Jul-Aug-Sep 2021

NETWORKcomputing 

I N F O R M A T I O N A N D C O M M U N I C A T I O N S – N E T W O R K E D www.networkcomputing.co.uk 

IoT AT THE EDGE 

What will edge computing mean 

for the Internet of Things? 

HYBRID WORKING 

The genie is out of the 

botttle - so what next? 

NEW PATHWAYS 

Why the times are 

changing for tech training 

CONNECTING WITH 

QUALITY 

Draytek discuss solutions for 

our new network landscape 

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 VOL 30 NO 03

COMMENT 

COMMENT 

A NEW KIND OF BROADBAND STREAMING 

There's been very little need for a hosepipe ban in the UK this summer and now it seems 

that the country's water system is on the verge of being used in an altogether more innovative 

way. In August the UK Government announced a three-year project to accelerate 

the rollout of broadband and mobile signal in rural areas by feeding fibre cables through the 

country's network of water pipes. Four million pounds is being made available for cuttingedge 

innovators to trial the scheme. The government sees the project as potentially offering "a 

quicker and more cost-effective way of connecting fibre optic cables to homes, businesses 

and mobile masts, without the disruption caused by digging up roads and land. Civil works, 

in particular installing new ducts and poles, can make up as much as four fifths of the costs 

to industry of building new gigabit-capable broadband networks." 

Digital Infrastructure Minister Matt Warman said "We are calling on Britain's brilliant innovators 

to help us use this infrastructure to serve a dual purpose of serving up not just fresh and 

clean water but also lightning-fast digital connectivity." The Fibre in Water project will also test 

solutions to water leakage by putting connected sensors in the pipes, enabling water companies 

to identify and repair a leak more quickly and accurately. It's not the sort of network 

patching we typically feature in the magazine but it's welcome news all the same. 

While welcoming the news of the Fibre in Water project, Dahwood Ahmed, Regional 

Director UK&I at Extreme Networks observed that there's still a significant distance to cover 

when it comes to the UK's connectivity gap. "Feeding cables through the country's water pipes 

is a smart, efficient and creative approach, but to fully close the connectivity gap, the problem 

needs to be addressed with more than one solution," according to Dahwood. "One already 

proven option is the adoption of AltNets, also known as alternative networks. These providers 

create their own networks to offer last mile connectivity without relying on the UK's existing 

copper network. To close the UK connectivity gap once and for all, the government and technology 

innovators need to work together. Only then will citizens and businesses in the UK 

enjoy infinitely distributed high-speed connectivity, wherever they may be located." 

And speaking of innovations, voting has now opened to determine the winners of this year's 

Network Computing Awards. After having to forgo our traditional awards evening last year in 

favour of a virtual event we're delighted to be returning to a central London venue on 

October 14th for the 2021 awards. To cast your votes and for more information on how you 

can attend the awards night please visit: www.networkcomputingawards.co.uk. NC 

REVIEWS: 

Dave Mitchell 

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WWW.NETWORKCOMPUTING.CO.UK @NCMagAndAwards AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 NETWORKcomputing 03

CONTENTS 

CONTENTS 

A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 1 

INTERVIEW: DRAYTEK.............8 

We spoke to Alex Shuker, CTO at DrayTek, 

about the changing landscape for the networking 

industry, the impact of home-working 

and the upcoming switch-off of traditional 

telephony services 

COMMENT.....................................3 

A new kind of broadband streaming 

INDUSTRY NEWS.............................6 

The latest networking news 

ARTICLES 

THE VALUE OF SSL CERTIFICATES FOR 

ONLINE BUSINESSES.......................14 

By Ben Haskey at LCN.com 

MAKING THE MOVE TO SD-WAN.....18 

By Oliver Wallington at Wireless Logic 

I.T. IS THE NEW VIP..........................24 

By Andrea Babbs at VIPRE 

HYBRID WORKING..............12 

Herbert Lörch at M-Files considers whether 

there's now any point in returning to regular 

on-premises work if you can also work 

remotely in the cloud 

IoT AT THE EDGE................20 

Peter Ruffley at Zizo explains what edge 

computing will mean for the Internet of 

Things, and offers advice on where to start 

when investing in IoT 

LEADING THE FIELD................16 

Norvado relies on NetAlly's EtherScope® 

nXG Network Analyzer to conduct complete 

and accurate remote assessments, reducing 

the time and cost of field operations 

TECH TRAINING.....................26 

A "new normal" is coming in Tech - and we 

need to make sure it's truly different this time, 

according to Graham Hunter at CompTIA 

SECURING DISPERSED NETWORKS IN 

THE ERA OF HYBRID WORKING........29 

By Rodney Joffe at Neustar 

DON’T LET YOUR DATA LAKES DECAY 

INTO DATA SWAMPS........................30 

By Grace Liu at Seagate Technology 

TO CODE OR NOT TO CODE?.......32 

Could no-code be the answer to the digital 

skills shortage? 

MORE POWER TO YOU...................33 

Moxa offers a guide to optimising power 

consumption through remote monitoring 

WHY SD-WAN?................................34 

By Amy Hood at DrayTek 

PRODUCT REVIEW 

FLUKE LINKIQ CABLE+NETWORK 

TESTER............................................10 

DRAYTEK VIGORAP 1060C................15 

KEMP FLOWMON COLLECTOR..........22 

DRAYTEK VIGOR 2927LOC...............28 

04 NETWORKcomputing AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 @NCMagAndAwards 

WWW.NETWORKCOMPUTING.CO.UK

INDUSTRY NEWS 

NEWS NEWSNEWS 

NEWS 

NEWS NEWS NEWS 

NEWS NEWS NEWS 

Extreme Networks to acquire Ipanema 

Extreme Networks has announced its intent to acquire a newly 

created entity called Ipanematech SAS ("Ipanema"), the SD- 

WAN division of Infovista. The acquisition will expand Extreme's 

ExtremeCloud portfolio, offering new cloud-managed SD-WAN 

and security solutions required to power the Infinite Enterprise. 

Ipanema's solution automatically and dynamically adjusts 

application traffic flows based on real-time network conditions, 

providing increased performance and improved quality of 

experience, even under diverse conditions across various types 

of cloud-managed WAN connectivity. Extreme plans to 

leverage these capabilities to establish an infinitely distributed 

and secure solution within the ExtremeCloud portfolio – 

progressing the company's position as one of the world's most 

advanced cloud platforms. 

Private 5G Network-as-a-Service platform from NTT 

NTT has launched its Private 5G platform (P5G), the first 

globally available private LTE/5G Network-as-a-Service 

platform. NTT P5G leverages design thinking principles to 

integrate security, control and privacy by design, providing 

performance and cost benefits with a clear ROI. Running on a 

cloud-native architecture, the platform can be delivered via 

cloud, on-premises, or at the edge. The platform is preintegrated 

with leading network and software partners, allowing 

enterprises to secure, scale and segment their network flexibly. 

With patent-pending MicroSlicing technology, NTT P5G allows 

mission-critical apps to leverage the advantages of private 5G. 

"Global enterprises are looking for a single private 5G solution 

to deploy across multiple countries. They need one truly private 

network, one point of accountability, one management platform, 

and one solution partner that eliminates all the major friction 

points across the entire global footprint of the enterprise," said 

Shahid Ahmed, NTT Ltd. EVP New Ventures and Innovation. 

"Our NTT P5G offering supports many of the CXO requirements 

today, and we will continue to invest in P5G as enterprise 

adoption evolves." 

Dataquest Group signs security deal with Acronis 

Dataquest Group has signed a deal with cybersecurity 

solutions providers Acronis. Dataquest provides a 

comprehensive range of technology services, ranging from 

managed print to Cloud solutions and is recognised as one of 

the UK’s fastest growing hybrid Cloud solutions providers. 

Chris Baker, Cloud Business Development Manager at 

Dataquest, commented: "Acronis delivers an integrated suite of 

data protection solutions, including backup, disaster recovery and 

storage, together with file sync and share, which will serve our 

clients well in these challenging times. To face the challenge 

presented by increasing security threats, Dataquest was seeking a 

simplified product that offered our clients the best protection, 

from a single, easy to manage source. Acronis and its range of 

innovative products was the ideal choice for partner." 

Chris Baker, Dataquest 

Common use-cases for Acronis Cyber Protect, in addition to 

normal backup and recovery, include auto-response to emerging 

threats, real-time (CDP) protection of important documents, zeroday 

malware and ransomware protection and recovery, together 

with compliance and forensic analysis. 

The Spectra Current I.T. podcast launched 

Spectra Logic has launched its new podcast series, The 

Spectra Current. The podcast series features conversations 

with IT industry experts, thought leaders, customers and Spectra 

Logic executives who review the latest trends in data storage, 

data management, emerging technologies, cybersecurity and 

digital transformation at large. Conversations centre around 

data centre experiences, business methodologies, corporate 

culture, industry insights and lighthearted banter on successes, 

failures and personal and professional recommendations. 

Hosted by Betsy Doughty, vice president of corporate 

marketing for Spectra Logic, the podcast will provide new 

episodes bimonthly. "We're excited to launch The Spectra 

Current to provide personal and professional experiences and 

chats around how organisations are modernising their IT 

architectures, corporate cultures and even their teams," said 

Betsy Doughty. "We've lined up a variety of remarkable guests 

who have agreed to share their unique stories and individual 

insights with our listeners." For more on Spectra Current visit: 

https://bit.ly/3AGNMCh 



INDUSTRY NEWS 

Comparitech counts the cost of annual cybercrime 

Anew report from Comparitech has discovered that global 

cybercrime is still severely underreported by police and 

government entities, with the true monetary value remaining 

largely unknown. Comparitech's researchers examined the top 

100 countries by GDP, looking at the cybercrime reports 

available and the figures and categories involved. They found 

figures for 67 countries but only 15 reports of the monetary 

values involved. According to their estimates 71.1 million fall 

victim to cybercrimes globally each year (this equates to nearly 

900 victims per 100,000 people) with the average victim loss 

amounting to $4,476 per crime. This amounts to victims losing 

$318 billion to cybercrime annually. The countries with the 

biggest losses are: 

United States: 5.28 million victims losing $28 billion 

Brazil: 5.8 million victims losing over $26 billion 

United Kingdom: 4.88 million victims losing $17.4 billion 

Russia: 3.4 million losing over $15.2 billion 

Javvad Malik, security awareness advocate at KnowBe4 

commented "These numbers are not surprising, but still are 

concerning. Cybercrime continues to be big business for 

criminals and with more services being digitally connected, it 

makes it even easier to make off with big gains. It's easy to 

create a tech service or to digitise existing services, however, 

security needs to be built in from the beginning to ensure that 

there are no vulnerabilities. This also includes educating users of 

products as to what kind of threats they can expect to face and 

how to report any suspicious activity. Without educating users to 

identify and report criminal activity, we won't be able to stem the 

flow of cybercrime." 

