HOME EUROPEAN NEWS EDITOR’S COMMENT SOCIAL MEDIA: A SECURITY CHALLENGE MISUSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA COULD WREAK HAVOC, WARNS WEF CLOUD, HANA AND MOBILE DRIVE GROWTH FOR SAP SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORKING ADOPTION STALLS FLASH STORAGE IN COMMON USE – BUT WHERE? DATACENTRE MANAGERS FAIL TO ACT ON ENERGY TARGETS CW THE DIGITAL MAGAZINE FOR EUROPEAN IT LEADERS FROM COMPUTER WEEKLY MARCH 2013 THINKSTOCK The security risk sweeping Europe GENERATION Y WORKERS PUT THEIR ORGANISATIONS AT RISK IN THE AGE OF CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL NETWORKING
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CW Europe March 2013 1
Home
european news
editor’s comment
social media: a security cHallenge
misuse of social media could
wreak Havoc, warns wef
cloud, Hana and mobile drive
growtH for sap
software-defined networking
adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
CWThe DIGITAL mAGAzIne for europeAn IT LeADers from CompuTer WeekLy mArCh 2013
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The security risk sweeping Europe
generation y workers put tHeir organisations at risk in tHe age
of consumer tecHnology and social networking
CW Europe March 2013 2
Home
european news
editor’s comment
social media: a security cHallenge
misuse of social media could
wreak Havoc, warns wef
cloud, Hana and mobile drive
growtH for sap
software-defined networking
adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
EuropEan nEws
Spanish police arrest ransomware cyber gang
Police in spain arrested cyber criminals using “ransomware” to demand money from thousands of victims in 30 countries. The malware froze infected computers and displayed messages purporting to be from the police, demanding €100 fines for accessing file-sharing, child pornography or terrorist sites.
ICEF Germany doubles revenues with Salesforce
The international college of Economics and Finance in Germany doubled its revenues by using salesforce and Financialforce for cRM tasks.
European Commission funds research to eliminate latency
Researchers from universities and enter-prises across Europe have announced plans to undertake a project to minimise latency over the internet.
Children learn to read and write on laptops in Sweden
Two schools in sandviken, sweden, recently explained how they use laptops to teach children to read and write.
Technology transforms Nordahl Grieg Upper Secondary School
nordahl Grieg Upper secondary school in Bergen revealed how and why it chose to use technology to enhance students’ learning experiences.
BriForum London 2013: Brian Madden discusses VDI sector
VDi guru Brian Madden will discuss desk-top virtualisation, consumerisation of iT
EntEr thE CW EuropEan usEr sECurity aWards
have you entered the Computer Weekly european user Awards for security yet? Click here to enter online
The Computer Weekly european user Awards for security aims to recognise innovation in information security and IT risk management.
Don’t have a security project? We are also interested in software, storage and datacentre projects. Click here to take a look at the main awards site for more information
and enterprise mobility management at this year’s BriForum London 2013.
Europe leads Microsoft cyber security policy survey
A report from Microsoft on factors that differentiate malware infection rates around the world showed Europe leading the fight for cyber security.
How technology transformed education in Denmark
Digital devices transformed the learning environment for schools in the municipal-ity of odder, Denmark.
European government moves to private clouds to save costs
over half of local and central govern-ments across Europe use or plan to use private clouds hosted by third parties. n
Never in the history of man has society shared so much personal data with so little concern for privacy.
Most Generation Y students and workers believe the age of privacy is over, as they continue to mix business data with personal information.
social networking threatens a company’s secu-rity not just because of what its employees might choose to disclose, but because social media sites are prime targets for cyber criminals.
The basic premise of sharing information is noth-ing new. consumers have long handed over per-sonal data to companies for services. But now our personal information is freely available online and we are giving it to virtually anyone who asks.
sure, some of us might take precautions when it comes to limiting the information seen on our Face-book profiles, but even these social media users willingly share details in comment sections, review sites and forums.
