Thursday, August 24th, 2017

Time	Event
12:00p	Investing in Women Literally Pays Off for Tech Companies Note from the editor: Today we’re launching a series on women in the data center industry and the world of tech in general. The recent scandal that started with the now former Google engineer James Damore’s “memo” on women in tech demonstrates that for all its forward-looking ideals, the tech sector as a whole continues to suffer from severe gender ignorance (to put it mildly), and if you’re a regular DCK reader, chances are you work in the data center industry and know just how few women work in this space. With this series we hope to shine a light on the challenges that resulted in this state of affairs and challenges this state of affairs is creating for the industry and women who contribute the bulk of their waking hours to it. It turns out that investing in women is smarter and more profitable than ever before—especially for technology companies. Several studies have revealed that generally, companies with females in C-level positions and on their boards experienced better performance and profitability than their predominantly male-run counterparts. There’s a Credit Suisse study showing that companies with higher percentages of women in senior management outperformed companies with lower percentages over a five-year period in terms of share price and return on equity (ROE). Another study done by Sodexo found that companies with 40 percent to 60 percent women in management performed better than those with lower percentages of women on key indicators, including brand awareness, client retention, and financial performance. Unfortunately, other studies have also pointed out that corporate America has a long way to go when it comes to gender diversity. See also: The Data Center Industry Has a Problem: Too Many Men After surveying 22,000 firms, Peterson Institute reported that almost 60 percent had no female board members, just over half had no female C-suite executives, and fewer than 5 percent had a female CEO. At the current rate of progress, the institute says it will take 117 years to achieve global gender parity in the workplace. Women and Technology a Profitable Mix Oddly enough, the traditionally male-dominated technology sector is ahead of the pack and stands to gain more from hiring women than any other industry. Morgan Stanley’s recent report revealed that over the five years ended September 2016, highly gender-diverse tech companies returned on average 5.4 percent more annually than the average yearly returns of their peers with less gender diversity. An even more eye-opening statistic from the report is that technology companies also get a bigger bang for their buck than companies in other gender-diversified sectors, which only returned an average 1 to 2 percent more than their less diverse peers. Eva Zlotnicka, lead analyst on the report, concluded: “What is apparent is that tech companies and their investors are missing a big opportunity by not employing more women.” So, clearly this push for gender diversity isn’t about a bunch of leftover feminists from the 1960s trying to make waves. It’s about global professional women’s organizations like Ellevate Network with 34,000 members, who all have points to make. Investing in Women, Literally That’s especially true of Sallie L. Krawcheck,  head of the network, CEO, and co-founder of Ellevest, a digital financial advisor for women launched in 2016. She’s also former CEO of Merrill Lynch and chair for the $146 million Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Fund (NASDAQ:PXWEX). It is the first fund of its kind. “We wanted to prove in real-time, with real money, that companies with more women in leadership can deliver better investment returns,” Krawcheck wrote in a company blog. “We wanted to offer investors the opportunity to invest in these companies, and to benefit from their vision and their success. And guess what? The strategy has been working.” According to Yahoo! Finance, PXWEX has returned 25 percent over one year ending July 30, an average of 11 percent over five years, and even kicks in a 1.5 percent dividend. Five of the fund’s top 10 holdings were IT companies as of June 30: Microsoft, Texas Instruments, Facebook, Salesforce, and Alphabet, the parent company of Google. In total, it invests in 26 IT companies, representing nearly 19 percent of the fund by weight. Others include: KeyCorp, GoDaddy, IBM, Schneider Electric, Cisco, HP Inc., and Symantec. Ninety-nine percent of the companies in the fund have two or more women on their board of directors. Further, 33 percent of board seats and 27 percent of executive management positions are held by women, compared to global averages of 16 percent and 16 percent, respectively. Key Drivers Behind Movement Heather Smith, lead sustainability research analyst for Pax World, told Data Center Knowledge that she believes three things are driving increased diversity in the technology sector: Peer pressure: “As more companies take steps to improve diversity and provide transparency around their efforts, those that fail to act will be missing a significant opportunity, could fall behind competitors, and could face reputational risks. Technology companies wish to be seen as savvy and forward-thinking, not as dinosaurs, so we believe this issue resonates specifically with the tech sector.” The business case: “Forward-thinking companies are increasingly recognizing that diversity and inclusion are integral parts of business strategy.” Investor