British Land deploys Greenfield wireless network

RF, Wi-Fi and VoIP capabilities give real estate giant flexibility and security at new corporate headquarters.

British Land, the property development giant has deployed a new wireless network infrastructure at a new development in London's West End that incorporates its new head office.

After the appointment of a new chief executive two years ago, it was decided the company's existing London headquarters no longer fitted with it culture of open communication and collaborative team working.

Jay Hunter, British Land group infrastructure manager told IT PRO that the company looked for a more open plan head office space, so that its staff could work more easily in a collaborative way on projects. Having benchmarked its own design for the new office development against other possible properties, it developed York House itself.

"We decided to move to our own, new open plan offices, to be as environmentally efficient and future proofed as possible" he said. "That gave me the opportunity to get involved at the design phase for the new building's IT infrastructure."

As the largest UK real estate investment trust (REIT), with total assets under management of £21.4 billion, Hunter said British Land was able to draw on its existing supplier base and best practices in scoping and designing the network for the new building.

Hunter said: "It was an excellent opportunity to get cabling installed during the build, to not just support wireless networking, but also to extend our cellular capabilities, to 3.5G or HSDPA for example, for the future."

British Land contracted wireless professional services company, Red-M to deliver a complete wireless network for the new York House, which was handed over on time and to budget in time for its opening in March this year.

Red-M carried out a site survey and audit to precisely measure the building's radio frequency (RF) propagation characteristics, establishing and locating potential sources of interference. It also assessed the building's characteristics to identify any radio, equipment or implementation issues or constraints.

It then installed a complete wireless infrastructure, with routers and access points, as well as wireless system settings such as Quality of Service, virtual local area network (VLAN), security and LAN switch configurations, to integrate the new Wi-Fi system with the existing British Land corporate IT network.

"Part of York House is residential, so we wanted to make sure we didn't throw the signal beyond our office boundaries," added Hunter.

The network has been designed to supply high quality, secure wireless data coverage in all customer and employee occupied areas to support corporate roaming data users and guest user internet access.

"Security was uppermost in our mind," Hunter said. "So we tackled it at design phase so we got the physical boundaries in place alongside the logical ones, like running wireless on a separate BT network."

He added that previous work to secure application access through a portal behind the firewall using a SSL VPN mitigated the risk involved in layering wireless access over the top. "We also make sure we regularly patch our routers and access points so they're running the most up-to-date firmware," he said.

BT to supply fixed-lines for Orange landline service

Move into unbundled landline telephony will be managed and hosted by BT's wholesale division, as Orange assembles quadruple-play offer.

The wholesale arm of BT has signed a deal to provide the fixed-line and support services for Orange's planned landline service.

The launch of a Orange-branded landline service is part of the mobile operator's efforts to provide a unified service across mobile, fixed line, broadband and TV services, competing with the likes of Sky and Virgin Media.

The agreement will allow Orange, owned by France Telecom, to offer a unbundled landline phone service under its own brand but managed and maintained by BT Wholesale.

Under the terms of the agreement, BT Wholesale will manage line rental, calls and customer management, including the setup and management of Orange's customer call centres.

The two companies said the deal would allow Orange to enter the market for fixed-line and bundled services faster and at a lower cost.

"It is our goal to provide mobile, broadband, fixed line and TV to every house in the UK," Asif Aziz, director of home products at Orange, said in a statement. "This is an important step in making that a reality by providing our customers with all of their communication needs from one supplier."

Orange said it had over 16.5 million customers in the country by the end of March - 15.1 million of which are active mobile phone customers on contract and pay-as-you-go, while the remaining 1.5 million are broadband and dial-up users.

The company is planning to launch a IPTV service before the end of the year.

Service level monitoring increases UK coastal readiness

New management tool assures vital maritime communication and search and rescue systems.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is in the midst of a major programme to update its specialist monitoring and alert systems.

It is rolling out service level monitoring and management tools to guarantee the uptime and performance of IT infrastructure key to its monitoring of over 1,000 Class A vessels at any one time and managing approximately 16,000 search and rescue (SAR) incidents a year.

The use of NimBUS from service management vendor, Nimsoft as its corporate standard for monitoring IT infrastructure and key applications across the entire organisation, will help the MCA monitor vital communication and search and rescue systems.

