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Shifting up a gear:Solving Peugeot’s hosting issues

Public cloud risk:Clear and present danger?

Cloud-based CRM:Conveying the right message

The hosted desktop:Freed up for flexible workingCrypto management:

Is your data at risk?

Disks for the data centre:Hitting the hard drive ‘sweet spot’

CloudhostingCloudhostingApril/May 2015 l www.cloudhostingmagazine.co.uk l £8.50 Where Sold

INDUSTRY NEWS - USER STORIES - OPINIONS - INTERVIEWS - ANALYSIS

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Contents

CONTENTS

Cloudhosting4

Not just a website.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10..This is an M&S website. When the retailer's primetime holiday TV ad campaign encour-aged people to visit a dedicated site, it was vital that it could cope with the spike in traffic

Clear and present danger.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Despite one third of UK firms banning public cloud from the workplace, its use appears'endemic, unmanaged and unstoppable' according to a new survey

According to Telstra's Martin Bishop, with consumers more in control of theirpurchasing power than ever before, a flexible and scalable cloud infrastructure hasbecome increasingly critical to an organisations' success or failure

Shifting up a gear.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Priming your cloud for success.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Car manufacturer Peugeot were facing a hosting crisis until they got talking to Claranet,who not only addressed their immediate issues but also worked with them to develop atechnical framework for the future

Editor’s comment.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3News..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

New 'green' data centre from RackspaceNew cloud accreditation from CompTIA

News Analysis: BT...................................................................8BT is aiming to be the world's 'cloud services integrator of choice'

Hitting the hard drive 'sweet spot'.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12As the data centre evolves, so must the disk drives that populate it

Freed up for flexible working... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16A hosted desktop solution has meant the freedom to work flexibly forChase Solutions', combined with secure and manageable IT systems

Under lock and key............................................................20For businesses worried about data security in the cloud, encryption ispart of the answer - but without crypto management data is still at risk

Playing to win.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22UK toy retailer The Entertainer is using managed cloud services fromRackspace to better manage large traffic spikes and launch new services

Flexibility is the key..........................................................24Martin Warren, Cloud Solutions Marketing Manager at NetAppargues that a hybrid cloud approach offers the ideal solution forenterprises looking for agility, flexibility and cost effectiveness

Product Review......................................................................26Backup Everything

Conveying the right message.............................28Managed global growth was strategically important for conveyorbelt manufacturer Ammeraal Beltech, and a cloud-based CRMsolution has proven core to their successful expansion

Escaping the 'print trap'...............................................30KYOCERA Document Solutions' Cloud Evangelist, Eddie Ginja,analyses the business benefits of the latest addition to the growingportfolio of cloud services: managed cloud printing

Guarding the valuables..................................................34Mark Edge, UK Country Manager & VP Sales at Brainloop saysthat a new approach to IT security is needed: one that guardsdata within a protected infrastructure

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It seems like barely an issue of Cloud Hosting magazine goes to print without at least onenews story based on research along the lines of 'Cloud takeup still delayed by securityfears' or similar. It seems to have become almost a regular feature of our e-newsletters

too, as vendors, analysts and industry bodies repeatedly warn us that cloud just isn'tworking out the way we all hoped it might.

Imagine my surprise then on reading the news release from Tata Communications (seeour news pages) that proudly trumpets the opposite story, for what I think must be the firsttime in my tenure as Editor. The company surveyed 1,000 IT leaders in organisations of500-plus people on attitudes to the cloud. The research found that 85% of respondents said'cloud had lived up to the hype', while 23% said that it had exceeded expectations. Thisgroundswell of positive opinion has been contributed to by enterprises experiencingtangible benefits when using cloud services - with 83% feeling they have experiencedbenefits they did not expect to see. The most popular of these benefits cited byrespondents were: increased productivity (69%), better access to data (65%), andreductions in costs (63%).

The findings also suggest that in ten years time off-premises storage will have overtakenon-premises alternatives, with enterprises forecast on average to have 58% of theircompute and data storage held in the cloud by 2024 compared with 28% currently.

Furthermore, the Tata research suggests that enterprises are realising competitiveadvantages from cloud deployments. Nearly two thirds (65%) of respondents said using thecloud had led to increased speed of access to technology. In terms of streamliningbusiness processes, over two thirds claim to have experienced reduced delivery times toclients and partners, while 54% have seen the delivery time of new services to new marketsand/or geographies reduced.

All of which adds up to a long-overdue pat on the back for the cloud sector, of course. Butvendors shouldn't take this rare instance of positive PR about cloud as a signal to sit backand rest on their laurels. When our inbox is receiving more 'good' than 'bad' research storiesabout cloud, then we can believe that the industry has genuinely turned a corner and isabout to begin the global domination of IT that has been predicted for so long.

David [email protected]

From the Editor

3Cloudhosting

COMMENT

EDITOR: David Tyler([email protected])

NEWS EDITOR: Mark Lyward([email protected])

PRODUCTION MANAGER: Abby Penn([email protected])

DESIGN: Ian Collis([email protected])

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR: Josh Boulton([email protected])

MANAGING DIRECTOR: John Jageurs([email protected])

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Articles published reflect the opinions of theauthors and are not necessarily those of thepublisher or of JBJ employees. While everyreasonable effort is made to ensure that thecontents of articles, editorial and advertisingare accurate no responsibility can be accept-ed by the publisher or JBJ for errors, misrep-resentations or any resulting effects.

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Associations we work with include the following:[email protected] 8358 6668

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NEWS

Cloudhosting6

Research conducted by TataCommunications, has found that

organisations with 500+ employees areseeing tangible benefits from cloudcomputing. 85% say cloud had lived upto industry hype, with 23% declaringthat cloud had exceeded their expecta-tions. According to the global survey,this groundswell of positive opinion hasbeen contributed to by enterprisesexperiencing tangible benefits whenusing cloud services - with 83% ofenterprises feeling they have experi-enced benefits they did not expect tosee. The most popular of these benefitscited by respondents were: increasedproductivity (69%), better access to data(65%), and reductions in costs (63%).

The findings also showed that by 2024off-premises storage will have overtakenon-premises alternatives, with enterpris-es forecast on average to have 58% oftheir compute and data storage held inthe cloud in ten years' time comparedwith 28% currently.

When asked how much of their IT pro-vision would be stored in private cloudspecifically by 2024, respondents pre-dicted an average of 52% - highlightingthe dominance of private cloud storage.However, 94% of respondents say theywould be more likely to adopt a hybridcloud computing model if connectionswith the public cloud were more pre-dictable.

Furthermore, the research suggeststhat enterprises are realising competitiveadvantages from cloud deployments.Nearly two thirds (65%) of respondentssaid using the cloud had led toincreased speed of access to technolo-gy. In terms of streamlining businessprocesses, over two thirds (67%) haveexperienced reduced delivery times toclients and partners. 54% have seen thedelivery time of new services to newmarkets and / or geographies reduced.www.tatacommunications.com/cloud

A SUNNIER OUTLOOK

Connected Data has launchedTransporter for Business in the UK, a

cloud storage platform that combinespublic cloud services with the privacy andsecurity of traditional network-attachedstorage. With prices starting from £2,000,Transporter for Business enables organi-sations to keep cloud data on-site withouthaving to pay recurring monthly fees,manage storage capacity limits or replacelegacy storage systems.

Available in a variety of configurationsranging from 8TB to 24TB, it delivers afast and secure private cloud experiencethrough intuitive hardware that is fullycontrolled by the end user.

Transporter for Business enables up to150 users per device to create and sharecompany files with an unlimited numberof colleagues, with complete privacy. Allproducts in the Transporter family workseamlessly together, enabling businessesto add new Transporters to an existingnetwork when additional storage or usercapacity is needed.

"As an on-premise offering with privatecloud capabilities, Connected Data'sTransporter for Business mixes the best

features of public cloud, such as ubiqui-tous access and sharing, with key bene-fits of on-premise offerings including pri-vacy, redundancy, and one-time pricing,"said Jingwen Li, research analyst, storagegroup, IDC. "These features will be attrac-tive to companies that refrain from publiccloud because of data security concernsas well as companies whose on-premisestorage lacks the data access or syncand share feasibility."

Key Transporter features include:• "Anytime, anywhere" file access andsharing• Total control over location and redun-dancy of data• Elimination of privacy concerns linkedto public cloud storage• Automatic syncing data betweenTransporter systems• Integration with Microsoft ActiveDirectory • Versioning, auditing and read-only con-trols included• Provision up to 24TB of cloud accessi-ble storage per Transporter unit• No monthly or per user fees.www.connecteddata.com

KEEP THE CLOUD CLOSE WITH TRANSPORTER

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7Cloudhosting

NEWS

Rackspace, along with data centre andcolocation provider Digital Realty Trust,

has unveiled its new UK data centre basedin Crawley, West Sussex, the 130,000square foot data centre will help meet thegrowing demand for managed cloud servic-es in the UK and Europe. Delivering PowerUsage Effectiveness of 1.15 compared tothe average data centre today rating of 1.7,and with a design BREEAM assessmentcertification of 'Excellent', it is one of theUK's greenest data centres and the first touse 'indirect outside air' cooling technologyon this scale without mechanical cooling.www.rackspace.co.uk

GREEN UK DATA CENTRE

Khatib & Alami (K&A) is leveraging iland'senterprise cloud and disaster recovery

services as the IT backbone that runs andprotects its mission critical applications. Thetop 100 international design firm first turnedto iland to help deliver business continuityacross its private cloud and then again asthe company faced rapid growth thatrequired the scalability and efficiency ofpublic cloud.