pressure: “The national conversation around gender diversity is accelerating. Investors are asking for more diversity and are actively engaging with companies on issues ranging from board diversity to pay equity.” In fact, Smith thinks that diversity is imperative for technology companies to not only grow but remain competitive. “Talent recruitment and retention are critical issues for the tech sector – and we believe that companies that are more forward-thinking when it comes to diversity and inclusion will have an advantage.” That’s often easier said than done. Early Education and Role Models While the Morgan Stanley report attributed a lack of women in technology to “hostile workplace culture (or the perception thereof), isolation, long hours, travel, and mysterious career advancement,” it also pointed out other issues involving the ability to attract, hire, and retain females that need to be addressed. One of the most long-standing factors is that fewer women study science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects; and those who do, often exit prematurely. The challenge for us today is to bring awareness to the gender diversity movement and learn from those who’ve succeeded in technology. But this isn’t just about women from Fortune 500 companies at the top of their game, the likes of Safra Catz, co-CEO of Oracle;  HPE CEO Meg Whitman; IBM’s top dog Ginni Rometty; or former Yahoo! chief Marissa Mayer—the four highest-paid CEOs in 2016. This is about women with the skills, passion, perseverance, and patience to own key technology and data center roles, be they CSOs, engineers, designers, consultants, IT and facilities managers, or STEM students at the start of their mostly unpaved career path. Over the next few weeks, DCK will publish a series of articles about and from women in the data center industry, starting with the elite panelists from Data Center World, a leading conference and trade show for IT and facilities professionals produced with participation of AFCOM. The second story in the series is by Carrie Goetz, global director of technology for Paige DataCom, is coming out next week. Be sure to keep it on your radar. (Comment on this)
5:21p	Want Cheaper Google Cloud? Pipe Your Data into GCP via Internet If your application running in Google’s cloud can tolerate lower performance and reliability in exchange for a significant discount on using the infrastructure, you will soon be able to use a lower-cost network tier. Tiered cloud connectivity service is coming to the Google Cloud Platform, offering savings for uses where throughput and latency aren’t crucial, while use cases where those factors are important can leverage the same network Google uses to provide services like Gmail and YouTube. That’s the gist of a new program, Network Service Tiers, that GCP announced this week. The two tiers are: Premium and Standard. At present, the service is in Alpha, so it’s not yet ready for prime time. If you’re already using GCP, you’re running on Premium Tier, which offers peak performance by taking advantage of the giant’s private global fiber network with over 100 access points, or points of presence (POPs). In this tier, all traffic enters and leaves Google’s network at the POP closest to the end user. This means data travels over the public internet for the shortest possible distance, maximizing performance. See also: Google Brings Tech That Made YouTube Faster to Its Cloud Services “Over the last 18 years, we built the world’s largest network, which by some accounts delivers 25-30 percent of all internet traffic,” Urs Hölzle, Google’s senior vice president of technical infrastructure, said in a statement. “You enjoy the same infrastructure with Premium Tier. But for some use cases, you may prefer a cheaper, lower-performance alternative. With Network Service Tiers, you can choose the network that’s right for you, for each application.” Standard Tier cloud connectivity will be cheaper because most data transit will be handled by the public internet, with traffic entering and leaving Google’s network at the customer’s GCP region. In other words, if your user is located in New York but your app is served from the Google cloud data center in Northern Virginia, the user’s requests will go through multiple ISPs to Northern Virginia instead of entering Google’s network at the company’s POP in New York. See also: Google Reveals Its Edge Data Center SDN Google: “Performance, availability and redundancy characteristics of Standard Tier depend on the transit provider(s) carrying your traffic. Your traffic may experience congestion or outages more frequently relative to Premium Tier, but at a level comparable to other major public clouds.” Some network services will also be lower in Standard Tier, such as GCP’s Cloud Load Balancing, because they will be confined to the customer’s region. Premium cloud connectivity users, Google pointed out, should experience not only higher performance, but more dependable service, as the end-to-end transit will take advantage of the redundancy designed into the GCP infrastructure. “There are at least three independent paths between any two locations on the Google network, helping ensure that traffic continues to flow between these two locations even in the event of a disruption. As a result, with Premium Tier, your traffic is unaffected by a single fiber cut. In many situations, traffic can flow to and from your application without interruption even with two simultaneous fiber cuts.” The GCP team been working overtime to