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CWCOMPUTER WEEKLY’S DIGITAL MAGAZINE FOR EUROPEAN IT LEADERS MARCH 2015

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Netherlands welcomes IT startupsDUTCH GOVERNMENT INTRODUCES A RAFT OF INITIATIVES TO ATTRACT STARTUPS AND INVESTORS TO THE COUNTRY

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Heinz puts SAP Hana in the cloud to boost global efficiency

Food producer Heinz has deployed SAP Hana on Virtustream’s xStream platform-as-a-service infrastructure to boost efficiency. Heinz director of global technology operations Davor Brkovich said: “The cloud offered a simple way to manage this on a global scale. Working with Virtustream enabled us to deploy a unified business intelligence platform across offices in more than 40 countries.”

Bank of Ireland outsources 130 jobs to supplier BancTec

Bank of Ireland has outsourced cheque clearing services that will see 130 staff transferred to supplier BancTec. “They may transition to BancTec as part of the contract, seek redeployment opportunities within the bank, or take voluntary redundancy,” said the bank.

Visa says 2015 will be defining year for digital payments

Visa Europe will continue to spend hundreds of millions of euros to reduce the domination of cash payments in Europe. The payments firm announced sales worth about €1.9bn for the financial year ended September 2014. This was a 9% increase on the previous year. Visa Europe CEO Nicolas Huss said the firm will continue to “eat away” at the 70% of transactions still settled in cash in Europe.

Milan Expo 2015 builds smart city with Telecom Italia

The organisers of Milan Expo 2015 have deployed one of the world’s most advanced smart city networks, with Italian telco Telecom Italia and networking supplier Cisco holding the reins.

EC3 announces partnership in fight against cyber crime

Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) has partnered with security and threat intelligence firm AnubisNetworks to help fight the global threat of cyber crime. EC3 and AnubisNetworks will exchange expertise, statistics and other strategic information under a memorandum of understanding. n

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

› A GUIDE TO ISCSI SAN STORAGE

› A GUIDE TO SOFTWARE-DEFINED STORAGE

› HCM AND HR TECHNOLOGY GUIDE

› FLASH STORAGE: WHO MAKES WHAT

› A GUIDE TO STORAGE COMPLIANCE

› LUN CONFIGURATION AND VIRTUALISATION

COMPUTER WEEKLY EUROPEAN USER AWARDS 2015

The third annual Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 is now open for entries.Computer Weekly’s awards honour IT professionals in Europe who have excelled in their

approach to networking, storage, security, enterprise software and datacentres.Entries are open to IT departments and resellers, or suppliers that wish to enter on behalf of a

customer. Please review the entry criteria for further information if you wish to enter a use case on behalf of a client.

A panel of independent judges will review nominations across 10 categories. Winners receive a trophy during an awards ceremony at Cloud World Forum 2015 and are profiled in case studies on Computer Weekly.

The deadline for entries is 30 April 2015. There are no entry fees. › Click here for more information on how to enter

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EDITOR’S COMMENT

Netherlands to focus on tech startup arena

Tech startups are beginning to give areas such as Silicon Valley a run for their money, with tech hubs and clusters cropping up across the

continent at a steady pace. Europe’s policy makers have taken note and are

investing heavily in the startup sector to kick-start the region’s economy.

Some countries are gaining more ground in this race for startup innovation than others. One of the countries making headway in this area is the Netherlands, which has recently taken steps to become a more attractive place for startup founders and foreign investors.

This issue of CW Europe explores how Neelie Kroes, who became the Netherlands Special Envoy for Startups at the beginning of 2015, is embarking on a new mission for startups in the Netherlands and the work she is leading via Startup Delta.

With innovation hubs throughout the country the Netherlands aims to position itself as a major player in the startup arena. This will be helped by new immigration laws for startup founders, which should serve to attract more global talent and make the Netherlands more startup friendly.

The Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 are open for entries. The awards honour IT professionals in Europe who have excelled in their approach to using technology.

Winners will receive a trophy during an awards ceremony at Cloud World Forum 2015 and will be profiled in case studies on Computer Weekly.com and in CW Europe.

You can find out more information about the awards in this issue, which also includes the shortlist of the FDM everywoman in Technology Awards 2015, along with details of its Forum, which is aimed at European women in technology.

Both the awards and the Forum are due to take place in London on 17 March, aiming to shine a light on females working in IT across the continent. n

Kayleigh Bateman Editor of CW Europe Special projects editor for Computer Weekly

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UK SETS OUT VISION FOR FUTURE EU

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TECHNOLOGY STARTUPS

Young, disruptive technology startups have been making a name for them-selves in the Netherlands. Changes to

immigration laws at the beginning of 2015, combined with increased government fund-ing across Europe, make the Netherlands an increasingly attractive destination for foreign startups and investors.