James Findlay, MCA head of ICT told IT PRO the use of software to monitor core, often outsourced IT components that support key specialist tracking and SAR systems has improved IT support response times and helped the agency carry out its duties without technical interruption.

"It's often not realised that 97 per cent of the UK's trade by weight comes in by sea, so the systems we support are pretty vital to the UK economy," he said. "We are required to have high system availability from the perspective of the function we provide for the coastguard communications systems too, where we're dealing with the safety of human lives as well as the prevention of pollution."

The MCA operates 19 Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCC) along the UK coastline, which house these mission-critical systems, such as the Automatic Identification System (AIS), a Navigation Warning System and an Integrated Coastguard Communication System (ICCS). The Agency's Incident Management System (IMS) provides the mechanism to coordinate and record search and rescue events. And all these systems run across over 130 Windows servers at locations around the UK, while being managed remotely using the service level tools.

"By taking a service level management approach, we can essentially monitor the availability of systems and sometime even spot faults before the users do," said Findlay. "We already have very high levels or redundancy in the systems, but NimBUS also helps us assure the tough service levels with our contractors are met. It's also really simple to use and really user friendly."

The move to NimBUS also comes as the MCA prepares to complete its implementation of a European Union directive that extends the UK's vessel traffic monitoring systems to cover over 10,500 miles of coastline and some of the busiest international seaways in the world such as the Dover Strait.

Colt prepares to make customers live on NGN next year

The communications company is readying itself to support the first customers on its new platform during 2008.

Telecoms giant COLT today confirmed plans to move its customers to its next generation network (NGN) next year.

The company is in the final stages of vendor selection for the new single, three-layer IP and Ethernet-based network which, when completed and switched on, will give its business users a number of benefits including faster service speeds, the ability to add to and modify service provision and upgrade bandwidth of their own accord using an online portal.

COLT's NGN will span its 20,000km pan-European fibre network and feature a transport layer, service control layer and application layer, the latter of which help deliver new solutions to businesses such as unified communications, collaborative and mobility tools.

The new, open standards-based infrastructure will also help the company to incorporate new services and functionality from a wide pool of software vendors and bring those solutions to market more quickly as well as modifying them speedily post launch.

"We are accelerating our investment in network and data centres in the next two years to ensure our customers benefit from the best communications solutions for their business and the best possible customer experience," said Rakesh Bhasin, COLT's chief executive.

"COLT already has a sophisticated fibre network built around Europe's business centres and this latest development will enable us to offer customers more flexibility and innovative new communications tools, as well as the resilience they are used to with traditional networks. Ultimately our goal is to make telecommunications transparent, with customers being able to access any application they need, using any device, no matter where they are. This upgrade is a key step in our evolution towards that goal. We will also be upgrading our data centre footprint and will be able to communicate more in the near future."

Analysts looked upon COLT's news as positive but suggested that the real test is yet to come.

"COLT is doing everything it can to make networking life easier for its enterprise customers. The big question is how easy or difficult COLT and other operators will find it to use the NGNs being built by Europe's incumbent telcos, when the time comes to use them," said David Molony, principal analyst at Ovum.

"The issue is not interconnection, but the degree of support for applications services from another network. COLT's CTO says he wants to provide a plug-and-play environment for his customers' applications, and that this should be extended across all networks."

Molony added: "By standardising on Ethernet he has kept things simple and increased the chances of exchanging data effectively through the national NGNs (BT, Deutsche Telekom, KPN, Telekom Austria) where COLT needs to do that. But maintaining quality of service for each and every new application will not necessarily be so simple. NGN operators do not have applications management agreements with each other, so won't be able to guarantee QoS from day one."

IDF 2007: WiMAX and ultra-mobiles will unleash web next year

The way we access broadband will change next year thanks to WiMAX technology and Intel's new mobile platforms, according to predictions made at IDF.

The way we access the wire-free web will be transformed in early 2008 by the roll-out of the first commercial WiMAX networks, coinciding with the launch of new Wi-MAX notebooks and a brand new platform for ultra-mobile devices, according to Intel.

"We are on the cusp of a new global network, seamlessly integrated," Intel's chief executive Paul Otellini told delegates at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), before quoting projected WiMAX coverage figures of 150 million people (mostly in the US) by the end of 2008, 750 million in 2010 and 1.3 billion in 2012.