build the service’s enterprise customer base. The company has poured billions into building it’s cloud infrastructure into what might be the world’s largest, as well as increasing its capabilities, but remains far behind its biggest rivals as a public cloud provider, commanding only 3 percent of the market, compared to top dog Amazon Web Services’ 41.5 percent and Microsoft Azure’s 29.4 percent. Offering a budget tier with a 24-33 percent reduction in price might help attract new users to the fold. See also: Google Says It’s Closing More Big Enterprise Cloud Deals than Ever Learn about the way Google’s global data center network is built in our Google Data Center FAQ It also might help it get the word out about performance advantages of premium cloud connectivity when compared with its competitors, which would be a given if the claim that its lower performing Standard Tier will offer performance stats similar to AWS and Azure is correct. It’s already working in that direction, by citing performance stats supplied by internet performance monitoring company Cedexis showing Premium throughput to be 1.7x times that of Standard. Again, Network Service Tiers is currently in Alpha stage, with no indication of when it will be made generally available. Until then, pricing for GCP remains unchanged. When the service comes out of beta, Google says that Standard Tier will be “less expensive than internet egress options offered by other major public cloud providers” and that inbound traffic will remain free for both tiers. Premium Tier pricing will then move from being destination-based to being based on both the traffic’s source and destination “since the cost of network traffic varies with the distance your traffic travels over Google’s network.” Pricing for both tiers is already available online. Google is also encouraging users to give Network Service Tiers a spin by signing up for the alpha service. (Comment on this)
5:45p	Why Business Continuity is the Final Word in the ‘Build vs Buy’ Debate Darren Watkins is Managing Director for VIRTUS Data Centres. Industry experts assert that because the manipulation and communication of information is now a core function of most organizations, comprehensive data management strategies are vital. But despite being mission critical, the data center often remains siloed –  a necessary, but not strategic, business service. However, in an economic landscape defined by digital disruption, and where businesses are transforming at lightning speed, this is finally set to change. The innovations revolutionizing business – cloud computing, social media, mobile apps, the “big data” explosion and on-demand services – can only be delivered from purpose-built highly efficient data centers. Getting the data center strategy right means that companies have an intelligent and scalable asset that enables choice and growth. But getting it wrong means their entire business could fail. For data center managers across the world, the pressure is unprecedented. The Best Laid Plans With the data center sitting firmly at the heart of organizations, disaster recovery and data loss prevention naturally becomes a priority for many.  And because it’s nearly impossible for companies to eliminate any single point of failure in their IT infrastructure, having a robust disaster recovery plan is the only way to ensure that a hardware or software failure – or human error – doesn’t interrupt service or cause data loss. In a difficult economic climate, some organizations report a worrying trend of “risk acceptance”.  They are aware of the need for a plan but have not found the time or resource to prepare for it. Instead, they are choosing to postpone or eliminate business continuity planning from their budgets, even though they may have no plan at all in place. Too many businesses suffer because they were ill prepared for an IT disaster, or have ignored the threat, even when a simple solution like online backup could have easily saved them. Security professionals are trying to counteract this by promoting a modular approach to data security, however, simple ‘risk acceptance’ should not be an option for anyone – good disaster recovery is crucial for any business. The most forward looking firms know that in the event of a disaster, the continued operations of their company depends on the ability to replicate IT systems and data, and are looking for new and cost effective ways of doing just that. When Keeping the Show on the Road Means Outsourcing Even for well-prepared organizations disaster recovery and its big cousin Business Continuity (BC) are a cumbersome duo. One of the popular strategies is to have an external site that can support business systems, applications and customer data until the primary data center can be returned to normal operations. However, managing a mirrored data center is time consuming and expensive. And the alternative of recovery – an always-on architecture, where resiliency is built directly into the architecture itself – is difficult to set up and manage. For many, the intense pressure of disaster recovery needs helps seal the fate of the perennial build vs buy debate in data center management. Whilst in-house facilities once gave companies complete control over all aspects of their infrastructure, outsourcing to a third party now provides the best protection against increasing data center complexity, cost and risk, and eliminates the need to worry about uptime. With an expert team working around the clock, data is processed with great