Using darknet intelligence to protect edge computing 

DataQube Global Ltd, developer of a 5G-ready edge data 

centre system, has teamed up with cyber intelligence and 

MSSP provider, KryptoKloud Ltd to safeguard its invaluable edge 

computing assets against cybercrime. The collaboration assures 

heightened protection for the DataQube units by delivering 

around the clock detection and response monitoring capabilities 

that can be managed locally or centrally via an intuitive interface. 

By incorporating KryptoKloud's security monitoring tools (which 

leverage darknet intelligence) into DataQube's core infrastructure, 

all data communication is dynamically monitored 24x7 to 

proactively identify possible security breaches. If malicious activity 

is detected an alert is triggered, together with a comprehensive 

escalation process for damage limitation and control. 

New WiFi 6 Standalone Access Points from NETGEAR 

NETGEAR has released the WAX202 and WAX206 desktop 

WiFi 6 Access Points, expanding the Business Essentials line 

of powerful, easy-to-deploy, and affordable business networking 

products. The WAX202 and WAX206 provide home office 

workers, micro businesses, and students with a cost-effective, 

standalone solution to typical wireless networking challenges. 

"The new WAX202, WAX206 and NETGEAR's Business 

Essentials family of products, make it possible for small 

businesses and working professionals to deploy a very reliable, 

high-performance, secure, and easy-to-manage standalone WiFi 

networks in their work and home environments at affordable 

price points," said Doug Cheung, Senior Product Line Manager, 

Wireless at NETGEAR. 

Neos Networks completes full fibre network for Perth 

Neos Networks has announced the completion of its DCMS 

funded Local Full Fibre Network project in Perth, Scotland, 

ahead of schedule. The fibre network connecting three key 

Council data centres and 31 public buildings and community 

establishments within Perth was completed two months ahead of 

the scheduled completion date at the end of September. 

Spanning 19.5km, the new end-to-end full fibre network covers 

city centre locations, including educational institutions, council 

buildings, leisure centres and sheltered housing, as well as key 

public buildings such as Perth fire station and the CCTV 

monitoring centre. It stretches out to the west of the city, close to 

the new 3,000-home Perth West housing development. 

Perth and Kinross Council awarded Neos Networks the major 

gigabit-capable connectivity project in November 2020, with the 

goal of facilitating next generation technologies such as 5G and 

IoT. Forming part of Wave 3 of the Department for Digital, 

Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Local Full Fibre Network 

programme, the project received £1m of funding from UK 

Government and was supported by Council and Building Digital 

UK (BD-UK) officials from procurement through to completion. 

NEWS NEWSNEWS 

NEWS 

NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS 

NEWS 


INTERVIEW: DRAYTEK 

CONNECTING WITH QUALITY 

NETWORK COMPUTING SPOKE TO ALEX SHUKER, CTO AT 

DRAYTEK UK, ABOUT THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE FOR THE 

NETWORKING INDUSTRY, THE IMPACT OF HOME-WORKING 

AND THE UPCOMING SWITCH-OFF OF TRADITIONAL 

TELEPHONY SERVICES 

Network Computing: DrayTek has 

been going for almost 25 years - 

how has the industry changed over 

that time? Is networking these days more 

about management and monitoring tools - 

perhaps via the cloud - more than specific 

hardware offerings? 

Alex Shuker: The focus for DrayTek has 

always been around providing solutions to 

the issues and challenges that businesses - 

and individuals - face. That is at the root of 

most of our product offerings - we champion 

solutions for business connectivity. From our 

point of view the focus has always been on 

providing the right router, access point or 

switch at the right time, but also crucially the 

additional services around that product. A 

lot of our core users are businesses who are 

installing networks for other organisations, 

and they bring their expertise in how to get 

that network working optimally, allowing 

those end users to focus instead on what 

they do well. 

A significant development for us is our 

central cloud-based management system. 

Customers can use it to connect to devices, 

and we enable them then to offer a service 

monitoring and managing those devices. 

This helps our customers to build the right 

service package for their clients around our 

management offering. Managed Service 

Providers may be offering a cloud service, 

but at some point in the process there is still 

that physical connection - and that's where 

DrayTek fits in, providing that equipment 

and supporting services. In that sense I 

guess we still have that hardware aspect at 

our core. 

A lot of what we supply could be 

described as 'commoditised' to an extent - 

once you have that physical connection, a 

large part of the job is done, if you like. 

But we also have a unique focus on 

configuration flexibility, quality and 

reliability, and that is an area where we 

stand out in the market. 

NC: How important is it for a company like 

DrayTek to be seen as a solution provider 

as opposed to just a hardware vendor trying 

to shift boxes? 

AS: The ideal story for us, obviously, is when 

someone puts in a DrayTek router or access 

point or switch, and they don't have to ever 

think about it ever again, and they can 

forget it's there. But increasingly nowadays 

people are offering services based on 

knowing how your network is performing, 

improving visibility of exactly what is being 

used - so we're seeing a migration more 

toward the SD-WAN side of things, toward 

application awareness. That's why it's so 

important for us to have this central 

management platform that offers the 

analytics and insight into the network, via 

an intuitive and user-friendly dashboard. 



INTERVIEW: DRAYTEK 

This means that MSPs and IT companies 

can see exactly what kind of traffic is on 

their networks, but also - as people are now 

consuming a lot more cloud services - it 

allows them to see not just that the 

connection is there and working, but how 

well it is working. If we're talking about a 

business's CRM system or their ordering 

system or their phone system, you simply 

can't have any latency or packet loss 

because that means you'll end up with a 

client on the other end of the phone who 

can't hear you, or experiencing long delays 

trying to navigate through screens. So the 

demand increasingly is for the ability to look 

at the quality of a connection, and to move 

seamlessly across to a different connection 

if necessary. 

We can easily show users not just that a 

connection is up or down, but also if it goes 

below a specific quality measure that they 

have set. As users increasingly demand that 

better service quality as well as visibility and 

awareness of exactly what's going on within 

their networks, that is what really drives us 

forward as a company in terms of the features 

and functionality we offer to the market. 

NC: The pandemic has obviously changed 

the way large numbers of us do our 

everyday work: what effect has the growth in 

home-working had on the roles of network 

managers, and by extension on companies 

like DrayTek? 

AS: People who are fairly tech-literate will 

already be aware of the need for backup 

strategies such as mobile broadband in 

case of a bulldozer up the street cutting off 

your broadband connection, so that core 

set of users already know what they can do 

if a connection goes down. But since the 

Covid crisis there is a whole set of users 

who have been put into that environment 

and are only just beginning to appreciate 

how integral those connections are to them 

being able to do their jobs properly. As a 

result we've seen a lot of people showing 

interest in backup and failover solutions for 

their home broadband. 

That shift has also helped people move 

towards awareness of the need for failover, 

for the ability to automatically go from one 

connection to another without the user 

having to actually change anything. If this all 

happens in one box, it will fail over 

automatically, fail back, and report in, so 

the company proactively knows that a 

particular element has gone down. If it's 

working well of course, the user site 

shouldn't even notice, but you need to know 

so you can maintain the service at its best: 

that reporting aspect is absolutely vital, even 

if it is happening 'behind the scenes' as far 

as the user is concerned. 

Covid has brought with it new and different 

types of stresses and demands - for example, 

previously there would have been large 

numbers of workers in say Accounts who'd 

never need to work outside the office, but 

now suddenly the number of VPN users was 

expanding to cover almost the entire 

workforce. So we have had lots of calls 

about that aspect of performance, about 

how many concurrent users they can have on 

the VPN. And I'm glad to say that we had a 

lot of very relieved customers, as we 

explained that it was generally just a matter 

of creating more profiles rather than having 

to buy a new tool. As time has gone on, that 

kind of thing has become a core part of 

customers' purchasing decisions: can they 

add on remote users in increasing numbers, 

can they kit-out home users with a router 

than includes all the failover functionality 

rather than having to rely on their home 

broadband connection. 

We're seeing a shift, I believe, from a 

largely reactive stance - "This is the situation 

we find ourselves in, what do we have to do 

to adapt and keep going?" - to a more 

forward-planning approach as businesses try 

to balance out the benefits and drawbacks of 

a workforce that looks to expect much more 

flexibility going forward. 

NC: The analogue telephony service is 

scheduled to be switched off in 2025, which 

is not that far away now - is it something your 

partners and/or end users are prepared for? 

AS: It's a conversation we've been having 

with MSPs for some time - they will be 

offering a complete package of broadband, 

phone line and more, and in the past they 

would be purchasing the telephone line and 

internet connection from Openreach, to be 

delivered on the same line. When the 'stopsell' 

happens, MSPs will have to think about 

how they will offer phone services. 

Obviously in some ways the goalposts have 

moved - again in large part due to Covid - as 

services like Teams and Zoom have become 

more core to how many organisations 

communicate. Nonetheless most businesses 

will still have a need for some kind of phone 

system, so there is some debate going on 

about how best to deliver that. 

One approach is to ensure that the router 

itself offers a good enough connection for 

voice, and have failover and ways of 

monitoring the service to make sure that the 

quality is up to scratch. One specific feature 

of our Vigor-ACS 3 SD-WAN is the ability to 

monitor the MOS (Mean Opinion Score) of 

the connection, so if that value drops below 

say 3.5 out of 5, then you are alerted that 

the quality of that connection isn't good 

enough for voice any more, and it needs to 

failover to a different connection. 

