use perception at cost-cutting pressure, many public sector
enterprises to use Azure Container Services an enterprise level, but also did so in a timely managers see the cloud as more a liability
in a customer facing environment. By using and cost-effective manner.” than labour saver, with data security and
Amido’s expertise in technical design,  Amido warns that containers are not downtime the biggest fears. Making it easier
integration and deployment of applications, a magic fix for all legacy or monolithic to work from home and better information
Coats successfully launched a web portal on solutions and the decision to containerise management are key advantages to councils
a container-based platform, marking this software needs to be considered carefully. switching to cloud-based technologies, the
as the challenger to industry sceptics who Containers are valuable when monolithic team found. Major cons meanwhile are a
define container solutions as simply ‘hype.’ applications can be split into smaller lack of data ownership and loss of control
 Amido’s recommendation to use components which can be distributed across and governance, because of a grey area
containers came from Coats’ requirements a containerised infrastructure; but this is not around who has access to information.
for an adaptable, scalable and easily to say that any application will work, just The study also revealed a general feeling
manageable platform that would adhere that care needs to be taken to see if it is among workers that their authority’s move
to the strict regulations of international suitable for containerised deployment.  With was a purely rushed attempt to meet the
trading. With large investments from this in mind, the new container-driven political agenda. “There are huge black
Amazon, Google and Microsoft, the option customer portal exposed a real need for holes between what the councils are trying
of containers is becoming a viable solution DevOps skills, emphasising the shift and to do and what they are achieving,” said Dr
even at this stage of its infancy; and over the increasing demand for IT skills in the market Sivarajah. The biggest lesson to councils, he
next three years, Amido predicts that there today. underlined, is that “the right person needs to
will be a large rise in its implementation. Yet drive and lead the implementation and sell
Amido warns that not every organisation www.amido.com it to the workers. “At operational level they
can benefit from its use as not all could all see real benefits in cost savings.

L
applications are suitable. ocal authorities and public sector But it is still early days and we don’t know
 The industry still views containers as hype organisations should do their homework what the long-term impact will be. That may
with no long-term value in the enterprise. before switching to the cloud. That’s the take 10 years to find out. It might reduce
For Coats, however, the opposite is true. lesson from a new study that tracked what the headcount in IT departments, but I
Chris Gray, Technical Director of Amido, happens when local councils transferred can’t see it cutting out the need for them
explains: “Containers give you more control services to cloud computing. Local altogether.”
over the infrastructure you are deploying. authorities across Europe are urged to move
This is because you are not creating a in-house IT services – such as servers, email www.brunel.ac.uk
Virtual Machine for every instance of an and telephones – to internet-based providers

S
application, meaning deployments are rapid amid pressure to cut costs. Warwickshire cality has announced the availability
and the overhead of the operating system County Council and the London Borough of a new open-source Scality S3
is significantly lower. This combination is of Hillingdon were among the UK’s first to Server release, under the Apache 2.0
powerful as it means that we can issue an announce plans to switch around 2012. license, with support for high availability
upgrade/change that will take effect almost A study of three local councils found the and multiple cloud data backends. Scality

6 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 REGULARS

S3 Server’s extensive multi-cloud support

now includes AWS S3, In-memory, Scality
RING, and Docker Volume. An extended set
of storage services are available with Docker
Volume, including Google Cloud, NetApp,
HPE 3PAR, Azure File Storage, and many
more. Based on a pluggable cloud repository
module, Scality S3 Server can be enhanced
to support any private or public cloud data
service and allows the same S3 API interface
to be used with any data backend.
“Companies today do not use just a single
cloud service, but use many. However, until
now, there was no S3 data service that
could provide highly available service across
any private or public cloud,” said Giorgio
Regni, CTO at Scality. “This new Scality S3
Server release provides the simplest on-
ramp to object storage. It is cloud provider
independent, meaning users decide on the

E
optimal cloud storage option for their data. inride is to change the future of keep building bigger trucks to increase
It is the easiest, most flexible, and scalable transport with world’s first sustainable efficiency, which ultimately means even
way to store vast amounts of unstructured self-driving ‘T-pod’ more emissions. We are changing that by
data, and it empowers developers and Einride has created a technologically creating a secure solution that is, not only
enterprises to leverage this simplicity for advanced system including the world’s cost effective, but dramatically minimises
free.” first ‘T-pod’ that’s designed to change the negative environmental impact of the
Scality S3 Server was first released in June the future of the industry and improve the transportation industry.”
2016 and many enhancements have been sustainability of mankind.  The Einride system doesn’t only benefit
made since. This latest release satisfies  The ‘T-pod’ is an electric, self-driving the environment but also improves road
customer demand for high availability and vehicle that can be remotely controlled by safety, creates new jobs and provides more
support for Docker Swarm, a clustering and drivers, set for prototype testing in 2017 cost-efficient transports for purchasers. A
scheduling tool for Docker containers. Scality followed by international distribution. In ‘T-pod’ is the height of efficiency; personnel
S3 Server is now resistant to server failures addition to the T-pod, the Swedish company don’t have to stand by as it charges or
with automatic recovery of service. Together, is developing a remote driving system, spend an excess of time away from family
Scality S3 Server and Docker Swarm charging stations and an infrastructure that and friends, and overall client logistics will be
optimise this high availability, allowing users will make the system the most pioneering of more flexible.
to sustain one or more server losses while its kind.  Robert Falck, CEO of Einride, continues:
uninterruptedly continuing with normal  Einride’s launch marks a global transition “Our vision is to enhance the lives of all
storage system operations. from heavy, noisy trucks with monstrous people through the delivery of a global,
Based on Scality RING technology, which emissions and bad working conditions to impact-positive supply chain infrastructure.
has more than 500 million users, Scality S3 emission-free, noise reduced trucks that We don’t believe our work is done when
Server is production-proven for the most allow workers to operate on a standard we’ve achieved carbon neutrality. Our design
extreme data workloads. For customers schedule closer to home. process is driven by our goal to have a net
who require comprehensive enterprise  The Einride T-pods will start running positive impact – whether that’s improving
capabilities, the same S3 server interface between the cities of Gothenburg and the lives of transport workers or reducing
is available with Scality RING. This extends Helsingborg, Sweden and the first active road traffic accidents, every element of our
advanced enterprise data availability system will cover a capacity of 2,000,000 system aims to have a measurable positive
features, including reinforced security, access pallets per year. That corresponds to impact on the planet.”
controls, and complete scale-out ability, all 400,000 passenger cars on the same route.  At the time of writing this, partners and
with guaranteed uptime. Scality RING also Even better, all of this will run with few to no clients have signed contracts at 60 percent
supports essential enterprise protocols such emissions. of Einride’s capacity. The set goal is an
as single sign-on, Microsoft Active Directory,  Filip Lilja, COO at Einride, comments: active fleet of 200 T-pods by 2020.
and LDAP. “Einride is transforming the existing  
transport chain from the ground up. The www.einride.eu
www.scality.com big companies behind long haul trucks

CLOUDCOMPUTING 7
 HYBRIDCLOUD A Key Solution for Business

THENEEDFOR
HYBRID CLOUD
5nine Software’s Morgan Holm looks at why hybrid
cloud is the best solution for most businesses.
By Morgan Holm, Vice President of Product Management, 5nine Software