WiMAX is the next step in wireless internet technology, enabling the transfer of data at broadband speeds over long distances. Notebook and mobile device support is only one part of the solution; building the network and encouraging adoption is likely to prove the bigger obstacle.

Intel entertainingly demonstrated the potential of WiMAX for tourism and leisure by driving three mobile vehicles through the audience, including a scooter and smart car with a screen and GPS for guided tours and directions, and a Segway set up for use as a golf buggy, interactive training tool and round-tracking caddy.

Menlow

As well as showing off a Montevina notebook with Echo Peak Wi-Fi/WiMAX capability, Intel also introduced Menlow, the first platform to be built from the ground up for ultramobile PCs (UMPCs) and mobile internet devices (MIDs) that can take advantage of roaming broadband.

It is based on a 45nm Silverthorne processor and a next-generation Poulsbo chipset with integrated graphics, and features Wi-Fi, 3G and WiMAX. A variety of early working prototypes were displayed from Samsung, BenQ and other manufacturers, with Intel claiming a 10x reduction in power consumption over the first UMPCs.

But with UMPCs so far failing to impress, the more general-purpose MID looks more likely to succeed. Even Intel's own Dadi Perlmutter admitted that a "UMPC just takes a PC and makes it smaller", but insisted that the pocket-sized form factor of the MIDs is better suited to roaming broadband. "It's a different usage model. You just get it out of your pocket, get what you need from it, then you put it away again."

The future: Moorestown

Intel's Anand Chandrasekher also gave a sneak peek at the next-generation ultra-mobile platform to follow in 2009/10. Moorestown will be the first system on a chip (SOC) design combining the CPU, graphics and memory controller.

"As we put all this together we'll be taking the size of the components down by half again. We'll take the power down by half again, and we will take, most importantly, idle power down by a factor of 10X," said Chandrasekher.

A mock-up of the expected design for a Moorestown-based MID showed a radically different approach, with a thin, panoramic shape that was almost entirely taken up by a screen which was receiving live map updates.

"The kinds of improvements we're making in Moorestown are effectively what enable this. So clearly the innovation that we're putting in place here, beginning with Menlow, continuing it with Moorestown, is what is going to unleash the internet."

Eircom wins £70million Northern Ireland deal

Irish firm will rollout "Network NI" over the next two years for the Northern Ireland Civil Service.

Eircom has won a £70 million contract from Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) to rollout a new network over the next two years, taking over from BT who previously provided network services.

The Irish firm will overhaul the networks, dubbed "Network NI", and maintain them over the next six to 10 years. The modernised network will be able to handle voice, video and data traffic and will be secure and scalable, the government said, allowing key reform projects to go ahead.

"'Network NI' is a key underpinning project necessary for delivering on the NICS Reform Agenda. The service is urgently required, so I am delighted that we can now begin the rollout and look forward to completion within the two year window," said Bruce Robinson, Permanent Secretary for the Department of Finance and Personnel said. "This innovative project will play a vital role in delivering the best front line public services that government can provide."

Serviced from Eircom's new centre in Belfast, the contract will lead to 20 new jobs in the area.

NetScout to buy Network General for $205 million

The latest takeover of the Sniffer creator comes just 10 years after McAfee bought the business for $1.1 billion, and sold it six years later for $213 million.

NetScout Systems has announced its intention to acquire Network General for $205 million (£102 million).

The deal, comprising six million shares of NetScout stock, $50 million (£25 million) of cash and $100 million (£50 million) of debt financing, comes after 20 years of competition between the network performance software developers.

NetScout, founded in 1984, specialise in pre-event real-time monitoring and troubleshooting technology. Network General began its operations in 1986 with the shipment of the first Sniffer network monitoring system. Since then, it has expanded its range to a full line of IT network analysis solutions.

"Today, we are bringing together two established companies with complementary technologies to form a new stronger organisation that will have the scale, technology, and mindshare to meet some of the greatest challenges associated with virtualisation, convergence, SOA and highly distributed network-centric operations," said Anil Singhal, president and chief executive of NetScout.

This purchase is the third in a line of exceedingly unsuccessful and unprofitable ownership changes for Network General, the first of which came from McAfee in 1997 for $1.1billion (£550 million). The second change of ownership took place in 2003 when private equity company Silver Lake Partners paid $213million (£106 million) to date the business private. It took Network General and McAfee just under six years to flounder eighty percent of the company's previous value.