DrayTek also offers products with built-in 

phone ports, so the router connects to an 

analogue phone, and then to a SIP service, 

so that can be used just as a standard phone 

or to replace legacy systems. In the longer 

term of course everyone will move to IP 

solutions for voice, but for people with 

existing legacy systems they may have 

elements - analogue based PBX, or 

doorphones, for example - that they can't 

easily migrate across, where they need a 

phone port to plug into. We're working hard 

to ensure we have solutions that our partners 

want to recommend to their users, whatever 

their requirements. NC 

www.draytek.co.uk 


PRODUCTREVIEW 

Fluke Networks 

LinkIQ 

Cable+Network 

Tester 


PRODUCT 

REVIEWPRODUCT RE 

Network engineers never leave 

home without their cable tester as 

it's an essential tool for certifying 

new network installations or solving cable 

connection issues - and Fluke Networks is 

about to make their lives even easier. The 

LinkIQ Cable+Network Tester is quite 

unique as it's the first handheld device to 

combine cable testing with switch and 

Power over Ethernet (PoE) diagnostics. 

The LinkIQ packs a remarkable range of 

features into a compact chassis as it's 

capable of verifying up to 10-Gigabit 

cabling performance. It can automatically 

detect and run diagnostics on switches to 

provide information such as its name, 

data rate, port number plus VLAN and if 

PoE is being advertised, and it will load 

test up to 90W Class 8. 

Cable diagnostics are outstanding as the 

LinkIQ uses radio frequency (RF) tests to 

ascertain physical cable quality and the 

IEEE 802.3 standards it can support. 

These range from 10Base-T to 10GBase-T 

and a key feature is its ability to check if a 

cable run is qualified for the multi-Gigabit 

2.5GBase-T and 5GBase-T standards. 

We found the LinkIQ incredibly easy to 

use as it offers full automation and runs 

the most appropriate set of tests based on 

what it finds at the other end of the cable. 

Connect an open-ended cable and it'll tell 

you the length and pairing, while 

plugging in the Remote ID RJ-45 dongle 

at the far end of the run allows it to 

conduct a full validation test to determine 

all supported speeds. 

The industrial-quality touchscreen LCD 

panel makes light work of general 

operations and automated tests are 

started with a single tap. For cable tests, it 

provides a clear wire map diagram while 

below is a chart showing all the speeds 

the cable can support. 

We have some legacy cabling in the lab 

and after plugging the remote ID device 

into our rack's patch panel, it was 

reassuring to know that it was all capable 

of supporting up to 5GBase-T and that 

every cable run was in tip-top shape. 

Swapping the LinkIQ over to our 10GbE 

infrastructure confirmed it was all 

validated for 10GBase-T operations. 

Bringing our switches into the equation 

produced even more valuable 

information. For our standard Gigabit 

and 10GbE switches, the LinkIQ reported 

back on the device name, VLAN, all 

advertised speeds and full duplex 

capabilities. 

With the LinkIQ connected to a multi- 

Gigabit PoE++ switch, the test 

determined that it could support dual 

power signatures, which wire pairs were 

providing power and its hardware power 

class. There's a lot more as it revealed the 

watts provided, the minimum required 

volts to meet the 802.3bt standard plus 

the measured voltage under load. 

Results can be saved locally and the 

LinkIQ has room to store up to 1,000 

tests. Connect it to a PC using the 

supplied USB cable and you can upload 

all your results to the free LinkWare PC 

software, which supports every test device 

Fluke has produced for the past 20 years. 

After running a wide range of cable, 

switch and PoE tests, we uploaded our 

results to a PC running LinkWare and 

organised them into various databases 

and projects for easier access. It's a great 

tool for enhanced customer services as 

complete projects and individual test 

results can be exported to professionalquality 

PDFs to confirm the work has been 

carried out to the required standards. 

The LinkIQ impressed us during testing 

as this handheld device's smart 

combination of cable, switch and PoE 

diagnostics makes it supremely versatile. 

The automated tests make it incredibly 

easy to use, it can present a wealth of 

essential information and the LinkWare 

software provides classy project 

management and reporting tools.NC 

Product: LinkIQ Cable+Network Tester 

Supplier: Fluke Networks 

Web site: www.flukenetworks.com 

Tel: +44 (0)207 942 0721 

Price: From £1,520 exc VAT 



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OPINION: HYBRID WORKING 

THE GENIE IS OUT OF THE BOTTLE - 

AND NEEDS GUIDANCE 

WHAT'S THE POINT IN RETURNING TO REGULAR ON-PREMISES 

WORK IF YOU CAN ALSO WORK REMOTELY IN THE CLOUD? 

BY HERBERT LÖRCH, REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, WESTERN 

EUROPE, M-FILES 

Proactively or reactively, many organisations 

have experienced a tremendous digital 

transformation in the past few months. 

Within a few days or weeks of the global 

pandemic starting, most employees have found 

themselves switching to remote work. Working 

from outside the office is the new normal. For 

many organisations, platforms such as 

Microsoft Office 365 or Google G Suite have 

been the means of choice. They are, without 

question, ideally suited to bring together 

distributed teams and enable collaborative work 

on documents and processes. 

Of course, not everything has gone 

smoothly, and many employees in IT 

departments and at service providers have 

had to work under incredible pressure, but on 

the whole, most companies were surprised at 

how quickly they have been able to adapt. In 

retrospect, the Corona pandemic might be 

seen as the necessary shock and catalyst for 

fast digitisation. 

Since then, many employees have felt 

inspired by new possibilities and have eagerly 

used the wide range of features and apps 

offered in Microsoft Teams as an example. 

What's the point in returning to regular onpremises 

work if you can also work remotely in 

the cloud? Why not use the vast array of new 

cloud apps instead of waiting for tedious IT 

projects? This genie is out of the bottle, and 

that's a good thing. Diversity enriches, 

flexibility makes agile - and the new role of IT 

is not to get the genie back in the bottle but 

to control it in such a way that maximum 

benefit and security is achieved. 

FIRST THE PARTY AND NOW THE 

HANGOVER 

But as with every great party, the first ones to 

it can be left with the biggest hangover. As 

flexible, modern, and user-friendly as the new 

cloud wizards are, they often offer little in the 

way of information governance and 

compliance - at least out of the box. 

This can be quickly explained using 

Microsoft Teams as an example. Teams is 

ideally suited for quick coordination and 

easy collaboration. However, it is a 

nightmare for the management of files and 

documents: with every new team created, an 

isolated SharePoint site with one directory per 

channel is created in the background to hold 

the files. Since changes - such as the 

renaming of channels - are not consistently 

propagated throughout, these structures 

inevitably diverge. Inconsistencies and 

duplicates are therefore pre-programmed. 

Not to mention that countless individual 

SharePoint sites with their own default rights 

and user structures can cause major issues in 

themselves regarding Governance, Risk & 

Compliance (GRC). 

Uniform rules for retention periods and 

archiving, audit trails with complete proof of 

access and changes, and automatic content 

classification are also missing. Of course, 

Microsoft also offers mechanisms here that 

would allow at least a rudimentary form of 

control. But they require a consistently planned 

procedure with clearly defined structures, rules, 

and roles - something which there was simply 

no time for at the peak of the lockdown. 

What has been described here for Microsoft 

Teams applies in a similar way to other 

popular new cloud services such as Microsoft 

OneDrive, Google G Suite, Google Drive, 

Dropbox etc. All these new platforms now 

enrich the already existing mix of storage in file 

systems, archives or DMS/ECM and ERP, CRM 

and SCM applications. In the new normality, 

the number of potential storage locations has 

suddenly multiplied massively. Control and 

GRC will certainly not become easier. If data 

protection and IT security officers were able to 

look the other way at the beginning of the 

crisis or, in case of doubt, weigh up in favour 

of maintaining business operations, they will 

clearly not be able to accept this as a 

permanent state of affairs. 

SOMEONE HAS TO CLEAN UP 

Things will not be able to remain as they are - 

but cleaning up is not very popular, and who 

wants to clean up when, even unintentionally, 



OPINION: HYBRID WORKING 

new chaos is constantly being created? The 

solution is intelligent content services, which 

take over this task automatically or, even 

better, ensure in the background that no mess 

is created in the first place or that it can be 

ignored. To do this, they have to have two 

essential capabilities: flexibility in terms of the 

platforms used and artificial intelligence as the 

basis for automation. 

Within our M-Files platform, for example, it 

makes no difference whether a file is stored in 

the file system, in SharePoint, Dropbox or in 

our own repository, since there are standard 

connectors for each of these platforms. M-Files 

can use AI to automatically analyse the 

contents of the file, classify it and enrich it with 

metadata. For example, if M-Files determines 

that the information is confidential, it can 

transfer the file to its own repository and 

restrict access. Documents that must be 

retained can be archived accordingly. 

Duplicates are reliably recognised during 

storage and the user is notified accordingly. 

Versioning and check-in/check-out are also 

possible where the original storage does not 

provide for this. 

Figuratively speaking, M-Files cleans up after 

the party without the participants needing to 

do anything. This means that users can use a 

wide range of storage locations, from the 

familiar file system to new cloud services, and 

the Content Services ensure uniform handling 

of the files and documents stored there. Users 

can use the file as they wish via the cloud 

services, for example, even if it is located onpremises, 

and IT retains transparent control 

over the information assets. 

CONTEXT CREATES ADDED VALUE 

But intelligent content services can do much 

more. They are the key to truly intelligent 

information management. Any information 

becomes more valuable if it can be used in 

the right context. A project contract in itself is 

interesting, but it becomes much more 

valuable when it is linked to contextual 

information about the project content, the 

project team, the customer or similar projects. 

This is precisely what intelligent content 

services do automatically. Using AI techniques 

such as content analytics and natural 

language understanding, the content of 

documents is unlocked, and a context is 

created in the form of classification and links 

to other information. 

Due to the cross-platform approach, this 

context can also extend beyond system 

boundaries. For example, the sales 

department can work with Salesforce and the 

project team with Microsoft Teams and 

automatically exchange information. M-Files 

recognises a quote in Salesforce as such, 

assigns it to the correct project, and can offer 

it to teams as contextual information. 

Conversely, the project status report from 

SharePoint can be integrated into Salesforce, 

for example. All of this is mainly done 

automatically without any programming by 

universal mechanisms. Modern content 

services can be seamlessly embedded in a 

wide range of applications and cloud services 

and offer the user context, metadata and even 

comprehensive processes and workflows - 

without the users having to leave their 

favoured work environments. 

A UNIFIED ENVIRONMENT 

The automated production of context is like 

the super glue that holds all information 

together, even if it is distributed over many 

different systems. In this way, intelligent content 

services enable users to maintain an overview 

and recognise context in the brave new world 

of cloud services. 