8 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 HYBRIDCLOUD
Introduction Public Cloud
Amazon Web Service’s (AWS) recent outage A big part of what is attractive about a public
resulted in an entire day of loss of services for cloud structure is essentially a cost benefit
its clients and reinforced the point that solely structure, especially if you have a business where
relying on a public cloud infrastructure can have there is periodic need to scale up. For example,
drawbacks. When Amazon Web Service (AWS) for a company that performs tax audits, there
suffered a catastrophic outage after its servers are seasonal spikes in their business, whereby,
crashed, millions of companies were left reeling maintaining and managing infrastructure
from the disruption – everything from larger components on a year-round basis doesn’t make
websites to people’s smart homes and even library sense. Therefore having the ability to use the public
catalogues were rendered temporarily useless. cloud is the perfect solution.
This has understandably raised a question Of course security is a concern for public cloud.
mark over the reliability of the public cloud as a The cloud providers themselves provide robust
sole solution for businesses. Particularly as AWS has security systems, and have sophisticated teams
the biggest share of the market for cloud-based focussed on their security, but essentially, the
providers – bigger than the next two providers real responsibility for maintaining security of the
(Microsoft and Google) combined. Organizations applications and data is down to the end user. If
need to evaluate their public cloud workloads for you open up an application and leave it exposed on
disaster recovery scenarios. the public cloud, that’s not the responsibility of the
However, while many companies have cloud provider if this then results in a data breach.
been focused on moving to purely cloud-based Maintaining secure processes is a necessity whether
infrastructures, a growing number are realising it you use the public cloud or not, but it’s a reason,
is not necessarily an appropriate model. Whether why for some people, it’s a risk too far to transfer
this is due to the age of the company, its size, everything into a public system.
or simply a preference for control or to maintain Many organizations also contain various
‘data sovereignty’. As such, a middle ground has public facing information systems. For example,
emerged in the shape of the hybrid cloud. if you have a website, or a documentation centre
accessible to customers, this is all in the public
The Benefits of Hybrid Cloud domain, and as such will create less of those
The benefits of a hybrid cloud solution are wide security concerns with moving to the public cloud.
ranging. In the first instance, depending on when
organizations were established and if they are Conclusion
carrying any ‘legacy baggage’ – for example, those These scenarios are part of why we’re seeing a real
organizations that went through virtualisation mix of both public and private cloud use. With the
during the early 2000s – they will need to keep AWS outage, the result was hours of zero access
those legacy systems in place until they have to services for their users in a particular region. It’s
had time to ‘retool’ and factor them in to a new reasonable to presume, that those Amazon users
system. A scenario like this makes that relied on AWS to host all of their data would
hybrid cloud the obvious choice. have been completely immobilized during that
The other major challenge that period (though the affect of this is dependant on
businesses face is a desire to the individual user’s model of business).
maintain complete control This understandably, is going to temper
of their data onsite. If your people’s enthusiasm for public cloud as a singular
data sets and applications structure for their business. However, with hybrid
are a core part of cloud, there’s no need to throw the baby out with
your business, it’s the bath water. You may want to keep your core
understandable that applications on premises, but if you have a need for
you would want to the elasticity of public cloud, with its ability to scale
ensure you retain up when you need that actual capacity, workload
that data on your mobility really becomes key to the solution for
premises and within businesses.
your control. Whether What companies need is flexibility, scalable
that is down to regulatory and ‘always-on’ provision. This ultimately means
compliance or maintaining that workloads need to be agile. We need to be
data sovereignty (where that data able to move from public to private seamlessly, but
resides, who has access to that data and how equally – as the AWS outage highlighted – we also
that data is secured) it all comes down to having need to be able to do the same between the public
that ability to manage those essential elements cloud providers themselves. While the latter is a
that are central to your business. little way into the future, the former is here now.

www.5nine.com

CLOUDCOMPUTING 9
 CYBER SECURITY Hybrid Cloud Security

NEWSECURITYCHALLENGES
 IN THE CLOUD
Danielle Russell examines
how security teams can
defend their organisations
from the latest security
threats.
By: Danielle Russell, Senior Manager at
AlienVault

infoburst: The nature of the cloud

as a public, shared, and on-demand
environment creates its own set of
security challenges.

10 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 CYBER SECURITY
Introduction
Cloud computing is fast becoming a staple of
most organisations, as IT teams flock towards
the promise of low-cost computing power and
storage, free from the limitations of physical
infrastructure scaling and logistics. A recent IDC
report predicted that cloud adoption will grow 45
per cent by 2018 – a prediction that is not lost on
cyber attackers, who are constantly adapting their
attack methods to devise new ways of targeting
threat surfaces and vulnerabilities in the cloud.
To effectively deal with security challenges in
this environment, it’s important to consider how
the threat landscape changes as you move from
the data centre to the cloud. It’s also important
to identify security blind spots that are unique to
the cloud and address them appropriately. While
it may deliver many benefits, operating in cloud
or hybrid cloud environments also gives rise to a
new set of security challenges that legacy security
monitoring techniques built for the data centre
simply cannot address.

A Shared Responsibility
Any discussion of hybrid cloud security requires
first a fundamental understanding of the shared
responsibility model and how it applies to
cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) security
concerns. Under this shared responsibility
model, a cloud service provider (CSP) is generally
responsible for ensuring the physical security
of its data centre, from building access to the
securing of network and server hardware as well
as oversight of the hypervisor hosting virtual
machines. In contrast, the user is responsible for
securing the operating systems, applications and
data running on cloud accounts.
While users are ultimately responsible for
securing anything deployed in the cloud, cloud
service providers also have a shared interest in
their security success and will generally provide
services to help them implement security best
practices for controlling access and limiting
network exposure. In fact, many cloud services are
able to provide users with a level of visibility into
cloud environments that IT managers can only
dream of from their on-premises infrastructure.
Many of the most common attack strategies,
such as DDoS attacks or brute force attacks,
persist and are amplified as you move from the
data centre to the cloud. But here we will focus on
new security challenges that are unique to, or of
special concern in, cloud environments and discuss
why these can cause traditional security measures
and tools to fall short.

Safeguarding Your Kingdom

One of the biggest security concerns in public
cloud environments is the safety of access keys
and root credentials, because an attacker who
compromises those can take control of your entire
cloud account. Once inside your cloud account,
and armed with your full permissions, attackers

CLOUDCOMPUTING 11
 CYBER SECURITY

enforcing multi-factor authentication policies for

your users and APIs.
Some cloud service providers also offer
services that enable you to monitor environmental
activities and changes. For example, you can
leverage AWS CloudTrail to see all of the user
activities and API calls made to your account. A
robust approach to security monitoring should
also include a regular security analysis of these
activities in correlation to your other data sources
and threat intelligence.

Navigating Your Blind Spots

One of the major benefits of cloud computing is
that you no longer have to deal with the capital
and operational expenses of managing your
infrastructure. Network infrastructure is abstracted
away from you, maintained and secured by cloud
service providers, and delivered as-a-Service (Iaas)
to enable economies of scale.
The trade-off with this improved automation
is that there is no longer an easy way to drop a
passive tap onto the network or create a SPAN
can steal your data, run malicious software on port on a core router. Essentially, there is no
your resources, and even set up their own cloud traditional shortcut to get deep visibility across
resources on your account. For example, malicious your network, making legacy network intrusion
actors using your account to mine for bitcoins detection systems (NIDS) no longer fit for cloud
could quickly and easily rack up bills of thousands purposes. So what options remain?
of pounds. In AWS and Azure, security teams can
While keeping your credentials safe sounds leverage the management plane to gain full
like a fairly straightforward task, it’s not enough visibility into every operation that is going on in
to simply hide your keys and hope for the best. their ‘data centre.’ Cloud provider APIs offers
There have been many cautionary tales in recent new ways to hook into every server deployed and
years of web developers who have accidentally greatly simplify mechanisms for provisioning and
published their AWS access keys to Github or other configuring software.
public locations, resulting in thousands of dollars But what if your organisation uses a hybrid
of fraudulent charges accrued overnight. During cloud environment, with a mix of on-premises,
these incidents, cloud users have usually tried to private cloud, and third-party, public cloud
scrub their encryption keys from publicly shared services, with orchestration between multiple
data, only to miss an instance and only later platforms? While this environment can give
discover their mistake, after a breach. To prevent businesses greater flexibility and more data
this from happening, users need to constantly deployment options, it causes headaches for
monitor their cloud environment for suspicious security teams, because of the difficulty of
root account logins, changes in security policies setting up individual monitoring processes across
and privileges, and other anomalous activities each platform. As a result, organisations are
that could indicate an issue. increasingly calling for a more unified approach,
and for products that can monitor physical and
Managing Cloud User Activities virtual IT infrastructure from a single location.
The nature of the cloud lends itself to a greater
volume of unsanctioned or ‘shadow IT’ projects. Conclusion
Some reports estimate that companies are using The nature of the cloud as a public, shared, and
up to 15 times more cloud services to store on-demand environment creates its own set
critical company data than their CIOs realise. of security challenges. Given that many legacy
For this reason, it’s essential to first identify security monitoring tools were built for the data
which users and services are accessing your centre and are not readily deployed in the cloud,
cloud resources and gauge what constitutes security professionals must evaluate their security
‘normal user behaviour.’ Fortunately, within your needs and goals for their unique infrastructure,
cloud accounts, there are multiple methods and and deploy security solutions that secure their
tools available to optimize identity and access complete environments without unnecessary
management (IAM) as well as to protect your user costs or complexity.
accounts from threats like phishing attacks. These
include creating role-based permission groups and www.alienvault.com

12 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 HI X Connect Series
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� Wi-Fi Ready using locally sourced USB Wi-Fi dongle or upgrade your TSP654II with traditional interface when
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 CLOUDSERVICES Making the Most of Cloud Technologies

BARRIERS
It’s becoming an increasing challenge for
companies to deploy cloud services. Paul
Burns reports on a recent study by Oracle.