efficiency, resulting in an ultra-reliable performance. And, when outsourcing with multiple connectivity options, the potential for carrier failure is reduced, protecting critical applications and infrastructure performance. Additionally – if disaster does strikes, recovery comes quickly. Put simply, it’s these companies’ business to get you up and running again as quickly as possible. Choosing a Provider: Questions to Ask So, with business continuity and disaster recovery such crucial tenets of success, the expertise of dedicated providers is compelling. Before choosing a data center or colocation provider, though, organisations must ask questions about location, flexibility and expansion capabilities and of course, reliability. In addition, deployment efficiency – how quickly you need to get up and running – is also an important consideration. This can be difficult to quantify into a specific stat or number, but any company considering a data center to partner with should ensure potential vendors clearly communicate timeframes. One of the biggest advantages of colocation is the ability to interconnect within a shared data center space. Before making a selection, companies must learn about the available connectivity options. Carrier-neutral connectivity means that companies within the data center environment can choose the carrier service provider that best fits their needs – and leasing a facility offers a substantially lower up-front cost. In addition, these data center providers can seamlessly allow companies to scale – quickly and easily handling growing storage needs. Driving Success Ultimately, then, we believe that the critical nature of the data center, combined with unprecedented economic pressures, means that outsourcing infrastructure is the only route to success. And, because digital disruption waits for no man, now is the time to trust the experts, and harness the power of robust and reliable data center providers. Opinions expressed in the article above do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Data Center Knowledge and Informa. 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)
6:15p	HP Printer Runt Surprises, Outshining Whitman’s HPE Brian Womack (Bloomberg) — In 2015, in one of the biggest corporate breakups in Silicon Valley’s history, the roughly 75-year old Hewlett-Packard Co. cleaved itself in half. Hewlett Packard Enterprise, or HPE, would handle data centers, software and services. HP Inc. would take the runt of the litter: printers and computers.It was not a secret that HPE was the privileged offspring: Its charge was to help customers navigate the lucrative technology shifts around data, applications and cloud computing. And in case anyone didn’t quite get the message, HPE would be led by its famous chief executive, Meg Whitman. While both companies were under pressure, her businesses held more promise. “Enterprise is really where a lot of the growth is,” said Peter Wahlstrom, then an analyst at Morningstar Inc., the day the deal was announced in 2014. He’s now at Front Barnett Associates, LLC. “And then you’ve got the PC-printing business which is a little bit more an annuity, a stable steady-eddie.” Nearly two years after the split—and with both companies preparing to announce quarterly earnings—those assumptions have been upended. It’s HP Inc. that has momentum: It has embraced higher-end products and expanded revenue despite lackluster spending on PCs and printers. HPE, meanwhile, has failed to meet sales projections for four consecutive quarters while over 60 percent of Wall Street analysts don’t see enough to recommend buying its shares. While HPE shares have outperformed HP Inc.’s since the split, they’ve switched course in the last 12 months, with the latter surging 29 percent and the former rising about 5.3 percent. “HP Inc. has done surprisingly well for being in PCs and printers,” said David Heger, an analyst with Edward Jones. “You’re not seeing the results out of HPE that you might have expected. They kind of keep muddying the waters.”The last few quarters have been rough for Whitman’s HPE. Amazon, along with others, has been a formidable cloud competitor while rising component prices pressured profits and a major customer pulled back spending. In the report for the three months that ended on April 30, sales in the company’s crucial Enterprise Group, which sells servers and storage gear, fell 7 percent—after posting growth in the first few quarters after the split. “It’s not cut and dry yet as to what the company will ultimately be,” said Shannon Cross, an analyst with Cross Research, adding that questions about Whitman’s future at HPE has caused uncertainty as well. “The pressure from cloud has been there, and it remains there.” After arriving at Hewlett-Packard Co. in 2011, Whitman initially opposed the split, but eventually changed her mind and became its champion, arguing it would allow each side to be more nimble. She’s still eagerly whittling down HPE.  