The enormous impact of the corona crisis on 

digitisation must now be directed into the right 

channels. Freed from system constraints, users 

can access the cloud services that enable them 

to do their jobs in the best way possible. In the 

background, intelligent cloud services ensure 

that uniform rules for handling information are 

observed concerning governance, information 

security and compliance. The opportunity is 

there, let's make something of it. NC 


OPINION: SSL CERTIFICATES 

THE VALUE OF SSL CERTIFICATES FOR ONLINE 

BUSINESSES 

SSL CERTIFICATES SHOULD PLAY A KEY ROLE IN ANY ONLINE 

SECURITY STRATEGY, ACCORDING TO BEN HASKEY, SECURITY 

AND COMPLIANCE MANAGER AT LCN.COM 

Research suggests almost a third of 

businesses that experience a 

cybersecurity breach will lose revenue 

as a result. So, it pays to take a proactive 

approach to securing confidential business 

data. Creating a secure online experience 

doesn't just protect against lost revenue, 

though. Successful businesses will also reap 

the rewards in brand reputability, consumer 

trust and avoidance of further financial losses 

through downtime or reactive repairs. 

SSL certificates should play a key role in any 

online security strategy. Here, we look at the 

benefits, not only in security but also in user 

experience and marketing performance. 

WHAT IS AN SSL CERTIFICATE? 

An SSL certificate is a confirmation that a 

website is protected by Secure Socket Layer 

(SSL) technology. It is designed to create safe 

online interactions by encrypting the 

connection between the user and the website 

host. This secure connection means any data 

can only be decrypted by either the website 

host or the user - so, ecommerce websites 

can safely accept payments, for example. 

However, if a hacker attempts to breach the 

website and steal confidential data, they'll 

only be able to access an encrypted key. 

There are different levels of validation in SSL 

certificates, providing an increasing scale of 

detail when it comes to security checks: 

Extended Validation SSL certificates (EV SSL) 

demand the most comprehensive 

background checks, including standard 

validity checks on the domain owner, plus 

additional audits to confirm the applicant has 

the authority to issue the certificate. 

Organisation Validated SSL (OV SSL) 

certificates require similar validity and 

background checks but on a lesser scale, 

while Domain Validated SSL (DV SSL) 

certificates check the validity of the domain 

owner, but without any further background 

checks. Website hosts will choose their SSL 

certificates based on the website's purpose, 

traffic and the scale of data it receives. For 

example, large ecommerce sites should invest 

in the most comprehensive checks, while 

personal blogs may just require a DV SSL 

certificate. 

THE BUSINESS BENEFITS 

Research suggest that three-quarters of online 

consumers would switch suppliers after just a 

single poor brand experience. So, businesses 

have an obligation to provide protection 

without compromising on the user experience. 

SSL technology gives consumers the 

confidence to enter payment details or 

complete data forms without the risk of data 

theft or fraud - providing the quick and 

effortless experience modern consumers 

demand. And for businesses, the benefits go 

further than just the prospect of improved 

brand trust and repeat custom. The website 

host is also protected against potential data 

breaches, so hackers are unable to access 

confidential information like passwords and 

website details. 

This prevents malicious activity and also 

saves businesses on the costs of downtime and 

repairs from the reactive security measures 

needed to recover from a breach. Plus, it helps 

businesses avoid the hidden costs of breaches, 

too, like the operational disruption that sees 

employees' time spent on intensive recovery 

tasks instead of their normal role. 

AN EFFECTIVE MARKETING TOOL 

As search engines strive to provide the best 

possible experience for users, it means a push 

towards the priority of secure and trustworthy 

websites in their rankings. The likes of 

Google are now favouring websites with SSL 

certificates, leaving unsecured websites at risk 

of missing out on a significant chunk of the 

93 percent of internet traffic that comes 

directly from search engines. 

For those still able to attract traffic, their users 

will be greeted with warning messages from 

the browser, that the site is unsafe. Plus, the 

website will display the outdated 'HTTP' prefix, 

instead of the trusted 'HTTPS'. The reality for 

those without SSL certificates will be decreased 

visibility and traffic and soaring bounce rates. 

So, secure technologies represent a costeffective 

solution when it comes to mitigating 

this impact. However, SSL certificates should 

simply mark the first step in a wider 

commitment to cybersecurity and user safety. 

To reap the rewards, businesses must build 

trust and authority among users by displaying 

'proof'. This may include links and logos for 

review profiles like TrustPilot or testimonial 

and case study pages. Additional visual 

cues, like client logos and accreditations 

such as award wins also provide instant 

validation for users. NC 




Draytek VigorAP 

1060C 


PRODUCT 


The move to Wi-Fi 6 for businesses is 

gathering momentum and DrayTek steps 

into the arena with the VigorAP 1060C - 

its most powerful wireless access point (AP) to 

date. It stands out from the crowd as this 11ax 

AP combines an impressively high 

performance with three operational modes 

plus four management methods - and delivers 

it all at a price SMBs will love. 

The VigorAP 1060C is an AX3600 dualband 

AP delivering speeds of up to 

2,400Mbits/sec on its 5GHz radio and 

1,200Mbits/sec on the 2.4GHz radio. It's 

smarter than many other Wi-Fi 6 APs as it 

has a third radio dedicated to RF analytics 

and enhanced security as it uses it to detect 

rogue APs. 

As a standalone AP, it has a lot to offer as it's 

easily managed from a fully-featured web 

interface and presents up to eight SSIDs on 

each radio. It can also function as a simple 

range extender but DrayTek's mesh 

technology makes it even more versatile. 

Meshing allows you to create self-healing 

wireless networks using up to eight APs. One 

functions as a central mesh root while others 

are added as mesh nodes and take their 

settings from it to present one set of centrally 

managed SSIDs. 

Management features are unbeatable as the 

AP can be auto-provisioned using any 

DrayTek Vigor router that supports the Central 

AP Management (CAM) feature. DrayTek's 

free VigorConnect Windows app provides 

centralised on-site management facilities 

while wireless networks in geographically 

distributed sites can all be managed from 

one console with the optional VigorACS 

cloud service. 

The AP is easy to install in standalone 

mode as its web console's wizard sensibly 

requires the default admin password to be 

changed and offers the option to create two 

secure wireless networks. The console's 

dashboard is very informative as it provides a 

wealth of information on wireless networks 

including active clients and associations, 

traffic throughput for each SSID and AP 

system utilisation. 

Wireless security is excellent as each SSID 

can have their own encryption scheme which 

includes support for the stronger WPA3. You 

can enable SSID masking, limit the number of 

clients per radio or SSID, apply upload and 

download bandwidth limits to each SSID, and 

enable LAN and member isolation which 

stops wireless clients from accessing wired 

systems and other wireless clients on the 

same SSID. 

Meshing is just as simple to configure as you 

use the same quick-start wizard to select this 

mode and set the first AP as the root. Up to 

seven nodes can connect wirelessly to the 

mesh root using their 5GHz radio as a 

backhaul or they can be linked to it over 

longer wired connections. 

Mesh networks can be monitored and 

extended on-demand from the root AP's 

web console or DrayTek's Wireless mobile 

apps. You can spread your wireless network 

over a large area as nodes can connect to 

other nodes with up to three hops between 

them and the root AP and if any go down, 

clients transparently jump over the nearest 

active node. 

The VigorAP 1060C supports all key Wi-Fi 

6 technologies and delivered an impressive 

performance in the lab. Large file copies 

between a Windows 10 Pro workstation 

equipped with a Wi-Fi 6 PCI-E adapter card 

and a Windows server on the LAN averaged 

a speedy 104MB/sec at close range 

dropping to 94MB/sec when we moved the 

AP 10 metres away. 

SMBs ready to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6 will find 

DrayTek's VigorAP 1060C a great choice 

that's very easy to deploy. It provides good Wi- 

Fi 6 performance, offers a wealth of businessclass 

features including self-healing networks 

and delivers it all at an appealing price. NC 

Product: VigorAP 1060C 

Supplier: DrayTek 

Web site: www.draytek.co.uk 

Telephone: +44 (0)345 557 0007 

Price: £265 exc VAT 


CASE STUDY: NORVADO 

LEADING THE FIELD 

NORVADO RELIES ON NETALLY'S ETHERSCOPE® NXG NETWORK ANALYZER TO CONDUCT COMPLETE 

AND ACCURATE REMOTE ASSESSMENTS, REDUCING THE TIME AND COST OF FIELD OPERATIONS 

Norvado is Northwest Wisconsin's 

premiere local broadband 

technology provider. Founded in 

1950, Norvado brings cutting-edge 

technology to Bayfield County, keeping 

communities connected, vibrant, and 

competitive with big-city offerings. In 

addition to providing industry-leading fiber 

optic high-speed Internet, Norvado sells, 

installs and maintains hosted PBX, managed 

network services, telephone and smart home 

systems, alarm/surveillance systems, and IP 

television services, and other products for 

residential, commercial, industrial and 

educational customers. An important part of 

the business is the pre-and post-installation 

assessment, which requires a complete and 

accurate evaluation of existing equipment 

and facilities. 

Without a thorough inventory of the 

environment, particularly in instances where 

critical details such as the IP scheme, 

number of servers and switches - possibly in 

hidden locations that are not easily 

uncovered by the Norvado pre-sales team - 

it becomes highly challenging to properly 

assess installation needs. 

"Often when we go onsite, we are taking over 

on-premises management from another 

company. In instances such as this, the client 

might not be technically minded and as a 

result, has little understanding of what's on their 

network or how it works. Sometimes we arrive 

onsite and find out the IT person responsible 

for the equipment has either left or now has 

other responsibilities, leaving no one with a 

clue about the infrastructure. This presents a 

real challenge for us because in such cases, we 

have to reverse engineer the environment to 

see what is there, so we can uncover their 

implementation needs. That becomes a time 

consuming and painstaking process," 

explained Grant Kolwitz, Senior Customer 

Network Technician at Norvado. 

Adding to the challenge, Norvado recently 

acquired another regional broadband service 

provider. This new entity's experience with 

installing servers, networks and access points 

was somewhat limited, which necessitated 

Norvado's field team to travel as much as three 

hours each way to do a network inventory 

and/or Wi-Fi survey of a potential new client. 