OF THE CLOUD
By: Paul Burns, Chief Technology Officer at Technology Services Group

Introduction
The cloud has been a hot technology topic in
recent years and is becoming more commonplace
than ever as business leaders realise the value it
adds. It has existed since the 1960s with John
McCarthy’s ‘utility computing’ proposal, but early
cloud-hosted applications include Salesforce and
Amazon Web Services, which came about in 1999
and 2002 respectively. In a few short years the
cloud has evolved to host secure and sophisticated
applications, systems and even servers; it’s now a
business essential.
More businesses than ever are utilising the
cloud, migrating data and storage to off-premise
cloud servers and implementing cloud-hosted
applications such as Office 365. Most of these
businesses are using a hybrid approach, blending
public and private cloud services with more
traditional solutions.

Cloud Technologies
The move to the cloud, however, can be
challenging. A recent Oracle study with business
and IT decision makers found that there are
significant barriers preventing businesses from
making the most of cloud technologies. 81 per Cloud integration
cent believe cloud applications must be fully Cloud integration can be a tricky business, but infoburst: There are significant barriers
integrated in order to utilise the full benefits, it’s becoming easier as more people use and preventing businesses from making the
most of cloud technologies.
according to a previous survey by Oracle and understand APIs, which are more sophisticated
Dynamic Markets. and open than ever. In order for these integrations
The latest Oracle study highlighted the to be successful, IT must have complete control
misalignment of business goals and IT projects; over all IT purchases and therefore integrations.
62 per cent of those surveyed said IT must The lines between IT and other areas of business
collaborate better with other areas of the business have become blurred, as Finance Directors take
in order for cloud implementation to be successful. charge of implementing ERP solutions and those
This is further reflected in the 34 per cent who confident in their technological knowledge take
said managing shadow IT, whereby decision it upon themselves to purchase and implement
makers outside of IT purchase technology without business systems.
consulting the IT department, is a significant This is often the case with finance and
barrier. HR; departments that typically work on legacy

14 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 CLOUDSERVICES
systems. While innovative new ERP or HR
technologies like Dynamics NAV, Dynamics 365
or Nintex HR workflows are available in the cloud,
many businesses have outdated systems in these
areas. Resistance from these departments further
delays upgrades and the implementation of
innovative technologies.
The existence of legacy systems means one
of the biggest barriers for these decision makers
is the integration of their current systems; 47 per
cent of respondents cited this as a significant
issue. It’s clear that integrated cloud services
would eliminate this issue, but IT faces resistance
from around the business – 41 per cent said other
departments didn’t understand the need for cloud
integration.
Another key concern for many is the migration
of workloads and applications at a time when
businesses are more strained than ever. For
a long time, IT has been integral to the way
businesses operate, but that’s about it. Businesses
needed email capabilities and word processing
for communication and productivity, and CRM
and ERP systems for storing customer data and
financial purposes. It’s only in recent years that
a significant number of business owners have the ability to work anytime, anywhere. Microsoft
prioritised digital transformation. In a few short found that 79 per cent of business cloud users
years, IT has changed from a necessity to a reported significant cost savings, increased
competitive advantage. employee productivity and improved security as a
result of using the cloud.
The Pace of Change Adopting cloud technologies now also means
The report provides a stark warning to businesses future integrations with additional services will be
that are resisting or delaying a move to the cloud; quicker and easier, thanks to cloud APIs. While 34
over half of the Fortune 500 companies from 20 per cent are worried about a perceived security
years ago have dropped off the list or disappeared risk, cloud technologies offer significant backup
as more ‘agile and innovative’ companies took capabilities, crucial to disaster recovery. What’s
their place. A survey conducted by Fortune 500 more, cloud providers like Office 365 are also
confirmed this; CEOs’ biggest concern was ‘the wrapped in sophisticated security policies.
rapid pace of technological change’.
The cloud boasts a significant range of Conclusion
benefits that have made business leaders across The first step in adopting not only cloud
the world sit up and take notice. While 36 per cent technology, but wider transformational
of UK respondents said they find it hard to prove technologies, is for IT to be involved in any and
the ROI of cloud technologies, and a further 31 all technology implementations. Ad hoc ‘shadow
per cent concerned about the increased costs, IT’ purchases and departments on legacy
cloud services can allow for significant savings. systems hold a business back, making it harder to
An immediate ROI can be seen in the savings implement innovative technologies. This results in
on floor space and energy, as the cloud reduces cost inefficiencies, a longer time to deployment
the need for on premise servers. The cloud forms for technology projects (a bugbear for 49 per
the foundation upon which transformational cent of respondents) and often a duplication
technology will sit. It’s encouraging, then, that of resources. Allowing IT to drive a digital
over half of businesses (63 per cent) are planning transformation strategy that sits at the heart of
to move their entire IT estate to the cloud in the business strategy is crucial to staying competitive.
future according to the Cloud Industry Forum IT should no longer be seen as a department that
(CIF). just fixes PCs and puts out fires, but as a key player
The key benefits realised by respondents in business transformation. For this to work the
of the Oracle survey were better collaboration traditional IT Manager/Director roles will need
between business and IT and a high quality to transform into that of the redefined CIO. This
service for users. The cloud enables better role will take in a wider business responsibility
collaboration, breaks down the silos in businesses, and understanding rather than simply keeping
and is key to organisations who may have multiple the lights on, and innovation and digital
offices or simply a lot of employees. The flexibility transformation will be expected.
and mobility afforded to employees by the cloud
means a significant increase in productivity, with www.tsg.com

CLOUDCOMPUTING 15
 CYBER SECURITY Machine Learning

A NEW DIMENSION
Could machine learning help
build a defence from identity
hackers?

IN SECURITY
By Andy Heather, Vice President, Centrify EMEA

Introduction
A recent Forester report revealed that more than
one billion identities were compromised by hackers
in 2016 alone. The same study found that two-
thirds of organisations had experienced an average
of five or more security breaches in the past two
years. Cyber security breaches are now considered
commonplace by many and despite over $75
billion spent on cyber security in 2016, the problem
is increasing pointing to the fact that in this age
of access traditional approaches are simply not
working.
The rapid introduction of new technologies,
platforms, applications and processes has seen
the previously reliable well-defined boundary that
organisations have employed to support their
assets disappear resulting in significant exposure
for organisations of all sizes. With 90 per cent of all
enterprises now moving to the cloud, and billions of
users accessing data across millions of applications
a complex digital canvas of identities has ensued
and with it a new dimension in security most
commonly accessed by one simple permission: the
password.
Put simply passwords make access easy for
hackers, leave organisations wide open to a breach
and should have been made redundant long
ago. It’s time for organisations to rethink their
approach to security and improve their defence
and consequently reduce their chance of being
breached. Could machine learning be the answer?
Quite possibly, the machine learning algorithm uses
pictures to build a statistical model and can solve
other problems that are hard to program explicitly
meaning it frees programmers from creating rules
or policies which is why we are beginning to see
its influence in the chaotic and non-deterministic
world of cyber security.

Identity and Access Management

One such use case is identity and access
infoburst: Passwords remain one of
management (IAM) where it is being used to help
the most common points of access for
hackers. with user authentication by breaking the cycle of
account exploitation and impersonation. People are

