Tuesday, October 18th, 2016

Time	Event
12:00p	Creating a Culture of Information Security Phil Bindley is CTO at The Bunker. In today’s sensitive security landscape data protection must be a top priority for every organization. An information security culture is particularly important, especially with the arrival of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as encryption technology, firewalls and other tactics can only go so far to protect an organization’s data. The GDPR is designed to better protect citizens’ data and harmonize legislation across Europe. The regulation brings a number of new guidelines for organizations in relation to Personally Identifiable Information (PII). This means organizations must take security, compliance and good governance seriously. But how can organizations ensure that a cultural appreciation of good security hygiene is ingrained within their business? Change the Business Mindset Many businesses view information security as a function of information technology, rather than a function of business. This mindset needs to change. Organizations need to start thinking about information security as an element that enables businesses, facilitating increased competitive advantage that allows them to manage risk and protect all of the dollars that have been spent on creating a brand. This is the first step in securing a business and ensuring compliance with the GDPR. Disciplined Security Procedures The next element is for businesses to introduce sound security procedures within their business by ensuring that all staff look at everything through a lens of data security. It’s vital to have a clear view of everything that could possibly impact security. Everyone within the business needs to think about what they do day-to-day to make sure they behave in a way that is beneficial to the company as a whole and does not put security or compliance in jeopardy. Security First Ethos A culture of information security is really about a set of behaviors everyone in the business needs to buy into. Information security professionals have a huge part to play when it comes to cultivating this security first ethos. IT leaders need to speak the language of the boardroom so that they can explain the benefits of behaving in a secure way. Non-executive directors need a firm grasp on the security hygiene of their company and the potential risks posed, as they are the ones who are accountable. Pick a Trusted Partner Organizations must do their due diligence when selecting a supplier. It’s critical that businesses get a handle of where their data is, how it is stored and who has access to it. Under the GDPR and with the introduction of the Data Protection Officer (DPO), supply chains are going to be tested to make sure data is being handled in the correct way. Picking a trusted partner will bring major benefits as businesses can actually gain a serious competitive advantage by working with a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) that values security. Protecting a business comes down to having the right people, processes, technology and most importantly culture in place. By embracing a culture of information security, organizations will be more competitive, can manage risk, protect their brand, and innovate in a controlled way. Security can no longer sit in the background, instead it needs to be an issue that is at the forefront of a business’s operations and culture. Industry Perspectives is a content channel at Data Center Knowledge highlighting thought leadership in the data center arena. See our guidelines and submission process for information on participating. View previously published Industry Perspectives in our Knowledge Library. (Comment on this)
5:41p	OCP Accepts Facebook’s 100G Data Center Switch Wedge 100, the network switch that enables 100 Gigabit Ethernet networking at Facebook data centers, has been accepted by the Open Compute Project, the open source data center and hardware design organization started by the social network. Having an official OPC specification for the switch will help 100G data center technology evolve faster and enable others to deploy it in their data centers, Facebook engineers who designed Wedge 100 hope. “As the demands on our data centers keep growing, we are continuously pursuing ways to handle data more efficiently and at ever-faster speeds,” they wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “Our strategy is to build 100G data centers, and Wedge 100, our second generation top-of-rack network switch, is one of the key components helping us achieve that goal.” Big data center operators and vendors that have adapted and contributed to the development of OCP server hardware include Microsoft, Rackspace, and Quanta, among others, and the expectation is that networking hardware will follow suit. The biggest network gear vendors, such as Cisco, Dell Technologies, and Juniper Networks, sell 100G data center switches, but having access to an open spec means other vendors or large data center operators will be able to source the technology directly from design manufacturers – such as Quanta and Wywinn – and modify the design to fit their specific needs. See also: LinkedIn Designs Own 100G Data Center Switch Wedge 100 switches run in Facebook data centers alongside previous-generation 40G Wedge 40 switches. Making the two compatible was a major design goal. Both also run the same software, Facebook’s home-baked open source networking stack called FBOSS. One of the key hardware upgrades in Wedge 100 is better serviceability, since the company has thousands of them deployed in its data centers and only a few technicians. Those technicians no longer have to use tools to remove the top cover to get inside the unit. They can also now remove fan trays on the fly by pressing on a clip and removing a thumb screw. See also: Guide to Facebook’s Open Source Data Center Hardware A special focus was placed on Wedge 100’s thermal design. The engineers used optics that will not let case temperature go higher than 55C, as opposed to 70C, which is the standard temperature limit in commercial products. They also added another fan tray and more airflow optimization. The spec is for industry-standard 19-inch data center racks. Facebook designed an adaptor for making it compatible with its 21-inch Open Rack standard. Read more: With its 100-Gig Switch, Facebook Sees Disaggregation in Action (Comment on this)