Former European commissioner for the digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, recently announced measures to steer the Netherlands to technology startup success over the next 18 months.

Kroes took up the role of the Netherlands special envoy for startups at the beginning of 2015, and is at the helm of the Startup Delta community. Kroes says she plans to use her position to attract more international startups to set up business in the country.

Dutch technology champion Neelie Kroes announces a raft of measures aimed at attracting startups and investors to the country. Kayleigh Bateman reports

Netherlands jockeys for position as destination for European startups

During a recent visit to Brainport in the Eindhoven region, Kroes visited the Global Government Venturing Summit, which was taking place at the High Tech Campus. The summit attracted more than 200 startups, policy-makers and academics.

Kroes told delegates the country needs to attract more interest from foreign capital, including venture capital and angel investors.

Kroes says: “I make no secret of the fact that I’m impatient. Over the next 18 months, I want to see more people walk the talk because, across Europe, more cities, regions and countries are starting to pay attention to startups. Not many countries, however, have special programmes to attract foreign inves-tors, including venture capital and angel investors. Both are crucial for the develop-ment of an active startup ecosystem.

“I’m here to share a clear message that the combIned strengths of the netherlands are actIvely open for busIness wIth the rest of the world” neelIe Kroes,netherlands specIal envoy for startups

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“The Startup Europe programme, which I initiated when I was at the European Commission, helped Europe to be more startup-minded. But now it is important to extend the startup policies to scale-ups. Vice-president of the EC, Andrus Ansip, will take this forward, and I look forward to working with him. The Juncker plan is a step in the right direction to create larger funds.”

The Juncker plan is a €315bn investment programme endorsed by European Union (EU) leaders. The investment, unveiled at a summit in Brussels in December 2014, aims to boost Europe’s economic growth.

Changes to Dutch immigration lawsThe Dutch government has gone one step further to boosting the place of startups in its economy, by introducing a startup visa.

With countries competing for global talent, the government changed the immigration law on 1 January 2015, to make available a visa for startup founders from non-EU states.

The law marks one of the first outcomes of the Startup NL Manifesto, unveiled by Dutch politician Anne-Wil Lucas last year.

“But perhaps the most important step is that regional and national initiatives should ask for input and feedback from foreign investors. They need to do this far more often than at present. This is not very different to what good startups are doing already.”

Kroes highlights how the Netherlands needs to make better use of existing resources and create new resources where needed. “We also need to educate managers of important funds about the different fund-ing cycle needed for startups,” she says.

Lack of capital in the NetherlandsNever has it been more crucial for European startups to maintain a competitive edge, with the right funding and access to net-works, to recharge local economies.

But Kroes stresses how a lack of funding can break a business. “From my journey around the country, I know that available funding for startups is very important – it can make or break a world-class idea. For more capital-intensive industries, like hi-tech, it is important that countries in Europe work together to create larger funds,” she says.

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The High Tech Campus, host to the Global Government Venturing Summit. Neelie Kroes told delegates: “Regional and national initiatives should ask for input and feedback from foreign investors”

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TECHNOLOGY STARTUPS

Kroes says the introduction of startup visas was just one more step in making the Netherlands more startup-friendly. “There is no equivalent in the US, but we need more action like this,” she says.

The new law is an extension of existing legislation which requires applicants to show business progress after one year. To qualify for the visa, the startup must be considered innovative and should be supported by a known accelerator or incubator. The business is required to have sourced seed money to support itself and its founders.

“I’m here to share a clear message that the combined strengths of the Netherlands are actively open for business with the rest of the world,” says Kroes.

What is Startup Delta?In her Special Envoy role, Kroes heads up the startup community, Startup Delta, which was formed to unite government bodies, startups, investors and financiers to support busi-nesses in the region. The organisation com-prises a network of 10 innovation hubs based in eight Dutch cities (see panel below).

Kayleigh Bateman is Computer Weekly’s special projects editor

DUTCH CITIES HOSTING STARTUP DELTA INNOVATION HUBS

Startup Delta is a network of 10 innovation hubs based in eight Dutch cities:n Amsterdam: Creative industry for mobile

apps and internet services;n Rotterdam: Logistics, environmental, medi-

cal, energy and food technologies;n Utrecht: gaming, life sciences and

health projects;n Groningen: natural, technical and

medical sciences;n Arnhem and Nijmegen: health and

life sciences;n Delft: universities in design and IT,

engineering, computer science and biotechnology;

n Twente: nanotechnology, bioscience, high-tech systems and materials;

n The Hague: cyber security, forensics, big data analysis and urban security.

Amsterdam is the base for the Startup Delta community hub

specialising in mobile apps and internet services

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“By connecting more than 10 technology hubs across the country, Startup Delta will play an active part in forming the largest startup ecosystem in Europe. We aim to amplify the global connectedness of Holland, aligning us with other top ecosystems in the world. I believe this approach means that others will mention the Netherlands in the same breath as London and Berlin. We aim to be in the top three,” says Kroes.