Back when the internet burst into being, many were concerned at the thought of sharing personal information or companies collecting personal details without permission. But nowadays social media users would rather share their details for more choice, convenience and better deals.
in this issue of cW Europe read how the increase in social media usage has created new privacy con-cerns for businesses.
Read why the rapid spread of false information through social media could wreak havoc for busi-nesses, global markets and society, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Find out how sAP’s 2012 results foreshadow the growth of its European business and how flash use in storage has entered the mainstream – but where to put it remains a dilemma for many.
This issue also reveals a TechTarget survey detail-ing how software defined networking (sDn) has yet to impress Europe. n
Kayleigh Bateman Editor of CW Europe Special projects editor for Computer Weekly
New and recent entrants to the Euro-pean workforce are posing increasing security challenges to their employ-
ers as they mix personal and private lives.nowhere is this more evident than in the
use of social media, often accompanied by a low awareness – or even total disregard – for privacy concerns.
some 91% of Generation Y students and workers believe the age of privacy has passed, while a third remain unconcerned about the data captured about them, according to cisco’s latest Connected World Technology Report.
“More Generation Y workers globally said they feel more comfortable sharing personal information with retail sites than with their own employers’ iT departments,” says cisco.
clearly this attitude is at odds with busi-ness concerns about the disclosure of com-mercially sensitive information through social media to hundreds of millions of Twitter and Facebook users.
in Europe, concerns about privacy and security are particularly acute, as became apparent in European commission (Ec) pro-posals for a cyber security directive linking privacy and security.
The Ec’s proposals aim to impose EU-wide reporting requirements on companies that run large databases, including social net-working organisations.
Although the final wording of the directive remains to be seen, the proposals are a good indication of just how seriously European authorities view data breaches.
Generation Y workers in Europe are posing increasing security challenges to their employers as they share data unreservedly. Warwick Ashford reports
Social media: A security challenge arrives with a business opportunity
CW Europe March 2013 5
Home
european news
editor’s comment
social media: a security cHallenge
misuse of social media could
wreak Havoc, warns wef
cloud, Hana and mobile drive
growtH for sap
software-defined networking
adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
The rapid spread of false information through social media is among the emerg-ing risks identified by the World Economic Forum in its Global Risks 2013 report.
The report’s authors draw the analogy of shouting “Fire!” in a crowded cinema. in min-utes, people can be trampled to death before a correction can be made to the message (click here to see case study on page 7).
There have been several incidents over the past year where false information transmit-ted on the internet has had serious conse-quences, according to the report.
For example, a fake tweet by someone impersonating the Russian interior minister, claiming that the syrian president had been killed or injured, caused crude prices to rise by over $1 a barrel before traders realised the news was false.
Harnessing the power of social mediaThe unprecedented reach of social media is something companies cannot afford to ignore because of the positive and negative effect it can have on the business.
its power must therefore be recognised and managed. in the Uk, BT is one company that has done just this. its customer service team runs a sophisticated social media operation across the most popular services.
The strategy is helping BT improve its repu-tation for customer service and producing a clear return on investment for the business, according to Warren Buckley, BT’s managing
The threats of social networkingBut not only is social networking a threat to a company’s security because of what employees might disclose, but also because social networking sites are a prime target for cyber criminals.
According to the 2013 Cisco Annual Security Report, the highest concentration of online security threats are on mass audience sites, including social media. The report revealed that online advertisements are 182 times more likely to deliver malicious content than pornography sites, for example.
individuals’ ability to share information with audiences of millions is at the heart of the challenge social media presents to busi-nesses. As well as giving anyone the power to widely disseminate commercially sensitive information, social networks give the same power to spread false information, which can be just as damaging.
social mEdia & risk
BlEnding Work and pErsonal livEs inCrEasEs risks
The next generation of workers are increasing the security challenges facing CIos because they are mobile and mix work and private lives throughout the day, according to research from Cisco.
