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December 2012
MITIGATE the
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Virtualisation
German freight
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How to Cut a
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energy metrics
guauge green IT
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MITIGATE the
security risks of
Virtualisation
German freight
firm virtualises
data storage
How to Cut a
deal for your
outsourcing
datacentre
energy metrics
guauge green IT
The CIOs in Europe
driving big data
analytics
southern Europe
Mobile revenues
plummet
Virtualisation: In
pursuit of efficiency
Kayleigh Bateman
Editor of CW Europe
Special projects editor for Computer Weekly
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Editor, CW Europe; Special projects editor,
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Virtualisation security
european
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MITIGATE the
security risks of
Virtualisation
Home
German freight
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outsourcing
datacentre
energy metrics
guauge green IT
The CIOs in Europe
driving big data
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Mobile revenues
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equipment hard-wired into carefully controlled physical networks. Instead, they are
complex software instances running on top
of virtual networks and connecting to
increasingly virtualised storage layers, and
data protection must change accordingly.
So what should information security professionals do to ensure their organisations
virtual environments are secure as well as
cost efficient? The Information Security
Forum (ISF) has worked with its members to
identify key responses that have been
included in a standard of good practice for
securing virtual environments.
CW Europe December 2012 4
Virtualisation security
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MITIGATE the
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Virtualisation
German freight
firm virtualises
data storage
How to Cut a
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outsourcing
datacentre
energy metrics
guauge green IT
The CIOs in Europe
driving big data
analytics
southern Europe
Mobile revenues
plummet
Consider compliance
physical separation? Such requirements may necessitate multiple virtualised environments with
physical firewall (or air-gapped) separation.
n Identify the resources that the service requires to function. Think in terms of network access,
compute resource and storage rather than servers and network segments.
n Identify the different types of users that require access to the service, for example external
users, internal users or trusted partners.
n Group the identified resources into zones (security domains) based on the characteristics of
the data, user communities and access requirements.
n Conduct a risk assessment. Identify the risks that need to be managed per zone.
n Base the security controls around these zones; controlling and monitoring the activities within
each zone and, more importantly, controlling and monitoring the interactions across each zone.
CW Europe December 2012 5
Virtualisation security
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MITIGATE the
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Virtualisation
German freight
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How to Cut a
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outsourcing
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energy metrics
guauge green IT
The CIOs in Europe
driving big data
analytics
southern Europe
Mobile revenues
plummet
In a virtualised
server environment
you are limited to
the firewalling and
monitoring tools
that the virtualised
management
infrastructure can
support unless you can
afford the expense of
physical firewalls and
multiple virtualised
server farms
ISF recommendations
n Segregate virtual servers according to the confidentiality requirements of data they process.
n Separate virtual servers to prevent data being transferred between discrete environments.
n Restrict access to a limited number of authorised individuals (eg hypervisor administrators)
capable of creating virtual servers and making changes to them correctly and securely.
n Encrypt communications between virtual servers (eg using Secure Sockets Layer or IPSec).
n Segregate the roles of hypervisor administrators (for multiple virtual servers).
CW Europe December 2012 6
case study
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case study
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Cost recovery
Outsourcing
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MITIGATE the
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Virtualisation
German freight
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guauge green IT
The CIOs in Europe
driving big data
analytics
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Mobile revenues
plummet
Steve Tuppen, director at sourcing advisory ISG, says the companys tax and price index
(TPI) shows that renegotiations across all types of outsourcing contracts are on the rise.
As a proportion of total outsourcing contracts awarded, they are at a 10-year high, at 33%,
and the first quarter of 2012 revealed an even higher figure of 44%, says Tuppen.
In the first half of 2012, restructured contracts worth 20m or more made up 15% of
total IT outsourcing contracts, he adds: IT outsourcing contracts are simply a projection of
future requirements and renegotiations are now seen as a normal adjustment to changing
business conditions.
Many businesses today find themselves in ineffective IT outsourcing agreements and
need to change. Kit Burden, head of technology sourcing at law firm DLA Piper, says the
number of contract renegotiations has been high over the past year.
