industry news
UK firms ‘in the dark’
about impact of new
EU data protection
legislation
BROADGROUP ANNOUNCES DATACLOUD ASIA CONGRESS
BroadGroup has announced the launch of
Datacloud Asia, the data centre and cloud
finance and deal making forum to take place
in Singapore on 23rd February 2017.
Following the huge success of the European
and Nordic events, the congress has now
moved to Asia and will assess investment and
growth opportunities across the region. The
premier forum will also include the first Asia Data
Centre and Cloud Awards dinner and ceremony.
Datacloud Asia will include an impressive
line-up of guest speakers from leading
international players and will feature the
latest findings from a special Regional Report
based on BroadGroup’s research.
Philip Low, managing director of
BroadGroup said, ‘Asia hubs is the central
theme of this new event with a strong
focus on investors, enterprises and doing
deals. It also aims to offer inspiring insights
and thought provoking points of view for
companies seeking a better way of hosting
and colocating in the new reality of a data
driven and cloud connected world.’
The forum will also highlight the unique
value of locating or outsourcing data centre,
cloud and IT infrastructure across the
important and fast growing Asia region.
For further information visit:
www.datacloud.asia
Cloud transition faster than you think according to
Uptime Institute 2016 Data Center Industry Survey
Uptime Institute has announced the results of the 2016 Uptime Institute Data Center
Industry Survey.
The sixth annual survey provides an overview of the major trends shaping IT
infrastructure delivery and strategy. According to survey findings, 50 per cent of senior
enterprise IT executives expect the majority of IT workloads to reside off-premise in cloud
or colocation sites in the future. Of those respondents 70 per cent expect that shift to
occur by 2020, and 23 per cent expect the shift will happen by next year.
‘The shift is occurring, and our findings show an industry in a state of flux,’ said
Matt Stansberry, director of content and publications for Uptime Institute. ‘We saw the
trends lining up beginning with our 2013 survey, noting that enterprise IT teams were
not effectively communicating data centre cost and performance metrics to their C-level
executives. The business demand for agility and cost transparency has driven workloads
to the public cloud. Our counsel to data centre and IT professionals is to become more
effective at articulating and showcasing their value to the business.’
The majority of the UK’s small and
medium sized businesses (SMEs) have
either not heard of – or are uncertain
about - the impact of the EU’s new
data protection legislation, General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR), which
was adopted in April 2016 and takes
effect within two years.
The findings, which form part of
Close Brothers’ quarterly survey of UK
SME owners and senior management
from a range of sectors, found that 82
per cent of companies have either not
heard of GDPR or don’t understand its
impact; a further 14 per cent will need
to take further advice.
Only four per cent of SMEs say
they understand the legislation and are
clear about the effect GDPR will have
on their business.
‘GDPR is one of the most significant
and anticipated pieces of legislation
conceived in the EU in recent years,’
explained Ian McVicar, managing director,
Close Brothers Technology Services. ‘It
is intended to strengthen and unify data
protection for individuals within the EU.
‘What these results demonstrate
is that there is a clear lack of
understanding at all levels and across
all sectors. One of the headline figures
that has been focused on is the penalty
for non-compliance, which is up to four
per cent of annual revenue or €20m,
whichever is the higher.
‘We would like businesses to
think positively about GDPR and
understand how it can benefit both