16 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 CYBER SECURITY

complicated and hard to predict and technology because a user’s stolen account can see the data in
dictates that the multitude of ways and locations plain text. infoburst: Machine learning will not fix
from which people can access knows no boundaries cybercrime but it will certainly alleviate
some pain points.
making them difficult to create explicit rules for. Another Layer of Defence
For example, a sales executive might need to Machine learning doesn’t solve these issues itself
access data from a mobile device while overseas but what it does is add another layer of defence to
on business won’t necessarily match that of his identity and access management (IAM) systems.
colleague in the same department who is purely Companies already use IAM to assign different
office based and accesses data intermittently from privileges to users’ accounts. This stops Bill in
home in the evening. By using machine learning risk accounts from using the same applications and
can be continually assessing based on constantly data as Max, the CEO as well as providing proof
evolving user behaviour patterns, a risk score is that it is the correct people that are using those
assigned which enforces an appropriate action accounts.
during authentication, such as whether access Using historical IAM data machine learning
should be granted, multi-factor authentication systems populate their statistical models, which
should be required, or if the user should be blocked allows them to identify normal access patterns
entirely. for individual employees. Bill may only ever access
his account from the desktop located at his
The Benefits workstation in the accounts department from 8am
From IT’s point of view machine learning brings to 4pm while Max, the CEO, could be traversing the
a number of benefits: it speeds up the analysis globe, logging in at different times from his iPad,
process as well as greatly reducing the amount of mobile or laptop.
human intervention required to assess risk across A machine learning model would understand
today’s hybrid IT environment, and thus stops these patterns. When Bill’s access looks normal,
attacks that lead to data breaches. In addition and the security controls may be minimal letting him
because it is making decisions based on continually do his job with no issue. It might also know that
assessing user behaviour it removes the need for Sydney is a regular access location for Max and
IT to manually create and maintain policies across will most likely grant access but impose a mid-level
all endpoints including apps, resources and services authentication process. However, if Max starts
and, instead, creates ‘living’ security policies that accessing from Uzbekistan on a device never seen
reflect the latest working practices. Although before, the system may require him to speak to
not impossible it would be both extremely hard a supervisor before allowing him in. A machine
and time-consuming for an IT professional to learning system also makes decisions in real time
program such rules appropriate to every employee significantly reducing the timeframe of an account
and changing them to reflect changing business being stolen and someone actually noticing that
conditions would be even harder. it’s gone.
As has already been mentioned, passwords
remain one of the most common points of access Conclusion
for hackers and it’s a process that needs a complete Machine learning will not fix cybercrime but it will
overhaul even when supported by two-factor certainly alleviate some pain points, account theft
authentication. These security flaws are probably in particular, and with cyber-attacks showing no
the biggest challenge facing cyber security sign of waning it will be a welcome addition to the
professionals today. Insecure but valuable account armour an organsation must adorn to protect its
credentials have huge value on the dark web. users’ credentials. It is certainly worthy of more
Attackers can take these usernames and passwords than a passing consideration.
to log in and impersonate a user, bypassing data
protections with encryption completely discounted www.centrify.com

CLOUDCOMPUTING 17
 CASESTUDY Cloud Infrastructure

BESPOKE IT How Insight UK & SystemsUp implemented a bespoke IT

infrastructure in just seven days for Colt Data Centre Services.
Introduction the desired solution it had selected, the team got
To support its growing customer base, and to to work spinning up the supporting elements that
allow for the evolution of its data centres, Colt would allow Colt DCS to deploy its applications in
DCS needed a bespoke, secure and responsive a short space of time. What was absolutely crucial
IT infrastructure, and it needed it quickly. was that the environment was highly secure, and
Collaboration using the Agile Scrum method led indeed the protection of customers and their
to the successful implementation of a brand new data was a priority objective throughout. Romain
cloud optimised infrastructure based on a mix of added that he “couldn’t take a chance around
Azure IaaS and PaaS in just seven days. security, not with the type of data we were putting
The goal for almost any company is to grow online.”
their business, and coupled with increasing The project was co-ordinated by Insight
demands for a more connected way of working using the Agile Scrum method, and it established
from tech savvy employees, the evolution of daily communications between the SystemsUp
technical infrastructure soon becomes a necessity. consultants and the engineering team at Colt
Back in March 2016, Colt Data Centre Services DCS to ensure the project was kept on track.
(DCS) found that having grown significantly into It was this collaborative way of working that
a provider of network and data centre services to allowed for key workflows and systems to be built
data-intensive businesses across Europe, Asia and quickly. In fact, by the end of day one, all virtual
North America; it was time for an upgrade of its machines had been built, and by the afternoon
IT infrastructure. To support its growing customer of day two the network was in place. Romain
base, and to allow for the evolution of its data commented that the key to the success of the
centres – which has recently seen it add private project was being able to lean on a team of
connectivity into two major public cloud providers people who were network, storage and security
(Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft specialists, all rolled into one, giving him a single
Azure) at its three London data centres - Colt suite of expertise.
DCS needed a bespoke, secure and responsive IT
infrastructure, and it needed it quickly. The End Result
The successes of the collaboration between
Building A Team Insight UK, SystemsUp and Colt Data Centre
Colt DCS’s Operation Systems Manager, Romain Services are clear; within seven days Colt DCS had
Tranchant, led on the project. Having set out his a brand new cloud optimised infrastructure based
roadmap for the move to Microsoft Azure, he on a mix of Azure IaaS and PaaS. It was a system
now needed a team to make it a reality. Romain that worked well, had a comprehensive data
approached Insight, who in turn recommended retention policy and would be able to grow with
SystemsUp as the most suitable partner to take each new project that comes along. It has allowed
on the project. Speaking of the experience, Nick new speed and agility when taking a solution
Goodwin, Software Solutions Specialist for Insight to market, was complete with industry leading
said, “When Romain got in touch, we understood security and data protection, and incorporated
his urgency”. He added that there was “no doubt” secure processes and procedures that are in line
that SystemsUp would be the first choice for with Microsoft’s best practices for Azure. What
the project given its extensive experience with stood out for Romain is the simplicity of the
Microsoft Azure. solution, which has freed up the network and data
After an in-depth workshop with Colt DCS to centre services provider to give customers – and
get under the skin of its business objectives and their customers in turn - a better experience.

18 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 08 02 18

Explore | Create | Network | Discover

The Business Design Centre, London | 8th February 2018 | www.datacentresummit.co.uk
 OPINION Digital Transformation

GDS MOVES
TO CLOUD
NATIVE
Deborah Saunby shares her views on
GDS’ move from ‘cloud first’ to ‘cloud
native’
By Deborah Saunby, Software Europe’s Chief Sales Officer

20 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 OPINION

Introduction central government departments procure

Back in 2013, GDS published a policy that this way. It’s a duplication of effort for both
said all public sector buyers of IT products them and for those answering the tenders
should consider the cloud as their first too.
option, hence ‘cloud first’. That policy hasn’t But in G-Cloud 9 the aim is to “help
changed, but according to GDS it is no suppliers describe their services more
longer its aspiration. That aspiration is now clearly…by doing this it will be easier for
‘cloud native’. buyers to find what they need”. A much
It was announced in a blog post earlier needed improvement.
this month, which is well worth a read. It If you’re a government department
puts forward a broad definition of the term looking for an expenses solution, for
‘cloud’ and SaaS. The stand out comment example, or employee relations software,
for me was; “We should empower everyone you’re represented with a wall of responses,
in an organisation to help us become more so for them to use G-Cloud, they need to
effective in technology by letting staff go through further processes to narrow
members trial new SaaS applications.” requirements. I think that’s at least one of
As a provider of cloud technology to the the reasons why we’re seeing a duplication
public sector, it was like music to my ears and of effort.
I’m sure other cloud, and SaaS, providers
felt the same as me. But, I wanted to share Digital Transformation
my thoughts on what we actually see on the There are still so many pieces of paper
ground, so to speak. floating around in government – printing
Overwhelmingly, our experience is that of invoices, service forms, disciplinary or HR
the public sector has moved beyond ‘cloud documents, or potentially any technology
first’ already and they are now cloud natives. that transforms businesses through cloud
We speak with people at all levels, and in technology – that, in our experience, can’t
some way, shape or form, cloud touches be completely changed in 12 months.
their lives already, either at home or at work. Successful digital transformation of
They’re so used to cloud now that when public sector organisations needs a strong
they’re looking for new technology and leader to push through their vision from
solutions, cloud isn’t just the first choice to start to finish, and it requires the people
them, it’s the only choice. and teams to support that vision too. And,
We’re no longer seeing tenders in my mind, it should be about transforming
that specifically stipulate whether the one process at a time and gradually across
organisation is looking for a cloud solution services, rather than one big project that
or not. The assumption seems to be that it’s covers everything.
always going to be a cloud solution they’re And I think that’s where GDS really
looking for, unless they specifically state it has got its strategy for cloud native spot
has to be in premise. on. The language they’ve used and the
approach they seem to be taking is that
G-Cloud they understand every paper-process could
We’re definitely seeing things start to move potentially be digitised, but it can’t all be
faster through G-Cloud as well, although I done by one provider.
still feel there are a few issues with it. We’ve So the approach that encourages public
seen a marked increase in tenders for cloud sector staff to trial new SaaS and cloud
services. But, we’ve had tenders from large applications means that every employee
central government organisations intending becomes an agent for digital transformation
to go through G-Cloud also run their own, in some way or other.
separate cloud procurement process too.
It’s very common for us to see local and www.software-europe.com

CLOUDCOMPUTING 21
 IOT A Strategic Approach

THEIOTEXPLOSION Jordan O’Connor is at hand to

help you avoid getting lost in the
IoT explosion
By Jordan O’Connor, Technical Lead EMEA, SOTI

