Off-the-shelf, p15 £526m broadband projects stall as ...€¦ · disaster recovery solutions...

approvals are formally in place.�”So far, all of the parties involved have

declined to comment on the reasons for theslow progress. However, it is believed thatDG Competition is worried that theBDUK process designed by consultantsfrom KPMG and Pinsent Mason at a costof almost £3m led to just two suppliersqualifying �– BT and Fujitsu Telecom.

There is also a difference between thespeed targets BDUK is setting and those ofthe Digital Agenda. This favours BT�’splans to use slower technology via FTTCwith copper to the premises, rather thanFTTP which is also an option.

The EC may also be concerned that allthe NGA contracts awarded so far havegone to BT. Cumbria, which is expected toannounce its plans soon, rejected initialoffers from BT and Fujitsu. Fujitsusubsequently pulled out of the bid.

Many of the non-BT network operators(�‘altnets�’) are now discussing how to worktogether to bid against BT for NGA busi-ness in the counties. These contracts containat least £425m in UK taxpayers�’money, andthere is £600m more from budgets for cities,the BBC�’s digitial switch-over fund, andrural wireless.

Hervé Dupuy, deputy head of the broad-band unit at the EC�’s new Connectdirectorate, says the setting up of BDUKto oversee the allocation of taxpayer

money to broadband projects had�“attracted a lot of attention in Brussels�” asa potential model for EU member states.He says proposed new state aid guidelinesadd a lot of detail to previous ones. Thesesharpen deliverable targets for contractsthat receive state aid.

While the UK�’s broadband plans are ontrack to meet Europe�’s Digital Agendatargets, the delays mean it may missdeadlines. This was the view that emergedat a recent London seminar on state aid run by the Independent Networks Co-operative Association. !

by Ian Grant

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SuperMUC goes liveEurope’s mostpowerful computeris unveiled inGermanyNews, p2 "

Keeping business runningAre businesscontinuity anddisaster recoverysolutions foolproof? Feature, p10-13"

Wish you were here?Luxury hotelierditches the serversand delivers betterserviceCloudworking, p9 "

The European Commission (EC) is waitingfor more information from the Departmentof Culture, Media and Sport so it canestablish the legality of state aid under theBDUK procurement framework for nextgeneration broadband access (NGA)

The delay is holding up projects worthmore than £526m for the sake of £86m intaxpayers�’ funds held by BDUK, thegovernment�’s broadband project arm. TheWelsh broadband project alone representsabout £425m. Its progress depends onclearance from the EC�’s DG Competitionto use state aid to help fund the project. �“Weare in close dialogue with the UKgovernment on this matter. We currentlyexpect more details on the progress in theearly autumn,�” says a Welsh AssemblyGovernment (WAG) spokesman.

But DG Competition says that there hasnot been any undue delay and says it wasfirst notified in January. �“So far, theduration of this investigation is notparticularly unusual,�” says a spokesman.�“We are working hard to reach a quickdecision, but we need further informationfrom the UK authorities before ourassessment can be completed.�”

The WAG spokesman denies this wouldhold up the Welsh rollout: �“It was reallyimportant for both the Welsh Governmentand BT to make progress on deliveringagainst our commitments for Wales. Thatis why we have completed our agreementwith BT, and preparatory and mobilisa-tion work has already started to ensurethat we waste no time in getting fullystarted once the European Commission

www.networkingplus.co.uk J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 1 2

O2 has turned to microwave forbackhauling traffic from its new Wi-Finetwork in the London boroughs ofKensington and Chelsea and Westminster(News, January 2012). It is using sevenCambridge Broadband Networks�’ (CBN)VectaStar point-to-multipoint nodes toprovide data throughput of up to 2Gbps.

The nodes collect traffic via 28MHz and5GHz microwave from a wireless meshnetwork formed by more than 100 Ruckusaccess points mounted on street furnituresuch as lamp posts. They then transfer thedata via Ethernet cable to a hub in centralLondon for onwards transmission by fibre.O2 will use a Ruckus/Cisco BSS/OSS

system to manage traffic. CBN account director Kevin Oemering

claims VectaStar technology allows O2 tobackhaul mobile traffic from multiple smallcell networks to a single aggregation point.�“This fundamental change in backhaulnetwork architecture delivers cost andefficiency benefits, particularly for nextgeneration mobile,�” he says.

O2�’s London Wi-Fi network coversExhibition Road, High Street Kensington,Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square,Oxford Street, Regent Street, LeicesterSquare and Piccadilly. It is free but userswill face advertising which O2 says willappear on the welcome page only. !

CBN bags O2 London Wi-Fi deal

Off-the-shelf, p15"

Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt: may miss theDigital Agenda target.

F I X E D & W I R E L E S S N E T W O R K S F O R E N T E R P R I S E U S E R S

Time to switch The latest networkswitches to helpexchange video,data, and more

£526m broadband projects stallas Europe waits for BDUK

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What�’s said to be Europe�’s most powerfulsupercomputer has been unveiled inGermany. The SuperMUC uses SUSE LinuxEnterprise Server and is said to be theworld�’s fourth-fastest supercomputer. It wasofficially inaugurated in July by IBM duringa ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversaryof the Leibniz-Rechenzentrum (LRZ �–Leibniz Supercomputing Centre) of theBavarian Academy of Sciences in Garching.

The SuperMUC will be used to solvedifficult scientific questions in physics andfluid dynamics. It is equipped with morethan 155,000 processor cores which areclaimed to deliver an aggregate peakperformance of more than three petaflops

of computing power. LRZ says the new system is much more

efficient than its predecessor as it is able totake advantage of �‘frequency scaling�’ �– aLinux kernel function delivered with SUSELinux Enterprise which allows applicationsto run at their optimal operating point.

The SuperMUC is based on IBM�’s SystemX iDataPlex. One of its special features iswarm-water cooling technology which,according to IBM, was inspired by thehuman circulatory system. It claims that thisresults in 40 per cent less energy usage thantraditional air-cooled machines. The systemalso allows energy to be captured and re-used to heat the LRZ�’s buildings. !

Bristol-based Surf Telecoms has won athree-year deal, initially worth £4.1m, toprovide communications services to Janet,the UK�’s research and educational network.

Using 400km of fibre stretching fromCornwall to Gloucestershire, Janet deliversa 10Gb core network infrastructure andhigh bandwidth connections to all of the 10higher education institutions, three researchorganisations, and 41 further educationcolleges in south-west England.

Surf will support Janet�’s growing demandfor communications traffic by providing a secure and resilient infrastructure for

research and educational organisations suchas University College Falmouth as well asthe much larger university campuses in Bathand Bristol. The firm says it has deliveredthe 55 connections needed for all theregion�’s institutions and will enable them toexploit the benefits cloud computing andother high bandwidth applications.