This made the task of quoting a job more 

difficult. The Norvado field team recognised 

that a better assessment tool, one that could be 



CASE STUDY: NORVADO 

easily used by less technically skilled personnel, 

would be crucial in helping to keep up with the 

workload of their rapidly expanding business. 

SOLUTION 

Because the pre-sales survey assessment can 

be as varied as each client's individual network 

environments, Norvado needed a 

comprehensive testing tool that could be 

deployed to field team members. The NetAlly 

EtherScope® nXG all-in-one handheld 

network analyzer was chosen to enable sales, 

field engineers and technicians to conduct a 

wide-range of assessment tasks, from project 

planning, equipment inventory, coverage 

mapping, deployment, maintenance and 

documentation of clients' ever-changing Wi-Fi 

and Ethernet access networks. 

The EtherScope® nXG is used by Norvado's 

pre-sales teams to thoroughly assess the client 

environment and prevent unexpected surprises 

later in the project. About their use of the 

analyzer, Grant says, "Our pre-sales team is 

the first point of contact with the client, so we 

want them to be equipped with the right tools. 

Using the EtherScope nXG has allowed presales 

to gather a great deal of intel without 

field engineers having to intervene. All they 

have to do is either plug in or do a scan and 

collect the data. This tool is a game-changer." 

Grant went on to explain that because the 

EtherScope nXG tool was so thorough in 

collecting and assessing the environment, it 

meant field engineers didn't have to follow up 

with a second site visit. Pre-sales team 

members were also able to use the 

AirMapper Site Survey App within the 

EtherScope nXG tool to quickly and easily 

gather location-based Wi-Fi measurements 

and create visual heat maps of key 

performance. This was instrumental for project 

planning and developing an accurate quote 

for the installation. 

Once the quote is accepted and 

implementation is completed, field engineers 

use the EtherScope nXG to conduct a 

secondary scan to document everything that 

was done. This documentation is automatically 

uploaded via the complimentary Link-Live 

Cloud Service where it can be accessed, 

reviewed and shared as needed to verify the 

project was completed as specified. 

RESULTS 

Putting the EtherScope nXG in the hands of 

Norvado's pre-sales team has delivered 

significant time and cost savings for the 

business. "The total territory covered by our 

business can necessitate up to a three-hour 

drive to be onsite with a client. That's a lot of 

time in transit for field engineers such as myself. 

By giving the handheld EtherScope nXG 

network analyzer to our pre-sales team, they 

can conduct pre-assessment surveys and Wi-Fi 

heat mapping quickly and easily, eliminating 

the need for a follow-up trip to the site. 

The level of accuracy delivered by this tool 

ultimately saves us critical time and money," 

explained Grant, adding that "the ability to 

create before and after documentation of the 

Wi-Fi coverage is extremely helpful when sitting 

down with the client. Now the field team can 

visually demonstrate the effectiveness of the 

implementation. Also, documentation, along 

with pictures, case notes and passwords, are 

uploaded to the Link-Live Cloud Service, where 

they are available to clients upon request". 

Grant concludes "The EtherScope nXG and 

AirMapper Site Survey App has made our 

pre-sales and field engineering teams far 

more efficient, minimising surprises, and 

getting a fuller, more complete picture of the 

environment. There are no other tools on the 

market that do for us what NetAlly's 

EtherScope nXG does. It makes our job 

easier and speeds up our assessments. That 

means we have more time to meet with 

clients, which in turn allows us to help grow 

the business." NC 


OPINION: SD-WAN 

MAKING THE MOVE TO SD-WAN 

OLIVER WALLINGTON AT WIRELESS LOGIC EXPLAINS HOW SD-WAN CAN DRIVE BUSINESS 

CONTINUITY WITH RESILIENT AND RELIABLE CONNECTIVITY 

The IoT landscape has been rapidly 

evolving over the last decade, with 

new sectors and applications adopting 

the technology each year. However, the 

COVID-19 pandemic led to businesses 

requiring smarter and faster technologies to 

support satellite offices and distributed 

operations in the wake of lockdowns and 

social distancing guidelines imposed by 

governments worldwide. 

This new way of working means that 

companies now demand flexible and cost 

efficient network options to complement their 

cloud operations. Organisations are 

choosing to partner with Managed Service 

Providers (MSPs), Internet Service Providers 

(ISPs), or directly with IT Resellers to ensure 

business continuity is maintained across the 

organisation's increasingly complex network. 

Traditional WAN is becoming less 

prevalent due to its limitations in cloud 

environments, which can often hinder an 

organisation's growth capabilities. As a 

result, companies are deciding to refresh 

their WAN and increasingly considering SD- 

WAN as a solution for a variety of reasons, 

in line with (post-COVID) longer term 

requirements for managing distributed 

operations and 

employees across a wide area network. 

SD-WAN uses software to control the 

connectivity, management and services 

between several locations and a central 

network. It relies on different forms of 

underlay communication, such as MPLS or 

ADSL. In addition to fixed line connectivity, 

there are more and more projects now 

incorporating 4G and 5G as part of the SD- 

WAN connectivity piece, for seamless 

backup, an interim solution to reduce long 

lead times, and network resilience. 

REALISING THE BENEFITS OF SD-WAN 

AND THE ROLE OF LTE & 5G 

SD-WAN adoption was on the rise, even 

before COVID-19, but the global pandemic 

has accelerated business' digital 

transformation. This has resulted in 

organisations working with MSPs, ISPs and IT 

Resellers to ensure connectivity solutions that 

were deployed at the beginning of the 

pandemic are sustainable and reliable for the 

long term. SD-WAN provides WAN 

simplification, improved performance and 

lower costs, plus bandwidth efficiency and 

resilience by using different bearer services 

that minimise single points of failure across a 

wide area network. 

Furthermore, MSPs, ISPs, and IT Resellers 

are now able to unify public internet, LTE, 

private and 5G across a single, virtual and 

high-capacity SD-WAN solution. Cellular 

plays an important role in these deployments, 

acting in the first instance as a back-up to a 

fixed line, as well as providing the ability to 

rapidly deploy a connectivity solution where a 

fixed line is not available. 

Retailers in particular are deploying SD- 

WAN and 4G as a failover solution to ensure 




uptime, and that they are always alive to 

transact in stores when a fixed line goes 

down. SD-WAN's efficiencies can also benefit 

smaller deployments, such as satellite offices, 

and with critical applications such as voice 

and video. It can help choose the best path 

depending on latency, jitter and packet loss, 

and less critical applications can then be 

load balanced across multiple lines to better 

optimise bandwidth. 

MOVING TO SD-WAN 

Initiating an SD-WAN migration can 

introduce new risks to a business network, 

but there are a number of steps that 

companies can introduce to mitigate these 

challenges. One of the biggest 

considerations for businesses and their IT 

partners is security, and it must move in sync 

with the network. Cloud firewalls are no 

longer sufficient in today's increasingly 

connected marketplace, meaning that 

companies need to ensure tighter security 

features are deployed, configured and 

consolidated for employees to continue 

working productively, as well as removing 

potential cyber threats. 

Any SD-WAN security strategy that is 

developed and implemented must also be 

flexible and scalable enough to meet the 

organisation's future infrastructure 

requirements. What's more, ISPs, MSPs and IT 

Resellers can show commitment to IoT 

security, through regular training, monitoring 

and auditing for their customers. For 

instance, the ISO 27001 information security 

management accreditation demonstrates that 

the company takes the management of its 

customers' data seriously. 

Moreover, businesses and their IT partners 

have the challenge of selecting a cellular 

network provider. Network resilience and 

reliability are an important value proposition 

of SD-WAN, and they need to select cellular 

providers with the expertise to address 

challenges such as, which cellular network(s) 

to select for multi-site deployments, IP 

addressing and Network to Network 

Interfaces (NNI's), plus choosing the right 

tariff to fit each customer use case. The 

partners can also help navigate bandwidth 

management on the device and the need to 

proactively manage usage and bandwidth on 

the SIM. 

ISPs, MSPs and IT Resellers can partner with 

specialist IoT connectivity providers to 

navigate these challenges, as they deliver 

secure and resilient connectivity across 

multiple mobile cellular networks under one 

management platform and bill. Not only 

does this minimise complexity for businesses, 

but these experts have the relationships, 

knowledge and experience to effectively 

manage such processes, as well as navigate 

the complexity of providing multiple local 

mobile network profiles to our customers. 

ENABLING A NEW DIGITAL FUTURE 

As we move into our post-pandemic 

landscape, SD-WAN brings businesses muchneeded 

ROI by improving performance, 

efficiency and operational agility in the 

longer term. With cellular connectivity 

integrated into the solution, business leaders 

have peace of mind that a failover solution is 

available to ensure uptime, and that networks 

can be monitored or redirected as needed to 

improve application availability. 

For ISPs, MSPs and IT Resellers, they can 

bolster their SD-WAN propositions by adding 

a simple, secure and flexible 4G or 5G 

connectivity as a backup or as a primary 

connectivity solution, where a fixed line is not 

available, from an IoT managed service 

provider with expertise in the industry. 

Whilst SD-WAN delivers a number of 

benefits, organisations and their IT partners 

also need to consider the security 

implications, in addition to choosing the right 

network for their company. Nevertheless with 

the help of IoT connectivity providers and as 

more companies transition to SD-WAN, the 

migration process should become 

increasingly easier and more streamlined 

moving forward. NC 


OPINION: IoT 

IoT AT THE EDGE 

PETER RUFFLEY, CEO OF ZIZO, EXPLAINS WHAT EDGE 

COMPUTING WILL MEAN FOR THE INTERNET OF THINGS 

Alot has been written about the IoT 

revolution and how the technology 

has the capability to revolutionise 

industries, transform productivity and 

unlock new levels of insight. But for those 

intrigued by the possibilities and looking 

to dip their toe in the water, the potential 

myths of high price point, infrastructure 

and connectivity challenges, as well as 

the required skill set can be significant 

hurdles that seem insurmountable. 

In addition, especially when it comes to 

the reality of industrial IoT, the cost, time 

and disruption that goes into a brand new 

facility - the prospect of having to rip and 

replace new infrastructure to support IoT - 

just isn't a viable option for many 

businesses. However, Edge IoT and 

analytics can provide a powerful 

mechanism for translating complex data 

sources into a streamlined, lower cost 

platform with faster return on 

investment and higher value. 