Two reports from Cisco reveal the challenges facing businesses and individuals attempting to remain secure from cyber threats in europe today.
“findings from two global studies provide a vivid picture of the rising security challenges that businesses, IT departments and individuals face, particularly as employees become more mobile and blend work and personal lives throughout their waking hours,” says Cisco.
The findings from Cisco’s 2013 Annual Security Report reveal that, rather than shady online activity – such as visiting pornography, pharmaceutical or gambling sites – the highest concen-tration of online security threats reside on mass audience sites such as major search engines, retail sites and social media outlets.
It reveals that online shopping sites are 21 times more likely – and search engines 27 times more likely – to deliver malicious content than a counterfeit software site. It also reveals that online advertisements are 182 times more likely to deliver malicious content than pornography.
“There is no way organisaTions can hold back The flow of social media, so iT is beTTer To manage iT”david cripps, invesTec
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european news
editor’s comment
social media: a security cHallenge
misuse of social media could
wreak Havoc, warns wef
cloud, Hana and mobile drive
growtH for sap
software-defined networking
adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
social mEdia & risk
media; they need to accept it is not going away and, if they allow it, they need to moni-tor for immoral, illegal, offensive content and be able to stop it immediately if it occurs,” he told attendees of Gartner’s Security & Risk Management Summit 2012 in London.
companies that recognise the value and threat of social media have demonstrated that success is achieved through empower-ing staff to undertake social media on behalf of the organisation in line with a comprehen-sive policy, backed up with continual training.
companies should recognise that analys-ing information in social conversations can produce intelligence to improve security pro-cesses and enhance performance, according to Gartner analyst Andrew Walls.
“Analysis of public conversations can iden-tify imminent, credible threats of physical or logical attack,” he wrote in a 2012 Gartner paper entitled Security Tools for Control of Social Media.
Wall cautioned against attempts to block access to external social media because they have proved ineffective at controlling risks and can impede the development of enter-prise social media initiatives.
“Unfortunately, organisations that block access to social media rarely analyse social content for security intelligence and remain ignorant of the risk and potential of social media,” he says. n
director for customer services.BT has created its own software to trawl
social media services for references to the company, he told cios and iT leaders at computer Weekly’s 500 club in 2012.
The results enable BT to respond quickly to complaints and queries. The technology is paying for itself by helping BT retain custom-ers who would otherwise have defected to rivals, says Buckley.
BT is harnessing the power of social media in other ways. During the London riots, for example, BT turned to social media to help ease the strain on the 999 emergency line.
“We tweeted, ‘only call 999 in an emer-gency,’ and in 15 minutes we were back to answering calls in three seconds and the number of calls dropped off,” says Buckley.
Like BT, investment bank investec has tech-nology to measure sentiment on the internet by picking up any mentions of the bank in social media, mainly for marketing purposes.
however, it forms part of the bank’s strat-egy to reduce the risk of social media becom-ing an insider threat to information security.
The other technology piece is a granular firewall to limit social media activities based on the user’s role in the organisation.
How to manage social media with policies and technologyThe most important element of investec’s social media security strategy is awareness of its policies designed to ensure regulatory compliance and to prevent commercially sensitive information leaking.
The bank’s social media policy comprises just 10 bullet points that make clear to staff what their obligations are every time they publish something online.
“There is no way organisations can hold back the flow of social media, so it is better to put policies and technologies in place to manage it,” says David cripps, information security officer at investec.
“organisations need to understand social Warwick Ashford is the security editor of Computer Weekly
CW500: Managing soCial MEdia
Click here to read a summary of the discussion at this CW500 event, watch video interviews with the speakers and download a copy of their presentation slides.
“analysis of public conversaTions can idenTify imminenT, credible ThreaTs of aTTack”andrew walls, garTner
Misuse of social media could wreak havoc, warns World Economic Forum
Misinformation has the potential to spark panic share-selling or even evacuations, the World Economic
Forum (WEF) claimed in its analysis of the most serious risks facing the global economy, published in the run-up to its meeting in Davos in January.