Steve Blew, Surf Telecoms�’ commercialmanager, says: �“Our network service to Janetis supported by a new state-of-the-art com-munications infrastructure with the function-ality and flexibility to handle high bandwidthtraffic required by educational institutions

across the region, and the connections foronward integration to other parts of theJanet network as well as other national andinternational telecommunications networks.�”

Having expanded its services from itsinstalled base in south-west England andWales, Surf says it now offers a range oftelecoms services throughout the UK. Theyrange from 2Mb leased lines to 10Gboptical wavelengths, dark fibre, and securecolocation and site sharing facilities.

The Janet backbone consists of more than5,000km of dedicated optical fibre and has aglobal community of 18 million users. !

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nn ee tt ww oo rr kk ii nngg july/august 2012

Going virtualwith LanwayStudents at Rotherham College of Arts andTechnology can now take advantage ofmore mobile and flexible learning after avirtualisation project completed by Lanway.

The IT solutions provider�’s specialist education team installed and configured aVMWare VDI solution at the college whichhas more than 14,000 students. They cannow access the college network, educationalapplications, and the internet from bothfixed and mobile devices, remotely andoutside college hours. Lanway adds that thevirtual desktop also supports high definitionvideo and graphics, giving students a�“dynamic and creative learning experience�”.

The VDI implementation supports 400machines and is scalable, therefore enablingthe rest of the college estate to smoothlyfollow suit. Lanway says Rotherham hasimmediately reduced energy consumptionas fewer servers are required to support thenew desktop, and that it will achieve largecost savings on future installations.

In a separate deal, Lanway has also pro-vided virtualised infrastructure and multi-site managed services to North CountryLeisure (NCL), a charitable trust whichmanages leisure, sports, and training facili-ties across Northumberland and Cumbria.

The firm designed and installed NCL�’ssystem, and will also offer support servicesas part of a five-year deal. It will work acrossthe organisation�’s 12 sites to monitor andmanage the IT infrastructure. It adds thatpotential network problems will be identifiedand prevented, with issues resolvedremotely from its Lancashire HQ. !

2

Janet will ride Surf in £4.1m network deal

A SuperMUC simulated image of LRZ’s newsupercomputer. It’s claimed that the SuperMUCwill be able to deliver over three petaflops ofcomputing power.

Most powerful supercomputer in Europe unveiled in Germany

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A scathing report from the House of Lordscommunications committee on thegovernment’s ‘strategy-free’ broadbandapproach has exposed a divide betweenthe national interest and the narrow profitinterests of the incumbent telco BT.

Both large and small firms havewelcomed the report, in particular therecognition that businesses as well asretail consumers need competitive accessto “future proof” networks. But marketresearch firm Ovum was quick to call thelords’ recommendations “pie in the sky”,and BT staffers were as quick to quotethis on social networking forums.

The report calls for customers to haveaccess to a range of networking products,include dark fibre, from a number ofsources including fibred-up community‘hubs’. They would pay for all this on a

competitive ‘get what you pay for’ basis.This is anathema to BT which has foughtto retain its monopoly in the last mile aswell as its monopoly on supra-1Gbpsnetworks outside London.

The Federation of CommunicationServices says the UK has seen the needsof business overlooked in a “bafflingrush” to get 2Mbps into every home, butwith no real thought of guaranteeingcompetition or choice of provider.

The government now has two monthsto respond. BT must hope pressure oncounty councils to spend the earmarked£530m on long-delayed broadband planswill see the report ignored rather thancause further delay. This would be amistake and the consequences will lastdecades and entrench the incumbent’shegemony, say the lords.

ON THE NETWORKIan Grant, deputy editor

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3 july/august 2012 nn ee tt ww oo rr kk ii nngg

Lords in eleventh hour bid for a truly Digital Britain

Oxfordshire County Council has selectedTalend, a specialist in open source datamanagement, to provide voters with greaterinsight into its £845m annual budget.

The government�’s drive to be moretransparent with public spending isforcing councils to seek better ways toextract information, especially financialtransactions over £500, which localauthorities have to publish monthly.

The council chose Talend EnterpriseData Integration because its software�“connectors�” allow it to access, transformand integrate data in real-time or batch,including from within the council�’s SAPfinancial management system, says ICTdeployment manager Anne Kearsley.

�“Talend allows us to extract our financialdata and collate it into one easy to usereport. We no longer need to search throughour millions of rows of data or strugglewith encryption. Talend allows us to easilylocate the exact data, manage the excep-tions, and publish our expenditure reports.�”

Kearsley notes other benefits such as theability to move data regularly and reliablyfrom legacy systems for reporting and finan-cial management. �“We�’re now looking toexpand our relationship with Talend acrosssome of our other departments. With thiswe hope to further increase our ability tomanage large amounts of data in a moreefficient manner, enabling us to reducecosts and save time,�” she says. !

Talend gives Oxfordshire voters aclearer picture of council spending

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is published monthly by:Kadium Limited, Brassey House, NewZealand Avenue, Walton-on-Thames,Surrey, KTI2 IQD, United Kingdom.Tel: +44 (0) 1932 886 537Fax: +44 (0) 1932 886 539Annual subscription: £80 (UK); £95(Europe), £100 (USA and the rest of theworld) airmail. Cost per single copy is£8.25.Printed in England by Williams Press.© 2012. All rights reserved.

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Private mobile radio (PMR) specialistSimoco has completed a £5m upgrade forWestern Power Distribution (WPD),providing voice and data links in 26,000square kilometres of Wales, the SouthWest, and the Midlands. The upgrade hasenhanced voice and data communicationsbetween staff andkey network equipment,ensuring optimum service for WPD�’s 2.4 million customers, says the firm.

Simoco�’s system provides coverage insome of the UK�’s most diverse terrain. Itincludes densely populated cities such asBristol and Cardiff, and rural and coastalareas such as Dartmoor, the BreconBeacons, Cornwall, and Gower Peninsula.

The firm installed 372 Xfin bladeservers at 103 sites for 1,600 mobileusers. The Xfin system delivers voice anddata communications over an IP

backbone that links 60 dispatchers in 10locations. It integrates telephony, anddata and voice recording in a GENetwork Solutions ENMAC real-timecontrol room management systemthrough a turnkey solution.

Since its installation at WPD in 2008,PMR is said to have proved more reliablethan cellular systems that also operate in thearea, according to Kevan Scott, manager ofWPD�’s sister firm, Surf Telecoms.

�“Particularly during storm conditions,where our engineers are working hard torestore power on the electricity network,the Xfin system has continued to providereliable and critical communications toensure the safety of our staff. Thisvindicates our decision to invest long termin PMR over cellular services which arefrequently affected by storms.�” !

Simoco in £5m upgrade toWestern Power PMR network

Simoco PMR proved more reliable – and therefore safer for staff – than cellular in severe weather.

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TalkTalk Business, one of the UK�’s largestcarriers for voice and data traffic, hasbecome the anchor tenant at Ark Continuity�’snew purpose-built £100m data centre inCorsham, Hampshire. A former nuclearbunker for Westminster officials, the site ison a nexus for communications and energynetworks, making it ideal for TalkTalkBusiness, according to CEO Charles Bligh.