We were doing almost as many renegotiations as new deals last year. It has eased off,
but there are still a lot, says Burden.
He says that, while some of the negotiations are attempts by the client to reduce costs
further, many are driven by a desire to restructure deals that were hurriedly agreed.
The first wave of deals, done in haste during the first stages of the recession, are in
trouble and need to be reworked, says Burden.
As a customers business has constricted during the recession, the pricing regime
hasnt flexed as much as intended and so the deal has become uneconomic.
CW Europe December 2012 9
Outsourcing
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The CIOs in Europe
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Mobile revenues
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Tuppen at ISG says reasons for renegotiating can be broken down into internal or external
factors. The main internal factor is low satisfaction, he says. He cites an ISG survey that
found, on average, companies reported receiving only 72% of the value they anticipated
from outsourcing contracts. Tuppen says deals that lack clearly defined objectives and
structures are most likely to have lower levels of satisfaction.
This is not always the suppliers fault unrealistic client expectations and low client investment in managing the relationship can also lead to contract renegotiation, he
adds. Tuppen also says that contracts are not always renegotiated for negative reasons:
It can also be to increase scope within a successful relationship and can be triggered by
the service provider which has identified an opportunity to introduce innovative practices or technologies that add increased value.
He says external factors that trigger a desire to renegotiate might be a change in business conditions; mergers and acquisitions; new service offers or channels; and the desire
to embrace technologies and processes.
Peter Schumacher, CEO at management consultancy Value Leadership Group, says in
the current economic conditions buyers are primarily aiming to cut costs and improve
the performance of services suppliers. A typical problem is that incumbent suppliers offshore and traditional become complacent over the years. Contracts are often
renegotiated or a second supplier introduced to keep the prime supplier on its toes and
create a wake-up call, he says. Schumacher adds that there is often a problem when IT
services providers interpret agreements differently to customers: Over time, companies
find that these contracts do not properly reflect operational realities and actual capabilities of the business/supplier.
Robert Morgan, director at sourcing consultancy Burnt Oak Partners, says the number
of renegotiations he is dealing with has increased by 50% over the past year. He says
businesses are in a strong negotiating position: It is open season from clients which are
approaching a break or merely because they feel that they can extract a better price from
the market and they can.
Factors driving renegotiations include competitors to the incumbent supplier offering
price cuts which the customer can use to get a better price on the existing deal, says
Morgan. This combined with pressure on procurement teams to reduce costs is even
leading to recently signed contracts being renegotiated. n
This is an edited excerpt. Click here to read the full article online
Karl Flinders is the services editor for Computer Weekly
datacentre hardware
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Virtualisation
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The CIOs in Europe
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Mobile revenues
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datacentre hardware
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MITIGATE the
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Virtualisation
German freight
firm virtualises
data storage
How to Cut a
deal for your
outsourcing
datacentre
energy metrics
guauge green IT
The CIOs in Europe
driving big data
analytics
southern Europe
Mobile revenues
plummet
that comes from green sources. The metric can be calculated on the basis of the green
energy consumed by the datacentre (in kWh kilowatt-hour) divided by total energy
consumed by the datacentre (in kWh).
The second metric ERF will identify the portion of energy that is exported for re-use
outside of the datacentre infrastructure. ERF can
be computed as re-use energy divided by total
energy consumed by the datacentre.
The third datacentre energy efficiency metric
atacentres can
CUE aims to enable an assessment of the total
greenhouse gas emissions of a datacentre relative
ensure energy is
to its IT energy consumption.
used efficiently
It can be calculated as the total carbon dioxide
emission equivalents (CO2eq) from the energy
and intelligently
consumption of the facility divided by the total IT
energy consumption.
Dominic Philips
Although there is more work to do, we think
the new metrics will bring us one step closer to
Datum
a universally adopted set of metrics, indices and
measurement protocols that will have a positive
effect on the industry, says Dickerson.
The three new metrics were selected through discussion, exercise and trial among the
taskforce participants.
