Net+ 1409 p1 (cover) AM RN NEW.qxd 12/9/14 17:13 Page 1 www.networkingplus.co.uk SEPTEMBER 2014 FIXED & WIRELESS NETWORKS FOR ENTERPRISE USERS Paperwork to go Bandwidth for boffins Are you being served? Fault finders TotalMobile means The networks that Unravelling the The latest devices public sector are boosting science pros and cons of to help test, analyse workers spend less and tech in the UK outsourcing the and measure LANS time in the office Real World Networks, network and WANS News, p4 p8 Feature, pp10-13 Off-the-shelf, p14 Commsworld PoPs to unite Scotland by Rahiel Nasir Edinburgh-based Commsworld says it Commsworld commercial director Andy plans to “attack the big players” in the Arkle. “Our network has been set up to communications industry by unbundling offer increased resilience by using multiple more data network exchanges in order to exchanges to deliver information to and give local businesses in Scotland a greater from our clients. This means if one choice of services. exchange should fail there will be a backup Earlier this year, the network provider in place.” and unified communications specialist Commsworld says its network, dubbed unbundled the local loop at Edinburgh’s Fluency, is the only indigenous Scottish Rose Street exchange (see News, April). network of its type, serving Edinburgh, It now plans to unbundle five more Glasgow and Aberdeen. The firm reckons exchanges over the next six months in businesses located next to one of its PoPs Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee can benefit from quicker access to data and Inverness. The company says it without it being bounced through servers in ultimately aims to create a total of 31 PoPs. London or Manchester, as would be the “A lot of our clients tell us they have been case with the traditional bigger providers. crying out for a better and more flexible Commsworld claims it has already seen Commsworld’s Fluency service for years but it simply wasn’t a huge uptake in business through being network features four core available due to lack of competition,” says able to offer companies a superfast, PoPs in carrier-neutral data centres, as well as a local loop unbundling footprint in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. bespoke service via 14 exchanges and data (also see metro networks feature, June centres in major cities north of the border. issue), and says UK businesses have so far It recently became an authorised ordered more than 500 circuits since it provider as part of the government’s launched Fluency in March 2013. I SuperConnected Cities voucher scheme Timico’s 10Gb pipe for Manchester – p2 Salesforce.com builds Euro DCs Salesforce.com has named Dutch-based Salesforce.com regards France as an cloud services and carrier-neutral colo important market in its global strategy, and specialist Interxion as its partner to build its earlier this year it announced plans to next European data centre in France. increase its investments in the country. The CRM platform provider plans to In addition to the new data centre, the open three European data centres to firm recently unveiled its new French support what it says is a growing customer headquarters in Paris. It says this will house base on the continent. the industry’s first ‘Digital Transformation NTT Europe – the global arm of Japan’s Hub’, a dedicated space to foster Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Group – innovation and collaboration between announced last year that it had been con- salesforce.com’s ecosystem of customers, tracted to build the first centre in the UK. A partners, developers and employees. salesforce.com spokesperson confirmed “The innovative new salesforce.com this is due to open in October, but declined Digital Transformation Hub in Paris will to reveal its location or size. deliver an interactive, hands-on experience Centres in France and Germany will that will bring the Salesforce1 platform to follow in 2015, and it’s claimed all three life – from smartphones and wearable will be powered by 100 per cent renewable devices to connected toothbrushes and energy sources. cars,” claims the company. I Net+ 1409 p2 (news) AM RN NEW.qxd 12/9/14 13:34 Page 2 news register online @ www.networkingplus.co.uk NEW WEBSITE NOW LIVE! Timico upgrades MPLS network DUCL picks up county network and includes 10Gb pipe for contracts In two separate deals, Daisy Updata enterprise users in Manchester Communications (DUCL) has been awarded multi-year PSN contracts by Kent Timico says it has significantly enhanced and Bedfordshire county councils. its core network with a new diversely- The Kent County Council deal will run routed 10Gb pipe into Manchester. for six years. It will connect more than According to the enterprise ISP, hosting 1,350 premises with broadband, enabling and communications service provider, internet access to some 370,000 users in Manchester is now regarded as the UK’s local