Due to undergo phase two of a planned£800m, one-million square foot develop-ment, the facility has a 110MW powersupply already installed via duplicatedlinks to the national grid. It is served withdark fibre by Geo, Vtesse Networks, andCable & Wireless Worldwide to providealternate routing. BT has said it will alsosoon be running fibre to the village.

TalkTalk Business has spent £600m build-

ing a national network that now covers 89per cent of the population via 2,000 unbun-dled exchanges. It has around 180,000businesses taking its increasingly digital,Ethernet-based voice and data services.

Bligh is now looking for more clients andhopes the new DC will help. But he�’sdiscouraging pure co-location business asthis would be a �“waste of this facility�”.Instead, he�’s aiming for those looking forenhanced voice and data services.

One attraction could be the data centre�’svery low energy consumption. Thankslargely to free (adiabatic) cooling, the DCruns at a PUE of 1.25 at 20 per centloading, and at 1.1 fully loaded at 760kW.The average UK DC runs with a PUE of2.0. �“We will also be saving 4,000 tonnesof CO2 a year when fully loaded,�” claimsSteve Webb, Ark�’s COO.

The DC houses a mixture of networkequipment, including Cisco and Juniper, toallow TalkTalk Business to replicate aclient�’s in-house system. !


4nn ee tt ww oo rr kk ii nngg july/august 2012

IN BRIEF

Reading wins O2Future FundO2 has announced the winners of its FutureFund competition (News, May 2012). In April, itinvited local authority ICT teams to submit ideasthat use digital innovation to drive improvementsfor staff, citizens, and communities. From the 40councils that entered, Reading was awarded thetop prize of £125,000 for its ‘from handset tomindset’ project which demonstrated a way tohelp address the ‘Not in Education, Employmentor Training’ issue across West Berkshire. MerthyrTydfil and Vale of Glamorgan took the secondprize of £75,000 with their joint bid to developan ‘e-community’ project designed to encouragelocal economic growth. Luton picked up the£50,000 award with an idea designed toredefine the council’s services. !

NextiraOne awardedmultiple PSNframeworksNextiraOne has been awarded frameworks in multiple lots under the GovernmentProcurement Service’s new PSN ServicesFramework. The network integrator says itwill now be able to provide public sectororganisations services for communications,CCTV and physical security monitoring,conferencing, and LAN. The PSN Frameworkwill initially be in place for two years with two one-year extension options available. !

OCS outsources to eLINIAOCS Group, said to be one of the world’slargest privately-owned facilities servicescompanies, has completed the first phase of afive-year IT infrastructure outsourcing deal withmanaged services specialist eLINIA. OCS’ ITinfrastructure has now been moved from its oldheadquarters in Crawley to eLINIA’s ‘green’ datacentre in Slough – 70 per cent of eLINIA’s UKdata centres are powered by renewablebiomass energy sources. The second phaseinvolves the adoption of OCS’ IT estate intomanaged services provided by eLINIA. The finalphase will see OCS and eLINIA consolidate anddrive efficiencies to provide “long-lasting”financial and operational benefits. !

Huawei�’s cloud storage system has passedthe performance test of the EuropeanOrganisation for Nuclear Research(CERN), where researchers will use it toexplore scores of petabytes of datagenerated in the hunt for the fundamentalbuilding blocks of the universe.

The CERN data centre, the WorldwideLHC Computing Grid Tier-0, is at the heartof a global computing resource thatprovides storage and analysis of more than20PB of Large Hadron Collider (LHC) dataper year. Massive increases in data storagedemand prompted CERN to review its

requirements. It set up CERN openlab,which houses the Huawei cloud, to developadvanced IT systems for LHC scientists.

Delivered in early 2012, the cloud systemhas shown �‘excellent�’ data writing andreading performance, with horizontalscalability. The system also provides self-healing intelligent maintenance, whichsignificantly reduces maintenance costs,and effectively enhances the system�’savailability and reliability, says Huawei.

The scalability of the storage system issaid to be important for CERN as thelaboratory faces ever-increasing demands

from physicists. Huawei is using theCERN installation to test new storagetechniques and architectures in theprocessing of high energy physics datafrom the LHC experiments. !

The Approved Cables Initiative (ACI) haswelcomed government and trading standards plans to set up a central databaseto fight imports of substandard cable.

The plans unveiled by consumer affairsminister Norman Lamb will allow bestpractices and intelligence on imports to beshared from the UK�’s biggest container portat Felixstowe to other points of entry to theUK. It is part of work already developed bySuffolk County Council.

Lamb was speaking at the ConsumerAffairs and Trading Standards Conferenceand Exhibition in June, where the ACI

spoke to trading standards officers aboutthe defective cable �“flooding�”into the UK.He said the Business Innovation and Skillsdepartment is working with the Europeanproduct safety forum PROSAFE on aninterface that will enable access to serviceson the Trading Standards Institute�’s TS-interlink online platform.

The ACI has started a two-yearprogramme to raise MPs�’ awareness of thedangers posed by sub-standard or mislead-ing labelling of cables. Previously, ACIspokesman Peter Smeeth warned thatwithout appropriate legislation and the

proper funds to support enforcement, theproblems of dangerous and sub-standardcable will not go away. (News, June 2012).

�“The ACI uncovers issues with defectivecable products, often imported, on aweekly basis,�” says Smeeth. �“Perpetratorsneed to understand that they will face stiffpenalties for breaking the law.�”

He adds that two years ago, more than20 million metres of faulty cable had to berecalled. �“There remains a large proportionof this cable unaccounted for in the UK.The ACI is keen to help trading standardsand has volunteered to do so.�” !

UK to set up database to fight sub-standard cable

Huawei helps hunt Higgs boson

Engineers inspect TalkTalk Business’ racks atArk Continuity’s new Corsham data centre.

The Huawei cloud storage system willprovide researchers worldwide with fastaccess to petabytes of data from collisionsgenerated in CERN’s Large Hadron collider.

Ark gives TalkTalk Business £100msafe haven from DC price war

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Reading train station is set to become thefirst in the UK to benefit from IP-based,high definition CCTV. The station is said tobe one of the busiest stations in the UKoutside of London, with more than 14mpassengers travelling through it annually.

It will use 230 Axis cameras, mostly HD,for the deployment which is due forcompletion by next April. During trials,Network Rail found that by using camerasrated at just two megapixels it was able tocapture far wider coverage of the station.

�“Axis cameras are also extremely easyto install which, in a station, is a real plus-point as cameras can be relocated veryquickly and easily if the need arises,�”says Raul Marquez, a senior projectengineer for Network Rail.

The CCTV system is integrated intoReading�’s Station Data Network (SDN)which is dedicated to telecoms operationsand also handles other functions such asthe Customer Information System,

intercoms and help points, and security,but excludes PCs and rail information.

He goes on to explain that the SDNcomprises 19 nodes using Cisco�’s 2960switches connected to two 4507 coreswitches. �“There are two 1GB fibreconnections from each node using differentpaths for resilience. The core switches areconnected to each other using 10GB links.Node switches also provide power to thecameras using PoE,�” says Marquez.