Originally established in 1964 as an archi-tecture consultancy, K&A has grown toattain international status with operations inthe Middle East, Africa, Western Europeand North America. K&A manages com-plex, high-value projects with aggressivedeadlines, making it vital for the company toguarantee the availability of its mission criti-cal systems and meet performance targets.

The IT team initially made the move to aprivate cloud hosted in an iland data centreas part of its strategy to consolidate the ITenvironments that supported its numerousglobal offices. During that transition, thecompany also experimented with publiccloud by implementing iland's Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service to support businesscontinuity should anything happen to its pri-vate cloud. "We requested proposals frommultiple providers, but the solution that iland

presented seemed more logical for ourbusiness and a much better fit for us thanthe others," said Mohamed Saad, corporateIT manager at Khatib & Alami.

After several years, the company's growthbegan to outpace the efficiency and scala-bility capabilities of its private cloud. K&A'sIT team found themselves spending exorbi-tant budgetary and personnel resourcespurchasing, deploying and maintaininghardware to support its infrastructure. K&Amigrated its production global IT operationsto iland's public Enterprise Cloud Servicesin London and implemented a solid disasterrecovery plan with failover to iland'sManchester cloud data centre.

"All of the maintenance and managementheadaches and the fact we needed rapidscalability helped us come to the decisionthat having our own private cloud infrastruc-ture was just too much of a hassle," saidSaad. "What's more, iland's public cloudwas considerably more economical thanusing our own equipment. We're gettingclose to 35-40% cost savings with iland'scloud. iland now hosts all of our missioncritical applications, allowing us to focus ourIT efforts on activities that drive our busi-ness forward."www.iland.com

TOP 100 NTERNATIONAL DESIGN FIRM SE;LECTS ILAND CLOUD

FortyCloud has announced a partnershipwith IBM that brings the power of its

network Security-as-a-Service to the IBMCloud marketplace. IBM's clients can nowuse FortyCloud's software to benefit from avariety of security services including firewall,VPN, encryption, monitoring and auditingas a Cloud Service. The IBM Cloud market-place offers clients access to more than100 SaaS applications, IBM's Bluemix plat-form-as-a-service with its suite of compos-able services, the powerful SoftLayer infra-structure-as-a-service and IBM's rich intel-lectual capital and deep industry expertise.This single online destination with a suite of

cloud services delivers a new buying expe-rience for clients that enables line of busi-ness professionals to deploy new servicesfaster; allows developers to build them withgreater speed; and offers IT departmentsmore creative, efficient and lower-cost waysto deliver these services.

"Concern about security is often the mainsticking point when moving to the cloud,"said Amit Cohen, Co-Founder and CEO ofFortyCloud. "By partnering with IBM Cloud,we're accelerating the ability for their cus-tomers to enter and expand their cloudpresence, securely."www.fortycloud.com

FORTYCLOUD AVAILABLE IN IBM CLOUD MARKETPLACE

CompTIA has announced the IT indus-try's first formal accreditation for cloud-

focused IT vendors and distributors. Thenew CompTIA Cloud Trustmark+ is a busi-ness-level credential designed to accreditand differentiate the IT channel's best-prac-tice cloud vendors and distributors.

"For decades the IT industry has beenfocused on the business credentials of thechannel partner - from general testing,authorisations and certifications to morerecently performance and business valua-tions," says Neal Bradbury, VP of ChannelDevelopment, Intronis and member of theCompTIA Cloud Trustmark+ SteeringCommittee. "It's great to see the spotlightturned on the vendor and distributor com-munity - especially as it relates to cloud -and allow those of us who continue toinvest in R&D, partner enablement and sup-port services to more clearly differentiateour value proposition and business creden-tials by earning the vendor Cloud Trustmarkfrom CompTIA."

Businesses that earn the CloudTrustmark+ will have demonstrated a com-mitment to providing IT channel partnerswith best-in-class technology, integrations,support and enablement resources. www.comptia.org

CLOUD ACCREDITATION

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BT has announced what it describes as'a new generation of cloud services' thatallow large organisations around the

world to connect easily and securely to theapplications and the data they need,independently of where they are hosted. Theywill empower customers to integrate andorchestrate the IT resources hosted on theirown private clouds as well as on BT's globalcloud platform and on the platforms of otherleading cloud providers. The new servicestake advantage of BT's global networkinfrastructure and build on BT's long standingexpertise in the delivery of enterprise-gradecloud services.

BT's 'cloud of clouds' vision builds on aroadmap for future service delivery and isunderpinned by a wide range of servicesand industry sector solutions, delivered overBT's global network infrastructure. Theservices are managed by customers througha single user-friendly service catalogue,using BT's new Cloud Management System.They include:

IT infrastructure and applications delivered"as a service" to customers across BT'sglobal network;

Seamless provision and integration ofcloud and non-cloud services;

Integration of private, public and hybridcloud services to support all the IT needsof customers;

Bringing together services in the cloudfrom BT and partners such as AWS,Cisco, Equinix, HP, Interxion, Microsoft andSalesforce;

Transition to the cloud through globalnetwork optimisation, applicationperformance acceleration andmanagement capabilities leveragingproven technology from BearingPoint,Dynatrace, Ipanema, Riverbed and others;

Apps from BT allowing the deployment ofapplications on the cloud and supporting

the development of new cloud services;

Control and security of customer data toprotect information and meet global andlocal regulations based on the BT Assureportfolio;

Accelerated transition to the cloud-enabledeconomy using BT Advise professionalservices expertise to get the benefits faster.

Luis Alvarez, CEO, BT Global Services, said:"In the future digital age, no business will besuccessful unless it makes the most of thecloud. CIOs ask for choice and flexibility,trusted security and the best know-how in theindustry to meet their business challenges.This matches perfectly with our network-centricvision of the 'cloud of clouds' and leveragesthe experience gained through the cloudecosystems we have already built for theglobal financial services and life sciencessectors. We aim to be the leading global cloudservices integrator."

Melanie Posey, Research Vice President atIDC comments: "The term 'One size fits all'does not apply to cloud services. Enterpriseswill be operating in diversified IT environmentsand consuming more and more cloud-basedservices from a range of providers. Therefore,enterprise customers need heterogeneouscloud frameworks that support a range ofsolutions tailored to different businessrequirements. They will want a provider thatcan serve as a trusted broker -- a partnercapable of integrating and managing 'multi-cloud' IT estates in a secure fashion. As such,BT with its 'cloud of clouds' vision is wellpositioned to guide enterprises into the next-generation of federated cloud IT."More info: bt.com/point-oof-vview

BT stakes its claim in cloud ITBT is aiming to be the world's 'cloud services integrator of choice' with itsnew Cloud of Clouds vision. Cloud Hosting magazine takes a closer look

NEWS ANALYSIS: BT

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DESIGN + STRATEGY

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SECURITY + RISK

Marks and Spencer (M&S) wasfounded in 1884 and is regardedas one of the UK's most popular

retailers. It has a presence in more than 50countries, employs around 82,000 people,and has 800 stores in the UK alone, in

addition to a major e-commerce business.A key objective is to turn the M&S.com siteinto its flagship store and the retailer is alsopursuing an omni-channel strategy. The ITsupport for this comes from the 80-personsoftware engineering team in the .ComDevelopment division. "We are aiming toprovide our customers with the ability topurchase products at any time, whereverthey are and using whatever device theychoose," says John Pillar, Head of SoftwareEngineering for Mobile, Labs, Retail-IT andDigital Stores at Marks and Spencer.

Like many retailers, December is the mostimportant time of year for M&S. The 2013holiday season featured a majormultichannel marketing campaign calledMagic & Sparkle, which drove consumersto the M&S website and encouraged themto vote on the name of a loveable dog whowas featured in the campaign.

Magic & Sparkle also included aprimetime TV ad campaign (including a slotin one of the UK's most viewed programs,Downton Abbey) and extensive socialmedia promotion. The campaign aimed toreach 97 percent of the UK adultpopulation over the holiday period,interacting with each person at least threetimes. "We had no idea exactly when theseinteractions would take place, so the wholesite design had to be elastic and able to

Not just a website.. .this is an M&S websiteDecember is the most important month of the year for Marks andSpencer, and its advertising campaigns are the cornerstone of its holidaystrategy. When its primetime holiday TV ad campaign encouraged people to visit a dedicated website, it was vital that it could cope with thespike in traffic

CASE STUDY: MARKS AND SPENCER


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scale to cope with the potentially hugevolumes of traffic," says Pillar. "M&S is abrand that relies on trust and if theadditional traffic had slowed the e-commerce site and made it hard forconsumers to purchase products, then thatwould have been unacceptable."

FINDING THE RIGHT PLATFORMWhen the M&S marketing director came toPillar in October and outlined the Magic &Sparkle campaign, the softwareengineering team had to move quickly. Itwas decided early in the process that acloud platform was the only way forward."The culture in my team is similar to that ofa start-up in terms of speed, agility, andinnovation, and we absolutely wanted aplatform to reflect that," says Pillar.

John's team had previously worked withMicrosoft Azure, a cloud platform thatprovides on-demand compute, storage,content delivery, and networkingcapabilities from Microsoft data centres, inother areas of the business - an e-boutiquein Amsterdam and in-store kiosks - so hewas familiar with its capabilities. "We had amatter of weeks to get the Magic & Sparklewebsite up and running, and knew thatMicrosoft Azure would provide us with thespeed, scale, and elasticity that such animportant campaign required," says Pillar."By using Azure, we could have the site upin hours if needed. If we engaged with ourinternal infrastructure team, it would takedays just to build the server, so in terms of

work hours, using Azure is invaluable."