22 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 IOT
Introduction 3. Start With What You Know
IoT is having a profound effect on business. 57 After establishing a clear IoT strategy, a good
per cent of all global businesses have adopted starting point for introducing IoT is to analyse
IoT practices and 72 per cent of those believe the data the business obtains in order to make
their company is more profitable since embracing strategic decisions. Rather than rushing and
IoT. With this large scalability, however, comes connecting all of the devices, start with devices
the potential for catastrophe. More connected that are familiar to the business amongst
devices bring new business challenges around scale, employees using the technology they actively
interoperability, security and the management of work with day to day, and then expand from
devices and endpoints. Businesses need to think there.
strategically about IoT adoption and not become The first natural step is to analyse mobile
caught up in the next wave of innovation. Any devices. Most employees have the ability to
size organisation can benefit by connecting IoT access company data from wherever they are,
to business processes – but, if a strategy is not in therefore a robust mobile strategy can vastly
place, companies will find themselves throwing improve customer service delivery, business
endless resources into connecting everything to productivity, but most importantly, secure mobile
the Internet, rather than just those devices that are devices for the increasing mobile workforce.
critical to their business. As a result, businesses may
find themselves tangled in the web of connected 4. ‘Dumb Terminals’ and Stationary Objects
devices and lost in the IoT explosion. Once there is an established mobile strategy,
To avoid the flying shrapnel, here are five you can look to the ‘dumb’ terminals within
golden rules to follow to ensure businesses reap all the company. These are the devices, such as
the benefits of IoT; without becoming misplaced. routers or printers, that are consistent and do
The rules follow a ripple effect; that if followed not move. A smart printer can collect data that
chronologically, will ensure a solid foundation can be analysed to alert employees to various
for the IoT estate that companies will be able to issues, if the device is running low on supplies or
gradually develop their IoT structure towards. This if it needs servicing for example. This data will
will ensure IoT is working solely to improve the result in improved productivity and efficient cost
business rather than overloading departments with savings within the office environment.
large amounts of useless data, wasting valuable Companies can also look at connecting
time and resources. other stationary objects within their office space
such as fridges, which can digitally track expiry
1. Perfect the Business Vision dates as well as reorder food that is running
Businesses need to ensure they have an end low, resulting in less waste and thus promote
goal and there is a clear vision for what needs to efficient cost savings.
be achieved through IoT. This vision needs to be
looked at on a larger scale, not just as creating 5. What About the Future?
‘smart’ devices, but enlightening the business Having established an IoT business critical vision
by providing customer behaviour intelligence for simple devices, companies can progress
and company activity for the purpose of to looking at their workforce infrastructure as
improving business productivity and cutting a whole. Devices that move frequently, for
costs. There is always room to go beyond the example office doors, all have the potential to
initial end goal as well, by speaking to partners become connected. Sensors connected to doors
about the future of IoT and the wider impact for can feedback information on who is entering
industries and businesses. certain rooms and at what times. As well as this,
some connected entrances have the ability to
2. Create a Clear Strategy unlock with just a voice command.
Having established a vision, businesses must With that said, businesses need to ensure
have a clear strategy for implementing the IoT that they are not connecting objects for the
estate. It is tempting to think everything that sake of it. For example, a simple chair does not
has the ability to connect should be connected, need to be connected, just so it can feedback
but it is essential companies decipher which on when it has been pushed into a table.
devices need to be connected from a business There needs to be a business critical focus in
sense, rather than connecting every device as deciphering which devices become connected,
soon as possible. and which need to be left alone.
Within this strategy, businesses need  
to ensure there are key tools in place to Internet of ‘Some’ Things
troubleshoot and diagnose IoT problems, and By following these five golden rules, companies can
have an experienced IT team to support the adopt a strategic approach to IoT, by connecting
IoT infrastructure. A comprehensive strategy some things rather than the internet of ‘every’
will empower workers and allow the company thing. Only devices that are critical to the business
to transform the business, unleashing endless need to be connected.
possibilities as a result and help to reach critical
growth for their business. www.soti.net

CLOUDCOMPUTING 23
 BIGDATA

BLOCKCHAIN
Data Acceleration

Introduction
Michael Salmony, Executive Adviser at Equens,
spoke about ‘Making Tea on The Blockchain’ at
the Financial Service Club in January 2017. He
argued that Blockchain is but one solution. Other
options for making smart and secure transactions
should also be considered. He even goes so
far as to ask on Linkedin: ‘Blockchain - not for
payments?’ Questions like this one are important
because so many people have been jumping onto
the bitcoin and Blockchain bandwagon over the
last few years with the view that it’s the answer to
all of their prayers. In some cases it might be, in
others it might not be.
In his blog he refers to Shatoshi Nakamoto,
the creator of Bitcoin, who described in one
of his papers “how to make remote payments
‘without a trusted third party’ (like a bank) that
are ‘computationally impractical to reverse’.” The
problem is that much of the hype around bitcoin
has largely gone away as it has been subsumed by
massive episodes of fraud and losses, and internal
political wrangles. The analyses of the European
Banking Authority and other organisations
has also laid bitcoin bare to the point that its
volatility became too much. Their scrutiny opens
up the fact that there are other opportunities for
manipulation and so he claims its flaws become
very apparent.

Applying Caution
David Trossell explains how data “However, the underlying distributed consensus
algorithm now popularly called Blockchain still
acceleration can make blockchain is the subject of heated discussion and massive
investments of time and money”, he says before
more secure. adding: “Normally I am very much in favour of
innovations, but in this case I lean towards…
By David Trossell, CEO and CTO of Bridgeworks
being cautious about Blockchain for payments
(although the discussion around this may be
anything but short-lived).” His caution is based on
the following:

Blockchain is a solution looking for a problem.

He argues that innovation should always put the
customer first and not the technology. “People
are madly trying to work out what this Blockchain
solution could be used for”, he explains.

24 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 BIGDATA
It isn’t new. He says that Blockchain is often
praised for its novelty, but points out the
distributed ledgers have been around for decades.

It isn’t good technology. He comments that

some people say that Blockchain is a much
better system than what has previously existed.
They argue that it may drastically improve cost,
security, speed, and user friendliness compared to
current existing systems.

He explains that this often isn’t the case:

“Increasingly experts agree that there is little
evidence for this - especially regarding the public
Blockchain that would be needed for global
payments. Its major pitfall is that it does not scale
well (transaction limits, latency, storage explosion),
uses extraordinary amounts of resources (energy,
processing power), has severe security concerns
and is even surprisingly bad at privacy. Should we
really base a critical infrastructure like payments
on this?”
He therefore argues that it is becoming
increasingly clear “that central entities are
actually required in real world Blockchain
implementations.” As a result of this situation interaction, consumer purchasing, etc. In reality
infoburst: The proponents of
Blockchain won’t favour any ideologists whom it has shrunk and transformed the world beyond Blockchain technology talk of the
are in favour of a system without central points all recognition, but those of us whom are ‘long speed of transactions compared to
of trust – such as banks. This leads to a lack of in the tooth’ will remember the hype that went traditional banking process.
compliance and to the technology being favoured into it in the early days. This involved a lot of
by darknet users looking to undertake a number money, speculative ventures with mind boggling
of dubious activities. However, banks and financial valuations that really didn’t have at the centre a
services institutions have to live in the real world solid business idea or plan.
to ensure that they are compliant with Know Your Some of these were just too far ahead of
Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) their time, take for example what author Steven
legislation and regulations. Banks highlighted in his book “The Four Steps to
Subsequently they need to provide an the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products
infrastructure they can all depend upon. This That Win”. In it he wrote about the home grocery
need for compliance may in turn lead to more delivery Webvan. This company focused so much
technological leadership in the financial services on the back-end functions to the detriment of
community. This leads to companies and gaining customers - or perhaps the market just
individuals prioritising their own agenda and wasn’t ready yet.
business decisions concerning business issues and
about technologies such as: Blockchain, API, NFC, Technology Dèja Vu
quantum, identify, authentication, wearables and So what has this all got to do with Blockchain?
so forth. In essence, what matters is whether a Well, it does have a bit of dèja vu feeling similar
certain technology works in terms of scalability, to that of the internet where just maybe, the
compliance, cost effectiveness, and proven hype doesn’t quite match reality. Over the
capabilities. past 300 or so years, the world’s banking
infrastructure has grown up on a basis of trust
Changing the World with traceability, governance, dispute resolution,
In contrast to Salmony’s personal viewpoint I etc. This postulates that in reality there is no need
think that Blockchain technology will likely, maybe, or appetite within the core business of banking
or possibly change the world. It will revolutionise and finance. In fact how is one going to regulate
the financial systems overnight, taking away the such subjects as money laundering local reporting
need for the slow incumbent banks and their requirements? The list of compliance issues is
stuffy 300-year-old way of doing things. Anyone quite extensive.
that has been in the IT industry for the last 20 However, the proponents of Blockchain
years will know and recognise the hype cycle that technology or distributed ledger technology
tends to happen when a new technology emerges (DLT) as it is now known, talk of the speed of
– just look at the internet revelation. transactions compared to traditional banking
Hang on I hear you say! The Internet process. With a large DLT the norm for confirming
has changed the world of information, social transactions on the original bitcoin DLT is around