The rapid spread of false information – “digital wildfires” – is one of a series of newly emerging risks identified by the WEF in its Global Risks 2013 report, which surveyed 1,000 experts and business leaders.
“An analogy here is shouting ‘Fire!’ in a crowded movie theatre. You might be able to correct that in a couple of minutes by saying, ‘There isn’t a fire,’ but, in that couple of minutes, maybe a couple of people got trampled,” says John Drzik, chief executive officer of oliver Wyman Group, and one of the report’s editors.
Social media and digital wildfiresThe WEF report warned that the risks of false information spreading were increasing as the use of social media accelerates. More than 500 million people have signed up to Twitter and one billion to Facebook in less than a decade.
There have been several incidents over the past 12 months where false information transmitted on the internet or by text mes-sage has had serious consequences, accord-ing to the report.
in india, 30,000 people fled the technol-ogy centre in Bangalore in panic after they received false information through text mes-sages that they were at risk of attack.
in a second example in the Us, the nasdaq halted trading in Google shares after a leaked report triggered a $22bn plunge in Google’s market capitalisation.
The rapid dissemination of false information through social media could throw businesses, global markets and society into chaos. Bill Goodwin reports
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Home
european news
editor’s comment
social media: a security cHallenge
misuse of social media could
wreak Havoc, warns wef
cloud, Hana and mobile drive
growtH for sap
software-defined networking
adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
Addressing global risksAlthough policing the internet is impracti-cal, technology could play a role in assess-ing the accuracy of information on social networking websites, the WEF suggests.
For example, researchers are developing software for use in browsers to help people assess the credibility of online information and sources. “certain sites could get reli-ability ratings created by users, much as you have ratings on the internet of movies or restaurants,” says Drzik.
The WEF report identified widening wealth gaps, chronic fiscal imbalance and the failure to adapt to climate change as the three most prevalent risks to the global economy over the next 10 years.
“These global risks are essentially a health warning regarding our most critical systems. national resilience to global risks needs to be a priority so that critical systems can func-tion,” says Lee howell, editor of the report.
other emerging risks include the threat of simultaneous economic and environmental
shocks and viruses and bacteria developing immunity to antibiotics.
More unusual threats identified by the WEF include runaway climate change, the risks of geo-engineering running out of con-trol and the discovery of alien life. n
information managEmEnt
“cerTain siTes could geT reliabiliTy raTings creaTed by users, much as you have raTings on The inTerneT of movies or resTauranTs” John drzik,
oliver wyman group
soCial Efforts Will fail to dElivEr for 80% of BusinEssEs
Inadequate leadership and an overemphasis on technology will cause 80% of enterprise social strategies to fail to provide the benefits they intended over the next two years, according to analyst company Gartner.
Gartner says this is because, unlike traditional enterprise application implementations such as erp, staff cannot be forced to harness social media.
Carol rozwell, analyst at Gartner, says businesses need to understand this difference: “Traditional technology roll-outs, such as enterprise resource planning (erp) or customer rela-tionship management (Crm), followed a push paradigm.
“Workers were trained on an app and were then expected to use it. In contrast, social initia-tives require a pull approach, one that engages workers and offers them a significantly better way to work.
“In most cases, they can’t be forced to use social apps, they must opt in.”The executives responsible for social media strategies should not just be responsible for
choosing the technology, but should focus on how social media can help improve how people work and understand how people work, who they work with and what their needs are.
“There is too much focus on content and technology and not enough focus on leadership and relationships,” says rozwell.
“Leaders need to develop a social business strategy that makes sense for the organisation and tackle the tough organisational change work head-on and early.”
Gartner says that, by 2016, 50% of large organisations will have internal facebook-like social networks. The analyst house says 30% of these will be considered as essential as email and telephones are today.
It added that, in 2017, most new user-facing applications will have a mix of gamification, social and mobile fusion.