The Microsoft Services Premier Supportteam also played a major role in bringingthe Magic & Sparkle campaign to life."Testing was critical," says Pillar. "We quicklyengaged with Microsoft Services throughthe Microsoft Services Premier Support forDevelopers program, where the teamhelped us make sure that the technologycould scale at the levels we required."

A proof-of-concept site was set up andduring testing, the volume of traffic led to abottleneck. Microsoft Services allocated asection of a data centre in Amsterdam andsupplied beta load test software to ensurethat the bottleneck was eliminated. "A lot ofpeople worked tirelessly to help us preparefor the campaign; it really was aphenomenal effort from the MicrosoftServices team," says Pillar.

GOING VIRALUsing Microsoft Azure as the platform forMagic & Sparkle really paid off for M&S. Itwas a strong cultural fit with the engineeringteam and helped ensure that the campaign(and cornerstone of the retailer's 2013holiday season) was a success. "Thebiggest endorsement of Azure is that wehave used it again for campaigns of asimilar nature - for Valentine's Day, Mother'sDay and many more holidays," says Pillar."We know that if a campaign goes viral andthe traffic goes crazy, Azure will scale towhatever levels we need."

Its decision to deploy a cloud-basedplatform meant that M&S made substantialcost savings on the infrastructure forMagic & Sparkle. There was no need toengage with its internal infrastructureteams or request that they spend valuabletime preparing M&S's own infrastructure."The full site was up and running in oneweek-if we had used internal resources,the process would have taken twomonths," says Pillar.

The engineering team particularlyappreciates the self-service and speedwhen provisioning Azure components.This makes things quicker and easierwhen building the solution, while Azurealso eliminates concerns about capacityand scale. Because they can use Azure toquickly scale campaigns as needed,engineers have more time to focus onwhat they really excel at, such as writingcode. "Campaigns like Magic & Sparkleare very resource intensive and usingAzure for short-term projects is extremelyaffordable," says Pillar. "In terms of teamproductivity, Azure provides a massiveboost for M&S."

Beyond the Magic & Sparkle campaign,M&S uses Azure elsewhere and it is a keyfactor for the retailer to achieve itsomnichannel vision. "Azure has grown withus as we have grown, and it is a perfect fitfor M&S as we look to innovate in our useof technology," says Pillar.More info: azure.microsoft.com

11www.cloudhostingmagazine.co.uk April/May 2015 Cloudhosting

CASE STUDY: MARKS AND SPENCER

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"We had a matter of weeks to get the website up and running, and knew that

Microsoft Azure would provide us with the speed, scale, and elasticity that

such an important campaign required. By using Azure, we could have the

site up in hours if needed. If we engaged with our internal infrastructure

team, it would take days just to build the server, so in terms of work hours,

using Azure is invaluable."

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For many years, we've looked at storagein the data centre in terms of "enterprise-scale." Traditional storage has been and

continues to be a great fit for enterprise-scale.Hard drive arrays are fast, dependable,capacious, and affordable. But now the toptier of service providers are exceedingenterprise-scale and transitioning intosomething even more demanding: Web-scale. Consider the level of Google, Amazon,Facebook, Microsoft, and similar globe-spanning organisations. These groups fuelmodern digital existence and are trusted withsafeguarding it.

However, with the overlapping explosions of

mobile and unstructured data, the storagechallenges of 2020 will not be the same asthose of 2010. As such, the providersgrappling with the lion's share of that storagewill face different issues and priorities thanmore mainstream enterprises. The question of"Can we store it?" now gives way to "How canwe optimally store - and scale - it?" Answersmust accommodate providers' operationaland TCO needs, changing global usagepatterns, and economics that can scale evenlywith demand.

CAPACITY STORAGE: ENTERPRISE VS.WEB-SSCALETraditionally, capacity storage has focused on7,200 RPM hard drives spinning the highestnumber of affordable terabytes (currently inthe 4 TB to 6 TB range). Reliability,performance, and cost per gigabyte all fellwithin a comfortable range for businessesneeding to grow their petabytes of lower tierstorage. Web-scale organisations, however,face new storage parameters. They need toassess metrics such as performance per wattand capacity per watt. In an era when a user'sdecade-old photo (that might not have beenviewed since just after being uploaded) muststill be accessible within seconds, is tape stillthe right fit for archiving? Are there ways totrade some performance for higher reliability?

Emerging Web-scale organisations havebeen asking WD questions like these recently.Clearly, a new range of market needs wasevolving, so WD went to the drawing boardand began to redesign the hard drive for thisemergent class of mass storage. The results

Hitting the hard drive 'sweetspot'As the data centre evolves, so must the disk drives that populate it,explains Matt Rutledge, senior vice president of storage technology, WD

TECHNOLOGY: WEB-SCALE STORAGE STRATEGIES


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will soon be seen throughout WD's Re, Se,and Ae data centre drive families. In particular,WD will be the first vendor to market with harddrives optimised for Web-scale archiving, anapplication that effectively constitutes a newstorage tier for disk.

Enterprise archiving, of course, hasconventionally relied on tape (and still oftendoes due to compliance restrictions). Theprice and capacity points were right, even ifperformance was such that it might takeminutes to hours to fulfil a file request. Manyorganisations persisted with tape simplybecause there was no better solution for thetask, although they have increasingly askedWD to come up with something. Somewanted a more feasible, sustainable approachto offering storage as a cloud service. Otherswanted a more cost-effective approach tomaintaining data - potentially for centuries -without having to "bury it in a cave."

TARGETING NEW ARCHIVINGWhen it comes to lower tier disk storage, ITgenerally examines combinations of fourfactors: performance, capacity, power, andcost. At this level, "performance" tends tomean "will reliably deliver megabytes in a fewseconds or less," not "blistering IOPS," whichappear higher in the storage stack. Capacityremains magnetic disk technology's forte. Withplatters now reaching over 1TB each, it'spossible to achieve very high capacities perdrive by stacking eight platters per unit (oreven twelve platters, as in the case of 1.6"-highdrives). WD leads the industry in volumetricdrive density.

High platter counts push up drive BOMcosts, but, coupled with high areal density,also push down cost-per-gigabyte, which iswhat Web-scale IT wants to see in a lower tierapplication. Concurrently, WD is driving downpower consumption in these drives througheverything from lower spin rates to PCBcomponent choices to highly optimisedfirmware. Again, coupled with high capacity,this results in best-in-class power-per-gigabyte results.

Enterprises have been slow to adopt topcapacity drives because higher areal densitypenalises performance while high plattercounts impact cost-per-gigabyte. In archivaldisk storage, though, slowing performance isacceptable if the counterbalancing rewardsare preferable. Consideration of thesevariables reveals a sweet spot in the marketideal for archival disk with five platters in aone inch-high format. In fact, the five-platterform factor turns out to play particularly wellacross several data centre segments withboth high- and low-intensity workloads. WDcan maximise all of the benefits Web-scaleorganisations are prioritising in their presentand future disk storage by targeting most ofits disk development resources into thissweet spot.

THE WD ACTION PLANWD's new Web-scale drive options will allowdata centres to cut costs, expand capacity,and potentially cut storage powerconsumption in half. In many cases, whentape fails to meet given application criteria,archival disk will prove to be a more desirable

solution. These new drives will ultimatelyimpact enterprises in much the same way thatflash storage did around ten years ago -starting with a trickle, but finally building into atier-filling flood.

Thankfully, WD doesn't carry the legacyburden of a heavy SAS or 10/15K RPMcommitment. Data centres now buy four SATAdrives for every one SAS, and that ratio skewseven more heavily toward SATA in the lowertiers. WD has long prioritised its commitmentto SATA, and now that determination is payingdividends with this fresh push to help Web-scale providers realise their Tier 3 storageobjectives. By correctly reading the market,WD invested in the right platforms andpositioned itself for growth in the niches thatenterprises and providers would need most.

Soon, these investments will bear fruit amongtraditional enterprises operating a step belowWeb-scale as major data centres look toleverage the same economies and scaling astheir larger counterparts. When they're ready,enterprises will be able to follow the trail ofpartners and deployment strategiessuccessfully blazed by Web-scale pioneers.

Any business large enough to need purpose-tuned, mid- to low-tier disk storage will be ableto realise value in their applications.Meanwhile, top-level service providers cancontinue to optimise their storage for theabsolute best capacity-per-watt and providemore cost-effective performance to users thanever before.More info: www.wdc.com


TECHNOLOGY: WEB-SCALE STORAGE STRATEGIES

@CHMagAndAwards

"Web-scale organisations face new storage parameters. They need to assess

metrics such as performance per watt and capacity per watt. In an era when a

user's decade-old photo (that might not have been viewed since just after

being uploaded) must still be accessible within seconds, is tape still the right fit

for archiving? Are there ways to trade some performance for higher reliability?"

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The survey of 100 UK businessesrevealed stark concerns about thesafety of the public cloud services, such

as DropBox, Box and Amazon, for sharingconfidential data. However, despite thiscaution, the findings demonstrate that mostemployees' activity via these platformsgenerally goes unmonitored and uncheckedin 64% of businesses.

The vast majority (90%) of IT decisionmakers believe that sharing sensitive data inthe public cloud poses some level of risk.However, despite this inherent mistrust, onlyone third have banned staff from using publiccloud. Of the firms that do ban the use ofpublic cloud at work, over half (58%) admitthey would not know whether their employeesare using it anyway.