The CCTV system is managed usingNICE software and their video recordingswill also be stored using the vendor�’s300TB 9240 NVR arrays.

In the near future, the whole station isexpected to use the Station ManagementSystem (SMS) that is currently underdevelopment. Marquez says that as wellas enabling the monitoring all camerasand displays, the SMS will also monitorthe system alarms of all equipmentconnected to the data network. !


nn ee tt ww oo rr kk ii nngg july/august 2012 6

Three Manchester academies are to havetheir internet security services overhauledby Bolton-based IT solutions specialistImerja. The city�’s Health Academy,Enterprise Academy, and Co-operativeAcademy have signed three-year contractsthat will begin in the coming months.

The academies have pooled purchasingpower and knowledge, forming aconsortium to inform each other of the best products, software and systems. Thepartnership aims to reduce IT costs, whileproviding high security and integrity levels.

Imerja will deliver services such asanti-virus software, spam protection, andweb filtering in an effort to safeguardpupils, staff, and data from online threats.The firm says the offerings are�“deliberately granular�” to allow forexpansion or modification.

It adds that the solutions are designedto be flexible and user-friendly, enablingIT administrators or teachers to tailorsettings to suit the specific needs of theacademy, right down to the requirementsfor a individual class if necessary. There

will also be a team of Imerja engineers onhand 24 hours a day, to identify andaddress high-level IT issues.

�“With the current financial pressures, itis often a challenge to balance security withcost for many public institutions,�” saysImerja MD Ian Jackson. �“Our work withthese academies will help them improveand safeguard their IT infrastructure,while crucially saving them money.These partnerships will allow them toretain control of day-to-day securitymanagement, backed with our support.�” !

Manchester academies pool theirresources to improve IT security

UK’s first train station to benefit from IP-based surveillance

Imerja MD Ian Jacksonsays the solutions will

allow the academiesto balance security

with cost.

Reading train station is said to be one of the busiest in the UK outsideof London with 14 million passengers travelling through it each year.

Belfast Health and Care Trustunifies comms for 17,000 staff

One of the UK�’s largest health trusts isdeploying a multi-vendor solution to unifyvideo, voice, and data communications for17,000 staff.

Belfast Health and Social Care Trustprovides integrated health and social careservices to 340,000 people in Belfast andNorthern Ireland through a network of sixorganisations. It will use BT networkingtechnology, Microsoft Lync, and Polycom�’svideo and voice solutions to enhance thedelivery of those services and is also aimingfor cost reductions as it spends around £3million every day.

The new standards-based, interoperableunified communications (UC) platformwill give more than 10,000 healthcareworkers access to Microsoft Lync so theycan communicate via video, voice, instant

messaging, and telpresence. The hardwareincludes Polycom�’s AV communicationsequipment which was part of the biggerUC solution provided by BT. The telcowon the tender with a two-phased strategythat aims to deliver IP telephony and asuite of UC and collaboration capabilitieswithin 18 months, says Polycom.

The deployment will use thousands ofthe firm�’s IP phones and wireless handsetsfor on-site mobile staff across more than100 locations. Paul Duffy, co-director of ITand telecommunications at Belfast Healthand Social Care Trust, claims that one ofthe many benefits of the new system is thatit enables faster and greater staffinteraction. �“Before, you would have hadto wait maybe a week just to get people intheir diary to attend a meeting,�” he says. !

The trust is using around 400 Polycom telepresence systems and has 20 video collaboration suites.

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Net+ 1208 p7 (IBM).qxd 17/8/12 15:23

Net+ 1208 p8 (FTL).qxd 20/8/12 17:32

Cloud no-go for one in four

Despite countless reports forecasting therise of cloud computing, now it seems thatalmost one in four companies will notadopt the platform.

According to new research fromRobert Half Technology (RHT), 23 percent of CIOs and IT directors across theUK say that they have no plans tomigrate IT systems to the cloud. Andwhilst previous surveys have indicatedthat small companies are leading thecharge, RHT�’s research says that 38 percent of them are less likely to move tothe cloud compared to medium (eight percent) and large (12 per cent) firms.

The biggest barrier continues to besecurity with 46 per cent of respondentssaying that this was their most seriousworry. Continuity of service, dataintegrity, speed of service, and costs arealso cited as key concerns.

A quarter of businesses were alsoagainst moving to the cloud because oftheir lack of knowledge in-house. Thisfigure soared to 44 per cent withinLondon-based companies, but fell to 21per cent for small businesses and 27 percent for medium businesses.

�“It�’s surprising that so many heads of ITappear to have not embraced the value ofcloud technology, although this may bepartly due to a lack of understanding of thebenefits and how it can be applied to theirorganisation,�” says Neil Hedges, seniormanager, RHT. �“Many companies withoutthe requisite talent in-house are turning toIT contractors and project professionals tohelp educate their teams on how to adoptthe cloud, mitigate against security risksand improve service delivery.�”

RHT�’s survey was conducted by anindependent research firm and includedresponses from 100 CIOs and IT directorsfrom across the UK. !

The great myth aboutsecurityDocument management and retrievalspecialist Simplexo is warning thatthose who place documents into cloud-based storage servers or collaborationsolutions are potentially putting theirdata at risk �– despite the belief that itwill be safe and secure.

While organisations consistently citesecurity as their number one reason foravoiding the cloud (see above), SimplexoCTO Simon Bain says that corporateBritain is seeing a dramatic increase in theuse of Box Net, Dropbox, Google Drive,Huddle, Jungle Disk, etc, thanks to the riseof employee adoption.

�“Corporate users need to look moreclosely at how they are using theseservices, particularly syncing, which is areally important part of a cloud storage

offering �– in other words having all ofyour files available from anywhere. Butdo users realise that in a lot of cases theirfiles are physically downloaded to theirdevices? If you lose a device, or leave itunattended, all of your files are accessibleto a third party,�” says Bain.

He goes on to say that in the rush to havedocuments available everywhere, corporateand data security has been marginalised,often for ease of use for the end user andsimplicity of providing the service.

�“There are certain guidelines that Ithink need to be adhered to before we allstart throwing our hard disks away andplacing everything in to the hands ofothers,�” says Bain. �“Banks go to greatlengths to make sure that we are secureduring our online banking sessions. Sowhy go and drop your bank statementinto an online box?�” !

Replacing servers improvesservice at hotel groupConsultancy firm Cloudreach is helpingKempinski Hotels to move fromtraditional on-site IT, to public cloud-based storage and computing withAmazon Web Services. The new set-upaims to enable the company �– which wascreated in 1897 and is said to be Europe�’soldest luxury hotel group �– to reduce costsand maximise staff productivity.

Kempinski currently operates 73 five-star hotels in 31 countries. Previously, itrelied on 140 servers located and managedat its Geneva HQ for its corporate andshared applications. By moving to ahosted infrastructure, Cloudreach says thatKempinski will achieve a lower total costof ownership, and employees will be ableto focus on core business activities bydriving efficiencies from the applicationsrather than purely administering them.