NetScout hopes its $205million purchase will prove to be more profitable than those of their predecessors. In a statement released early Thursday, NetScout officials claimed that the acquisition will double revenue by 2009.

Virgin Media to test 50Mb broadband in Kent

Major upgrade to Virgin's cable broadband service to be beta tested by customers in areas of Kent including Dover, Ashford and Folkestone.

Virgin Media will begin public trials next month of its 50Mb cable broadband service, selecting areas of Kent for the initial trial.

Folkestone is currently running a free trial of the 50Mb service, albeit on a scattergun basis, but from the beginning of October testers will be charged an as yet unspecified subscription, expected to be in the region of £47 a month. Trials in Ashford and Dover will begin at the same time, with similar charging expected.

The trial will run from 1 October until the end of December.

Virgin is using the latest version of DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications), the protocol that enables cable companies to send data signals over the same wires they use to deliver television signals.

DOCSIS 3.0 increases transmissions speeds both upstream and downstream. This means Virgin can offer upload speeds as high as 1.5Mb/sec in addition to 50Mb/sec for incoming data.

When deployed nationwide, many existing customers wanting to upgrade will need to be sent new cable modems, as many of the units currently in use by the company do not support DOCSIS 3.0 or 50Mb throughput.

Meanwhile BT is beginning implementation of its 21st Century Network (21CN) which will, at best, provides speeds up to 22Mb/sec using DSL technology on the last mile. The company has rejected calls to improve on this with the costly installation of optical fibres. But yesterday the minister of state for competitiveness, Stephen Timms, said that the government is considering funding fibre-to-the-home to ensure the UK remains competitive.

"Other countries are starting to invest in new, fibre-based infrastructure, delivering considerably higher bandwidth than is available in the UK today," he said.

More information is available as follows: Ashford; Folkestone; and Dover.

Minister calls for broadband action

Competitiveness minister Stephen Timms has said the UK needs a road map to deploy super fast broadband.

The UK is at risk of falling behind the rest of the world in high-speed broadband, Stephen Timms has said in his first speech as Minister of Competitiveness.

In a speech to the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), Timms said other countries are investing more in their broadband plans.

"When I became e-commerce minister five years ago, the UK was neck and neck with Croatia on broadband availability and use," said Timms. "Together, thanks in no small measure to the work of the Broadband Stakeholder Group, we fixed that problem and put Britain in a leading position. However, today we face a new challenge. Other countries are starting to invest in new, fibre based infrastructure, delivering considerably higher bandwidth than is available in the UK today."

The minister said he considered telecommunications infrastructure as one of his highest personal priorities, because it is key to staying competitive globally. With that in mind, he announced a summit later this year to discuss what public intervention might need to happen. "That is why I have decided to chair a high level summit later this year to consider the circumstances that might trigger public sector intervention, the form that intervention might take and at what level it might sensibly take place," he said. "I want it to be an open exchange, to bring together key people from Government, from Ofcom and from industry."

The chairman of the BSG said the UK must find a way to encourage investment in broadband infrastructure. "We're not looking to government for all of the solutions, but we are looking for ministerial leadership," said Kip Meek. "Communications infrastructure is a key enabler of competitiveness. The evolution of the UK's broadband infrastructure must be prioritised by government."

London leads Europe in Wi-Fi rankings

Research finds UK capital tops rival European cities in the use and adoption of wireless LAN technology and wireless hotspots.

Worldwide hotspot use by business users jumped 68 per cent between the second half of 2006 and the first half of 2007, with London leading the surge in adoption, a new survey today finds.

The Wi-Fi Hotspot Index by enterprise mobility services provider, iPass found this increase compared to a growth rate of 44 per cent in the previous six months, where Europe is now outpacing the US.

The domestic region expanded its worldwide share of Wi-Fi use over the US from 31 per cent to 36 per cent in the previous six months; with London racing ahead to achieve 124 per cent growth compared to the second half of 2006, alongside an average user session of 49 minutes.

The research, based on data gathered from nearly two million iPass Wi-Fi sessions during the six-moth survey period, showed the number of UK sessions grew by 98 per cent, with London extending its lead as the world capital of Wi-Fi and now accounting for nearly four times the sessions of the runner-up city, New York. Other top Wi-Fi using cities for the period included Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Singapore, San Francisco, Munich, San Jose and Los Angeles.