Other key findings include: Over two thirds (69%) of businesses

questioned believed that public cloudservices were being used by someproportion of their workforce regardless ofcompany policy (with 29% suspectingover half their employees of doing so)

More than a quarter (27%) rank use ofpublic cloud as the greatest risk totheir company data, above lostdevices (25%), hacking (14%) andmalicious staff behaviour (18%)

Meanwhile, well over a tenth (13%) ofUK firms admitted they had lost or hadconfidential data exposed due to staffsharing it via public cloud. Worse, anadditional 19% could not be certainwhether this had happened to theirbusiness or not.

The survey results go on to reveal thatlittle is being done to protectorganisations or staff against carelessbehaviour.

Nearly half (48%) of those companies,which believe they are at risk, have notadded guidelines to a staff manual

Even fewer firms provide training(36%) or tools (39%) on the topic offile and data sharing

RISKY BUSINESSStaff at UK firms who break rules aboutpublic cloud usage in the workplace couldbe in for a big shock. More than a fifth(22%) of the firms interviewed said staffwould be instantly dismissed for usingpublic cloud while 40% would issue staff awritten warning.

The survey also looked at the drivers behindcloud usage. It found that the main reasonemployees risk using the public cloud isbecause they need to access files acrossdevices (54%). Ease of use was consideredthe second highest driver (48%).

Dr. Geoff Barrall, CEO of Connected Data,commented, "While we shouldn't be overlysurprised at the levels of mistrust in publiccloud, we should be concerned by a growingpattern of employee behaviour that putssensitive company data at risk. Penalties tostaff are serious, yet the need to share filesacross different devices is leading them tobreak company policy and put their jobs onthe line. The survey highlights how importantit is to address this dilemma before morecompany data is lost or exposed."

GOING PRIVATEBarrall concluded: "Whilst we know employeebehaviour cannot be changed overnight,there is a way to keep data safe and giveemployees the work tools they need. Privatecloud solutions enable companies to take fullresponsibility by protecting their sensitivedata whilst enabling their employees to dotheir jobs as efficiently as possible."More info: www.connecteddata.com

Clear and present dangerDespite one third of UK firms banning public cloud from the workplaceits use appears endemic, unmanaged and unstoppable, according to anew survey commissioned by Connected Data

RESEARCH: PUBLIC CLOUD


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Chase Solutions is a successful fieldservices company based inBlackburn, Lancashire that works

with utility companies, banks, debtpurchase companies and debt collectionagencies across the UK to contact and thenhelp customers who are struggling to paytheir bills. Established 15 years ago thecompany describes its services as 'toengage with customers where traditionalletter and telephone strategies have beenexhausted.' This could be for a multitude of

reasons not just debt related.

Chase Solutions' field agents will visit thecustomer and establish why they haven'tbeen in contact with its client. Togetherwith the customer and the client Chase'sagents then assess the customer'scircumstances and where debt-relatedtheir ability to pay, and look to set up anaffordable repayment plan.

The company boasts a large network offreelance and self-employed field agentswith about 600 of them working regularlyand more than 70 of them on full-timecontracts, all using Chase's bespoke state-of-the-art handheld technology which audiorecords each visit. There are about 30 full-time staff based at its headquarters.

Chase Solutions turned to cloudcompany iomart because it wanted aflexible hosted desktop solution that wasfully compliant with the exacting datastandards required by its biggest clientsand regulators. Chase works with most ofthe utility companies in the UK and hasjust expanded into the Irish Republic andNorthern Ireland, with an office beingopened in Belfast in the summer. While itwas keen to move to a hosted desktopsolution to enable its management to workbetter 'on the road,' it was also mindful ofthe need for continuing security andcompliance to meet the strict legal andcompliance guidelines of its clients.

Freed up for flexible workingA hosted desktop solution has meant the freedom to work flexibly forChase Solutions' field staff, combined with secure and manageableIT systems

CASE STUDY: CHASE SOLUTIONS


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Michael Wolfenden, Director of Operationsfor Chase Solutions, says: "A hosteddesktop is the perfect solution because itallows our management to work on the roadwithout having any important data held ontheir devices. In addition to being able tosecurely set up offices in Belfast and Londonwe have been able to recruit key membersof the team such as our Head of FieldOperations Ricky Donnelly, who is based inLondon. The whole solution is hosted iniomart's cloud, in their fully compliant andaccredited data centres."

The laptops used by the regional managershave a minimal operating system based onLinux that is securely configured to only allowaccess to the cloud environment via thinclient software VMware Horizon. Being thinclient means that only screen images,keyboard and mouse instructions aretransmitted between the laptops and thecloud. No data leaves the iomart data centreand therefore there is no risk usuallyassociated with laptops and data stored ontheir internal drives.

Steve Riley is the IT consultant for ChaseSolutions. He is responsible for the ITsystems that Chase uses and wasinstrumental in the move to hosted desktopwith iomart. Steve says: "You hear stories inthe media of data going missing becausesomeone's lost a laptop but that can'thappen with our hosted desktop solutionfrom iomart. All Chase's clients' data is stored

securely at iomart's data centre and becauseno data is stored on the laptops the regionalmanagers are using, they don't have to beencrypted. Hosted desktop from iomart ticksall the boxes for compliance."

As a result of moving to hosted desktopChase Solutions says its management teamhas much better control and visibility of its ITsystem. "It means that when Chase respondsto a tender for work we can tick every boxwith regards to security," Steve explains.

iomart's VMware-based hosted VirtualDesktop Infrastructure (VDI) delivers desktopservices and data direct from its fully-ownedand secure data centre infrastructure. Userscan be provisioned in seconds and can bescaled up or down as required, removing theheadache normally associated with changinghead counts and office moves. Agile andresponsive IT means that the workforce canaccess their business applications anywhereat any time.

Hosted desktop is important for businesscontinuity as well because it removes thedata from the local hard drive and secures itin data centres where it is backed upregularly. Bill Strain, CTO at iomart, explains:"There are a number of advantages to hosteddesktop around cost efficiencies, monthlybilling and the mobility and flexibility of yourworkforce but I think one of the biggestbenefits is that you can entrust your IT to aspecialist. By using an established cloud

services provider that owns and manages itsdata centres and operates them to strictestsecurity standards you can be confident thatyour data, the lifeblood of any business, willbe managed and protected properly."

iomart carries a range of accreditationswhich help customers like Chase Solutionsmeet compliance requirements. It isaccredited for ISO 27001:2013 forInformation Security Management; ISO20000-2011, the International Standard for ITService Management; ISO:9001:2008 forQuality Management; ISO 14001:2004 forEnvironmental Management; and hasadopted ISO/IEC 27018:2014, the newinternational code of practice for protectingPersonally Identifiable Information in thepublic cloud. iomart is also a member of theUK Government's Cyber Essentials scheme.

The Director of Operations for ChaseSolutions, Michael Wolfenden, concludes bysaying that the whole company hasbenefitted from the move to the cloud-basedhosted desktop solution. "Because we makeour money by our agents knocking on doorsit's really important that our regionalmanagers have external visibility of thesystem on the road," he says. "If they stop ata McDonalds or a service station, or if they'remeeting field agents in remote locations, theyneed to have the tools there and then to dothe job and be compliant."More info: www.iomart.com/managed-services/hosted-vvirtual-ddesktop/


CASE STUDY: CHASE SOLUTIONS

@CHMagAndAwards

"You hear stories in the media of data going missing because someone's

lost a laptop but that can't happen with our hosted desktop solution from

iomart. All Chase's clients' data is stored securely at iomart's data centre

and because no data is stored on the laptops the regional managers are

using, they don't have to be encrypted. Hosted desktop from iomart ticks all

the boxes for compliance."

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In an effort to capitalise on the benefitsof cloud computing, early adoptersturned to multiple cloud vendors to

satisfy their various infrastructure needs.For instance, you may have been workingwith a customer relationship manager(CRM) specialist for hosting your customerinsights, and a private cloud expert forfinancial data.

This approach delivered initial gains as ITleaders found their way in the cloud, but itis not conducive to long-term success.Working with a variety of vendors cancreate complex environments that arehard to control, manage and integrate,while it can also lead to organisationalsilos, preventing collaboration and theeasy transfer of data, limiting performance

and the services delivered.

Encouragingly, recent Telstra research,which surveyed 675 IT decision makersfrom across the globe around the cloudservices being used by their organisation,suggests businesses are increasinglyrealising this, with three-quarters of globalbusinesses wanting to procure servicesfrom a single provider, compared to usingthree concurrently.

With cloud fast becoming a criticalcomponent of IT environments the worldover, what steps can today's businessestake to help ensure you build a platformthat is designed for success today and inthe years to come, without compromisingon individual needs?

OUTSOURCE CLOUDMANAGEMENTThe first step could be to adopt aninfrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloudmodel. By leaving your provider with themore routine tasks, such as hardware,data and server management, businessescan become empowered to focus oninnovating and add value to theorganisation.

What's more, the benefits of IaaS -including improved security and efficiency,reduced costs, and optimised insights -closely align with IT departments' modernIT objectives. Although most businesses

Priming your cloud for success According to Martin Bishop, head of Network, Applications & Services,Telstra Global Enterprise & Services, with consumers in the UK more incontrol of their purchasing power than ever before, a flexible and scalablecloud infrastructure has become increasingly critical to an organisations'success or failure

MANAGEMENT: CLOUD STRATEGIES


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MANAGEMENT: CLOUD STRATEGIES

@CHMagAndAwards

have a clear understanding of IaaS'advantages, research has revealed thatover half are yet to implement it due toconcerns around relinquishing control of ITenvironments.

As such, vendors in this space shouldwork to alleviate and overcome suchconcerns across the business, whileguiding you through any difficulties andreducing the impact of the initialimplementation.