First let's consider some of the 

key challenges businesses face 

when considering an investment 

in IoT: 

INVESTMENT 

The transformational potential of 

IoT across multiple industries is 

staggering and much has been 

discussed about its power to 

revolutionise business models. But 

while the possibilities for market 

sectors are hugely exciting, the reality 

of many of these industry IoT solutions 

is that they are designed for vast use 

cases - the setups are intricate and 

complex, with incredibly powerful 

networking capabilities that require 

significant investment and skill to 

execute. In addition, the major players in 

the IoT space, including AWS and 

Microsoft, require huge upfront 

investment into IoT stacks and other 

hardware integrated into the data centre, 

as well as personnel who can code the 

solution, write it and build it - that's 

potentially hundreds of thousands of 

pounds even before any potential data or 

insight has been gained. 

Return on investment is something that 

has been lacking within the IoT space, 

causing proof of concepts to fail. When 

you consider one of the early use cases 

for IoT - smart meters - in that instance 

it's simple to work out the ROI as you 

don't have to send meter readers to sites, 

there is an immediate cost benefit. But 

with industrial IoT, it's much more than 

that. Perhaps it will expose some savings, 

maybe less machine maintenance will be 

required. Savings are harder to identify at 

the outset, therefore, large upfront 

investment in that kind of solution is 

difficult to justify under those 

circumstances. 

RIP AND REPLACE 

In a lot of industrial cases, the existing 

machinery that requires monitoring are 

large, complex and expensive structures. 

They are the ideal solution for the task at 

hand and for that reason they should not 

necessarily be interfered with, and 

instead be monitored in a non-invasive 

way. Many state of the art facilities have 

been designed and built at the cost of 

billions of pounds, you can't start ripping 

and replacing components because 



OPINION: IoT 

cloud-enabled technology will provide a 

benefit that hasn't been quantified yet. 

Yet conversely, many of the IoT solutions 

out there from the major players in the 

market depend on being built in from the 

start - a concept which could result in 

significant business disruption and 

downtime. 

SKILL SET 

The skill set that is required to manage 

these types of complex setups is also a 

significant hurdle for many organisations. 

A high proportion of IoT customers in 

manufacturing are not necessarily ITsavvy 

in the way that traditional database 

users are, and with many providers 

requiring someone with the skills to 

effectively exploit these platforms, this is 

an issue that is damaging the chances of 

adoption in that sector. Can a business 

really afford to hire a dedicated IoT 

professional? How can they support the 

business in other ways outside of that 

role so they add as much value as 

possible? 

In reality, businesses need a way to get 

data out of the IoT devices without the 

complex ecosystem that surrounds them, 

through a streamlined platform that only 

needs a browser to access. 

INFRASTRUCTURE 

Another stumbling block for many IoT 

projects is that, where the infrastructure 

isn't developed, if the location is in an 

inconvenient place without reliable WiFi 

then the only clouds available are the 

ones floating in the sky. In this case, 

having an IoT solution that collects all 

the data, analyses it at the point of 

collection and enables rapid and reliable 

visibility of what's going on can make all 

the difference, and is a much more 

pragmatic solution, both in large 

factories and distant locations. That's the 

difference between the original vision of 

IoT, and what it actually is in practice. 

IoT AND EDGE COMPUTING 

The vision of IoT and the actual reality 

are very different. A yes or no response 

from a sensor is not the same as figuring 

out whether a complex piece of 

machinery is acting as it should and to 

optimum efficiency levels. It's not just 

about the opportunity to collect data, but 

also having the capability to modify that 

data collection, to add additional sensors 

to expand the data gathered even further. 

For example, it could be that the 

solution is monitoring temperature and 

speed, but actually, you also need to 

measure vibration. Another sensor is 

therefore required, so you need a 

platform that's adaptable and scalable. In 

the current industrial sector environment, 

you need to be flexible and ready to 

change in scale, both in terms of size and 

complexity of the data that is being 

gathered. With the concept of edge 

computing and analysing data where it is 

created fast gaining momentum, 

organisations are discovering how they 

can quickly access only the most valuable 

data, in real time, that will prove mission 

critical to their business. 

Coming back to the smart meter 

example, this type of IoT deployment 

involves millions of identical devices with 

the same data and a single purpose. It's 

still an investment, but the principle is 

simply connecting multiple homogeneous 

devices together. This is unlike today's 

industrial environment, where there could 

be a handful or even tens of thousands 

of different devices, all doing slightly 

different tasks in different ways. This 

specialised equipment therefore requires 

an IoT edge solution that can accurately 

translate, measure and analyse different 

formats of data in compatible and 

comparable data formats as it arrives, 

without having to rip and replace internal 

electronics of the machinery being 

measured. 

Edge computing enables data processing 

to be performed on the edge nodes prior 

to transmitting only the aggregated data to 

the central server. So instead of 

transmitting huge volumes of data every 

minute, this could be reduced to just a 

couple of messages every five minutes, 

depending on what is being measured and 

for what purpose. This results in a massive 

reduction in bandwidth and means that 

using the cellular network becomes cost 

effective, thereby reducing infrastructure 

costs and creating a quicker return on 

investment and value. 

For businesses looking to get started in 

IoT, the edge negates the need for a 

massively complex and costly 

deployment. Instead, it provides a simple 

entry capability to quickly get a project 

up and running, to provide data points 

and rapid insight into how a business can 

capitalise further with a data-led strategy 

- all at a reasonable price point. 

CONCLUSION 

While the vast capabilities of IoT 

deployments are widely publicised, many 

businesses are unfamiliar with the 

availability of simple, affordable entry IoT 

capabilities to provide data analysis 

down at the edge, where only the most 

valuable data collected will be shared 

and in real time, making the process 

more cost effective to the business. 

The big business solutions touted by the 

likes of AWS and Microsoft have their 

place, but for the majority of businesses 

without the huge use cases to warrant the 

dedicated attention and support from the 

major players, they will be left to their 

own devices to achieve their desired 

value. Instead, a small scale solution that 

incorporates big data, edge and IoT 

within a small footprint will actually have 

a significant impact - and one which is 

also easily scalable without having to 

overhaul existing infrastructure. NC 



Kemp Flowmon 

Collector 


PRODUCT 


Network traffic flow monitoring, analysis 

and reporting are essential tools for 

NetOps and SecOps teams as they 

provide the visibility needed to ensure their 

networks are running smoothly and securely. 

There are many products on the market but 

some are little more than a disparate 

collection of point solutions with no correlation 

across them. 

Kemp's Flowmon product family stands out as 

the entire portfolio can be managed from its 

Flowmon Monitoring Center (FMC). This 

provides a single pane of glass that both 

NetOps and SecOps can peer through to 

gather a wealth of information ranging from 

diagnostics, performance and capacity 

planning to incident investigation, cyber threat 

detection and encrypted traffic analysis. 

We are reviewing the Flowmon Collector 

appliance, which is a dedicated platform for 

the collection, long-term storage and 

analysis of NetFlow, IPFIX and sFlow data. It 

includes an integral Flowmon Probe which 

natively collects L2/L4 information, while 

Flowmon's IPFIX extension adds essential L7 

statistical data. 

The appliance is available as hardware 

rackmount models, can be deployed on cloud 

services such as AWS, Azure and Google 

Cloud Platform and virtualised on VMware, 

Hyper-V and KVM hosts. We opted for the 

VMware version, deployed the OVF template 

on our VMware vSphere host in five minutes 

and, to monitor all the lab's network traffic, 

moved the Probe monitoring ports to separate 

vSwitches and dedicated physical adapters with 

promiscuous mode enabled and connected to 

switch span ports. 

From the Flowmon Configuration Center 

(FCC) web console, we viewed the appliance's 

system and storage status and for the 

monitoring ports, ensured their flow export 

target was the local host. The Collector 

supports third-party flow generators which just 

need their target IP address set to the 

Collector's management ports. 

Once the Collector and Probe are configured 

to your requirements, flow storage quotas have 

been applied and management access 

secured, you can move over to the FMC 

console. From here, you can manage all flow 

sources, view traffic graphs for each one and 

drill down for more detailed information by 

selecting any part of the graphs. 

From the Analysis section, you view flow data 

graphs, choose a time slot and pick the 

channels and protocols you want to see. Right 

click on the portion of interest and a pop-up 

context menu offers 26 query options, ranging 

from IP-to-IP or port-to-port conversations and 

L7 applications to host OSs, VLAN labels and 

source or destination MAC addresses. 

FMC provides tools for creating email and 

SNMP trap alerts for specific events, viewing 

active devices (handy for spotting BYOD 

activity) and pulling up all details on VoIP calls. 

Reporting is extensive and we particularly liked 

the Chapters option, which combines profiles 

and source data channels to present 

information on anything from top talkers and 

problematic connections to L7 analysis for 

specific service usage. 

The Dashboard and Report console presents 

remarkable levels of information and its 

dashboard can be customised with an 

extensive range of widgets. It's incredibly easy 

to use and we had our first dashboard created 

without any reference to the manual. 

Adding new dashboard elements is a simple 

four-click process as the configuration page 

provides 34 predefined widgets ranging from 

service, mail and database protocols to 

operating systems, browsers, G-Suite and 

Microsoft 365. If you've created custom 

Channels from the FMC console, these will 

appear in the widget menu for addition to 

the dashboard. 

Kemp Flowmon is ideal for NetOps and 

SecOps teams as it amalgamates every 

network monitoring function into a single 

unified platform. The Flowmon Collector 

delivers complete visibility into network 

performance while security can be augmented 

with Kemp's Anomaly Detection System, 

Application Performance Monitoring and ondemand 

full packet capture analysis. NC 

Product: Flowmon Collector 

Supplier: Kemp Technologies 

Web site: www.flowmon.com 

Sales: sales@kemp.ax 



NETWORKcomputing 

We introduced the Network Computing "Masterclass" into the magazine a few years back. A 

Masterclass series in the magazine run for at least a year. Some have successfully run for longer. This 

concept enables us, with the help of a an expert vendor, to cover a subject area in a far more 

detailed way than could ever be covered in a single article. We feel that the Masterclasses we have 

carried have done a valuable job in guiding readers through many of the issues that they need to be 

aware of - issues that are perhaps not being talked about elsewhere. Vendor branding appears on 

the Masterclass page to distinguish a Masterclass article from the many "one-off" articles that we 

carry in Network Computing. 