UK year-on-year growth was also positive with a 247 per cent rise on growth figures compiled for the first half of 2006.

The research also found that airports lead the way in the top locations for business people accessing hotspots, with 56 percent of sessions overall. Heathrow emerged as the most popular UK airport for accessing Wi-Fi, followed by Manchester, Edinburgh, Gatwick and Glasgow.

"The regional and global growth reflects a confidence within enterprises to enable their business travellers to use cutting edge technology to remain productive and efficient whilst away from the office," said René Hendrikse, iPass managing director for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

The research was compiled using session data collected by iPass across its base of users at more than 3,500 companies around the world. The full study is available at www.ipass.com/wifihotspotindex.

St. Pancras gets network boost for new Eurostar service

New data network in place for launch of Eurostar services at St. Pancras from November.

St Pancras station, which will run Eurostar services from the middle of November, has rolled out a new data network in a project worth around £500,000.

The new network integrates critical functions including ticketing, timekeeping, information systems and CCTV security onto one network. The implementation of the network was carried out by ICT company Bailey Teswaine.

The network consists of Cisco core switches with multiple gigabit resilient links throughout the station. The network was tested and completed in the second quarter this year alongside the station's £800 million refurbishment in preparation for the new Eurostar services running from 14 November, replacing Waterloo as the new central London terminal for the international train.

David Johnson, head of projects at Bailey Teswaine said that redevelopment of St Pancras International was "one of the most ambitious and significant projects undertaken in modern Britain".

"We have built an extremely robust network that will facilitate an enjoyable and safe travel experience at every point from ticket hall to platform for the station's expected 45 million passengers each year," he said.

A spokesman for London and Continental Railways that runs Eurostar said that the new network forms the core part of its operations. "This network will ensure the seamless day to day running of this magnificent building."

Slow progress towards green IT

New survey finds that companies talk a lot about green issues but mostly fail to act.

Barely a third of companies have any plans to move towards green computing.

Research carried out by storage vendor Onstor found that only 36 per cent of organisations have projects in place at the present time to be more environmentally friendly with their computing needs. Another 29 per cent of companies said they were talking about green initiatives while a further 29 per cent said that there had been no discussions to date about going green.

The study of 440 companies in Europe found the nearly half (48 per cent) of respondents will out grow their existing data centres within the next 12 months, while 84 per cent of organisations questioned saw corporate responsibility mandatees drive the need to reduce overall power consumption in their companies.

The research found that for two-thirds of companies the cost of energy was the key factor in the bid to become greener. When asked what percentage of cost savings would be enough of an incentive to go green 12 per cent cited less than five per cent, 24 per cent stated between 5-10 per cent and 33 per cent stated between 10-20 per cent.

Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) said that buying less power hungry IT was essential to adhering to a green data centre policy.

Bob Miller, chief executive of Onstor said that green initiatives were flowering within the IT industry but said the problem was with the end users.

"Pressure groups such as the Green Grid now taking centre stage in an industry renown for its power consumption," he said. "While the vendors appear to be taking this issue seriously the overall end user community is some way behind."

Miller added that it would appear from these findings that it will be "market and technology drivers that affect change."

Optical networking component vendors feel squeeze

New research from Ovum RHK points to five per cent decline in market for optical networking componenets.

Corrections in inventory by customers have led to a second quarter on quarter decline in the sales of optical componenets for networking equipment, new figures suggest.

According to figures released by research outfit Ovum RHK, the sector's sales declined by five per cent in the second quarter to $936 million (£468 million). Company revenues were also down one per cent compared to the second quarter of last year.

Ovum said that market leader JDSU posted a 12 per cent sequential sales decline and managed to lose market share on a rolling fourth quarter basis. Its rival Finisar, had strong quarter-on-quarter growth and gained nine per cent of the market with revenues of $96 million (£48 million).

Opnext, the number four company in the sector had the strongest growth in the quarter, up 68 per cent and this said Ovum was down to sales of componenets supporting 10 and 40 Gbit/sec Ethernet products. This accounted for over 80 per cent of the company's revenues.

But according to analysts the contraction is a temporary phenomenon.