In January 2015, Startup Delta made its first tour of the Netherlands to host six hackathons, with the aim of creating an online startup community to support busi-nesses forming in the region.

The events were aimed at positioning the Netherlands as an inviting place for European startups and to attract the fastest growing technology startups, talent, investors and innovation teams from overseas.

Kroes says Startup Delta is an “essential cluster in the European ecosystem”, offering “a great business climate for European and non-European investors and startups, here on the ‘West Coast of Europe’.”

Kroes says her Startup Delta team can lead the way in creating a ventures academy for entrepreneurs in the Netherlands. n

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TECH EVENT

CW Europe is media partner to the everywoman Forum 2015. Due to take place in London on 17 March, the event will unite women in European technology with HR leaders, role models and experts who will explore leadership and entrepre-neurship, including web guru Baroness Martha Lane Fox and space scientist

Maggie Aderin-Pocock.During an awards ceremony following the forum, winners of the 2015 FDM every-

woman in Technology Awards will be revealed. The finalists are listed below.

Uniting women in European ITWomen from all over Europe will gather at this month’s everywoman Forum to take part in a series of workshops and masterclasses. Kayleigh Bateman reports

Entrepreneur of the year (sponsor: ARM)n Fiona Bradley-Barlow, director, AQ4Bn Fiona Hudson-Kelly, CEO, Smart E-Assessorn Patricia O’Hagan, CEO, Core Systemsn Justine Perry, managing director,

Cariad Marketing

Inspiration of the year (sponsor: VMwaren Ayman Assaf, head of strategy and

planning, BPn Monique Morrow, CTO-evangelist-new

frontiers, Cisco Systemsn Bela Patel, project manager, Credit Suissen Jenny Taylor, UK foundation manager,

IBM UK

Leader of the Year (sponsor: BP)n Christine Ashton, SVP technology,

Thomson Reutersn Helen Lamb, VP-head of managed infra-

structure services, Fujitsu UK and Irelandn Anna Helberg-Hansen, head of business

analysis, group IT, Lloyds Banking Groupn Emer Timmons, president BT Global

Services UK, BT

Rising star of the year (sponsor: Amex)n Sadia Chuhan, apprentice IT project

manager, Thomson Reutersn Kerrie Martin, IS process change

manager, National Gridn Louise Moules, technical consultant, IBM

Startup founder of the year (sponsor: Salesforce)n Lucy Burnford, founder, Motoriety.co.ukn Alexandra Depledge, CEO, Hassle.comn Emily Forbes, co-founder, Seenit

n Tina Mashaalahi, co-founder and COO, KweekWeek

Innovator of the year (sponsor: Equiniti)n Sinéad Brophy, founder and CEO,

MySupportBroker CICn Tanya Cordrey, chief digital officer,

Guardian News and Median Elena Corchero, founder and director,

Lost Valuesn Lt Cdr Roxane Heaton RN, synthetics

training policy staff officer, Royal Navy

Team leader of the year n Vicky Davenport, director and general

manager sales operations, Xerox UKn Samantha Smithson-Biggs, programme

management director, Aviva n Marit Thowsen, director technical

delivery, American Expressn Karianne Gaede, risk programme

director, Credit Suisse

The one to watch (sponsor: EMC)n Heather Craig, infrastructure specialist,

IBM UK, aged 19n Amy Mather, Stem ambassador, aged 15n Zea Tongeman, student, aged 15

International leader of the year(sponsor: Alexander Mann Solutions)n Cheryl Duke, director, American Expressn Karen Egan, director technical support

Emea, VMware Internationaln Kirti Santene, head of IT Emea Branches,

Credit Suisse AGn Cathrin Stöver, chief international relations

and communications officer, Géant. n

Click here to find out

more about the Forum and how

to attend

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CASE STUDY

Antwerp port boosts performance with activity management software

Managing a port is a complex task. Its diverse activities include vessel traffic monitoring, dock and locks

maintenance, dredging and tug services, to name but a few.

In the past, the City of Antwerp managed all of these activities for the port more or less independently from one another. “The Antwerp Port Authority was established in 1999 to optimise these activities,” says Bob Willemstein, manager of business control at the Antwerp Port Authority.

But the organisation did not have enough information regarding its business processes, their interactions or the related costs. This made it difficult to identify weaknesses and improve business processes.

The authority identified a need for an activity-based management (ABM) system which would provide this insight, and chose the technology in 1999.

ABM identifies and registers each activity the business performs. It creates valuable insight when the data of an activity is retrieved, analysed and compared with other activities. But the authority faced another challenge, says Tim Bellemans, controller at the management control department.