GO HYBRIDAs the cloud market settles, cloudvendors increasingly look to offer aportfolio of hybrid-services covering most,if not all, businesses' cloud requirements.Remove the complexities of dealing withmultiple vendors by working with a singleprovider capable of combining internaland external IT infrastructures, across acombination of private and public clouds,to help support your business outcomes.This hybrid IT approach is one we expectto see gather momentum in the monthsand years ahead.

MAKE YOUR CLOUD CUSTOMER CENTRICWe are living in a buyers' market -consumers expect to do what they want,when they want, how they want. And if thisisn't on offer, then they are likely to taketheir business elsewhere. IT is at thecentre of this enablement, but with new

services - from mobility through to socialmedia - being created every year youneed a cloud platform allowing you toquickly and easily take advantage of theseinnovations.

Adopting an approach to help ensureyou can rapidly launch the services andtools demanded by your customers andemployees is critical to remainingcompetitive.

THINK GLOBALAcross all industries, competition is fierceand increasingly not restricted byinternational waters. As businesses look toexpand their offerings and growinternational footprints, they should alsoaccelerate innovation, provide the latestfeatures and functions acrossgeographical boundaries and time-zones,as well as host data offshore to supportbusiness growth.

If this aligns with your future businessplans, then there is much value to be hadfrom working with a single global cloudprovider that understands and is familiarwith a number of markets. Working withvendors with either a global reach or aglobal strategy for addressing marketdemand helps to ensure you can deliver aconsistent and compliant experience,regardless of how many markets you areserving.More info: www.telstraglobal.com

"Although most businesses have a clear understanding of IaaS' advantages,

research has revealed that over half are yet to implement it due to concerns

around relinquishing control of IT environments. As such, vendors in this

space should work to alleviate and overcome such concerns across the

business, while guiding you through any difficulties and reducing the impact

of the initial implementation."

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The cloud is an attractive businessproposition for many, but time and timeagain, companies express concerns

about how secure their information is in thecloud. Security is the biggest inhibitor oforganisations moving their precious data tothe cloud in the first place. Issues arise suchas data co-mingling, privileged user abuse,snapshots and backups, data deletion, dataleakage and geographic regulatoryrequirements.

Security concerns also arise if you want toswitch from one cloud provider to another.How can you be sure what is happening toback-ups and archives of VMs, data volumesand maybe databases that were hostedthere? You don't necessarily know where allthose copies are held or how they are held.Indeed, even if you remain with the sameprovider you can never be certain of thelocation of your data.

So based on the assumption that youcannot guarantee your data's location andyou need to know that the data is secure, thebest practise is now widely acknowledged tobe encryption. This negates issues aroundthe data location, so should it becompromised, it is unreadable.

However, what is often neglected is that byencrypting data, we shift the security riskfrom the loss of data to the loss ofcryptographic keys. The keys must be storedand managed securely. Failure to protectencryption keys is akin to locking your car

and leaving the keys on the bonnet.

If your data is encrypted and protected, it isabsolutely essential that you turn yourattention to crypto management - thecreation, management, security and storingof encryption keys. You may have encryption,but without crypto management, it's notworth encrypting because your data couldstill be at risk through the loss ormismanagement of your crypto keys!

You need to know where and how thecrypto keys are stored, and by whom.Should the service provider hold the keys? Ifso, how? Are they secured within a hardwaresecurity module or just sat on a server? Isthere an audit trail for the life cycle of thekeys? Do you have access to that?

Perhaps it would be more prudent for acompany to manage their own keys, so thatshould assets be moved between serviceproviders, access to the keys can beremoved from the old provider, making thebackup copies of those assets safe.

Research last year indicated that strongencryption and secure management ofkeys were critical prerequisites to datacentre consolidation and cloud migration. Itfound that:

Only 45.6% managed their keys centrally.

18% didn't know where their keys werestored

Further 2014 research, sponsored bySafeNet and conducted by the PonemonInstitute, found that

On average in the UK 52% said theystored encryption keys in software.This is the worst possible place for the'crown jewels'.

Only 34% of respondents said theirorganisations had a policy thatrequired the use of securitysafeguards, such as encryption, as acondition to using certain cloudcomputing resources

Companies like SafeNet provideencryption and crypto managementsolutions which are tailored to the realitiesand risks of cloud and virtualenvironments. They allow security teamsto control privileged users and super-admin access, guard against potentialunauthorised copying, and mitigate theexposure of raw data. SafeNet solutionsare designed for companies to reap thecost benefits of virtualisation and thecloud, while addressing the most stringentcompliance and security requirements.

With the proper use of both encryptionAND crypto-management, organisationscan now reap the benefits of virtual andcloud computing, with the confidence thatthey are still in control of their ownsecurity.More info: www.wickhill.com

Under lock and key?For businesses worried about data security in the cloud,encryption is part of the answer - but without cryptomanagement data is still at risk, argues Ed Kidson, product manager at Wick Hill

TECHNOLOGY: CRYPTO MANAGEMENT


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Husband and wife team Gary andCatherine Grant founded TheEntertainer in 1981 when they opened

a local toy shop in Amersham,Buckinghamshire. Fast forward to today andThe Entertainer is the biggest independenttoy retailer in the UK and growing at anaverage of one new store per month. Gary isstill heading up The Entertainer team, but it'sgrown considerably since the early days.More than 900 people work in their storesand a further 100 are based at the company'shead office in Amersham. The Entertainerhas 100 stores in the UK, and stocksthousands of products online atTheToyShop.com.

The Entertainer was recommended to use aRackspace Private Cloud to power its e-commerce offering through its work withRackspace channel partner Conexus, aconsultancy that helps companies develop

an omni-channel ecommerce strategy. Theretailer has worked with Rackspace andConexus to roll out a hybrid omni-channelsolution, which includes a same day Clickand Collect service plus a responsive sitedesign that enables mobile sales, drivinglarge traffic spikes. These have becomecritical elements of the retailer's mission toenhance its online presence beyond thebasic online store it previously relied on, inorder to become the ultimate toyshop inthe UK.

Significant results have been achieved sincethese cloud-powered capabilities becameavailable. According to The Entertainer, totalwebsite sales have risen substantially,especially in the five weeks leading up to lastChristmas when it saw a 60 per cent salesincrease from the same period in 2013.What's more, the mobile website, which wasintroduced after the IT infrastructure had

been rolled out, now represents a significantand fast growing portion of online purchases.These improvements are a result of TheEntertainer's increased presence on a rangeof online selling platforms and its Click andCollect tool, sales from which grew by 81.7per cent in the five weeks before Christmascompared to 2013.

When The Entertainer decided to leave itsprevious cloud provider with the aim ofenhancing its online presence, it workedwith Conexus to draw up a list of keyrequirements that it needed a new providerto deliver, including scalability, intensivesupport and a high level of performancethat would support new services andcomprehensive stock managementupdates. Rackspace was identified by bothorganisations as the best provider afterproving it could meet these requirementsthrough its managed cloud offering.

Playing to winUK toy retailer The Entertainer is using managed cloud services fromRackspace in order to better manage large traffic spikes and launchnew services

CASE STUDY: THE ENTERTAINER


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'TIS THE SEASONOne of the key reasons that Rackspace waschosen involved the high scalability of itsPrivate Cloud solution. This is vital for TheEntertainer due to the seasonality and trafficspikes associated with the retail business. Thecompany generates half of its annual revenuein November and December alone, whichcreates the need for a flexible IT infrastructurethat can handle huge spikes of traffic andtransactions. When the company recorded thebusiest day in its history on the 20thDecember, 2014, the management fromConexus and scalability of the Private Cloudsolution was tested and both provedparticularly valuable.

Ian Pulsford, Head of IT Services, TheEntertainer says: "In addition to the scalabilitythat's available through the Rackspace PrivateCloud, the high performance it offers is alsovery important to us. It has allowed thebusiness to deploy a Click and Collect service,which has improved the customer experienceand boosted sales. A crucial aspect of Clickand Collect is having an effective stockmanagement system, which we also power bythe cloud. Every evening between midnightand 4 a.m. we monitor the stock available ineach store, collecting data on our 17,000products. This ensures that the availability weoffer our Click and Collect customers isaccurate and updated in real time."

"However, as we've learned in the past withprevious hosting providers, the technologyalone is not enough if we don't have accessto a high level of support and expertise tokeep it running smoothly. Knowing that I have24/7/365 access to a team of Rackspacetechnical specialists and the advice ofecommerce experts at Conexus who all knowmy business inside out is invaluable."

NEXT BIG THINGRackspace Private Cloud and Conexus alsohelps The Entertainer stay ahead of the latesttoy crazes, a crucial aspect to the retailer'ssuccess. For example, when loom bandssuddenly became incredibly popular, TheEntertainer acted quickly to order a largeamount of stock, the details of which werethen inputted on a cloud powered stock-management system. This helped each storemeet the huge demand and as a result TheEntertainer claimed 90 per cent of theprofitable market. The Entertainer was able tomanage stock effectively through the supportof its partner ITIM, while the scalability ofPrivate Cloud handled the traffic spike asvisitors flocked to the site to buy the product.

Jeff Cotten, MD Rackspace Internationaladds: "Multi-channel retailing is highlycompetitive, which means both the in-storeand online experiences have to be excellentto keep customers coming back. It's been

great working with The Entertainer andConexus to build a Private Cloud environmentthat is high performing and highly scalable, soThe Entertainer can focus on developing newservices and increasing its presence across agrowing number of ecommerce channels.This is a brilliant example of how our specialistteam can create bespoke e-commercesolutions that can cope with seasonalpurchasing trends while providing a fast,reliable customer experience."