We have identified a number of key subject areas which we feel would benefit from a Masterclass. 

These are: 

Network Testing and Monitoring 

Cabling and cable management 

Network access control 

Powering a Network 

The transition to unified comms 

Desktop virtualisation 

Traffic management 

Using a Data Centre 

Advantages and challenges of relying on an increasingly mobile workforce 

Cloud security 

Education and training 

If any of these subject areas are to be covered in a Masterclass we will be 

seeking a Partner to work with. A Masterclass Partner will ideally be a vendor 

with a track record of expertise in the particular area. Are you a vendor 

who could help us in launching a Masterclass covering one of the subjects 

listed above ? Alternatively, could you recommend an organisation who 

could help us ? Your suggestions will be very welcome. 

Please contact david.bonner@btc.co.uk

SECURITY UPDATE 

I.T. IS THE NEW VIP 

I.T. TEAMS MUST HAVE A 

BIGGER SEAT, AND BUDGET, AT 

THE BOARDROOM TABLE, 

ACCORDING TO ANDREA 

BABBS, GENERAL MANAGER, 

VIPRE SECURITY UK AND 

IRELAND 

The cyber threat continues to grow 

and evolve, with the number of 

attacks increasing year-on-year. As 

cunning hackers take advantage of the 

ongoing pandemic by targeting remote 

workforces, businesses are forced to 

contend not only with this increased 

security risk, but also furloughed staff, 

social distancing restrictions and a 

turbulent economic market. 

But while in survival mode, cybersecurity 

can often slip down businesses' priority 

lists. The last twelve months have 

arguably been the most challenging times 

for businesses of all sizes, but efforts 

invested to keep the business afloat will 

be useless if the back door to their 

network is left open for cybercriminals. To 

combat this, IT teams must have a bigger 

seat, and budget, at the boardroom 

table, while embedding their 

cybersecurity efforts across all 

departments of the business. 

MANAGING PRIORITIES 

Cybersecurity must remain a priority at all 

times for businesses, even in challenging 

times, despite COVID-19 stretching many 

organisations' IT and/or cybersecurity 

teams to the maximum. However, 

managing and surviving throughout the 

pandemic alone has remained the prime 

concern, as 84% of businesses and 80% 

of charities revealed that COVID-19 has 

made no changes to the importance they 




place on cybersecurity. That businesses 

still aren't prioritising cybersecurity despite 

an increased cyber threat level and more 

sophisticated hacking incidents taking 

place is surprising. 

The main hurdle the majority of 

businesses are facing at the moment is 

losses in revenue, meaning they may not 

have the budget to invest more heavily in 

cybersecurity - which is supported by a 

recent survey that found that 79% of 

organisations expect cybersecurity budgets 

to be impacted in the next six months, if 

not sooner. Yet, in order to succeed in the 

post-COVID-19 era, security must be at 

the top of the business agenda, not only 

to keep business data safe, but also to 

maintain business continuity and protect 

against emerging cyber threats. 

HUMAN ERROR 

We've all sent an email to the wrong 

person, but this mistake has the potential 

to put the whole company at risk. Whether 

it is sharing the incorrect attachment, or 

adding the wrong recipient to an email 

thread, once an employee clicks send, it 

is often out of the business' control to 

know whether this information will end up 

in the wrong hands without specific DLP 

rules, policies or tools in place. 

With so much communication reliant 

upon email, human error is the main 

cause of data breaches. Humans make 

mistakes, and with additional pressures 

from the ongoing pandemic such as 

working from home, surrounded by 

potential distractions, these errors are 

now even more likely to occur. But this is 

also due to a lack of awareness and 

training, and with the number of cyber 

attacks not slowing down, giving IT teams 

a bigger seat at the table, and a slice of 

the budget, will help to increase employee 

awareness and improve email culture 

throughout an organisation, at a time 

when mistakes can so easily be made. 

A MULTI-LAYERED DEFENCE 

Many organisations have not yet taken the 

essential steps to properly integrate 

cybersecurity into their general operations 

- despite a rising number of cyber attacks 

across all businesses, with 88% of UK 

companies having suffered a breach in the 

last 12 months. A cybersecurity strategy is 

most effective when it has multiple layers 

and is deployed consistently from the 

beginning, not as a once-a-year tick box 

review or training exercise. 

By deploying a multi-layered, securityfirst 

and awareness-first defence strategy, 

including the basic foundations of email, 

endpoint and web security alongside the 

emerging necessities of security awareness 

training, remote working zero-trust network 

access tools and other user-first solutions, 

businesses can secure their operations 

both internally and externally. 

Technology plays a crucial role in 

ensuring business data is kept safe, but so 

do educating and alerting employees for 

potential threats in real-time. 

Implementing innovative solutions that 

prompt employees to double-check emails 

before they send them can help reduce the 

risk of sharing the wrong information with 

the wrong individual, while enabling users 

to make more informed decisions and 

reinforcing compliance credentials. 

SHARING RESPONSIBILITY 

In order to create an effective cybersecurity 

strategy, the 'us vs. them' mentality must be 

shifted. It is not just the IT department's 

duty to keep the organisation secure. 

Instead, this issue must be prioritised in 

every department across the business - as 

every end user and team have something 

valuable at stake. 

All employees are responsible for 

playing a part in keeping business data 

safe and they should be actively recruited 

into this role from the beginning - the 

stakes are too high for businesses to not 

take advantage of all available resources 

and personnel. 

Business collaboration plays a vital part 

in this approach. In addition to educating 

employees and ingraining 'cybersecurity 

first' as part of the culture, the IT defence 

strategy must be embedded across all 

areas of the business, including HR, 

customer service and finance, for example. 

The potential consequences of a data 

breach must be explained, such as the 

financial repercussions, loss of customers 

and tarnished business reputation - real, 

revenue-impacting consequences. 

By having a workforce that is mindful and 

understands the responsibilities they have 

on the front line of defence, companies 

can ensure that everything they do is 

underpinned by both user education, and a 

robust and secure IT security infrastructure. 

CONCLUSION 

The final decision to click the link, send 

the sensitive information or download the 

file, lies with the user. But by ensuring that 

a strong and secure cybersecurity culture is 

instilled from the top of the business to the 

bottom, company assets can be kept safe, 

and the risk of successful cyber attacks can 

be reduced. 

IT teams are the foundation of creating 

and deploying the right cyber defence 

strategy, but unless they are given a priority 

seat at the table during these crucial times, 

the value of their approach might go 

unheeded. The responsibility of keeping 

information safe applies to all levels, from 

CEO to apprentice, but until a business has 

the basics right and takes on a 'security-first' 

approach, the risk still remains. Yet, the 

difference between a trained and an 

uneducated workforce could mean the 

difference between an organisation 

surviving a cyber attack, or suffering the 

devastating consequences. NC 


OPINION: TRAINING 

THE TIMES ARE CHANGING FOR TECH 

TRAINING 

A "NEW NORMAL" IS COMING IN TECH - AND WE NEED TO MAKE 

SURE IT'S TRULY DIFFERENT THIS TIME. GRAHAM HUNTER AT 

COMPTIA EXPLAINS WHY 

As the U.S. and Europe take stock of 

exactly what happened during the last 

year and what it means, all sectors are 

eagerly looking ahead to define what their 

"new normal" looks like. From inescapable 

cybersecurity challenges requiring a more 

widespread and unified government and 

business response, to remote work becoming 

ubiquitous, I'm convinced that the working 

world is - like it or not - going to look very 

different one or two years from now. 

I hope that part of embracing a new normal, 

especially for the tech world, means that we will 

grow more open and willing to embrace 

employees and talent from all walks of life. 

That we will be willing to hire from talent pools 

outside of degree-holders, and that we will 

embrace the vision and leadership of people 

who are, frankly, not just white men. 

Our hiring practices in tech have long needed 

examining, as have the values and norms we 

seek from people in positions of leadership. It is 

not inconceivable to say that the woefully 

under-diverse makeup of tech firms and the 

instances and severity of cybersecurity attacks 

on all types of organisation being on the rise 

are linked. Our sector is screaming out for 

fresh perspectives on existing challenges, and 

on the challenges we don't even know about 

yet. Hiring people from the same pools and 

networks time and time again isn't going to 

help. We need to embrace different pathways, 

different voices, and different leadership. 

There has been a lack of representation in the 

tech sector for far too long. In 2018, just 8.5% 

of senior executives in tech were from black, 

Asian, minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. 

Less than 15% of all senior tech leaders were 

women. Yet more than a third (35%) of board 

members and over a quarter (26%) of senior 

execs from top tech firms attended Oxbridge 

universities. That's compared to just 1% of the 

population. I'll make a "bold" assertion here 

and insist that it's not because this tiny pool of 

Oxbridge graduates are more talented or gifted 

in tech than people from other walks of life. 

REAL CHANGE IS ABOUT MORE THAN 

JUST HIRING PRACTICES 

Real change must go deeper than just hiring 

more diverse people and believing that's the 

end of it. Following a summer of racially 

motivated civil unrest in the U.S. in 2020, 

Google tech leaders vowed to hire more 

black tech workers. While they did that, 

recent coverage points to high attrition 

among those workers and low representation 

at the highest levels, highlighting that the 

culture of embracing diversity in more than 



OPINION: TRAINING 

just name may be deeply lacking. 

In my mind, the long-term answer is in how 

we train, mentor, support, and value the people 

we bring into the fold. Perhaps most critically, 

training plays an increasingly important role in 

ensuring that workers feel ready to tackle the 

challenges they face, while understanding that 

their employer has made an ongoing 

investment in their success. More and more 

companies are making an investment in 

industry recognised certifications that act as a 

gold seal of approval of their employees' 

knowledge and ability. This kind of level-setting 

is critical for tech workers, at a time when so 

many businesses struggle to comprehend and 

prepare for the new threats and tech 

challenges of the day. 