Bill Goodwin is the premium content editor of Computer Weekly
CW Europe March 2013 9
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european news
editor’s comment
social media: a security cHallenge
misuse of social media could
wreak Havoc, warns wef
cloud, Hana and mobile drive
growtH for sap
software-defined networking
adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
BusinEss applications
SAP European boss Franck cohen says that, while the company showed a weakened operating margin in 2012, the loss in profitability was but a short-term price to pay for longer term growth in Europe. The company’s preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended 31 December 2012 show that it made an operat-
ing profit of €4.06bn on €16.22bn sales in 2012. This margin of 25% contrasts with a 34.3% margin in 2011, down 9.3 points on the previous year.
The company’s software revenue for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) region was €937m in 2012, compared with €865m in 2011, showing an increase of 8%. Total soft-ware revenue was €4.66bn, of which hana sales comprised €392m, around 8%. The com-pany’s relatively new and emerging areas – hana, cloud, and mobile – accounted for sales of €1.46bn, representing 31% of its software sales and 9% of sAP’s overall revenue.
“hana is a significant part of our revenue, but it is an even more significant part of our
Cloud, Hana and mobile drive European growth for SAPSAP’s 2012 results foreshadow solid growth prospects for the company’s European business, says EMEA president Franck Cohen. Brian McKenna reports
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social media: a security cHallenge
misuse of social media could
wreak Havoc, warns wef
cloud, Hana and mobile drive
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software-defined networking
adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
BusinEss applications
growth,” says cohen. “it is a growth engine for us in Europe. There are so many situations where real time can make a difference.
“customers are looking to do new things with Business suite on hana.” he cites Faurecia, an automotive supplier that uses hana to reduce the inventory it needs to hold to supply parts on a short lead time.
“The most data-intensive sectors will have the most to gain from hana, retail, banking and telecoms,” cohen says.
he confirms that sAP in Europe signed up 3,700 new names in 2012, 500 of them report-ing over €1bn in annual revenues. “There is a higher cost of sales to gain those new customers. But they will be with us for 20 years,” he says.
cloud investment, too, is making an impact on short-term profitability, but cohen insists the increase in market share is similarly important for sAP’s future.
Preparation for cloud futureAs for what sAP is doing to make it more attrac-tive for existing customers to migrate from on-premise to the cloud, he says: “We are offering to technically manage the transition.” And the firm is offering the capability to use on-premise and cloud in a modular fashion.
For example, you can still get the benefit of the Ariba procurement network as a subscriber to sAP on-premise. “The same goes for successFactors. You could just take talent management from the cloud. We try to be as non-disruptive as possible,” says cohen.
The company’s growth in EMEA (12%) lagged behind the Americas (24%) and Asia-Pacific (20%). cohen puts this down to Asian dynamism and the Us having a booming cloud mar-ket. he expects the Uk, scandinavia and the netherlands to adopt cloud more quickly than the rest of the continent.
“But it will come. it is like the pattern of mobile penetration, north to south in the 1990s. cloud is a necessity due to economic factors. The licensing model will move from perpetual to on-demand,” he concludes. n
“cloud is a necessiTy due To economic facTors. The licensing model will move from perpeTual To on-demand”
Brian McKenna is the business applications editor of Computer Weekly
don’t MakE Big data stand alonE, Warns gartnEr
Gartner is warning organisations against treating big data as a unique species. The analyst com-pany also sees risk in neglecting what is special about mobile as against desktop computing and says there are genuine chances for businesses to convert their data into cash.
Gartner analyst Ted friedman advises european organisations: “Do not make your big data implementations siloed. make them part of the overall strategy for business intelligence.”
Gartner says: “While IT organisations conduct trials over the next few years – especially with hadoop-enabled database management system (DBms) products and appliances – applica-tion providers will go one step further and embed purpose-built, hadoop-based analysis func-tions in packaged applications. The trend is most noticeable so far with cloud-based packaged application offerings.”
friedman says: “Link to stuff you are already doing. Don’t make big data a standalone thing. And don’t feel that you’ve got to go out and buy a whole new technology stack.”