government offices, fire stations, ‘second city’ thanks to significant schools, colleges, universities, libraries, investment, economic stability, and the health and other public sector locations. arrival of big name corporations such as Kent County Council cabinet member the BBC. for corporate and democratic services Andrew Fox, the company’s director of Gary Cooke says: “The KPSN has been managed networks and connectivity, says hugely successful in improving Kent’s Timico previously relied on providing communications. The partnership has circuits in and out of London. “But with enabled multiple networks within the MaNAP as well as LONAP access now on region to combine into a single network, our network, customers based in the north not only reducing costs but facilitating west can take advantage of their circuits shared services.” being backhauled into Manchester rather The Central Bedfordshire Council than London, reducing their costs and (CBC) contract will run for nine years, providing a more diverse choice of Timico says it’s invested more than £5m into its purpose-built data centre in Newark. The facility connecting more than 183 council-owned network carrier options.” offers customers a range of flexible hosting solutions integrated into a national MPLS network. sites and schools. Fox says that businesses in the region Its network will also link up with Essex now have the ability to terminate circuits The new local connection is expected of further local PoPs to complement the County Council’s next-generation PSN, onto the new host link, connecting directly to go live in September. Timico says it on-net locations already available across giving CBC the option to access services into the Timico core and taking advantage network will offer customers anything southern England. Its growth strategy available to Essex NGN members. The of cost-effective Ethernet circuits. from broadband services through to a also includes the development of a core Essex network, which DUCL has run since “The new 10Gb host link provides 10Gb circuit, all provided via Tier 1 Metro NODE network, targeting smaller 2012, provides IT network infrastructure customers with the option of carriers that include BT, Colt, TalkTalk cities across the UK such as Nottingham, and associated telephony services to geographically diverse Direct Internet Business and Virgin. Lincoln and York. around 200,000 users across the county. Access circuits (DIA) as well as The company says this latest upgrade The firm adds that it is investing a “six- DUCL is a joint venture between the incorporating a greater level of resiliency is part of a wider plan to expand its figure sum”into upgrading the network Daisy Group and Updata Infrastructure, a into their private WAN.” national network, including the addition but declined to reveal an exact figure. I subsidiary of Capita IT Services. I IT staff shortages drive up pay Shortages of qualified IT staff are driving of panellists signalled a fall in permanent up pay rates for permanent and staff availability, compared with just seven temporary/contract workers, according to per cent that indicated a rise,” says KPMG. KMPG’s monthly Report on Jobs bulletin The average starting salaries for perma- published in early September. nent workers continued to rise in August As a category, IT and Computing shifted faster than rates for temporary workers. up a place into third behind engineering KPMG says the rate of growth is still strong, and healthcare workers in terms of demand despite easing slightly for the second for permanent staff. Among contractors, IT month running following June’s series- staff ranked eighth, down from fourth, but record high. Around a third of panellists demand was still higher than a year ago. reported an increase in salaries during the The report shows demand for permanent latest survey period, compared with less IT staff started rising in mid-2012. Firms than four per cent that noted a decline. are particularly looking for skills in busi- Salaries rose everywhere, led by the South. ness intelligence, Java, .Net, SQL, PHP, Hourly rates for temps rose faster in programming and project management. August than in July, due to robust demand Staff availability for permanent and for short-term staff. The North registered temporary jobs continued to shrink but at a the sharpest rise in temp pay rates during slightly slower rate. “The rate of decline August, followed by the Midlands. I remained considerable, despite easing to More women needed in IT and the slowest in three months. More than half engineering – Network Knowledge, p15 Delancey outsources entire IT Property management firm Delancey Andrew Summerfield, Delancey operations Real Estate Asset Management has manager, says: “[Advanced’s] ability to map outsourced its entire IT infrastructure for technical solutions to our business needs as the next five years to Advanced 365. we evolve will be critical to us.