“Since the issue, in 1999, of the ‘Havendecreet’ [decree regulating the activi-ties in the port], it has been stipulated that the Antwerp Port Authority is responsible for the operational side of activities, whereas the Flemish government is in charge of funding,” says Bellemans.

“To provide the government with an accu-rate view of the cost of all operations, an activity-based costing tool was required.

“The alternative would be to use Excel spreadsheets and a distributive code which would only provide an approximation of the actual costs. This is how most other ports in Belgium work.”

Flexible yet comprehensive softwareThe authority started with a system of its own in 1998, combining Microsoft Excel and Access. But this proved too inflexible to cover the port’s complex needs, so the team cast around for a better answer.

This led the authority to software from Oros, a company subsequently bought by SAS. The Oros engine is still more or less the same as when the authority bought it, but the user interface has evolved over time, with the addition of more functions and insights.

“SAS’s ABM is a robust and flexible tool, and easy to integrate into our self-developed data warehouse. It provides the analytical structure to integrate data from our different databases,” says Bellemans.

The ABM software is continuously updated with data from dozens of operational sys-tems, including job orders, information on shipping traffic and data from SAP’s human resource management (HRM) system.

The Antwerp Port Authority had no way of keeping track of its many activities, but now has costings for each and every task it undertakes, writes Stef Gyssels

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Activity-based management enabled the Antwerp Port Authority to benchmark its costs and boost efficiency

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Bellemans says: “SAS provides a strong calculation engine to generate a realistic view of the entire cost flow of our organisation and its departments.

“That includes direct and indirect costs, as well as external invoices and internal cost allocations, including recursive loops. The latter means that it takes into account two-way costing traffic between various departments, whereas most other tools assign costs in just one way, such as from department A to department B.”

Enhancing performanceAt first, the software was just used to report on all activities for top management – which activities are profitable, which loss-making, and so on. But gradually this information was used by the various division managers to improve or turn around their activities.

“As the system can calculate the profit or loss of each department, this capability has created an entirely new business culture,” says Willemstein.

“We now have a solid basis for making sound strategic and operational decisions. This is not compulsory, but many division managers use the ABM reports to create key performance indicators and act on them.”

The organisation also uses the system to perform economic value-added analyses to determine whether a service delivers a return on investment costs.

“We can now identify services that under-perform,” says Willemstein.

Improving internal activitiesThe authority wanted its managers to get a more detailed picture of the profitability of their internal activities. So, in 2012, it incor-porated transfer pricing in the ABM system.

“We use ABM to calculate a transfer price for each activity one department performs for another,” says Bellemans.

“We can calculate the profit or loss for any particular activity by the end of the reporting period and, if necessary, optimise the trans-fer price or activity.”

“In the next stage, we benchmark certain transfer prices against market standards to determine our competitiveness. This lets us identify points for improvement and organise activities in a more efficient way.”

Calculating profitability by customerAlong with calculating the profit and loss of each departments’ activities, the authority has been looking into using the ABM sys-tem for calculating customers’ profit or loss.

“Although this is technically complex because of the number of subcontractors involved, we have taken the first steps to implement this at the level of the port termi-nals,” says Bellemans.

“We already had a clear idea of our rev-enues from each terminal, but not of our real cost per terminal. For example, we need to incorporate costs for maintaining the quay sides, dredging the docks, the harbour master’s office, and so on. Currently, the concession rates we charge cover our costs as a whole. The insight that SAS ABM can deliver is the measure in which this is also the case on a terminal level,” he says.

“Thanks to SAS, we can easily integrate these and other new features. This makes us confident that we will be able to continuously improve our entire business.”

Future plans: the addiction of insightIt is an age-old story: once you get insight in certain areas, you only get inspired to find more insight. You could call it addictive.

At Antwerp Port Authority, that same desire to know has struck the business control department as well as the entire management team. “Our next projects will be more outward-focused,” says Willemstein. “We plan, for instance, to compare our own salary administration costs with what a social accounting secre-tariat would charge – not to outsource these activities but to gauge how well we are performing, cost-wise.”

That same technique can also be used for the entire Port of Antwerp, he concludes: “We will face some fierce competition from other harbours in the coming years. To assess our chances compared with the competition, it would be good to know how well we are performing with cost, compared with our competitors.

“The next step is to evaluate our current price when compared with our competitors and our actual costs. This entire picture will enable us to set the right price and to ensure maximum competitiveness.” n

CASE STUDY

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CYBER SECURITY

Most businesses in the UK, France and Germany feel that the guidelines for compliance with the European Union’s new cyber security legislation are unclear, a study by security firm FireEye has revealed. A third of the organisations polled also fail to understand the impact of the legislation.