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misuse of social media could
wreak Havoc, warns wef
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growtH for sap
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adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
nEtworks
Software-defined networking (sDn) may be the talk of silicon Valley but very few businesses are looking to deploy the technology on this side of the Atlantic. The annual iT priorities survey from TechTarget and computer Weekly show just 9.2% of the European respondents are planning to implement sDn during 2013,
with most focusing their networking budgets elsewhere.instead, many European businesses are looking to invest in network management
(35%); mobile device management for bring your own device (BYoD) schemes (31%); and remote access/branch office connectivity (28%).
sDn is a substantial issue for networking companies across the globe at present. Millions of dollars is being spent on the research and development of the technology that will enable network controls to be brought under single management, rather than spread over several hardware consoles.
There have been a number of high-profile sDn acquisitions by companies as large as VMware and Brocade recently, demonstrating a strong commitment to the technology. But, as computer Weekly’s research shows, this has yet to translate into sales.
“sDn is still at an early stage and it has not yet been well messaged by the suppliers,” says clive Longbottom, founder of analyst firm Quocirca. “They seem to like the idea, but haven’t got across to their target audience what sDn can do for them.”
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Software-defined networking adoption stalls in EuropeA Computer Weekly survey finds less than 10% of companies plan to deploy software-defined networking. Jennifer Scott reports on the stalled technology
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but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
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Territory fearsLongbottom says there is an “in-built fear” about standardising technology from network-ing administrators.
“if a network professional does start to look at sDn, it takes them well out of their comfort zone,” says Longbottom.
“At the moment, if there is a network problem, the network professional gets to be the hero of the hour, using strange incantations, tools and even a soldering iron every now and again to get things going again.
“if everything is abstracted from the network equipment to software run on a standard server, then this is iT – it is not networking.
“it is not so long ago the network professional saw the telephony team absorbed into the network team as telephony moved from a complex TDM system to being VoiP. now, the network professional can see how they could be absorbed into the main iT group, with networking becoming just a physical layer with few domain skills required.”
suppliers need to show networking managers the business benefits, rather than the technological elements, to show there is a place for everyone and an improvement to be made to operations.
“They need to make sure the network professional is included in the promise – that by abstracting the network functionality from the physical layer, a more complete platform can be implemented that is far more flexible and dynamic in how it will support the busi-ness; but also to make sure this still requires network skills, such as the use of priority routing, of good network design,” Longbottom says.
“A network fit for purpose can deal with massive amounts of mixed data and can respond to business needs. it still requires network skills – it’s just that these skills must move from being focused on the network box to the network control and management plane – and this will become software-based.”
As Longbottom concludes, suppliers’ investment in sDn is big and hints that the tech-nology will eventually become integral to companies’ infrastructure.
“With all the main network suppliers bought in to it, all new equipment will have some form of sDn built in to it and will have management systems that are predicated on sDn,” Longbottom says.
“so, even if the network professionals fight sDn – or hide their heads in the sand – it will still be there. Far better to gen up on it as fast as possible and be able to advise on its best use and possibilities, rather than try to pretend it isn’t there.” n
Jennifer Scott is the networking editor of Computer Weekly
MoBilE phonE salEs fall in 2012
The number of mobile phones sold in 2012 fell by 1.7% compared with the previous year, claims a research study from Gartner, making it the first year since 2009 that mobile phone shipments have dropped.
sales across the globe came close to 1.75 billion, compared with more than 1.77 billion in 2011, with the decline in feature phone shipments – down 19.3% in the fourth quarter year-on-year – playing a large part.
however, smartphone sales managed to boost the figures, with the fourth quarter of 2012 recording record shipments of 207.7 million handsets, up 38.3% year on year.
samsung and Apple continued to rule the roost when it came to market share for smartphones – taking first and second place respectively, and responsible for 52% of all sales – but for the first time, huawei took the third spot, having shipped 27.2 million smartphones in 2012, up by 73.8% on 2011’s figure.