Paul Lynch, MD of Conexus says: "As TheEntertainer's commerce partner, our role is toensure it offers a high quality customerexperience across all channels. Rackspaceservices enable us to provide theperformance levels required to make this areality, even during peak trading windows,through the use of innovative technology,effective planning and the dedication of oursupport teams to deliver exceptionalservices."

Looking forward, The Entertainer plans tocontinue using Managed Virtualisation(VMware) for the majority of its infrastructure,with scope for bursting into the Public Cloudduring busy marketing campaigns. Thecompany will also improve scalability evenfurther by beginning to use Cloud Files in thenear future. More info: www.rackspace.co.uk


CASE STUDY: THE ENTERTAINER

@CHMagAndAwards

"In addition to the scalability that's available through the Rackspace Private Cloud,

the high performance it offers is also very important to us. It has allowed the busi-

ness to deploy a Click and Collect service, which has improved the customer

experience and boosted sales. A crucial aspect of Click and Collect is having an

effective stock management system, which we also power by the cloud. Every

evening between midnight and 4 a.m. we monitor the stock available in each

store, collecting data on our 17,000 products. This ensures that the availability we

offer our Click and Collect customers is accurate and updated in real time."

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The concept of cloud computing isnothing new, and something thatmany enterprises have already

adopted. While the advantages of cloudsolutions, particularly the flexibility itaffords, are well known to IT directors,there are some considerations associatedwith the hybrid cloud that arise as a resultof aligning with legacy on-premise datacentre solutions.

There is no doubting the flexibility of thepublic cloud. Its "pay as you go" platformmeans that deploying a cloud solution asand when it's needed is akin to flicking aswitch - the light goes on when it's dark andoff when it's light.

There's plenty of 'optionality' with differentpublic cloud solutions - each has itsadvantages. Service providers such asAmazon Web Services or Salesforce, forexample, offer flexible solutions that allowenterprises to scale rapidly up and down,depending on requirements, and providenew services alongside changing businessneeds. However, regulatory andcompliance requirements often dictate thatdata must be stored on-premise. This isbecause unlike compute services, forexample, data in cloud acts differently. Ithas a "physical" mass and therefore oftenneeds to be managed and protected overlong periods.

These regulatory issues can beproblematic for those enterprises andorganisations operating in government,legal or financial services sectors, for

Flexibility is the keyMartin Warren, Cloud Solutions Marketing Manager at NetApp arguesthat a hybrid cloud approach offers the ideal solution for enterpriseslooking for agility, flexibility and cost effectiveness

STRATEGY: HYBRID CLOUD


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example, that require strict control over theirdata - be that location, access, or to adhereto compliance requirements. As a result, itmay be that only some applications can bemigrated to the public cloud.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTION OF CHOICEThis is one of the advantages of the hybridcloud - enterprises can retain business-critical data securely in an on-premise datacentre, while storing broader company datain the public cloud at lower cost. This is oneof the many reasons that the hybrid cloud isfast becoming the infrastructure solution ofchoice for many enterprises. It is universallyaccepted by analysts and consultants thatthe hybrid cloud market is maturing, with2015 set to be a pivotal year for thetechnology.

Even so, hybrid cloud technology haslimitations - as the majority of enterprisesstill deploy an on-premise infrastructure inaddition to their cloud solution, IT teamsare still subject to the same procurementissues: expense, lengthy build times, andthe on-going costs required to maintain,manage and update equipment whennecessary.

Similarly, there is a requirement to fullyintegrate public and private IT solutions withlegacy on-premise infrastructure, so thatthey can work seamlessly together. This canbe a headache for IT teams and can resultin a siloed situation if not architectedadequately. This is an area whereconsultancy services can play a big part.While these issues with hybrid cloudsolutions can rear their heads, in truth, thehybrid cloud does generally offerenterprises the best balance, ensuringbusiness and IT agility through a flexibleapproach to IT services.

By adopting a hybrid cloud solution, whichis designed and architected in a bespokemanner to align with business needs, anenterprise can take advantage of the

flexibility of cloud, with rapidly scalableresources and decreased provision times,coupled with the data security andcompliance benefits of an on-premisesolution.

What has spurred this forward even moreis the added flexibility IT solutions providersare now offering to enterprises through datamanagement software, enabling them tostore and transport their data across theentire environment. For example, anenterprise may choose to store theirsensitive data on-premise, but deployanalytics in the public cloud. Analysis of thatdata can still take place in the public cloud,despite the source data residing on-premise, as the data management software

makes the infrastructure act as a singleentity rather than two separate solutionsknitted together.

All in all, the hybrid cloud is the idealsolution for enterprises looking for agility,flexibility and cost savings when it comes todata storage. While the public cloud is thepinnacle of flexibility, it cannot ensure thesecurity, particularly when it relates to datathat the hybrid cloud can. Enterprises needto evaluate the sensitivity and level of controlthat they need for their company data andelect the right solution for their needs. More info: www.netapp.com


STRATEGY: HYBRID CLOUD

@CHMagAndAwards

"By adopting a hybrid cloud solution, which is

designed and architected in a bespoke manner to

align with business needs, an enterprise can take

advantage of the flexibility of cloud, with rapidly

scalable resources and decreased provision

times, coupled with the data security and compli-

ance benefits of an on-premise solution."

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In a world where we areall creating largevolumes of data - at

sometimes alarmingspeeds - it is moreimportant than ever tomake backup as automaticand 'idiot-proof' aspossible, or else peoplesimply won't do it. Forconsumers and smallbusinesses in particular,backup is still seen all toooften as something that wereally should be doingregularly but never quiteseem to get round to - untilthe time that we suffer anIT failure and lose vital data,that is.

There are several reasons why backupcontinues to be so poorly implemented inso many businesses (especially at theSME/SOHO end of the market): suchbusinesses tend to have very limited ITresources and backup will always be nearthe bottom of any priority list whencompared with, for instance, a newmobile-friendly website or improved socialmedia experience. At the same time, forbackup to be used - and useable, in thesense of being able to restore useful data- it has to happen regularly, effortlessly,and it has to be totally non-disruptive tothe user.

This is where an approach like that of

UK cloud backup specialist companyBackup Everything comes into its own.Simply sign up to the service, downloadthe desktop application and run it. Specifythe specific drives or folders to be backedup, and the job is done. The first scan ofthe system will take some time,predictably, as everything is sent to thecloud. After this the system checks on adaily basis and automatically backs upany new or changed files in thebackground. To restore any file, simplybrowse to it via the secure web portal (orvia mobile, see below).

The service costs just 5p/GB per month,with no ongoing contracts. Data is storedin an ISO 27001 certified UK-based datacentre, and 256 AES encryption is used to

ensure data is heldsecurely.

The service can beaccessed from mobiledevices via the free app,meaning documents andfiles are available whereveryou are, without the needto lug a laptop (or even apocketful of USB sticks) toevery meeting or salescall. We backed up around8gb of mixed file formatsvia the desktopapplication, and were ableto immediately accessthem on an Android

smartphone using the samelogin details. The company also offers a'Sync & Share' option that allows otherusers to access files, again from a varietyof devices.

While we all accept the reasons forhaving a backup process in place, thebarriers to actually doing anything about ithave meant that, until recently, far toomany of us leave our critical data in thelap of the gods. With the advent of cloud-based backup services like BackupEverything, there is really no excuse forany of us any more. It is easy to signup,easy to install, easy to configure and easyto use - and once set up, users don't haveto think about it again - until they need torestore that precious data, of course.More info: www.backupeverything.co.uk

Review: Backup Everything

REVIEW: BACKUP EVERYTHING


Verdict: The Backup Everything approach is undeniably simple, very fast to deploy - and perhapsmost importantly - runs quietly and non-disruptively in the background, doingautomatically what most of us would otherwise forget to do when we should.

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Established in 1950, AmmeraalBeltech is a world-leadingmanufacturing company that

specialises in the production of conveyorbelts for the development of productsacross a wide range of market sectors,including food, automotive and textiles.

Operating in 25 countries anddistributing products to a further 150

worldwide, Ammeraal Beltech operatesseven production plants and 80fabrication centres, with salesrepresentatives serving local customerstailor-made solutions. Ammeraal Beltech'sHead Office is in the Netherlands and thecompany employs a total of 2,400individuals, with 125 UK-basedemployees.

STAYING CONNECTED IN ANEXPANDING TEAMAs Ammeraal Beltech works withemployees and customers across theglobe, efficient communication and theability to share information easily is a keyrequirement for the successful day-to-dayrunning of the business. This is a complexprocess which has presented a challengefor the business historically, due to aninfrastructure which has grown bothorganically and through acquisition.

Prior to approaching Outsourcery,Ammeraal Beltech was using a singleserver to help external sales teams toshare information. This was no longerproviding the level of performance andefficiency required for a smooth-runningbusiness.

Roger Riggs, IT Manager at AmmeraalBeltech, explains: "We were initiallymanaging our system with an individualserver that was used for different functionswithin the business. This was proving tobe a problematic process that needed tobe improved. With employees working

Conveying the right messageManaged global growth was strategically important for conveyor beltmanufacturer Ammeraal Beltech, and a cloud-based CRM solution hasproven core to their successful expansion

CASE STUDY: AMMERAAL BELTECH


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from multiple locations, sharinginformation and communicating has beendifficult."

The international diversification of thecompany means that sharing anddisseminating information betweenemployees and customers is key toeveryday business. When providing aservice for a customer, the sales teamneeds to be in regular contact with themat every stage of the sales cycle,particularly when there is a complexproduct request which demands theattention of team members acrossdifferent locations.