Following a review of the group�’scurrent IT set-up, Cloudreach says that itadvised on a phased approach (factoring inPCI compliance). It created a �‘businesscase�’ that outlined how Kempinski wouldbenefit from moving to the cloud anddemonstrating measurable ROI.

�“Cloud is clearly becoming a realisticoption for businesses,�” says Pontus Noren,Cloudreach director and co-founder.�“However, many are anxious about themigration. By providing a business case forcompanies, Cloudreach aims to dispelconcerns �– firstly so the migration processis recommended and clearly articulated tothose directly involved in the project, butalso so the IT department has theammunition it requires to gain support inthe boardroom and help communicate whymoving to the cloud makes business sense.�”

Some of Kempinski�’s suppliers are nowlooking at sharing the hotelier�’s virtualcloud or creating their own virtual cloud tooffer an SaaS solution. !

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july/august 2012 nn ee tt ww oo rr kk ii nngg9

Many decision-makers face realconfusion working out their best wayforward in the cloud given grandiosesupplier claims about reducing capex,streamlining opex, and so on.

So how do you choose the right partner,given that you’re handing over to a thirdparty the management of IT systems criticalto the functioning of your business?

A key concept is to have a clear definitionof what your implementation partner isactually committing to. You need to beconvinced they can deliver: a secure andreliable environment to support your ITrequirements; the latest technology frombest-of-breed vendors to ensure highperformance and availability; 24x7 accessto the proposed new environment fromanywhere using various devices; 24x7support; a comprehensive, robust networkinfrastructure; and all delivered in a simple,scalable and cost-effective manner. If not,then terminate the sales process – you’rejust not going to get anything useful.

‘Partner’ is something of an over-usedterm in the computing market, yet the coreof the idea is actually extremely important.The technology supplier acts in the client’sinterests by providing resources and services that are tightly integrated with thelatter’s needs, based on in-depth under-standing of the specifics of its business.But as the cloud becomes the latest ‘gold

rush,’ too many contenders offer theopposite – inflexible, ‘standard’ solutionsthat fail to deliver to client expectations.

The simple fact is that every business is unique and its IT must underpin its corebusiness activities. Any technologysolution needs to offer a way to increasecapacity or add capability withoutwholesale new IT infrastructure, expensivetraining, or lots of additional costs.

In the cloud context, any such offeringhas to include an infrastructure and a net-work platform which offers fault-tolerant ITservices accessible at any time from anylocation. Other things you should look forinclude security, integration, customisation,and bread-and-butter services such asonline data backup, 24x7 networkmonitoring and support, complete disasterrecovery, detailed reporting, accountmanagement, and guaranteed SLAs.

Cloud is only a useful idea if it denotesthe kind of bespoke, practical computingservices that you are already familiarwith. It should be delivered by a supplierwith technical competence who seesitself as your partner, happy to adapt toyour needs, and who has no ‘religious’commitment to ‘the cloud,’ but sees it asanother tool in its toolbox. And thatsupplier has to be honest enough to curbyour cloud enthusiasm if it’s not what youneed in your business right now.

VIEW FROM THE TOPPaul Cook, Head of sales and marketing, Oncore IT

Getting cloud right means choosingthe right partner for your needs

The Piano Bar Terrace at Kempinski’s Lake Geneva hotel. Despite its remote location, the hotel now shares a cloud infrastructure with more than 70 five-star hotels in 31 countries around the world. © 2012 KEMPINSKI

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A ccording to MI5, Britain faces an�“industrial scale�” threat to theintegrity and confidentiality of its

knowhow, critical infrastructures, andcompetitive position from state-sponsoredand criminal cyber gangs. For example,attacks on UK companies have alreadycost one listed London firm £800m, andMI5 is investigating �“cyber compromises�”in more than a dozen other firms.

Through the Centre for the Protectionof National Infrastructure (CPNI), theintelligence service is working withorganisations that are considered to be of high economic value and are potentialtargets of hostile state cyber activity.

The government�’s latest assessmentsays cybercrime is one of the four mainthreats to national security. MI5 headJonathan Evans is clearly concerned aboutthe dangers that hackers and malwarewriters such as the Stuxnet and Flameauthors present. However, he says allcompanies face these risks, and that the cost of a breach will increase as the

�‘internet of things�’ becomes a reality.This is not the first time Evans has

spoken of the threat posed by cybercrime.By giving the graphic example above, heis clearly trying to inject some urgencyinto a complacent or distracted managerialclass. After all, a more immediate threat toa business may be the unwillingness of itsbank to lend it the working capital it needsto meet payrolls, settle bills, or even toexpand into new markets.

Network managers have little or noresponsibility for such generic businessrisks. What they are responsible for iskeeping the company�’s systems on and itsdata safe. Several recent incidents showthis may not be easy �– just ask BlackBerrymaker Research in Motion, Nationwide,O2, and Royal Bank of Scotland (whichowns NatWest and Ulster Bank), all ofwhich have suffered embarrassing andcostly IT system failures in recent months.Such firms are big, sophisticated users.They would have had, and practiced,disaster recovery plans. It may be that the

plans worked and minimised the damage.Or it may be that the respective combina-tion of factors overwhelmed the ability ofthe risk assessors to conceive and quantifythe risks posed. Or perhaps they hadconsidered the odds too long to spend timeand money on mitigating it. Not any more.

Disaster strikes! Nowwhat?What do you do after disaster strikes andyou have to recover your data from brokenor corrupted media? Phil Bridge, MD ofdata recovery expert Kroll Ontrack UK,says data recovery is beset by myths.

The first is that price equals value.Bridge warns that extra costs may behidden or excluded in a low quotation.Worse, a ham-handed effort may makedata permanently irrecoverable.

He says you should be able to get a freeconsultation with access to an actual datarecovery engineer. �“Ask them to give you

a list of all recoverable files before youbuy, and get a price in writing based onhow difficult the recovery is, what filescan be recovered, and if spare parts areneeded. Clean room work and sparesshould not be part of the final bill unlessyou�’ve agreed it upfront. And there shouldbe a post-recovery process to migrate yourdata back into the organisation.�”

Bridge adds that few IT shops have thein-house skills, equipment, processes orexperience to perform serious datarecovery. Bringing in the experts may bethe quickest and safest option.

Data can be recovered from almost everysystem, including losses due to logicalerrors, and even when it is encrypted. Butyou may have only one shot at it. AndBridge also points out that data protectionrules still govern �“lost data�”. He recom-mends using data recovery specialists thathold SAS 70 Type II certification with aclean room that should be a secure ISO-5/Class 100 environment, ideally cleared tohandle very sensitive data. �“It is essential

BC & DR

Recent systems failures reveal just how fragile and vulnerable corporate IT systemsare. The bad news is that they are likely to get worse. IAN GRANT finds out how toavoid network disasters and keep businesses up and running.


Systems failures and data loss can be gut-renching, especially ifyou fail to prepare for them. And while it doesn’t take a geniusto plan for the worst, you’d be a dummy not to.