9:32p	What Dell-EMC Merger Will Mean for Channel Partners By The VAR Guy The first Global Partner Summit at Dell EMC World kicked off on Tuesday with a keynote from John Byrne, President of Global Channels. In front of an audience of nearly 1,500, Byrne outlined the details of the newly combined channel program for Dell Technologies Dell Technologies, which is the result of the $67 billion merger of Dell and EMC finalized in early September, is now the largest privately owned IT organization on the planet. The company drives $74 billion in combined revenues and dedicates $4.5 billion of that to research and development. To put this number in perspective, Byrne said it’s almost double the R&D investments of IBM and HPE. Dell Technology now leads over 20 of Gartner’s Magic Quadrants, including converged infrastructure, server virtualization and all-flash, and has now surpassed HP in worldwide server shipments. Over 60 percent of EMC’s revenue and more than 40 percent of Dell’s is driven through the channel, for a total of $35 billion. “The PC market is not dead,” said Byrne. “That’s nonsense.” In contrast to many competitors in the PC market, Dell and EMC combined have shown 15 consecutive quarters of shared growth. See also: Dell Technologies to Cut at Least 2,000 Jobs After EMC Deal Dell EMC Partner Program It’s been six weeks since the merger was finalized, and during that short time, Byrne and his team have made some impressive progress in the newly combined program. Beyond the fast-tracking of partners from each entity into the program, Dell Technologies has implemented the Dell EMC Line of Business Incumbency Program for Storage, effective as of this past Saturday. The program enables channel partners to protect their investments with their installed base as well as expand to serve new customers interested in the full Dell EMC portfolio. Any partner who has worked with a customer over the last three years, Byrne says, gets to keep them. “The new Dell EMC Partner Program will bring together two great programs into one extraordinary program that enables our partners to leverage our industry-leading portfolio and accelerate their business quickly,” Byrne said in a statement. “Our partners wanted a program without unknowns, and this program provides that transparency while ensuring predictability and profitability. The opportunities to win big with this program and with Dell EMC are extraordinary. Our goal is to excite and delight this amazing and powerful partner community.” See also: Why Michael Dell is Smiling The new program has three tiers, and partners will have six months to meet the new criteria: Gold, Platinum and Titanium. In addition, an exclusive differentiation called Titanium Black is available for top-performing partners. Byrne said Dell Technologies built the program around three main characteristics: simplicity, predictability and profitability. Simple – Byrne’s team has been tasked with creating a single partner portal and single deal registration program by February 1 (though he was sure to say that date is a target, not a guarantee). The program will adopt EMC’s training platform and provide single suspend MDF dollars for partners. Predictable – In addition to the LOB incumbency, Byrne told the audience that new criteria, tiers and tracks based on partner feedback will be developed by early December. Programs will run for an entire year instead of changing quarterly, and more realistic market targets will be implemented. Byrne stressed that there will be a zero tolerance policy when it comes to deal registration violations, pointing out that before, Dell’s inside sales reps received the same compensation and commission whether they sold direct or through the channel. “We have your back,” Byrne said. “We will protect you.” Profitable – By December, the new program will roll out initiatives around six areas of focus: Revenue/share of wallet, multiple LOB, services, new business incentives, MDF and exclusivity. ”Be all in with us,” Byrne says, “and you get rewards.” This first ran at http://thevarguy.com/information-technology-channel-partner-programs/breaking-news-details-dell-emc-partner-program-annou (Comment on this)
9:46p	IBM Fails to Sway Investors Even as Positive Signs Appear (Bloomberg) — IBM came the closest in more than four years to reporting quarterly revenue growth on Monday, a sign that Big Blue may finally be about to turn its business around. Yet investors are reacting negatively, sending the shares down as much as 4.5 percent Tuesday. The problem may be declining profits and continued skepticism that seemingly positive signs — growth in some businesses and top- and bottom-line numbers that were better than analysts’ estimates — don’t paint an accurate picture of the fundamental health of International Business Machines Corp. IBM was the biggest decliner on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and posted its biggest intraday fall since June. The shares were down 4.3 percent to $148.10 at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday in New York. While operating gross profit margins narrowed for the fourth consecutive quarter, the company reported earnings per share that were better than projected, buoyed by larger than expected income from intellectual property. Meanwhile, acquisitions helped revenue in the quarter by 2 percentage points, highlighting how much of IBM’s growth is boosted by inorganic sources. “Based on the questions around the IP income, it sounded like certain analysts thought the IP payment was one-time which may have contributed to them beating earnings and the pressure on the stock,” Anurag Rana, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said in an interview. “Margins were below estimates, but they beat by 6 cents, so where is that beat coming from?” One-time profit boosts would mean that earnings coming from the core businesses are weak. Similarly, some analysts have expressed concern that growth — especially in software — may be stagnating and masked by a quicker acquisition pace in the last couple of years. See also: Cloud by the Megawatt: Inside IBM’s Cloud Data Center Strategy Subscription Revenue IBM Chief Financial Officer Martin Schroeter has said that margins will be pressured in the near term as the company shifts its sales to more subscription-based software and cloud services, but has yet to offer any guidance on when they might recover. He also said Monday that the bulk of the business added from the pay-as-you-go subscription model was organic. While software revenue received some help from acquisitions, he didn’t specify how much. As for the intellectual property question, “we’re more successful in monetizing our software through IP income,” Schroeter said on a conference call with analysts, explaining that IBM doesn’t see it as a one-time boost. “We see an opportunity over the next few years to continue doing this.” Since Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty took the top post in 2012, investors and analysts have been waiting for what some call the “inflection point,” where the growth in and size of newer businesses exceed the declines in the older ones. Returning to revenue growth would be an indicator that IBM has reached this point, and the Armonk, New York-based company reported only a 0.3 percent decline in sales in the third quarter. That’s why Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Securities Inc., was surprised by the negative stock reaction. “The numbers were pretty good,” Morgan said. “They even showed positive growth in the different segments, which I wasn’t looking for in this quarter.” Synovus holds IBM stock. Plus, declining earnings aren’t necessarily a bad thing while IBM shifts its business, Rana said, pointing out that profit margins at Microsoft Corp. had also taken hits while it worked on moving to selling mainly cloud software and services. “As businesses shift, as models shift, it all comes down to whether these guys have the portfolio of products to grow the business,” he said. “There will be pricing pressure on some of these services, and at the end of the day, if this is leading to potential for these guys to grow in a couple years, that’s not a bad deal.” (Comment on this)

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