The study assessed understanding and expectations among businesses of the EU’s proposed Network and Information Security (NIS) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation. The GDPR is set to be finalised in early 2015, with compliance mandatory in 2017, while the NIS directive – to be implemented this year – will impose new security and incident reporting requirements on a broader range of private sector companies.

The study shows that many organisations in Europe are not prepared for the changes and are challenged by the cost and complexity of complying with the data security legislation.

Only 39% say they have all the required measures in place for the NIS. Only two-thirds say that their organisations fully understand the impact of the NIS and GDPR regulations.

The top concerns associated with serious data breaches and loss of personal information are potential fines (58%), damage to corporate reputation (57%) and the loss of business or revenue (58%).

More than 60% of the organisations surveyed say they have had little or no clear guidance on the legislation. And some 64% cite as a challenge the additional expenditure on hardware and software that will be required, with 23% rating this as the single most important barrier

Latest EU cyber security laws leave businesses baffledMost businesses are unclear about how to comply with European Union’s latest information security and data protection legislation. Warwick Ashford reports

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CYBER SECURITY

to complying with the directives. Other barriers cited include implementation costs (58%) and policy complexity (56%).

The study report concludes that there is a mixed state of readiness at best, with many businesses not understanding the true extent of the potential impact of the legislation.

Richard Turner, vice-president, Europe, at FireEye, says: “The past year has shown that breaches are inevitable as hackers continue to evade security, and the EU directives are an important step towards addressing these threats. Organisations need to ensure that they have the capabilities to detect, prevent, analyse and respond to breaches in a timely manner, and the EU legislation – both the NIS directive and GDPR – promotes the adoption of capabilities to respond to and report breaches.”

Turner says that while the EU moves are a positive step, organisations need to look beyond the directives and be prepared to launch an appropriate and proportionate response to a threat or breach to protect shareholder value.

Adam Palmer, international government affairs director at FireEye, says the new EU security and privacy requirements are important and will greatly increase the security obligations of European organisations.

“We encourage organisations of all sizes to adopt mitigation measures that will manage risk stemming from zero-day exploits and never-seen-before malware as these attacks constitute a majority of advanced attacks in today’s threat environment,” he says.

But Palmer adds that the research shows that organisations are not fully prepared for the implementation of the legislation. “It is therefore critical that these organisations begin preparing now to be in compliance so they are not caught unprepared,” he says.

Critical changesStewart Room, partner and global head of cyber security and data protection law at legal services firm PwC Legal, says that although most businesses are confused about the content and likely impact of the proposed legislation, it is relatively easy to identify the critical changes required. “These are principally about the need for good governance structures, risks assessments, the engineering-in of good privacy and security controls, and appropriate levels of transparency with consumers and regulators – for instance, about consents and breach disclosure,” he explains.

Room says that the greater challenge for businesses is to identify the correct start point: “At PwC we help many businesses adjust to the realities of regulatory and legal reform. What is critical as a first step is gaining an understanding of the client’s special characteristics, which include the desired maturity level for compliance.

“From there, with appropriate strategic advice, it is easy to chart a course through this thicket of new legislation,” he says. n

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Warwick Ashford is Computer Weekly’s security editor

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Over the next five years the European Union (EU) must address mobility, data security and competition to promote digital growth, according to a report setting out the UK government’s vision for the EU’s digital economy.

The report stresses the need for access to digital services, innovative small businesses through fair competition and the importance of data transparency and ana-lytics, in the drive towards a common EU digital economy.

UK business secretary Vince Cable gave the report an extra push in addressing the Lisbon Council thinktank on a single digital market. “Digital is central to growth in the European Union,” he said.

Meanwhile, prime minister David Cameron emphasised how current legislation, regula-tion and lack of cross-country collaboration had left EU countries with little opportunity to grow digital businesses capable of expanding into the global marketplace.

“As the digital economy expands, there are more and more opportunities for compa-nies across Europe to grow, create jobs and help consumers to secure a better deal,” Cameron said. “All too often, however, these opportunities are stifled by burdensome regulations and differing national regimes. It is time to put this right by completing the digital single market and unlocking the growth this market could generate.”

The report splits the approach into two areas: business and consumer.

UK sets out its vision for the future EU digital economyUK urges the European Union to promote innovation, mobility and data security through competition to nurture the digital economy. Clare McDonald reports

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How to help businessesSome of the world’s most technologically advanced countries are in Europe and its digital market is constantly growing, but the EU’s legislative framework prevents flexibility in the marketplace. Discrepancies in legislation and VAT rules between member states make it difficult for EU digital startups to develop to the point of reaching consumers worldwide.

To break down barriers for startups entering the market and expanding, the UK pro-poses digital businesses register online once, rather than separately for each country. The report declares: “We have to design rules that help entrants by providing a level playing field, not an obstacle course that defeats many would-be online exporters at the first hurdle.” It highlights the investment the European Commission (EC) is already making in removing barriers to service provision, calling for the same approach to digital.