"Equipment vendors in all segments are reporting strong revenue gains," said Daryl Inniss, vice president and practice leader, Communication Components at Ovum RHK. "Optical component suppliers' revenues are declining as a consequence of customer-driven inventory initiatives that are largely over, but we are surprised at the length and depth of the impact on component vendors."

Inniss said that although he expect the market to resume steady growth in the second half of this year, "pockets of inventory correction may continue to have a negative impact".

Ovum said that components and modules supporting faster Ethernet technologies were identified by vendors as driving increased sales and new products are being introduced and strong market growth is now expected.

Birmingham picked for BT 21CN trials

Up to ten Birmingham-based exchanges to be connected to BT's next-generation network by January 2008.

BT has announced that it will conduct live trials of its 21st Century Network (21CN) in Birmingham.

Working in conjunction with business ISP Entanet, BT's Wholesale and Retail businesses will begin 21CN tests using a single live exchange in Birmingham from November, moving up to 10 exchanges by January 2008. BT intends to begin the nationwide rollout of 21CN later next year.

Entanet says that first-hand experience of 21CN's implementation and testing will be invaluable. "We'll be making financial, time and resource investments in our network to participate in the trial, which will give us a critical edge in planning ahead for our network as 21CN is rolled out," says Steve Lalonde, chief technical officer of Entanet.

Entanet is planning a multi-million pound investment in its own network infrastructure to exploit the new voice and data services that 21CN will make possible. The network is basically an implementation of ADSL2+ technology on BT's existing copper wire infrastructure. It will enable faster broadband connectivity as well as new internet-based services such as HD television. The village of Wick, near Cardiff, was the first to be connected to the new network, last November.

Trials in central London, Woolwich and Cambridge were successfully concluded in June.

EU court to rule on Microsoft abuse case

Court will decide whether original European Commission fine was justified.

A European Union court will rule on whether software giant Microsoft has abused its near-monopoly on operating systems to push out competitors. The case has major implications on the EU's authority to put into effect antitrust policy.

The executive European Commission decided in 2004 that Microsoft used its Windows operating system, running on 95 per cent of the world's computers and servers, to choke off competing makers of server and streaming media software.

The Commission fined the software giant a record 497 million euros (£343 million) and ordered it to change its business practices. Microsoft appealed, so a special 13-judge panel at the Court of First Instance will decide who was right.

The bloc's second-highest court, based in Luxembourg, will hand down its ruling on live television.

It will rule whether the Commission was right to say Microsoft could not bundle its Windows Media Player with its Windows operating system because it was aimed at hurting rivals such as RealNetworks, once dominant in the field.

It will also decide whether the Commission was wrong to order Microsoft to produce a version of Windows without the player software. Few bought that version of Windows.

Today, media software is used to watch Google's YouTube, download Apple iTunes or listen to podcasts.

The court will also rule whether Microsoft has to make available information to rival server software makers so that their software runs as smoothly on Windows.

The Commission ordered Microsoft to do that and has fined it an additional 280.5 million euros because it says the company is not yet in compliance with that decision.

Finally, the court will rule whether to cut the Commission's original fine on Microsoft.

If the Commission's power is preserved, no matter whether the sanctions are thrown out, it will be able to press ahead against Microsoft on a series of other pending complaints.

Companies around the world are waiting to see whether the court will cut into the Commission's power.

If the court's ruling criticises the Commission's work in this complex, high-tech case, the Commission will have to rethink its strategy in cases and complaints involving Intel, Qualcomm, Rambus and others.

Galileo Connect to build green data in Essex

Green light for eco-friendly data centre in Loughton, Essex.

Modular data centre developer Galileo Connect is to build a new, "sustainable" data centre near the Bank of England printing works, just outside London, as part of its £540 million expansion plan.

The company recently acquired the three acre site in Loughton, Essex and will complete construction of the £40 million development in October 2008. The company is also building a £200 million data centre in Paris, which it hopes to finish by September next year. Another data centre in Canberra, Australia has also been confirmed.

The company said the UK data centre will be greener than other data centres as it claimed that the ideal size of the data hall to be 1000 square metres with a power density of 1500 Watts per square metre. With Tier IV power and cooling, the data centre can accommodate 400 "cabinets".

"Sustainability is the issue of the day, and it's a topic that our industry has to take seriously," said Julian King, chief executive of Galileo Connect. "Our approach is born of over a decade of study in to the architectural, engineering and operational issues involved in the provision and ongoing management of highly resilient data centres. We are confident our new "modular" concept will address this issue and serve the global demand for secure data centres that are environmentally sound."