CLOUDCOMPUTING 25
 BIGDATA

To understand this it’s important to take a

step back to gain a more pragmatic viewpoint.
Blockchain could well be at the heart of many of
the trusted transactions in the world because it
has some highly valuable features. Much depends
on whether it is used in the right manner.
DLT (i.e. Blockchain) has some valuable
practical usage in markets segments outside of
the core banking world where traceability is vital
such as in the diamond trading (this could bring
an end to Blood Diamonds), fine art, medical
records, land transactions and deeds. In fact, the
USA grocery giant Walmart, is about to enter trails
of a DLT for tracking foods from the point of origin
all the way through distribution and inspection
to the shelf in the store. Should anything raise
the suspicion as to the safety of the items, then
these can be traced over every single store and
the whole supply chain. With this they are looking
to provide a greater level of food safety, reducing
not only the costs possible of litigation but also
minimising food wastage.

10 mins. This is a minuscule amount of time Security and Consensus

infoburst: Great emphasis has been
put on the security of the Blockchain
when compared to foreign currency movements Great emphasis has been put on the security
with its encryption and its distributed
through our traditional banking system that can of the Blockchain with its encryption and its
consensus model. take up to 5 days. Well, in our hearts of hearts, we distributed consensus model. For the technology
all know that this is not the fault of the underlying to work on a global scale in a commercial world
technology in the banking system, but percentage then the performance and flexibility has to
skimming by the banking system. improve dramatically. One of the concerns with
When you consider the sheer amount of the consensus model is about the computing
money passing through banks each day, holding power required. This could lead to the possibility
it for a couple of days before processing it can of a minimum number of nodes being
create some considerable bonuses! Let’s go concentrated in one region. That happened to
over that part again and consider the number Bitcoin in China where 80 per cent of the mining
of transactions each day on a DLT, which is nodes are based.
increasing as performance increases. Firstly it As this technology spreads into other walks
will never reach the numbers required say for the of life, not only could the size of the chains
Visa network that handles on average 47,000 increase but also the number of Blockchains
transactions per second or Nasdaq’s potential 1M could multiply rapidly globally, as well as within
tps. All this brings into question its scalability. But a single organisation such as Walmart where it
does this mean that there are no uses for DLT – far has a diverse supply infrastructure. This no longer
from it. becomes just a computational burden but also a
Now review that wonderful Gartner hype data transportation problem.
cycle where they talk about the Innovation To maximise the security and performance,
Trigger, the Peak of Inflated Expectations and the greater the number and diversity of nodes
that all important Trough of Disillusionment. I or miners the better, but this leads to a problem
would like to call them – Throw VC Money at of how to transfer this encrypted data around
It! People do this in the belief that it will solve the world in a performant and efficient way. In
everyone’s problem. There’s also the Peak of Over the past we have used compression to improve
Sold Over Promises, then the Trough of Reality, the performance of data transmission over large
and finally, the Gentle Slope of Making it Work in distances, but trying to compress encrypted
the real world. data is very inefficient. What is therefore needed
instead is a technology such as PORTrockIT to
Dot-com Peak enable data to travel more securely and faster
Now with these in mind, cast your minds back to than before – making it harder for hackers to gain
the turn of the century in just the same way the unauthorised access to even Blockchain data.
dot-com peak turned itself into real businesses. I This is a need that the customer wants to be
think we are nearly there with distributed ledger addressed, and it can now be done well.
technology (DLT) despite what a lot of detractors
claim that this is a solution looking for a problem. www.4bridgeworks.com

26 CLOUDCOMPUTING
CONFERENCE 2017
Headline Sponsor Sponsors

14th June 2017

Garden Room, Barbican Conference

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The BICSI UK Conference and Exhibition is a one day conference due to

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The event will deliver game changing information to those involved in the
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For more information

Ian Titchener Lee Morris
[email protected] [email protected]
Tel 01353 771464 Tel 01353 771466

TO REGISTER VISIT WWW.BICSICONFERENCE.CO.UK

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Media House, 10 St Thomas Place, Cambridge Business Park, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4EX
 OPINION Computer Downtime

‘HAVE YOU TRIED TURNING

ITOFF AND ON AGAIN?’
Trevor Mould explains how computer downtime costs UK companies
£12 billion per year
By Trevor Mould, IT support specialist at PAV i.t

Introduction of that business, and then consistently monitoring them for

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘Have you tried turning it off and ongoing performance. It’s this approach that will help to keep
on again?” made famous by hit TV comedy The IT Crowd, but systems failures to an absolute minimum.
with the majority of office work now carried out on personal
computers, IT outages can be no laughing matter for businesses Cloud Computing
experiencing problems. Whether it is ongoing or intermittent, Aside from IT equipment, cloud computing, now the favoured
it is estimated that IT downtime costs UK businesses in excess method for storing, processing and sharing data, isn’t
of £12 billion per year.1 Whilst it’s true many IT niggles and exempt from operating issues either.  One of the most recent
nuances can be dealt with in the flick of a switch, with the technological failures to cause worldwide disruption was the
advances in technology and ever increasing reliance on IT major outage of Amazon’s cloud storage facility resulting in
systems, having a reliable and efficient IT support service or help huge and far reaching performance problems for websites and
desk is essential for ensuring your business continues to operate apps, affecting tens of thousands of companies across the
cost effectively. globe. With Amazon among only a handful of hosts offering
IT is an essential structure of nearly every single business the service, the dominance of a few large providers presents
model today so it makes sense to ensure that it remains greater risk to end users who rely on them for operating their
functioning as efficiently as possible.  Whereas once upon a business. 
time an office worker may not have fully relied on technology, Cloud services are one of the most reliable platforms on
nowadays most tasks are carried out either on, or using, a which to operate systems and major cloud outages don’t
piece of IT equipment or software.  This means when things go happen often. But, if a system is relied on by so many, naturally
wrong and systems fail the consequences may reach far beyond this creates a domino effect when things go wrong.  Therefore,
a particular individual and can affect whole organisations, having a backup strategy to combat costly time delays is
sometimes globally. imperative.

IT Support Conclusion
A dedicated IT Help Desk is more than just monitoring and So what can companies do to mitigate the time and financial
resolving issues when they occur, however. The right IT support losses if their IT operations end up going wrong? It’s all about
will help you with planning ahead. Identifying how to improve IT being proactive so you aren’t caught out unexpectedly if
functions and providing solutions to drive business efficiency and something does go wrong. Employing the services of an IT
productivity are ultimately the best ways to save businesses time professional and reviewing, identifying and resolving issues
and money. This means reviewing current equipment, storage before they occur, as well as tailoring your IT systems to your
facilities and software, updating anything that is no longer business, will be invaluable in the long term.
working within the realms of a company’s requirements, or
operating efficiently enough to cope with the ongoing demands www.pav.co.uk

28 CLOUDCOMPUTING
OPINION

CLOUDCOMPUTING 29
 CLOUDSERVICES Contact Centre Platforms

ACLOUD
APPROACH

infoburst: For brands to better serve

their customers, many contact centres
are migrating to the cloud.

30 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 CLOUDSERVICES

Tom Goodmanson explains why former doubters

should consider a cloud approach for their contact
centre platform.
By Tom Goodmanson, CEO Calabrio

Introduction gaps are open to exploitation and data violation.