With the key objective being to improveproductivity and drive efficiencies whensharing information, Ammeraal Beltechwanted to continue using their incumbentDynamics NAV ERP system for themanagement of business processes,whilst syndicating with a cloud-basedCRM tool in order to increase businessperformance.

"We knew that a hybrid cloud solutionwould enable us to manage all functionsefficiently, thus improving communicationand productivity during the process ofengaging customers and ultimatelymaking a sale", Riggs concludes.

CRM INTEGRATIONAfter initial investigation, AmmeraalBeltech decided that Outsourcery couldprovide the most suitable option for amigration to the cloud, as Outsourceryoffered an interface between the existingMicrosoft Dynamics NAV ERP system andcloud-based Dynamics CRM 2011,creating the infrastructure it needed. Riggsexplains: "Due to our specific requirementsfor a CRM cloud resource, we knew thatOutsourcery's CRM solution, syndicatedwith our existing Microsoft Dynamics NAVERP system, would provide a high level ofservice to drive performance andefficiencies throughout the business."

FASTER DELIVERY OFINFORMATIONOutsourcery's hosted Dynamics CRM isbased on Microsoft software and built onOutsourcery's O-Cloud platform, whichuses best-of-breed HP technology. Thisenables faster delivery of informationbetween employees and customersworking across multiple locations. Cloud-based CRM offers an assessment ofcustomer behaviour through a 360-degreeview of all business interactions, providingthe user with all the information needed toimprove future service and performance.Outsourcery is well-positioned to offer thissolution, as both a Microsoft Partner witheight competencies including Gold CRMand a member of the Microsoft Cloud OSNetwork. In addition to Dynamics CRM,Outsourcery offers a broad range of othercloud-based Microsoft solutions, includingUnified Lync, Exchange and Office 365.

Riggs states: "We chose hostedDynamics CRM because it offers a singlesource from which to manage customerrelationships regardless of what office anemployee is working from, negating theneed for a myriad of servers to managedifferent functions. The syndicationbetween Dynamics CRM and AmmeraalBeltech's incumbent Dynamics NAV CRPprovides the perfect platform from whichour sales teams can manage functionsefficiently."

SEAMLESS INTEGRATION"Outsourcery has provided us with a

solution that meets the needs of ourcustomers and enables us to operate thesales division of our business effectively.With a valuable professional servicesoffering and dedicated training, we havebeen able to get up to speed with the newsystem quickly and in the three years thatwe have worked with Outsourcery, we havealways benefitted from the supportavailable", Riggs says. "UsingOutsourcery's CRM as a single customerrelationship management resource,syndicated with Microsoft Dynamics NAVCRP, has enabled strong connectivity withcustomers and employees, significantlyimproving the process of sharinginformation, and since implementation wehave seen sales rise year-on-year."

"The interface between our new systems,supplied and managed by Outsourcery,has provided an increase not only in theoverall performance and efficiency of thebusiness, but also in the quality,consistency and effectiveness of theinformation that is shared," concludesRiggs. "Using Outsourcery's O-Cloudplatform to manage all Ammeraal Beltech'stechnical functions within the sales division,we are now able to concentrate on otherareas of the business, in order to furtherincrease overall business performance."More info: www.outsourcery.co.uk


CASE STUDY: AMMERAAL BELTECH

@CHMagAndAwards

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Today, the pressure on organisationsof all types to cut costs is greaterthan ever. At the same time, these

organisations are looking to increaseservice levels, boost productivity, improvebusiness agility and reduce their carbonfootprint. It is a circle that's not easy tosquare.

Yet it can be done. As cloud becomesthe go-to delivery mechanism for ITservices, due to an increased appreciationfor the benefits, businesses are turning tocloud hosting solutions in their droves toalleviate both the stress and costs ofhardware management.

One simple way to reduce expenses is toradically revisit the way the printingfunction is handled across theorganisation. In many ways, this is anuntapped method of increasing efficiency.

Although some believe printing is a'twilight technology', it remains a key

business enabler, and this is likely to bethe case for the foreseeable future. If youdon't believe printing costs are animportant issue, then think again. Gartnerhas estimated that up to 3% of anorganisation's total revenue is spent onprint, which can work out at thousands, ifnot millions, of pounds. Printingrepresents a perfect method of cuttingyour costs.

The question is: how? By leveraging amanaged cloud print service (MCPS).Installing an enterprise-wide printmanagement system, hosted in the cloud,means you can save substantial money,while improving many other key aspects ofperformance and reducing the printingheadache for your IT department.

RESPONDING TO CHANGINGBUSINESS NEEDSPut simply, a managed cloud print serviceis a solution to enterprise-wide printmanagement. It is leading a printing

revolution, which is a world away fromthe static traditional printing networks ofthe past.

A MCPS uses a cloud-based printnetwork to manage the printing needsacross the entire organisation. Forbusinesses spanning several offices,headquarters, and countries, this is ideal.For those in smaller enterprises, it enablescomplete scalability. It's flexible, it'sresponsive, and it cuts costs whilereducing the administrative burden ofmanaging a printing network spanningtens, hundreds or even thousands ofprinters.

And managed cloud printing has beendeveloped to meet the changing businessneeds of our time. As printer fleets haveevolved and expanded, manyorganisations find themselves operatingmultiple print servers to support theirindividual printing requirements.

This brings its own obvious advantages,by providing a more resilient network andavoiding heavy network traffic, but it alsocreates specific challenges, including asubstantial IT cost and administrativeburden.

Typically, for each site a businessoperates from, it needs one server andone print server for every 100 printdevices. As you can imagine, this addsup. For a 1000-user organisation with justthree sites, 11 servers could be needed.

This heavy dependency on physical

Escaping the 'print trap'KYOCERA Document Solutions' Cloud Evangelist, Eddie Ginja, analysesthe business benefits of the latest addition to the growing portfolio ofcloud services: managed cloud printing

MANAGEMENT: MANAGED CLOUD PRINTING


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print-servers can lead to higher costs,device and driver deployment, poor printmanagement and redundancy issues.And we've seen this first hand - it's notunheard of for companies to have up totwenty surplus servers, which is anexpensive waste!

How do you eliminate the need for aserver network? By virtualising the printinfrastructure. A MCPS replaces thetraditional physical print server, hosted on-site, with a private print network that uses'virtual print servers' hosted in the cloud.

If you virtualise your print infrastructure,you can expect massive financial savingsin return. And that's just the start. Cloudprinting brings you higher security, control,agility, productivity and network resilience.

And there are the more simpleadvantages - cloud gives you bettercontrol to accurately monitor fleet assets,print usage and service performance. Itcan help you to reduce your paper, inkand energy consumption - after all, we allneed help saving the planet.

Depending on the way you choose touse it, cloud printing can enhance yourorganisation's productivity. This is a bigclaim, but seriously - imagine if you couldoptimise document-intensive businessprocesses by deploying things like cloudscanning and mobile printing? Your team'stime would be reduced, and multiply thisover the several hundred or thousands ofmembers of staff, and it represents asignificant reduction in time.

REALISING POTENTIALThe benefits don't just stop at reducedcosts. If you're facing recurring problemswith your printing which is affecting theorganisation's productivity, then your ITdepartment will be running from one endof your business to the other end trying tofix it.

Let us go back to how the traditionalprinting system works in mostorganisations. Most corporate networkshave a dedicated print server, which actsas a central point through which userssend their print data. It is a simplified,single point of management for dealingwith print queues and controlling theavailability of a printer or group of printerson the network.

However, even with the use of printservers, many organisations face a printenvironment that is out of control. Thiscan be pinned down to the core cause ofa printer fleet with a mixture of devicesfrom different vendors.

Ownership of these devices is oftenfragmented across departments,workgroups and locations, making itextremely difficult to track print usageacross every device and every user in anorganisation. In the industry, we call this a'device sprawl' and it has a palpableimpact on productivity and print-relatedcosts.

In a recent survey by research companyLoudhouse, 200 IT managers of 500+seat enterprises estimated that they

spend, on average, over 30% of their timeon printer-related support issues - inother words, over two and a half hours aday, or one and a half days per workingweek. That amount of wasted time,occurring week after week, is hard toignore.

Welcome to the 'print trap', which ties upexpensive and highly trained personnel intackling unproductive print-relatedproblems. This has a direct effect on yourIT team's ability to contribute real valuethrough planning and innovation. Freeyour IT team from time-intensive usererrors and device faults by transitioningto the cloud.

As with every inefficient system, anunmanaged print environment can haveburgeoning costs. There are increasedserver costs as dedicated print serversare costly in terms of licensing,maintenance, storage and energy,particularly for cooling. These costs thenescalate when servers are deployedacross several physical sites.

While the concept of cloud printing isrelatively new, it is based on highlyadvanced technology and is alreadybeing implemented by many majororganisations. If these issues soundfamiliar or are recurring problems your ITteam and administrators are facing,perhaps it's time to take the plunge, andshift to the cloud. Be careful not to get leftbehind by the cloud printing revolution. More info:kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk/cloud


MANAGEMENT: MANAGED CLOUD PRINTING

@CHMagAndAwards

"If you don't believe printing costs are an important issue, then think again.

Gartner has estimated that up to 3% of an organisation's total revenue is

spent on print, which can work out at thousands, if not millions, of pounds.

Printing represents a perfect method of cutting your costs."

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Established in France in 1810 as anengineering firm producing a host ofmechanical objects, Peugeot is best

known today as one of the leading carmanufacturers in the world. The car companyhas a long history and remains rooted in itsheritage, but their ethos is thoroughly modernand forward-looking.

Key to this forward-looking approach is thecompany's website, which serves as an

interactive portal through which customersand prospective customers can find outabout their range, the Brand itself, accesscustomer support, and arrange test-drives attheir local dealerships.