10

register online @ www.networkingplus.co.uk to receive your free monthly copy

Most firms don�’t develop a businesscontinuity plan until they�’ve had torecover from an IT disaster. Then they arelikely to waste money on needless stuff.So how do the professionals do it?

Tim Cox, technical services director forcloud-based managed services firmControlCircle, says the first thing he looksat is the impact on the company�’sbusiness. �“If my NOC [network opera-tions centre] goes down, I don�’t have abusiness. In a disaster the key things areto keep providing services to customers sothat you don�’t lose them, to keep the cashcoming in, and to pay the staff on time.Then people have to be able to speak toeach other, so the phone system is the

second priority. Everything else, includingemail, comes third,�” he says.

That analysis led to a decision toduplicate almost everything in theControlCircle data centres down to powersupplies and controllers, and to use anautomated failover management systemfed by real-time sensors.

Next was to protect the invoicing andaccounts receivable systems, and thepayroll. Some key suppliers can be paidmanually so that continuity essentialssuch as the electricity and networkaren�’t cut-off.

Cox believes the network manager�’sjob is to inject �“realism�” into the overallbusiness continuity plan by insisting thatsenior managers know the cost-benefittrade-offs, and that the plan emergesorganically from their judgment and

decisions. �“Taking backups is fine andeveryone should do it, but after a disasteryou may have to recover the data �– andthat�’s a different conversation. What datahas priority? How fast do you need it?Where must it be? The answers all havecost implications and management mustmake conscious decisions about each.�”

That�’s before they get into a data recy-cling policy. Cox admits that most CIOs,including himself, don�’t have a companypolicy in operation, despite encourage-ment from regulators. �“Frankly, I don�’thave time to do the data analysis that willtell me what items to keep, for how long,and how to destroy it,�” he says. The resultis data bloat, extra storage costs, andpossible confusion around version controlwhen the data are restored.

Adding cloud services to the equation

changes the risk profile. The two mainrisks are connectivity and storage, saysCox. Solving the first means you can getto your data, and the second enables youto recover them. �“Knowing exactly howyour cloud provider�’s estate is built is keyto recovering your data in an emergency �–and it�’s the biggest single question youcan ask.�” !

Tim Cox, technical servicesdirector of ControlCircle, believesthe network manager’s job is

to inject realism into thebusiness continuity plan

Failing to plan...

Pic: © BM

W

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that the chosen recovery provider canrecover encrypted data and return it in anencrypted form,�” he advises.

Hardware problems are the most common form of IT disaster, and despitewell-proven backup regimes, 75 per centof European organisations believe theymight not recover fully from a disaster.EMC surveyed 1,750 firms across thecontinent and found that 54 per cent lostdata or suffered system downtime in thepast 12 months. The biggest economicimpact is on staff productivity, with anaverage of two lost days per incident.Some 28 per cent lost money directly fromIT disasters, said the research.

According to the survey, the three mostcommon causes of data loss and downtimeare hardware failure (61 per cent), powerfailure (42 per cent), and data corruption(35 per cent). Natural causes contributed

only seven per cent of systems downtime ordata loss, and insiders only eight per cent.

Worryingly, EMC also found that firmsoften wait until a disaster before beefing-up their plans. Regardless of the cause, 44per cent of organisations reviewed andchanged their procedures in response to an incident, and 27 per cent spent more on backup and recovery after a disaster.

In addition, the survey said that 40 percent of companies still use tape, whichcosts on average £74,000 a year totransport, store, test, and replace. One in10 firms asked an employee to storecompany backup tapes at home.

Insider threatThe primary aim of a business continuityplan is to ensure that the business cancontinue to operate as a going concern in

the event of an outage. A disaster recoveryplan aims to get the business up andrunning again as soon as possible after an incident. Each requires tailoring to theunique circumstances of the business andrisk appetites of the directors. As onesource says (only half-jokingly), �“not alldisasters are IT, but adding IT can screw it up really quickly�”.

Perhaps the biggest threat companiesface is the range of choices they have.Unless the business objectives andpriorities are crystal clear, and topmanagement are disciplined in enforcingcorrect behaviours, things can quicklyget too complicated to control.

Cyber-Ark, which protects passwordsfor privileged staff such as network admin-istrators, says all equipment ships withdefault passwords that allow suppliers anddevelopers as well as staff full access to

code and control systems. In a large organ-isation these can run to hundreds of thou-sands of such passwords. Anyone gainingaccess to �“super user�” privileges via thesepasswords can potentially run riot in a firm�’s IT systems. Cyber-Ark founderand CEO Udi Mokady says: �“Thesituation is exacerbated by the amount ofoutsourcing and managed services thatcompanies are using now.�”

Protecting privileged passwords helpswith the insider threat. Systems, files andrecords can and should be locked againstcasual or accidental intrusions from theinside, and the systems themselves willusually set up an audit trail. Chief securityofficers and network managers can alsouse log management systems to trackincidents in both finer and morecomprehensive detail.

Mokady says that although the insiderthreat is real and very often the mostdamaging if it occurs, the external threatis pervasive, on-going, increasinglysophisticated and targeted at identifiedstaff members. An attack aimed at highvalue staff �– an event known as�‘whalephishing�’ �– very often exploitssocial behaviour to compromise firstlythe individual, through blackmail orbribery, and then the company.

Education about the threat posed bywhalephishing is the best deterrent, butcompanies should also protect themselvesin depth. Some of the CPNI�’s manyrecommendations are: using firewalls;keeping anti-virus software up to date;setting parameters on normal traffic flowsand act on exceptional traffic on public-facing network ports; creating �‘air gaps�’between sensitive internal systems(including factory control systems) andpublic access networks; limiting dataaccess on a �‘need to know�’ basis; using acredentialed access control systemalongside an intrusion detection system;using VPNs for remote access; prohibitingusers from storing data locally (or encryptit before it leaves the firewall; andcrucially, acting on the information theexception reports provide.

Data loss costsAccording to data recovery specialistEVault, data losses cost UK businessesan estimated £300m last year. It recentlyconducted a survey of 250 UK ITmanagers which revealed that six percent do not have a backup strategy.

EVault�’s EMEA marketing directorAad Dekkers says: �“This is startlinggiven that a third of businesses surveyed,which typically manage two to seventerabytes of data, suffered a data loss inthe past year. The results show that in2011 alone, data loss cost businesses onaverage 3.53 per cent of revenue.�”

The situation appears even worse in thehealth sector, where pressure for electronicpatient records is rising. In June, a Sussexhealth trust received a record £325,000fine from the Information Commissioner�’sOffice after used disk drives containingconfidential patient data which werescheduled for destruction were insteadsold on eBay . A recent study by medicaldata management specialist BridgeHeadSoftware found that two-thirds of respondents in a global survey of healthsector IT managers said their datavolumes had increased, but only a quarterhad �“robust, tried-and-tested�” disasterrecovery plans in place. Disaster recoverywas respondents�’ top IT investmentpriority for the second year in a row.