The datacentre efficiency taskforce has also launched a memo which provides a framework for users to approach the metrics holistically, ensuring datacentre owners and
operators can assess and improve the performance of their mission-critical facilities.
Taking an environmentally intelligent approach to energy efficiency will be critical to
satisfy the demands of the regulatory authorities, says Dominic Philips, managing director of Datum.
Datacentres cannot easily claim to be green, but what they can do is ensure that
energy is used efficiently and intelligently, he adds.
The taskforce aims to harmonise metrics and measurement protocols for key energyefficiency metrics.
The taskforce will continue collaboration as an ongoing effort to improve datacentre
energy and greenhouse gas emission efficiencies, according to The Green Grid. n
Big data
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Customer understanding
drives big data analytics
A pan-European survey reveals the motivations behind big data analyses lie in
business growth and gaining competitive advantage. Brian McKenna reports
Business growth,
organic or by
acquisition,
emerged as the
main driver in the
growth of data
volumes
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Big data
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The CIOs in Europe
driving big data
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Mobile revenues
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Some 56% of survey respondents expect to spend more on BI and analytics over the
next year. The survey found 43% are keen to spend more on data warehousing and analytical databases.
Nevertheless, a 27% planned increase in big data technologies is noteworthy, given
these are still in the early days of adoption. Some 23% of respondents already have big
data programmes at various stages of development.
Business growth, organic or by acquisition, emerged as the main driver in the growth
of data volumes. Gaining better customer understanding is expressed as the main motivation for big data programmes (50%), and organisations see big data as a way to gain
competitive advantage (48%).
Social media data much discussed in big data
circles is important, say respondents. Some
33% said they were looking to track sentiment
ocial media data
towards their organisations on social networks.
But more important still is machine data, with
much discussed
38% seeking to make better use of sensor and
log data to improve operations.
in big data circles
Although the survey shows that big data is for
is important
real, advanced technologies that pre-date the big
data hype such as data mining and predictive
according to
analytics are still ahead in adoption.
Currently 63% of respondents carry out data
respondents
mining, 62% use predictive analytics, and 48%
use big data analytics.
ome
said
Moreover, the days of relational database techthey were looking
nologies are far from over.
Only 20% of respondents said they find existing
to track sentiment
relational databases and data warehousing to be
inadequate for dealing with new forms of data,
towards their
such as video, images and social media data.
organisations on
Structured data emerges as critical still. Its
importance has not been eclipsed by unstrucsocial networks
tured data, commonly said to comprise 80% of
any organisations data. n
33%
Mobile networking
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odafone has reported a significant downturn in revenues for the first six
months of fiscal year 2012, blaming markets in southern European countries.
Revenues for the Vodafone group were down 7.4% year-on-year to just under
21.8bn. But in southern Europe, revenues for the period dropped 17.5% to
slightly shy of 5.4bn.
Vodafone did not break down all of the countries in this section, but revealed that Spain
and Italy were the worst offenders when it came to service revenues, dropping 19.3%
and 18.1% respectively, compared with 2011.
We have continued to make progress on our strategic priorities over the last six
months, with good growth in data and emerging markets in particular, says Vittorio
Colao, CEO of the Vodafone Group.
In the short term, however, our results reflect tougher market conditions, mainly in
southern Europe. We remain very positive about the longer-term opportunities and our
Vodafone 2015 strategy reflects our confidence in the future.
Key aspects of the Vodafone 2015 plan include a focus on unified communications in
enterprise and growing exposure to emerging markets.
Revenues in northern and central Europe were not so badly affected, but still reported
an overall fall in revenues of 1.5% year-on-year.
When it came to service revenues, the UK tumbled by 2.6%, but Germany reported an
even worse figure, falling 6.5% compared with 2011.
The one positive report Vodafone could celebrate was a 2.4bn dividend from Verizon
Wireless, the US mobile company it holds a 45% stake in. This is due to be paid by the
end of 2012. n
Jennifer Scott is the networking editor of Computer Weekly
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