As customer expectations increase, brands must In contrast, cloud infrastructure is specifically
deliver a great experience with every interaction. designed to optimise and secure data exchanges,
For brands to better serve their customers, many including advanced and comprehensive encryption.
contact centres are migrating to the cloud. Application-level security enables more ‘granular’
According to the CCIQ Executive Report on Cloud control that, in turn, provides better visibility and
Contact Center Technology, just one year ago, 80 monitoring to track data and users, and therefore
per cent of contact centre solutions were deployed identify threats.
in-house. However, that number is changing
dramatically and, in the next year, that number will Scalability
drop to approximately 44 per cent. Perceptions of Many contact centres have seasonal spikes where
cloud-based solutions have changed, opening the they hire temporary agents to help handle the
door for rapid adoption. As more contact centres influx of calls. Given that they don’t need extra
find freedom in the flexibility, scalability and staff most of the time, they need a solution
security of the cloud, smart brands are rethinking that will accommodate those variances. Some
their technology strategies and modernising with on-premises licensing agreements are inflexible,
the cloud. resulting in contact centres paying for more than
they actually need. With the cloud, contact centres
A Barrier Turned Benefit can scale up or down to accommodate customer
One of the primary barriers to cloud adoption demand, so they no longer need to worry about
has consistently been data security. In the midst overpaying for licensing the rest of the year. The
of cyber-attacks and hacking, brands have been result is shorter wait times and more people on
hesitant to place private customer data into the the other end of the line, which rolls up to a better
hands of cloud service providers. However, the customer experience.
perception that the cloud is unsafe is a result of a
rise in cyber threats and data breaches that started Ultimate Flexibility
about ten years ago, the same time cloud-based Contact centres must deliver a globalised, multi-
solutions were becoming available. The reaction channel experience, and they need a flexible
from most businesses was to double down on platform to meet the needs of the modern
the more traditional approach to security, such customer. Customers want to communicate with
as securing the perimeter via physical and logical brands anywhere and at any time, and contact
access controls, and focusing on retaining users centres must be equipped to answer, regardless
and data within firewalls. As a result, the stigma of location and time zones. This includes web,
surrounding the cloud was that its security offerings chat, phone, email, text, social media or any other
were inferior to onsite methods. channel of choice. With cloud solutions, agents can
However, brands are now finding that cloud access technology from anywhere and are readily
infrastructure offers increased security compared equipped with the right tools to communicate
to on-premises architecture. Cloud-based contact with customers across channels. This ‘always on’
centre solutions entrust their data with highly approach is a modern, fresh take on the contact
experienced cloud providers including Amazon Web centre, and it gives agents ultimate flexibility to
Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. In fact, create a great customer experience every time.
research shows 64 per cent of IT professionals say
the cloud is more secure than legacy systems. Conclusion
The cloud offers contact centres new and
Eliminating Legacy Gaps compelling choices for how they want to best serve
Another benefit for contact centres that move their customers. The benefits far outweigh the fears,
to the cloud is plugging legacy gaps. The typical and the cloud’s security, scalability and flexibility
contact centre IT infrastructure is a patchwork built can transform contact centres into modern hubs
over time and, because not all legacy technologies for customer engagement. Now that consumers
were designed to enable modern digital are craving a better customer experience, contact
productivity or protect against sophisticated cyber centres have never been more important, and
threats, they become vulnerable when data moves smart brands are looking to the cloud to deliver.
between different applications and systems.
While perimeter security is the essential first www.calabrio.com
layer, once a firewall is breached, these legacy tech

CLOUDCOMPUTING 31
 CASESTUDY Cloud-Based Platforms

EMBRACING THE

TECHNOLOGY
infoburst: eSourcing is now the tool of
choice for Thomas Cook buyers.

32 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 CASESTUDY

Thomas Cook travels to the next level of supplier

management with eSourcing

Introduction including Invitation to Tender (ITT), Request

Thomas Cook was keen to embrace for Information (RFI), Request for Proposal
technology to aid procurement best practice. (RFP) Auctions and Pre-Qualification
As part of a group wide scheme to find Questionnaire (PQQ). Evaluation of suppliers
ways of working across the business more is then simplified as publishing, scoring and
effectively, the procurement team was also reviewing responses and awards is automated,
keen to maintain a single view of procurement delivering significant time and efficiency
activity across Belgium, France, Holland, and savings.
the UK. The project management functionality
After searching for an intuitive, easy to use enabled by eSourcing has allowed all users to
system that could support multiple currencies plan their buying activities so that all related
and languages, Thomas Cook trialled cloud- information is stored in one place, helping to
based eSourcing to run an eTender event as a improve communication between the project
proof of concept. teams and suppliers.
A highly successful event confirmed the
ease at which electronic tenders and auctions The Result
can be carried out and demonstrated how it While many of the project teams have a
would enable better management of supplier preferred suppliers list, eSourcing has helped
data and supplier relationships through an widen the net to introduce Thomas Cook
easily accessible, highly intuitive cloud-based to new entrants in the market. This enables
platform. buyers to benchmark the market without
having to add suppliers first.
The Tool of Choice Sam Warden, Head of Procurement and
Wax Digital web3 eSourcing was rapidly rolled Property at Thomas Cook said: “eSourcing
out in the UK and Belgium and while running has revolutionised our tendering processes,
eTender events was something Thomas and we now have a far more efficient and
Cook was keen to extend across many spend formalised process in place. Issuing our terms
categories, the most immediate benefit that and conditions to our suppliers at the tender
it delivered was a means to standardise the stage saves time compared to having to
tender process and automate large parts of it. resolve issues later in our process. The system’s
Sam Warden, Head of Procurement and ease of use means that we have been able
Property for Thomas Cook said: “The ease of to get up and running and onboard with our
use and functionality offered by cloud-based suppliers quickly.”
eSourcing has given us a way to accurately Thomas Cook uses the eAuction
share buying information in real-time and functionality offered by eSourcing for a range
improved lines of communication, compliance of spend categories including stationery,
and transparency between us and our furniture, professional services, marketing and
suppliers.” IT and has achieved significant savings. Across
eSourcing is now the tool of choice all spend categories Thomas Cook have saved
for Thomas Cook buyers. It has supported a seven figure sum.
creating an improved, open and transparent
process for suppliers and made it simple www.waxdigital.com
to create and store multiple tender types,

CLOUDCOMPUTING 33
 BIGDATA Data Rules the Business

THEERAOF
Greg Hanson explains why data-
driven insight is the single biggest
differentiator for businesses.

DATA 3.0
By: Greg Hanson, Vice President Worldwide Consulting,
Informatica

Introduction
Data influences everything. We live in the
information age, and with every passing year our
environment becomes more and more heavily
defined by data - the data produced by household
objects and Internet browsing, by cars and emails
and hospitals and thermostats. Every sector
from government and healthcare to finance and
retail is seeing the benefit of advanced big data
analytics, as the insights pulled out from the data
flood begin to guide business strategy, customer
service and even national policy.

This is the Era of Data 3.0.

Data has moved from the server room to the
boardroom. All organisations must now consider
how they can access, sort, analyse and exploit
their data if they are to keep ahead of the curve.
Decision-making should be increasingly based on
analytics, as companies use their data assets to
fine-tune their plans and projects, and relate more
personally to customers and prospects. Ultimately,
the more you know, the better your chances of
making well-informed, effective business decisions.
Netflix is a good example of this. Traditionally,
studio executives have relied on their instincts
to identify shows that they think will perform Insight Leads to Effective Control
well. Netflix, on the other hand, took a very This kind of data practice is impressive, effective infoburst: All organisations must
different data-driven approach when looking and not widely common. It helps to illustrate consider how they can access, sort,
analyse and exploit their data.
to commission a new drama series. The that in a competitive business environment, a
entertainment company used customer data to company’s ability to find, access and manage
inform its show selection, beginning by identifying as much of its data as possible is critical. Many
the audience segment it wanted to target. Once enterprises today are awash with data, but it
this group was defined, it looked at audience data often becomes stranded in separate systems
to determine the group’s viewing preferences - for and silos, both on and off-premise, in a variety
example, which actors they liked, the average of forms. For example, the sales department
length of show they watched, and so on. They may generate data in a dedicated platform like
then applied this data to produce the end product. Salesforce, while marketing files its information
Using this approach, Netflix delivered House of in Marketo and the company website tracks
Cards, a show that became a huge hit as a result customer interactions in a different proprietary
of this innovative data-first approach. system. As a result of this separation, most