CW Europe March 2013 13
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european news
editor’s comment
social media: a security cHallenge
misuse of social media could
wreak Havoc, warns wef
cloud, Hana and mobile drive
growtH for sap
software-defined networking
adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
storagE
F lash storage is now used in most organisations, with 60% reporting a flash solid-state drive (ssD) tier in their storage infrastructures, according to an exclusive TechTarget survey.
The survey found 53% of respondents have tiered storage in place, 60% of whom used flash as an ssD tier 0. That figure has more than tripled from 17% in 2009.
The survey also asked, for the first time, where organisations implement the ssD tier. This is a common question for iT managers. The choices available are to put flash in the server in Pcie card format; install it in a discrete all-flash array; or incorporate it into an existing array with spinning disk or a purpose-built hDD/ssD array.
Flash SSD tierThe option of integrating flash into an existing spinning disk or purpose-built hDD/ssD array proved the most popular choice among respondents, with 67% reporting they had introduced an ssD tier alongside spinning disk.
Given that the market for purpose-built hybrid flash arrays is quite immature, that
Flash storage in common use but location divides opinionFlash storage is now mainstream as 60% use an SSD tier, but where to put it – in the server, array or appliance – remains a dilemma, writes Antony Adshead
The performance benefits of incorporating flash into an existing array with spinning disk are limited, as existing storage array backplanes and controller
architectures are not designed for the speeds of flash
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adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
storagE
probably means they have installed flash into existing storage arrays. That in turn probably means it is something of a stop-gap measure.
There are performance benefits, but these are likely to be limited as existing storage array backplanes and controller architectures are not designed for the speeds of flash.
Server-based flashThe second most popular location for flash was in the server, cited by 33% of respondents.
The advantages of this approach are that flash is located close to the server that requires the data, rather than at the other end of the storage network. in some cases flash can reduce latency even further by operating as server memory.
Disadvantages include the fact that server flash can become siloed in a server, which raises potential data protection issues, although this is changing with the development of ways to share server flash.
All-flash arrayThe third most popular location for an ssD tier was in a dedicated all-flash array, cited by 20% of those surveyed.
These have become a significant choice for users that want guaranteed performance from their flash, but products are only available from start-ups currently, though a shakeout in the market is likely to take place.
Most users now use automated storage tiering functionality to move data between tiers. More than half (54%) do this, which is slightly more than double the number that did in a similar survey in 2011.
The most common spinning disk drive type, according to respondents, was 15,000rpm sAs (40%), with 15,000rpm fibre channel the second most popular (20%). n
mosT users now use auTomaTed sTorage Tiering funcTionaliTy To move daTa beTween Tiers
Antony Adshead is the storage editor of Computer Weekly
disastEr rECovEry and virtual sErvEr BaCkup in 2013
Disaster recovery and backup for virtual servers are the two most pressing tasks in storage and backup for uk IT departments this year, according to the results of the 2013 Computer Weekly/TechTarget IT priorities survey.
of some 400 uk IT professionals questioned, 44% said disaster recovery and business conti-nuity was the key backup and storage project in 2013, while 41.5% cited virtual server backup as a top priority.
Those percentages are a slight increase on the same survey a year ago, when 39% ticked those options.
The third most pressing storage and backup project in 2013 is storage virtualisation, indicated by 36% of those questioned.
In fourth place is data reduction for primary storage (29%), in fifth is data deduplication for backup (27%) and sixth is storage for virtual desktops (19.5%).
Implementation of cloud backup will be carried out by 18.5% of respondents this year, while installing solid state storage will be a key task this year for 18% of those questioned. Cloud stor-age will be implemented by 16%.