Neil MacGowan, technical directorfor predictive analytics softwarespecialist Netuitive, says companies are

BC & DR

12nn ee tt ww oo rr kk ii nngg july/august 2012



now having to tackle data volumes andsystem complexities that have grown farbeyond the capabilities of the softwaretools that are commonly used to capture,manage and analyse them. �“As businessescontinue to deploy more agents to monitorreal-time performance at business,application and infrastructure levels,they�’re confronted with a deluge of datathat is becoming impossible to correlateand interpret,�” he says. �“One of our ownenterprise customers recently reportedthat it monitored and correlated a billioninfrastructure and application data pointsand business metrics daily. Not everycompany faces that, but I do speakregularly to businesses that predict 10-foldincreases in their data within three years.�”

MacGowan goes on to warn that ITmanagers just can�’t keep mission-criticalapplications and services running withconventional dashboards and tools thatonly alert them to problems onceperformance is already falling apart.

The PlanHow do you therefore develop a bullet-proof business continuity and disasterrecovery policy? Probably the greatestthreat to such a plan is the growingcomplexity of networking and IT.Outsourcing, managed services, BYOD(bring your own device), and cloudcomputing all add to a firm�’s options forprocessing information. But they alsoraise the complexity of doing so. So thefirst priority is to make visible thiscomplexity and the dependencies.

ITC Global Security has just launcheda cloud-based modular and scalablenetwork performance management toolcalled NetSure360°. It offers real-timeassessment of thousands of devices,dozens of outsourced service providers,and multiple network and securitysystems to simplify management andmonitoring. CEO Tom Millar explainsthat the tool�’s dashboards provideadministrators and management with aclearer and more effective overview ofthe network and the threats facing it.�“By allowing IT management to reactinstantly to changes in the network theycan guarantee the performance, securityand reliability of mission criticalapplications across the entire enterprise.�”

IT services specialist SovereignBusiness Integration says firms have togive priority to the IT systems that arecrucial to productivity. These could beemail and internet access, access to thefinancial systems, or data storage andretrieval, depending on the business.�“A business continuity and disasterrecovery plan is not merely mirroringthe entire current system,�” says itsCEO Richard Barker. �“Prioritising thespecific IT systems critical to businessproductivity, and understanding howfast you need to get them running againis the basis for an effective plan.�”

EVault�’s Dekkers adds that firms cansave money by prioritising their systemsand data, adding that �“prevention ismore cost effective than cure�”. Firmsneed to step back to evaluate which dataare most important, be realistic aboutrecovery point and recovery timeobjectives, and formulate a backupstrategy that reflects the priorities.

Network managers have a wide choiceof media and locations in which to storedata and backups. Tape, while cheap andreliable, is less cost-effective against diskstorage. �“One of our customers saved over5,000 man-hours per year by switching todisk,�” says Dekkers. He adds that at leastone tape collection firm he knew of said

tape collection was classed as �‘non-essential�’ while the Olympics were on.

Dekkers believes the steady erosion of cost per gigabyte of disk storage andnetwork bandwidth costs has beencrucial to the use of disk. His view isthat remote disk backup via NAS is noweconomically viable for most businesses.

Marcie Terman, business developmentdirector at recovery and continuityspecialist DataFort, says firms shouldunderstand the difference betweenreplication and archiving. �“Replication

does provide excellent protection for mostthreats that target the organisation�’sprimary location. But replication is notselective; it not only mirrors data andsystems. It also replicates any maliciousdamage, deletions, or changes that ahacker makes to the network.�”

Terman also notes that actual incidentswill probably affect several systems atonce, so testing one in isolation will notoffer an accurate measure of overallperformance or recovery speed. �“As manyhave discovered, making testing realisticis as much of a challenge as getting topexecs to set aside time and resources tomake the tests in the first place,�” she says.

As South African golfer Gary Playerused to say, the harder he practiced, theluckier he got. The middle of a disasteris not the time to find out how luckyyou really are. !

BC & DRregister online @ www.networkingplus.co.uk to receive your free monthly copy


“Prioritising IT systems andunderstanding how fast youneed to get them runningagain is the basis for aneffective plan.”Richard Barker, CEO, Sovereign Business Integration



14

network knowledge

IT employment over the next eight years is forecast to grow at almost twice thenational average, according to e-skills UK.

In its latest Technology Insights researchreport, the skills council for business andIT says that a record 129,000 new recruitsa year are needed to fill IT and telecomsposts in the UK. It found that the biggestlevels of employment growth are in highskill areas like software professionals,

ICT managers, and IT strategy andplanning professionals.

The report says that the number of adver-tised vacancies has also recovered dramati-cally from a low point of 82,000 per quarterin 2009 to more than 116,000 per quarter in2011. Development, design and support roles

are those most advertised, and the mostcommon technical skills requirementsare SQL, C, C#, .NET and Java.

�“With IT employment set to grow atsuch a pace, it is vital that we continue toinvest in the skills of those working intechnology, and create new routes foryoung people to enter exciting andchallenging careers in the industry,�” sayse-skills UK CEO Karen Price.

Warning of skills gap asGovernment proposesnew ICT curriculumThe Department of Education announcedlast month that it will scrap the currentprogrammes of ICT study in schools fromSeptember 2012. Ministers confirmedthat the subject will remain compulsory

for all pupils, but those schools wishingto deliver more demanding IT provisionshould now have the freedom to do so.

The move has been broadly welcomedby the industry. Stephen Ball, Hitachi DataSystems�’ regional VP for UK and Ireland,believes a more innovative approach to teaching IT has long been needed as education standards in this area,compared to others, have stalled.

�“The current curriculum, which revolvesaround Microsoft Office, has done more toteach people basic office skills than it hasto encourage a career in technology,�” hesays. �“For one of the most exciting globalindustries (which is growing and in need oftalented youngsters) we should all be aimingto do much more than teach the basics.�”

The Government has said it will alsoconsider the implications for teachertraining in the subject. It will now workin partnership with industry experts, ITorganisations, and the teaching professionto develop new statutory programmes ofstudy for September 2014.

However, Ball warns that this will leavea big gap: �“What will schools do until it isintroduced? Will those currently in schoolbe failed by our government in terms ofICT? The absence of any formal trainingwill certainly prompt a skills gap.�”

NEW COURSESOnline Training Assessment Centre �–Society of Broadband ProfessionalsSCTE, The Society for Broadband Profes-sionals, has launched a new online trainingassessment centre to enable its membershipof engineers to complete their trainingmore rapidly and to further their careerswith fully accredited SCTE qualifications.

SCTE offers a range of professionaldevelopment options, from comprehensivetraining courses (installation technicians,service technicians, and network techni-cians) and individual course books (homestudy or instructor-led). www.thescte.eu

Understanding Telecommunications �–Providers of Telecoms TrainingProviders of Telecommunications Training(PTT) reckons its Level 3 Award in Under-standing Telecommunications is unique inproviding a telecoms qualification withoutthe need to attend a training centre.