SUDDEN IMPACTAt the beginning of 2013, a high-profileManaged Services Provider (MSP) collapsed,impacting a number of businesses -including Peugeot. The company had been

relying on the MSP to manage the hosting ofa number of microsites and suddenly foundthemselves in the position of having to find,vet and migrate to a new hosting providerquickly - or risk temporarily losing the deliveryof these sites.

Such a scenario would have dealt a seriousblow for the car dealer, explained Vijay Mistry,Manager of Technical Services, at PSAPeugeot Citroën: "Beyond our primary site,we also operate a number of distinct tacticalcampaign micro-sites which are intrinsicallylinked to our marketing operations. Thesesites, which attract a considerable number ofvisitors each month, serve as valuableplatforms for customer engagement andinteraction, and ultimately help to drive brandloyalty and sales. These sites also hold ouronline booking engine for test drives, whichhelps us to feed tangible sales leads to ourdealerships. When our old provider folded,we needed to act quickly to find a new one tomaintain the delivery of our micro-sites andavoid any negative impact on the business."

OUTPACING THE COMPETITIONHaving consulted with and reviewed anumber suppliers, Peugeot opted forClaranet, who came up with a proposalthat would not only meet their requirementsfor the immediate short-term, but whichwould also be fit-for-purpose five yearsdown the line.

"Claranet's recommendations for ourhosting solution were head-and-shouldersabove the other suppliers that we spoke to,"Mistry explained. "While our primary concern

Shifting up a gearCar manufacturer Peugeot were facing a hosting crisis until they got talkingto Claranet, who not only addressed their immediate issues but alsoworked with them to develop a technical framework for the future

CASE STUDY: PEUGEOT


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was getting our micro-sites up and running,we were also keen to see what other optionswere available in terms of our hostingarrangements. The team at Claranetproposed a managed hosting solution thatwas flexible and scalable enough to satisfyour immediate hosting needs, but with thepotential to evolve and develop the solutionas the business required. Given the timeconstraints, this was quite a feat. We wereimpressed with their professionalism andwillingness to go the extra mile, so they werethe obvious choice."

Peugeot's micro-sites were migrated toClaranet's managed hosting environment,whereby Claranet manages and monitors theinfrastructure and the applicationsthemselves. With the initial phase of themigration completed, Claranet worked withPeugeot to devise a migration strategy forother less business-critical applications in itsIT estate, which have been gradually movedacross to Claranet's unmanagedenvironment. Here Claranet providestechnical support up to the operating systemlevel, while the technical team at Peugeotsupports the applications themselves.

Mistry continued: "Our primary concern isensuring that our externally facing appsperform as they should, so it makes sense tohave an additional layer of management inplace. But for internal functions, such as ourdealer support and communicationsapplications, which are less critical to ourbusiness, a lower level of management is

sufficient. Dividing our applications in thisway makes most business sense for us andis a more efficient use of our time andresources."

TIME TRIALSIn spite of the tight timeframe, Claranet tookthe time to work out the hosting solution thatwould be right in the short-term, to maintaindelivery of Peugeot's web properties - butalso with a mind to developing the solutionover time.

Mistry said: "The main constraint with thisproject was time. Our previous suppliercollapsed in quite a sudden and dramaticfashion, giving us only a short time to find anew hosting provider. Claranet fullyappreciated the situation and the pressurethat we were under, and respondedaccordingly. Typically a migration project likethis could take over a month to completefrom start to finish; that Claranet were able todeliver the solution within such a short spaceof time is an absolute credit to them."

The success of the relationship withClaranet owes much to their ongoingtechnical support and technical architects,who helped to devise a migration roadmapas the solution evolved. Since initialimplementation of the managed hostingsolution, Peugeot has steadily increased itsworkloads and storage, having migrated alarge number of additional applicationsacross to Claranet's unmanagedenvironment.

"Claranet's technological expertise is plainto see - they understood our requirementsimmediately - but it has been the overallservice wrap that has impressed us themost," Mistry explained. "They have beenagile and flexible at every turn, working withus to ensure that the solution is functioningthe best way possible. Every time we haveasked for advice or assistance they havebeen responsive, getting the right peopleto us at the right time. Essentially we nowhave a two tier hosting arrangement withClaranet, but with a single-point-of-contactand a single management structure,which ensures complete transparency inthe solution and means that our IT staffcan focus their efforts where they areneeded most."

"With the previous solution we were 'fire-fighting' quite a lot, just to maintain deliveryand performance of the website. If thewebsite were to go down, or not performas it should do, we would risk losingpotential customers, so it's imperative thatit operates well. Moreover, as a dynamicbusiness, we often take on ad-hocprojects, which put additional pressure onthe IT infrastructure. Claranet's platformallows us to easily accommodate theseprojects. We have the confidence we needthat the team at Claranet will manage thebehind-the-scenes delivery of ourapplications, giving us flexibility andfreedom to move the business forward," heconcluded.More info: www.claranet.co.uk


CASE STUDY: PEUGEOT

@CHMagAndAwards

"Claranet's technological expertise is plain to see - they understood our require-

ments immediately - but it has been the overall service wrap that has impressed

us the most… Essentially we now have a two tier hosting arrangement with

Claranet, but with a single-point-of-contact and a single management structure,

which ensures complete transparency in the solution and means that our IT staff

can focus their efforts where they are needed most."

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With the growing threat ofcybercrime and securitybreaches and increased

incidents of data loss, securing yourinformation has never been moreimportant. Statistics released this monthfrom The Online Trust Alliance revealedthat from January to June 2014 only 40per cent of data breaches involving theloss of personally identifiable information(PII) were caused by external intrusions:29 per cent were caused eitheraccidentally or maliciously by employees.

Whilst tackling the cyber securitychallenge has become more difficult, thegood news is that it is not insurmountable.It does, however, require a differentapproach to the traditional one ofprotecting the infrastructure and addingreinforced firewalls that ring-fence yourcompany's information. In today's worldwhere employees are a significant sourceof security breaches, securingapplications and systems is only half thejob.

A NEW APPROACHThe huge amount of information that isgenerated by and resides withinorganisations means that it's not possibleto protect it all. However for many CISOsand CSOs, protecting these enormousquantities of data has become theirprimary goal. But ultimately it will becometheir Achilles heel because there's simplytoo much of it.

Organisations need to find a way of

protecting valuable information withoutenforcing draconian security policies onstaff that will negatively impact their abilityto work. What's needed is a newapproach to IT security that not onlyprotects your IT infrastructure, butprotects the data itself.

WHAT'S IMPORTANT?The first step is to seriously question howcritical all this information is. Of courseyou want to lock down important datasuch as financial records and customertransactions. But in addition, let's notforget all that valuable information foundin documents such as financial forecasts,board minutes, RFPs and productroadmaps. This potentially highly valuableinformation is often shared via email andunsecured file-sharing platforms byemployees. Your most valuable assetscould already exist outside your control,unprotected and unencrypted.

TrendLabs state that 56 per cent ofemployees frequently store sensitive dataon their laptops, smartphones, tabletsand other mobile devices. What's worse isthat this data is all too often unguarded.

KISS - KEEP IT SIMPLE SECURITYWhere sensitive and secure data is atstake, organisations should implement acollaboration and file-sharing platformwith a simple and user-friendly interfacethat is highly functional, intuitive, and easyto learn. It should provide the utmostcontrol in managing sensitive data forinsiders and collaborating organisations.

The implementation of data classificationstandards should also be considered toimprove the protection of sensitiveinformation.

Focus your security policy on the high-riskareas first, for example M&A documentationand valuable IP rather than chaining upeverything. In most organisations,employees with access to sensitiveinformation will be sharing it both inside andoutside the business. The best securitypolicy should enable them to continue to dothis, safely and securely.

EASY DOES ITFinally, ensure that your security policy iseasy to understand and simple to follow.This will help to ensure your employees areon board from the outset and avoidconfusion. Also don't forget that youremployees are the eyes and ears of yoursecurity strategy. They need to know how tospot a threat and the quickest and mostefficient way to react.

A WINNING COMBINATION2014 saw some of the largest organisationssuffer significant cyber attacks. Sony, Apple'siCloud and the rise of hacktivism haveshown that the threat of cyber crime is veryreal. However, a combination of the rightsecurity policy, a security-aware culture, andeasy-to-use tools that employees like using,preferably integrated into applications theyuse daily, like Microsoft Office, will enableorganisations to give their information theprotection it needs - before it is too late. Chwww.brainloop.com

Guarding the valuablesMark Edge, UK Country Manager & VP Sales at Brainloopsays that a new approach to IT security is needed: one thatguards data within a protected infrastructure

FEATURE: SECURITY


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house ad.qxd 07/05/2014 12:37 Page 1

Find out more about KYOCERA’s Private Cloud Solutions at

kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk/cloud Call: 08457 103104 Facebook: KYOCERADocumentSolutionsUK Twitter: @KYOCERADUK Eldon Court, 75-77 London Road, Reading, RG1 5BS

FOR THE LIFE OF YOUR DOCUMENT

PRIVATE CLOUD MPS SOLUTIONS FROM KYOCERA

AVAILABILITY

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SAVINGS

At KYOCERA, we’re here to help your organisation move forward; to provide you with the solutions and services you need to exponentially grow in today’s internet and mobile world. As one of the world’s leading document and print manufacturers, we can offer you the industry’s only 100% enterprise private Cloud-based print and document management service, delivering services even more quickly, securely and cost-effectively.

8874-KYOCERA-Cloud Print Ad_Art.indd 1 02/03/2015 14:36

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