The UK also wants to encourage competition in established markets, along the lines of current moves in the UK payments market, to increase innovation. But, as always, speed of change is an issue when it comes to competition. “As digital markets change rapidly, it should also conclude cases more quickly,” says the report.

Finally, the report proposes the use of anonymous data to search trends and build datasets to promote movement, as well as ensuring new technologies are readily avail-able across borders to help established businesses grow and innovate quickly. “Researchers and entrepreneurs can put open data to work, and the bigger the datasets, the better the results,” it says.

“Member states and the commission should support data-driven creativity by adopting the Open Data Charter and guaranteeing common standards for the publication of government data.”

How to help consumers Customers are currently unable to access data services they have paid for – such as video streaming sites – outside their own country, leaving digital services subscribers at a loss when travelling around the EU. The report says EU consumers should be able to buy digital products and services and use them “wherever they are in the EU, just as they can with physical products”, with fair prices that do not change depending on where the customer is from.

The same goes for data and the report proposes giving consumers the ability to control their data, with clear rules surrounding its use and the ability to access the internet in any country as in their own.

“we have to desIgn rules that help entrants by provIdIng a level playIng fIeld, not an obstacle course that defeats onlIne exporters at the fIrst hurdle”

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Perhaps most interesting is the suggestion that public services should be available online, replacing long-winded paper processes – something that is already being imple-mented in the UK, as its Government Digital Service (GDS) moves digital services to common, shared technology platforms. “Consumers should be able to use a digital identity to prove who they are in a safe and secure way, confident that their data is protected when accessing online services in all member states,” says the report.

Challenges of fragmented legislationMany of the problems across the EU exist in individual countries, making development even more difficult. There has already been a push towards fairer data charges, after the European Parliament voted to end fees for mobile roaming across Europe.

Similarly, since January 2015, digital services providers pay VAT based on where a customer – rather than the business – is based.

In 2013 the EC announced a €15m fund to help IT entrepreneurs to grow and innovate; last year the EU funded three open-data initiatives to help push innovation. But these projects were short-sighted – according to the report – as barriers to external trade still exist for small digital firms: “Europe starts from a great position. But the continent’s patchwork of national markets and outdated legislation looks increasingly anachronistic in this new world. Compared especially to the United States, it is still too hard to start, fund and scale up a digital business, so that it can compete globally.”

Even if EU laws do change, many companies will probable still be unaware of the changes, as demonstrated by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will come into effect in the next two years. The same lack of knowledge was found surround-ing the VAT changes that came into force in January 2015.

The need for rapid changeAn EU single digital economy is possible, but attempts to move toward this will be ham-pered by cumbersome processes – and it may be a long time before change occurs. Mike Bracken, executive director of digital in the UK Cabinet Office and head of the GDS, said: “Governments aren’t very good at rapid change, but they need to be. The internet is changing the world around them and, if governments don’t adapt, they will find them-selves irrelevant, impotent and ignored.”

The report adds: “We must avoid knee-jerk reactions to the risks of change. These risks can be managed by establishing a clear, simple set of rules that safeguard the rights of all those legitimately taking advantage of the online economy. Online businesses should go through administrative processes once – not 28 times – and football fans should be able to stream matches they’ve already paid for, wherever they go.” n

LEGISLATION & REGULATION

“football fans should be able to stream matches

they’ve already paId for wherever they go”

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Clare McDonald is Computer Weekly’s business editor

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Ideas about big data are spreading across Polish enterprises and established thinking about data storage is slowly changing. The big data pioneers in Poland are websites, utilities and other companies that process very large volumes of data – and which are the first to build frameworks for big data projects.

Analytical ambitionsThe rapid increase in the volume of data processed presents business decision-makers with the challenge to derive knowledge hidden in that data.

“During conversations with CIOs of large companies, I often suggest translating a wide range of information and available data into business proposals for the board. And, after discussion about the necessary actions that should be taken, I hear that my suggestion has gained some attention,” says Adam Wojtkowski, general manager of EMC Poland.

Often in Poland, when plans for new systems are needed, the board will make assump-tions based on conventional IT infrastructure.

“The CIO ensures the company has access to valuable information, but – almost as a rule – he does not know where the data is stored; in what kind of system, in what format and on what medium,” says Radoslaw Machnica, consultant at Hitachi Data Systems Poland.

Infrastructure challengesIT administrators in large companies often struggle with infrastructure for big data. “The answer is to make converged infrastructure that enables easier deployment of applica-tions and responds to the need for advanced analysis,” says Wojtkowski.