The programme is designed for thosejoining the sector with a technical role, andis endorsed by nationally accreditedqualification awarding body, EDI. Itconsists of a combination of interactivecourses, tutor support, and assessment alldelivered online. PTT says it provides acore element studied by everyone and achoice of one of three specialisations:mobile communications, telephony, anddata communications. Successful studentsare awarded a certificate by EDI.www.telecomsqualification.com

Win a two-day training programme �– Informa Telecoms AcademyThe Informa Telecoms Academy isoffering readers the chance to wintraining programmes worth �€1,475.

The academy�’s Faculty of Technologyand Engineering courses are designed todevelop knowledge and competencies forengineers and technical managers,through to non-technical audiences. Itoffers variety of subjects such as:Telecoms Foundation Programmes; LTE;WiMAX Forum Certified Training Series;2G and 3G Mobile Applications, Content,Media and Service Control; IP in Telecoms;and Engineering Boot Campswww.telecomsacademy.com


e-skills studyshows demandfor IT staff is ata record high

e-skills CEOKaren Pricesays that theresearch showshow importantICT is to UKcompetitivenessand economicgrowth.

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2. Harting now has three models in itsFast Track Switching range of Ethernet-based switches aimed at industrialautomation applications.

The configurable unmanaged FTS3100s-A optimally combines fast trackswitching functionality with extremelysimple operation, according to the vendor.It says that the switch can be set up with a free software tool which allows thespeed, duplex settings and mirroring to be defined per port. The existingPROFINET, Ethernet/IP and Modbus/TCP profiles can also be selected. It�’s claimed that the FTS3100s-A recognises theseautomation profiles andaccelerates them in cut-through mode, allowingthem to overtake non-automation protocols.

Two versions of theswitches are available: onewith ten ports executed asRJ45, and one with eightRJ45 ports and two SFPslots for sliding into SFPmodules in order to connect

optical cables. Harting says that eachdevice features the PROFINET I/O stackand LLDP so that it can also be plannedas PROFINET Conformance Class Bdevices using Step7 software. All other switch functionalities can be set up in parallel via the web.

In addition, Ethernet/IP applications areoptimally supported with IGMP snoopingand DHCP Option 82. The FTS switchesalso support functions such as VLANs,RSTP for redundant topologies, 802.1x asa security mechanism, and all commonmanagement functions.

On a switch hunt?off-the-shelf: switches

With PoE+ capability and IPv6 compatibility, some of the latestnetwork switches offer great versatility and flexibility


register online @ www.networkingplus.co.uk to receive your free monthly copy off-the-shelf

5. Organisations requiring intelligence at thenetwork edge could check outNetgear�’s 12-and 24-port ProSafe Gigabit L2+ managedswitches which feature PoE+ connectivity.

The range includes four models �– theGSM5212P, GSM7212F, GSM7212P andGSM7224P. Netgear says they can be usedto power mobility, VoIP, and surveillanceby attaching wireless access points, IPtelephony equipment, and IP video cameras.

The vendor reckons it has come upwith a number of industry firsts with its ProSafe range. For example, theGSM7212F (pictured) is said to be thefirst distribution switch with 12-port fibreand PoE+ capability.

It also reckons that with pricesstarting at under $1,000, the range

includes the world�’s most affordable 12-port gigabit Ethernet switch with PoE pass-through capability (the GSM5212P).

In addition, Netgear claims the ProSafesfeature the first selectable mini-USBconsole interface which it says is a built-inalternative to legacy serial ports and cables.

Other features include: automatic IPphonerecognition and VLANs with QoS configu-ration via LLDP-MED; optimised real-timevideo streaming support through IGMPfiltering, querier and multicast VLANregistration; Layer 2+ support (including16K MAC and 64 routing interfaces); andsupport for SNMP management software.

1. Brocade has made what it describes as�“significant�” software advancements toits ServerIron ADX Series of cloud-optimised application delivery switches.ADX v12.4 now includes the OpenScriptengine which is said to be an openplatform for innovation, with the abilityto intelligently predict the effect of ascript on the network.

Built on PERL, OpenScript offers theprogramming framework for networkoperators to develop customisedtraffic management capabilities.Brocade reckons its OpenScriptPerformance Estimator providesthe unique ability to estimatethe performance impact ofcustom scripts beforeimplementing them in liveproduction environments.

The firm adds that v12.4doubles the IPv6 performanceof previous ADX switchesand delivers consistentservices across IPv4 and IPv6.

The switches are also said to enable a�“seamless transition�” to IPv6 whilepreserving IPv4 assets through standards-based IPv4-to-IPv6 translation technology.

Coupled with its Application ResourceBroker 2.0, Brocade also claims that ADXsimplifies the management of applicationresources within globally distributed datacentres by automating on-demandresource provisioning of VMs withinheterogeneous virtual environments.

4. The EX8200 is line-up of modularEthernet switches from Juniper Networks.The range is said to offer a high-performance, highly available platform foruse in high-density 10GbE data centres,campus aggregations, and core networks.

The switches are available with twochassis options: the EX8208 and EX8216.Each Ethernet solution offers support forfuture scalability to 6.2Tbps, providing abuilt-in migration path to 100GbEdeployments. They also support the firm�’sVirtual Chassis technology which enablesup to eight interconnected switches tooperate as a single, logical device.

Juniper says the EX8208 (right) has eightdedicated slots in a 14 rack-unit chassis,delivering up to 320Gbps per slot and wire-rate forwarding performance of 960 millionpackets per second for packets of any size.

The EX8216 includes 16 dedicated line-card slots in a 21 rack chassis and featuresa switch fabric that delivers 1.92billionpackets per second forwarding.

Both switches use the same line cards,which offer a variety of 10/100/1000BASE-T,100BASE-FX/1000BASE-X and 10GbEinterfaces. Fully config-ured, Juniper saysa single EX8208can support384GbE or 6410GbE ports atwire speed, or 32010GbE ports inshared bandwidthapplications. Afully configuredEX8216 can supporttwice that number.

3. Huawei has unveiled a new line-up ofenterprise class switches which include theS7700 Series. They�’re based on the company�’s multi-layer switchingtechnology which is designed to providewhat�’s claimed to be �“intelligent�” serviceoptimisation methods such as MPLS VPN,traffic analysis, comprehensive QoSpolicies, controllable multicast, loadbalancing, and security, in addition to high-performance Layer 2 to Layer 4switching services.

The S7700 switches havebeen designed to functioneither as an aggregation or corenode on a campus network, orin a data centre toprovide integratedwireless access.Huawei says theyalso offer voice,video, and dataserviceswhich can

help enterprises build an integrated cost-effective end-to-end network.

The line-up is based on a new hardwareplatform which, according to the firm,adopts a left-to-rear ventilation channel toachieve better energy efficiency. It says thatkey components work in redundancy modeto minimise risks of system breakdown andservice interruption. Huawei claims that byusing innovative energy-saving chips, the

S7700 provides a superiorsolution for a sustainable energy-saving network.

There are three models in the range: the S7703, S7706, and S7712. The S7703 offers aswitching capacity of 720Gbps,while the other two each offer

2Tbps. The firm addsthat the switching

capacity and portdensity of all three

is expand-able.

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