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social media: a security cHallenge
misuse of social media could
wreak Havoc, warns wef
cloud, Hana and mobile drive
growtH for sap
software-defined networking
adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
datacEntrE hardwarE
Only 21% of European datacentre managers have acted to address the European commission (Ec) 20-20-20 Renewable Energy directive and almost
half of all European datacentre professionals (43%) are unaware of the energy efficiency tar-gets, according to a research report from Emer-son network Power.
The Ec set out a directive in 2007 to ensure EU countries meet ambitious climate and energy targets by 2020.
These targets, known as the “20-20-20” tar-gets, set three key objectives for datacentres to achieve by 2020: a 20% reduction in EU green-house gas emissions from 1990 levels; increasing
Thin
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Datacentre managers fail to act on EC energy targetsEC targets to drive datacentre energy efficiencies have failed to make much impact on facility managers. Archana Venkatraman finds out why
“despiTe The deadline sTill being eighT years away, iT professionals have To acT now”emiliano cevenini
emerson neTwork
power
CW Europe March 2013 16
Home
european news
editor’s comment
social media: a security cHallenge
misuse of social media could
wreak Havoc, warns wef
cloud, Hana and mobile drive
growtH for sap
software-defined networking
adoption stalls
flasH storage in common use –
but wHere?
datacentre managers fail
to act on energy targets
datacEntrE hardwarE
the use of renewable energy sources to 20%; and improving energy efficiency in EU countries by 20%. The targets are intended to transform Europe into a highly efficient, low-carbon economy.
“The EU 20-20-20 directive is going to have a lasting impact on datacentres, and despite the deadline still being eight years away, iT professionals have to act now,” warns Emiliano cevenini, European vice-president of power sales at Emerson network Power.
While some respondents said they were aware of the targets, 36% admitted they had done nothing to their datacentres to meet them. And only 10% of these said they plan to take any action in the next three years.
The study of nearly 400 European iT professionals found only 57% of those aware of the Ec targets had procured more energy-efficient iT equipment.
of iT executives familiar with the requirements of the EU legislation, as many as 63% said they are concerned about the effect of the directive on their datacentre operations.
Almost three-quarters (72%) said energy efficiency is one of the most important cri-teria when purchasing datacentre products. But this was more usually done to save on power costs or because it was part of their company’s own green initiatives, rather than to meet the Ec targets.
Code of conductThe Ec has released a voluntary Code of Conduct on Data Centres Energy Efficiency to help datacentre professionals meet the 20-20-20 targets.
The document focuses on datacentres because the electricity consumed in these facilities contributes substantially to the electricity consumed in the EU’s overall com-mercial sector. For instance, in 2012, global power requirements grew 63% to 38GW from 24GW in 2011.
An ovum report found datacentre energy efficiency will be iT’s top priority for 2013. it is hard to determine which lever is pushing the energy efficiency agenda harder in organ-isations, rising costs or corporate responsibility. But alignment with the Ec 20-20-20 directive is forcing businesses to take a stance on energy consumption and environmen-tal responsibilities, cevenini says.
While having a green datacentre is part of many European businesses’ iT strategy, the Emerson study found hesitation among some iT professionals in moving to alternative energy sources to run their datacentres. cost implications (48%) and complexity (38%) were cited as the main barriers. n
Brits stash £24Bn digital assEts in thE Cloud
Britons may be storing treasured memories worth about £24bn in the form of photos, music tracks and video files in cloud computing platforms, along with sensitive data such as pass-words, research shows.
some 68% of respondents to the Generation Cloud 2012 study stored an average of 920 pho-tos, 226 music tracks and 45 video files in the cloud. The research was conducted by onepoll on behalf of open cloud provider rackspace.
The study of more than 2,000 uk adults shows that, on average, people spend three hours each day using cloud services – an increase of 45 minutes per day from 2011.
Any application or platform that provides computing power as a service is considered a cloud computing service. email services such as Gmail and social media sites such as facebook, youTube and Twitter are all cloud-based services as they allow users to upload, store and access personal files on the provider’s servers using an internet connection.
Archana Venkatraman is the datacentre editor of Computer Weekly