Big data challenges in PolandKrzysztof Polak looks at how Polish companies are addressing wide-ranging infrastructure challenges associated with storing and processing big data

PKP PLK’s plans to modernise the Polish railway network must begin with its IT infrastructure

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Some business executives question whether big data is just another way of saying ana-lytics – and, if so, why there should be a problem implementing it.

But Grzegorz Chmielowski, head of architecture practice at Teradata Poland, says it’s impossible to replace traditional analytics with big data and vice versa. “You should use both methods simultaneously, and only such an approach will help to achieve the desired results,” he says.

Return on investmentKinga Piecuch, CEO at SAP Poland, says: “A company needs efficient equipment and appropriate software for quickly analysing large amounts of data.”

Big data requires an investment in hardware, software and additional specialist work. The cost of implementing big data systems is within the reach of many Polish compa-nies, according to Alicja Wiecka, managing director at SAS Institute Poland.

“If we add the costs to a calculation of ben-efits for the board, it turns out that investment in big data should be profitable, even for a medium–sized company,” she says.

The first big data projects were developed by the larger companies: banks, telcos, utility companies and heavily transactional websites.

Big data at NashaKlasa and Allegro.plNaszaKlasa is a Polish school-based social networking site with 7.2 million users. Every year NaszaKlasa organises a Big Data Summer Camp competition for young, ambitious pro-grammers. Participants who create the most interesting projects for analysing data and extracting hidden knowledge win financial prizes and compete for the title of NaszaKlasa Data Scientist.

“Our data warehouse, built on NetApp FAS filers, contains 0.5PB data with information about our users’ behaviour, relationships, communications, shopping patterns and their consumption of entertainment and advertising,” says Krzysztof Sobieszek, research representative on the board of NaszaKlasa. “We have created a big data system for analytical goals using our own efforts. Every day, the volume of data increases by more than 1.3TB.”

Allegro.pl, the largest internet auction service in Poland, has done something similar, using Oracle databases, analytical systems and Exadata database machines.

Wojciech Szczesny, CTO of Allegro.pl, says big data software is created and tested mostly by its startups – Allegro subsidiaries.

“The systems analyse users’ behaviour, to assist them in moving through the site, find-ing wanted goods and shopping. We use cloud storage from Beyond.pl for building big data systems,” he says.

Modernising the railway networkPKP PLK manages the state railways in Poland and controls 18,500km of lines. It plans to thoroughly modernise the Polish railway network, but that begins with its IT infrastructure.

“We anticipate a rapid growth of data in the near future. And there will be demand for quick access to detailed analysis that will force us to increase our IT infrastructure to col-lect, process and analyse data,” says Rafal Zbirog, IT director at PKP PLK.

STORAGE

“If we add the costs to a calculatIon of benefIts for the board, It turns out that Investment In bIg data should be profItable, even for a medIum–sIzed company” alIcja wIecKa,

sas InstItute poland

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So far, the organisation has virtualised servers with VMware and gradually consoli-dated and simplified the entire IT infrastructure. Data has been migrated from Oracle databases onto an SAP data warehouse with analytics running on SAP Hana.

“Today, the process of generating an analytical report is not counted in hours, but min-utes and seconds,” says Zbirog. “At the same time, we’ve got dynamic data growth and need to find a way to capture and manage big, fast data and provide a platform for our users to analyse this information in real time.”

Big data storage at Geofizyka TorunUnder the pressure of rapidly growing data and the need to process it, oil and gas exploration company Geofizyka Torun implemented a big data system. Geofizyka Torun has an extensive international presence and works as a contractor for companies such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, GSPC, Oil India, Shell and Total.

Every day Geofizyka Torun stores, manages and processes about 100TB of production data, related to seismic research and geophysical measurements. The volume of data processed has grown rapidly in recent years, with the rise of shale gas exploration.

Geofizyka Torun was using IBM iDataplex and Sun Fire X4100 servers running SeisSpace/Pro MAX, GeoDepth and Echos software. Data was processed by more than 50 analysts in four labs who analysed data in different stages.

“We see continuous progress in the field of tools for geospatial analysis and ground examination. But big data systems need great efficiency, flexibility and capacity that can-not be ensured by traditional storage sys-tems,” says Michał Słupski, ICT manager at Geofizyka Torun.

Focus on automation and resilienceGeofizyka Torun looked for a system to automatically distribute data flow and ensure continuous data access at the application level. The company also required advanced performance monitoring to allows users to perform a detailed disk array load analysis and create reports on disk array condition.

EMC Isilon met all these requirements. The system provides advanced control and allo-cation of specified storage resources to particular departments and individual users with high throughput and input/output.

“Isilon is an advanced tool designed to manage capacity allocation. This made it pos-sible to allocate capacity on multiple levels; for example, to a unit in the organisation and to individuals in that unit. It also made it possible to identify and solve problems associ-ated with the incorrect use of system memory,” says Słupski.