34 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 BIGDATA

begins with connecting your data, which means

identifying and locating all the applications
across the business that contain critical customer
data, and then standardising and validating that
data as part of the ‘cleaning’ process. Cleaning
also includes weeding out any inaccuracies,
resolving conflicts, confirming personal details
such as email addresses and post codes and fixing
incomplete fields. In short, cleaning is the process
of transforming data from a useless mush into a
streamlined, accurate picture that can then be
subjected to analysis.
Once this process has been completed, any
duplicates have been removed and identifying
dates have been consolidated, companies will be
in a position to create a series of single, trusted
customer profiles. These will form the foundation
for the company’s data management strategies.
Businesses can then start adding third party
data, such as the users’ occupation, interests
and social channel information. They can also
connect varying forms data – linking the customer
profile to other household members, for example,
including browsing history, previous product
purchases and even the employees they work
companies are still stuck grappling with their data, with. Consolidating the data means that trusted
trying to get it under control and into useful order infoburst: Getting a handle on data and relevant information that has been pulled
- how can you analyse your data if you don’t even 3.0 relies heavily on a cohesive data together can be handed back to the people,
management strategy.
know where to look for it? processes, and applications that need it, so that
Never before have businesses experienced everyone handling this data is working with the
the kind of data fragmentation that exists today. same information. Finally, by proactively guiding
This state of affairs is exacerbated by the fact that the way data is managed and used, businesses
IT is no longer the gatekeeper of data in many can ensure that data remains compliant, mitigate
businesses. Where ten years ago IT teams had risks and increase growth opportunities.
ultimate oversight of all data-generating systems,
organisations are now putting their data in the Data: The Key To Survival
hands of employees to accelerate adoption. The Without a clear and comprehensive view over
business intelligence market is experiencing heavy its data, no company can remain compliant and
disruption as a result, with the dispersion of data relevant. Data-driven insight is set as the single
causing major problems for security and control of biggest differentiator for businesses across a huge
data as new variables are introduced. number of industries. Whether an organisation
is looking to attract new prospects, service its
Keeping Security Focused on Data existing customers or protect its assets, a powerful
In fact, the more systems, silos and data handlers data management strategy is now essential.
that are introduced into the mix, the more likely a Businesses simply cannot afford not to be able
company is to encounter inaccuracies and security to locate, track and analyse all their relevant and
risks. Despite many new users having access to sensitive data.
data, IT teams still need to be assured that their Technological innovation in business continues
data is secure and can stand up against any to accelerate at an incredible rate. Companies
changing regulatory demands. used pen and paper for centuries; in the past two
This is an issue of particular concern as we decades we’ve gone from desk phones and fax
enter the one-and-a-half-year countdown leading machines to tablets, cloud and the data flood of
up to GDPR implementation. Getting customer the IoT. There is a pressing need to stay ahead
data under control is now a major business of the curve, constantly learning from customers,
imperative, not just a differentiator when it comes resolving bad experiences and improving service
to improving customer experience. speeds. If they are to maintain their agility and
keep up, businesses must take control of their data
Taking Control of Your Information now - or risk fading into obscurity.
Getting a handle on data 3.0 relies heavily on
a cohesive data management strategy. This www.informatica.com

CLOUDCOMPUTING 35
 CLOUDMIGRATION Meeting Business Needs

DIGITAL
Matt Leonard argues that digital
transformation is more than just
moving to the cloud.
By Matt Leonard, Solution Engineering & Marketing

TRANSFORMATION
Director, CenturyLink EMEA

infoburst: In today’s rapidly changing

business environment, it’s important for
organisations to take steps to adapt.

36 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 CLOUDMIGRATION

Introduction
Growing competition and consumer power are
forcing businesses to deliver the best possible
experience to their customers. But to demonstrate
value at every available customer touchpoint,
full integration of every aspect of the business is
required.
The resulting ‘digital transformation’ now
forms the cornerstone of many business strategies
although, despite it being an industry buzzword,
there still exists a lack of understanding and
agreement by many as to what the phrase actually
means.
Essentially, digital transformation concerns the
application and exploitation of technology in every
aspect of an organisation’s activity. Its success
doesn’t necessarily depend on the technology
itself, but from the innovative ways in which the
technology is implemented as the organisation
rethinks its business model, strategy, culture, talent,
operating model and processes.
Established enterprises can no longer rely solely
on their size as critical factor for success and must,
instead, become more responsive, adaptable, agile,
insights-driven, connected and collaborative. More
nimble start-ups are often in a better position to
take this approach to improving their customer
service and growing their business, and CIOs should
be looking at ways to keep up with these new,
disruptive companies.
But, rather than imitating what their peers are
doing, or following orders from the CEO to ‘use the
cloud’, a digital transformation strategy should
maximise the benefits of technology to drive
genuine value for the business.

Everything Changes
Where customers would once pay for goods
and services upfront or on a subscription basis, a
technological and material shift has led to a culture
of on-demand consumption. Consumers now
seek out companies aligned with their individual
preferences and values, and are willing to share
personal information in return for offerings more
tailored to their needs.
These new purchase methods have filtered
through to the business community, where many
organisations are now using digital transformation
as a vehicle to achieve the ‘single view of the
customer’ required to hyper-personalise their
interactions.
While it’s important that data analytics are
in place to provide this insight, businesses should
also be ‘SaaSifying’ their products, and ensuring
all applications are on a platform robust enough to
cope with peaks or troughs in demand.
Digitally transforming an organisation’s
applications, however, can prove challenging
when they’re co-located or housed on on-premise
legacy infrastructure rather than hosted in the
cloud. Decisions around how to gain greater agility

CLOUDCOMPUTING 37
 CLOUDMIGRATION
scalable platforms, for example, but more that
they’ve taken the smartest, most efficient approach
to solving their problems.

Choosing the Right Environment

An organisation is at risk of mistakes if it
follows its competitors into the cloud without
due consideration. There isn’t a ‘one size fits
BW
all’ approach, so thought must be given as to
which environment is most appropriate ? to an
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organisation’s broader transformation n gth strategy,
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and how it meets its customers’ and business
demands. ?
Public cloud is most suitable for highly e n gth
scalable workloads requiring flexible or short term
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computing resources, for example, while private
BWcloud is best suited for workloads with more
complex security requirements and predictable
levels of resources for at least three years. Grid
g t h? computing, withBW three year workloads, can run in Clas
s
L e n
a custom security environment using managed
hosting, supplemented with bare metal for short
th ? needs and, ultimately, saving money over
gterm
Len cloud. And some older applications, at the end of
their lifecycle, may be best left alone or moved
s s
Cla
into a co-location environment where they can be
integrated into other venues.
or faster response times from these applications The key to a successful digital transformation
a s s
can be particularly complicated, especially when for businesses with a legacy IT estate, however, is a
Cl requirements such as
infoburst: A digital transformation
strategy should maximise the benefits taking into consideration hybrid model which offers the flexibility to choose
of technology.
regulations, data sovereignty, security, integration the best execution venue forBW each application, and
complexity, contractual certainty, and service level integrate it into other environments.
agreements.
n th ? strategy encompasses
Corporationsgwhose
Frankly, the more a CIO thinks about the both public and e
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challenges these legacy applications represent, need of multiple cloud providers that, while offering
the more distant the dream of being responsive, C ass level of flexibility and efficiency,
a lgreater ?
gth can be
adaptable, agile, insight-driven, connected and a complex for a CIO to oversee.LeAnless stressful B
collaborative feels. option is to seek a managed services provider
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that can provide a management layer to ensure
g th ?
Knowing What You Want promised cost savings while keeping complexity Lto e n
Larger companies are giving increasing a minimum.
consideration as to how they can behave more like ss
their emerging, potentially disruptive counterparts. Meeting Business Needs Cla
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technology. While major corporations have always flexible and versatile competitors.
led in tech investment, simply adding on more When embarking on a digital transformation
layers of technology isn’t enough to mend a broken strategy, consideration must be given to where the
process or an inefficient culture. business currently is, what it’s looking to achieve,
There’s nothing wrong in big corporations and how it will address the opportunities and
mirroring some of the positive traits demonstrated challenges presented during the transformation
by more nimble start-ups, but embracing ‘digital’ process.
without knowing why, or what they want to achieve Serious thought must be given to any cloud
from it, is not the answer. migration strategy needed to ensure customer-
A focus on back-end technology, and how it facing applications are up to the task of meeting
can be implemented, rather than concentrating new and evolving consumer demands. Just
on desired business outcomes can lead to money putting applications ‘in the cloud’ is no longer
being wasted on technology that drives no specific sufficient. It’s time instead for CIOs to consider
business value. At worst, this can result in complete the environment in which they’re housed, and that
inertia, at which point a business finds itself at risk how they’re managed to meets the needs of the
of being ‘Uber-ed’. business.
The success of leading digital businesses isn’t
necessarily down to the fact they run on flexible, www.centurylink.com

38 CLOUDCOMPUTING
 Smart choices
for digital infrastructure

BW

BW 40G

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LANmark LANsense LANactive

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for any environment g th ?
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www.nexans.co.uk/LANsystems [email protected]
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