In April, Whitman completed a “spin merge” of its services business, spinning it off and forming a new company, DXC Technology. As part of the DXC deal, HPE shareholders received a stake in that new company. She’s slated to do something similar with key software businesses next month, combining forces with Micro Focus International, another provider in the same industry. Along the way, the new separations have led to distractions from the day-to-day work inside the company, analysts said. On a quarterly call for Wall Street in February, Whitman admitted that internal changes had created new challenges. “I probably put more change into this organization in Q1 than I probably should have,” she said. Crawford Del Prete, an analyst at IDC, predicted that Whitman’s strategy may pay off. “I think, long-term, they’re setting themselves up,” he said. “They will be smaller, but they can grow off that base.” Over at HP Inc., Chief Executive Officer Dion Weisler has managed to streamline operations while identifying promising new markets. On his last call with analysts, Weisler touted his quarter, calling it a “breakthrough.” The company delivered growth in both sides of the business for the first time in more than five years. “Clearly the separation has been positive for us,” Enrique Lores, president of HP Inc.’s Imaging, Printing and Solutions business, said in an interview. “We have been able to do things that we would have never been able to.” One example is Weisler’s decision to spend about $1 billion on Samsung Electronics Co.’s printer business. The deal is the first acquisition to directly benefit the operations in more than a half decade — and should bolster the company’s new push into the market for larger office copiers that include printing technology. It’s expected to close this year. The company has also taken a new approach to printer supplies, its biggest profit engine. Weisler reduced a glut of inventory, despite a financial hit — slashing inventory levels by more than $400 million over a couple of quarters.  And he changed how the products were priced and sold to keep the unit healthier long-term. HP Inc. is also trying to increase adoption of what’s called three-dimensional printing for businesses. The aim is to get manufacturers to buy massive — and expensive — machines that can “print” parts, quickly and efficiently. Some early customers like the products so much that they’ve returned to purchase more — which can cost about $200,000, according to Stephen Nigro, the president of the 3D printing business. At the time of the breakup, HP Inc. kept a majority of the patents, and crucial parts of the 3D printing technology came from HP’s own intellectual property, the  company said. There are also some unexpected and slower moving projects in the works. HP Inc.’s labs are tackling artificial intelligence and machine learning, and researchers are doing work that could have applications for health care, according to Shane Wall, chief technology officer. Surprisingly, the PC business has also remained relevant. During the past two quarters, revenue has jumped 10 percent — after falling by 5 percent last fiscal year. The company has focused on souped-up machines that can handle high-powered video games and virtual reality, and it’s also trying to change how PCs are sold. A novel “device as a service” program, rolled out last year, lets businesses pay on a monthly basis, instead of shelling out money up front. Then, the machines automatically receive the latest technology and customized services and support. Wall Street appears to like the efforts. One investor, GoodHaven Capital Management, earlier this year backed out of HPE shares amid concerns about its server business and the cloud, said Keith Trauner, co-founder of the firm. “There was quite a bit of divergence between the two companies,” he said. In the last year, he added shares of HP Inc. to his portfolio. (Comment on this)
6:48p	Apple Gets $208M in Tax Breaks to Build Iowa Data Centers Apple will get $208 million in state and local tax breaks in exchange for agreeing to build a data center campus in Waukee, Iowa, just outside of Des Moines, the state’s capital. Local news outlets reported yesterday that the company was in talks with officials about potentially building the campus there. The state’s economic development agency and Waukee City Council held meetings about the project this morning, followed by an official announcement at an event in Des Moines, where Apple CEO Tim Cook and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds made speeches. The $1.3 billion data center, whose first phase will see two buildings go up, will support Apple’s numerous online services, such as the App Store, Siri, and iMessage, according to a press release issued by the governor’s office. Apple CEO Tim Cook and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds embrace at an event in Des Moines, announcing the latest Apple data center (Photo: Reynolds’s office) Cook highlighted App Store in his speech. From CNN: “This new data center will play a very important role in the App Store’s continued success. And as the App Store grows, we look forward to growing in Iowa.” The data center will be powered by renewable energy, according to the press release. Rendering of the future Apple data center in Waukee, Iowa (Image: Apple) Google, Facebook, and Microsoft also have data centers in Iowa. The tax incentive package consists of a $20 million state sales tax refund and a $188 million property tax break from Waukee, Fox Business reported. Apple has agreed to create at least 50 permanent jobs at the data center, paying a minimum of about $30 an hour. The company will also pay $100 million into the new Public Improvement Fund, “dedicated to Waukee community development and infrastructure.” The existing Apple data center campuses are in Newark, California; Maiden, North Carolina; Prineville, Oregon; and Reno, Nevada. The company also leases data center space from commercial landlords in other locations. (Comment on this)

<< Previous Day

2017/08/24 [Calendar]

Next Day >>