Isilon considerably improved the functioning of Geofizyka Torun’s whole system and streamlined the IT department’s operations.

The system is largely self-operating and does not require continuous monitoring. An appropriate amount of working memory is allocated to each user. One feature of the system is its substantial scalability. Currently it uses 10 nodes, but has the capacity to expand to 144.

“Isilon offers the possibility to grow the system quickly – adding a node takes less than a minute – and this is an entrance to big data processing,” says Słupski. n

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“bIg data systems need great effIcIency, flexIbIlIty and capacIty that cannot be ensured by tradItIonal storage systems” mIchał słupsKI,

geofIzyKa torun

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Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has deployed a Wi-Fi aggregator product from network supplier iPass across its mobile estate, providing flight crews with access to 15 million hotspots worldwide and enhancing its existing electronic flight bag (EFB) system.

Formed after the Second World War as a consortium made up of the national airlines of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, SAS is headquartered in Stockholm, with hubs at Copenhagen Kastrup, Oslo Gardermoen and Stockholm Arlanda airports.

With a fleet of 139 aircraft and nearly 13,000 employees, SAS carried 25.4 million passen-gers in its fiscal 2013. It currently serves 180 short- and long-haul destinations.

“SAS is a very modern airline,” says mobile solutions manager and EFB administrator Ashraf Hoseini, “and we are always trying to follow trends in technology and network solu-tions to make life easier for our staff and crew.”

In keeping with this philosophy, the airline went paper-free on its flight decks two years ago, scrapping paper charts, aircraft operating manuals and other documents that pilots need to carry on-board in favour of iPads. This has resulted in a number of efficiencies, including marginal weight and fuel savings and a reduction in paper use.

To run an EFB system efficiently and safely, connectivity is a critical requirement, says Hoseini. “Our pilots always need to be connected to receive updates, performance calcula-tions, charts and everything else they need to fly,” she adds.

SAS’s first stab at an EFB system relied on 3G roaming to update critical documents, which was not always ideal for use at destinations where mobile network signals could be unreli-able, as well as expensive when it came to roaming costs.

From ‘nice to have’ to ‘mission critical’It was clear at this point that there were still areas where the EFB system could be made more efficient and cheaper to use. To this end, about a year into the EFB project, Hoseini started to look at iPass as a means to accomplish this.

Scandinavian Airlines hands pilots worldwide Wi-Fi pass

iPass provides SAS with reliable Wi-Fi connections worldwide to the benefit of the airline and its staff. Alex Scroxton reports

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Founded in the 1990s as a dial-up connectivity provider, iPass has transitioned over the years into a specialist enterprise mobile services supplier and Wi-Fi network aggregator.

It specialises in providing secure wireless networking connectivity to enterprise business travellers via millions of public Wi-Fi hotspots around the world, many of them in airports and hotels. Users receive a single log-in to access what the firm has claimed is – technically, if not officially – the world’s largest Wi-Fi network.

Until now, iPass has been deployed primarily for use by enterprise business travellers, as a service that was useful to have but was by no means essential. Implementing its first mission-critical deployment for SAS necessitated some changes.

“The journey with iPass has been very interesting. We are the first airline to use it and, as an airline, we have different requirements from consumers, so we needed to modify the solution to adapt to our environment,” says Hoseini.

With rigorously defined processes to ensure aircraft safety is put firmly at the heart of its business, SAS and iPass had to work out a number of kinks to guarantee flight crews could stay connected, she explains.

Getting around time restrictions on Wi-Fi use at some airports was one challenge that had to be overcome, says Hoseini. With many hotspot

providers offering time-limited wireless access, a dropped connection in the middle of a critical download could have life-threatening consequences, something the two partners were ultimately able to work out.

Benefits and enhancementsSAS has now given 2,000 of its staff, including back-office personnel, access to the net-work, so that SAS managers not intimately involved in the running of the aircraft can also use it when travelling for business. This said, according to Hoseini, about 90% of the traffic SAS sends over the iPass network is generated by its flight crews.

Besides the savings on its 3G costs, SAS is seeing benefits around the user experience, with airport Wi-Fi networks generally significantly more reliable than 3G or 4G connections.

The airline has also found some of its pilots have changed their working patterns, with many now performing additional pre- or post-flight tasks from iPass-enabled hotspots at their hotels, instead of at the airport.

In future, Hoseini says SAS could look to use the technology to help improve the passenger experience, such as offering electronic boarding. n

wIth rIgorously defIned processes to ensure aIrcraft safety Is put fIrmly at the heart of Its busIness, sas and Ipass had to worK out a number of KInKs to guarantee flIght crews could stay connected

Alex Scroxton is Computer Weekly’s networking editor

Many SAS pilots now perform pre- or post-flight tasks from iPass-enabled hotspots

at their hotels, instead of at the airport