Norfolk police inks data warehouse deal with Fujitsu Services

Fujitsu Services to deploy operational data warehouse for Norfolk constabulary.

Norfolk police are to deploy an operational data warehouse that will combine and link data in one repository.

The force signed a deal with IT services company Fujitsu Services that it hopes will give it more flexibility and be more cost effective that sending data returns back to the Home Office though its National Management Information System (NMIS).

The warehouse is expected to be helpful to police on the beat as it will allow them to carry out many more activities than they currently carry out at present.

Christine Thompson, information management business manager at Norfolk Constabulary, said the force had chosen Fujitsu as it "has access to more resources than the competition and put together the most persuasive tender document". She added that its track record gave the force confidence in the company to deliver the project.

Under the terms of the deal Fujitsu will partner with SAS Software and Amadeus Software to fix common problems caused by multiple information systems with different collection and storage techniques.

The first stage of the project has already seen the constabulary bring together information from its crime and HR systems in order to improve its ability to provide annual Home Office Data Returns. It is hoped in the future that the force will be able to make links between external events such as economic trends and population movements to help to predict patterns of crime.

Fujitsu said that its work in data warehousing with police forces in the UK was to extract important data from the many different information systems used by individual police forces in order to merge and advance its quality. This would, it said, improve forces' capacity to respond to the national policing requirements that emerged from the Bichard inquiry - the 2003 independent inquiry, which examined how the police handled the intelligence surrounding the Soham murders.

Andy Sowden, head of police business at Fujitsu Services, said the contract was an important project for the company "and one which will provide Norfolk Constabulary with a framework that will be able to cope with continued change - both at a local and a national level - and the many information requirements that will come their way in the future".

ITIL Version 3

Getting ready for ITIL Version 3 Creators of the IT Infrastructure Library say the update to the best practices framework, due in late May, will provide more useful how-to content. Advocates say adoption won't happen overnight

Internet pipes not ready to burst, researcher says

Despite the fact that more people are dishing up video and other bandwidth-saturating content, Internet traffic growth rates are actually slowing down, according to a new Web site at the University of Minnesota.

The Minnesota Internet Traffic Studies (MINTS) site, which we first learned about late last year, shows that Internet traffic growth rates have settled in at about 50% to 60% in the United States and worldwide as the Internet matures. That’s a far cry from the doubling rates every year or even every 100 days that some like WorldCom claimed in the mid-to-late 1990s.

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Though that’s not to say the exabytes of data sitting in databases and other places around the globe couldn’t find its way onto the Internet at some point and create a problem, says Andrew Odlyzko, principal investigator for the site and a professor of mathematics at the University of Minnesota (not to mention an early critic of the bandwidth glut built up by telecom carriers at the turn of the 21st century).

The site reads: “The current slowdown in growth rates may not be permanent. There are exabytes of data that can conceivably lead to those famed ‘exafloods’ that could strain the network. The key issue is how quickly (if at all) that data will move to the Internet.”

The purpose of the site is to get a better handle on Internet traffic, not an easy thing to measure. As the site points out, even organizations such as Cisco that are in the middle of the Internet have been known to claim growth rates of as much as 300% to 500% a year, only to later cite growth rates closer to 50% a year.

Getting a handle on Internet traffic is important for a number of reasons, including the ability to make more sense of arguments like that over net neutrality. Do service providers really need to be so careful about divvying up bandwidth if there really isn’t much of a squeeze?

“Traffic growth rates of 50% per year appear to only about offset technology advances, as transmission capacity available for a given price steadily increases,” the site reads. “Thus although service providers are pushing to throttle customer traffic, an argument can be made that they should instead be encouraging more traffic and new applications, to fill the growing capacity of transmission links.”

The latest numbers on the site show that monthly Internet traffic in the United States last year totaled 450 petabytes to 800 petabytes, with worldwide traffic of 2,000 petabytes to 3,000 petabytes a month. Monthly Internet traffic per capita in the United States was said to be 2GB per month last year.

The site consolidates data from more than 100 Web sites (most of them public). These include the Abilene Network Operations Center, Cern Internet Exchange Point and University of Memphis.

Operators of MINTS are seeking even more data sources.

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