NEW PATHWAYS & THE ONLINE 

MODALITY HOLD DEMOCRATISING 

POWER 

The case for stronger diversity and better 

pathways to employment for underrepresented 

groups is more than just tokenism. Diverse 

businesses largely perform better. McKinsey 

research shows that companies with more 

gender diversity are 25% more likely to have 

above-average profitability. Similarly, 

companies with greater ethnic and cultural 

diversity far outperform in profitability those that 

remain homogenous. The days of an elitist tech 

workforce full of people with degrees from the 

same universities are - both by choice and 

necessity - coming to an end. It's time we 

embrace the new non-degree pathways that 

are emerging, and that means welcoming new 

voices, faces and perspectives into the fold. 

Non-degree pathways such as 

apprenticeships hold real promise for 

improving retention at tech firms (in the U.S., for 

example, Department of Labor data shows that 

94% of apprentices stay on after their program 

ends), and for bringing long-term diversity to 

organisations. When prospective employees 

are told in no uncertain terms that tech firms 

aren't just looking for Oxbridge/Ivy Leagueeducated 

candidates to join their ranks, they 

have an incentive to put their foot forward and 

try. And once in the fold of something like an 

apprenticeship, trainees receive mentorship and 

guidance that sets them up for success. 

Being paid to attend and learn on the job 

also ensures that new hires - even those from 

socioeconomically disadvantaged 

backgrounds - understand their value and 

have the financial incentive to continue 

working. Similarly, upskilling and certifying 

current staff goes a long way to boost morale, 

performance and retention. 

The new opportunities we create for workers 

must be accessible and realistic, regardless of 

specific pathways to employment. For many 

people, that will involve learning and training 

online. It has for long been foregone that 

trainees and new hires will have the means to 

commute into a classroom or an office, even 

with all the hidden costs involved, and even 

when the jobs offer none or unsustainable pay. 

This has been particularly exclusionary for 

people of colour, women (mothers in 

particular), and those with disabilities. It is also 

a reality for many people of diverse 

backgrounds that in-person settings are more 

intimidating, whether because of language and 

communication barriers, perceived or real 

differences in belief system or values, physical 

or learning disabilities, and more. 

Online learning isn't a solution for workplace 

issues, but it must be embraced as part of a 

new normal, with an eye to democratising - 

and removing the fear factor from - training 

and the workforce. NC 

If you are interested in learning more about 

CompTIA training and certification options for 

teams please send an email to 

info_UK@comptia.org to request a call from 

the team. 



DrayTek Vigor 

2927Lac 


PRODUCT 


DrayTek's Vigor 2927Lac router is ideally 

suited to SMBs and remote workers 

that can't afford any internet downtime. 

It offers a wealth of WAN redundancy features 

with dual Gigabit WAN ports supporting 

failover and load balancing plus an internal 

4G LTE modem with dual SIM slots for primary 

and backup connections to mobile networks - 

you can even use its USB port to add another 

4G modem. 

Network security is another strength as it 

provides a powerful SPI firewall along with 

application controls and optional web content 

filtering. It's ideal if you have remote workers 

requiring secure access to network resources 

as the price includes support for 50 IPsec VPN 

tunnels plus 25 SSL VPNs and facilities to 

create 16 hardware accelerated IPsec VPNs. 

The Vigor 2927Lac is even more versatile as 

it delivers concurrent 2.4GHz and 5GHz 11ac 

wireless services. What's more, the router runs 

DrayTek's Central AP Management (CAM) 

service which discovers and provisions up to 

20 DrayTek VigorAP wireless APs with the next 

firmware upgrade allowing it to function as the 

root node in a meshed wireless network. 

The router presents seven Gigabit network 

ports where the sixth can be used for LAN or 

WAN duties. Redundancy features keep on 

coming as two routers can be deployed in a 

high availability configuration where they 

share a virtual IP address and can be set to 

hot-standby or active-standby modes. 

SMBs won't have any problems deploying the 

router as its web console provides wizards for 

securing admin access, configuring internet 

access and setting up client or site-to-site 

VPNs. More wizards are provided for enabling 

the various optional security services and 

creating wireless networks. 

Protection starts immediately as the firewall 

has a default security policy already activated 

which you can modify with other rules and 

filters that define traffic directions, sources 

and destinations, protocols and block or pass 

actions. Internet redundancy is equally easy 

to configure as you define multiple WAN 

connections and decide whether to have 

them running in active/backup mode or all 

active, where the router load balances traffic 

across them. 

The basic URL filtering service uses keywords 

to block access to specific web sites. For more 

granular browsing control, DrayTek offers a 

free 30-day trial of the Cyren GlobalView 

service which allows up to 65 web categories 

to be blocked or allowed using profiles and if 

you like what you see, it only costs £21 per 

year to activate. 

Application controls are free on registration 

and offer a list of over 130 apps and 

protocols, Categories are provided for Apple, 

Google and Amazon web services and if you 

want Facebook out of the office, just create 

an enforcement rule for it and block all 

further access. 

Wireless services are extensive as each radio 

can present up to four virtual SSIDs each with 

their own encryption scheme. You can apply a 

schedule to each one to control when they are 

active, set upload and download bandwidth 

usage restrictions and apply station controls to 

limit client connections times. 

Wireless hotspot services forward LAN and 

wireless clients to a web page with an 

acceptable use policy which they must agree 

to before receiving internet access. Even 

better, they can authenticate with their 

Facebook or Google credentials and the 

router can send them a unique PIN via SMS 

to the mobile number they enter in the 

landing page. 

The Vigor 2927Lac router clearly shows why 

DrayTek is the go-to vendor for SMBs that 

want the best WAN redundancy. It delivers an 

impressive range of security features at a very 

affordable price and its integral wireless 

network and hotspot services make it even 

more appealing. NC 

Product: Vigor 2927Lac 

Supplier: DrayTek 

Web site: www.draytek.co.uk 

Telephone: +44 (0)345 557 0007 

Price: £355 exc VAT 




SECURING DISPERSED NETWORKS IN THE ERA OF HYBRID WORK 

RODNEY JOFFE, SVP AND FELLOW, NEUSTAR AND CHAIRMAN OF THE NEUSTAR 

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL, EXAMINES HOW OUR NEW ERA OF WORK 

IS HIGHLIGHTING THE NEED TO STRENGTHEN NETWORK SECURITY 

Recent data from the Neustar International 

Security Council (NISC) found that the 

majority (61%) of cybersecurity 

professionals reported either significant or 

moderate downtime or disruption in the first six 

months of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to 

the mass shift to remote work. 

A certain amount of this disturbance can be 

linked directly back to the level of change that 

was necessary to accommodate staff working 

from home, but there are also other influencing 

factors. Unfortunately, while organisations were 

busy ensuring their digital networks were able 

to continue operating across all touchpoints, 

cybercriminals were capitalising on the disorder 

for their own gain. 

Although we expected to see a spike in 

malicious activity while businesses were 

getting to grips with new ways of working, it 

has become much more than just a 

pandemic problem. 

NETWORK WOES 

It's now been over a year since organisations 

were forced to implement mass remote 

working models and, during that time, 

businesses have adapted as necessary. In 

contempt of initial challenges, the roll-out of 

numerous modern technologies has 

established a new standard for network 

security. Or so we thought. 

Despite having made these enhancements to 

their security stack, more than half of 

businesses (54%) admitted to still experiencing 

network security issues, six months after the 

pandemic began. While organisations have 

been brushing up on their defences, 

cybercriminals have been doing the same - 

using the time to sharpen their skills and find 

new ways to exploit weak network links; so far 

this year we've seen some of the largest and 

most powerful attacks on universities, 

healthcare networks and national critical 

infrastructure. 

Just a few months ago, the largest fuel 

pipeline in the U.S was subject to a hack that 

led to shortages across the East Coast. 

Attackers gained access to the networks of 

Colonial Pipeline Co. through a virtual private 

network account, which allowed employees to 

remotely access the company's computer 

network. Although the VPN account was no 

longer in use at the time of the attack, hackers 

were able to breach Colonial Pipeline's entire 

network using just a compromised username 

and password. 

The Colonial Pipeline attack is just one 

example of how determined cybercriminals are 

targeting weak points in networks to cause 

disruption and, in some cases, demand 

ransom. Regardless of how businesses have 

already improved their security since the 

pandemic began, the most important 

realisation is that there is still more to be done. 

It is essential, therefore, that organisations 

determine the vulnerabilities in their networks 

today and proactively plan to strengthen them. 

OUT OF OFFICE RISKS 

With many businesses planning to either 

remain remote or implement a hybrid working 

model, end-to-end network security will 

continue to be business critical. At the 

beginning of the pandemic, a major hurdle 

appeared because many companies did not 

provide computers for employees working from 

home prior to COVID-19, instead asking that 

they work from their own devices. This became 

immediately problematic for a few key reasons. 

Firstly, security controls on personal devices 

are not the same as those on work devices. 

Secondly, it leads to blurred lines between 

professional and personal use - there is no 

logical separation between using the same 

device to work, watch Netflix, and shop online. 

Employees using personal devices also 

complicates the use of VPNs, as most VPN 

software deployed establishes a VPN only for 

the specific business application. A VPN that 

connects to the company but comes from a 

machine that doesn't have an insulated 

virtualisation operating system can result in 

multiple cases of bleed over. In fact, there is a 

large group of malwares that benefits from 

crossing that membrane within a machine. 

PREPARING TO GO HYBRID 

The new era of work is highlighting the need 

for organisations to invest more in 

strengthening their network security, and it 

seems the majority are already taking action. 

Recent research from the NISC revealed that 

79% of organisations have enhanced the 

security of their corporate VPNs over the last 

year, while 89% of security professionals said 

the challenges posed by the pandemic have 

boosted their organisation's network security 

against potential future attacks. 

Nevertheless, there is still more to be done. 

After gaining a better understanding of the 

vulnerabilities in their networks, businesses 

must turn their attention to always-on 

monitoring and mitigation solutions. As 

cybercriminals work to spot weak links in 

networks, businesses need to know that they 

have 24/7 protection. Only then can they have 

true peace of mind that they are doing 

everything they can to protect their network, 

and their organisation. NC 


OPINION: DATA LAKES 

DON'T LET YOUR DATA LAKES DECAY INTO DATA SWAMPS 

GRACE LIU, SENIOR VP OF IT STRATEGY AND GLOBAL APPLICATIONS, SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY 

SUGGESTS FOUR WAYS TO KEEP ENTERPRISE DATA LAKES VIBRANT AND INSIGHTFUL 

Data remains an intangible asset on 

most companies' balance sheets - 

and its value is too often 

indeterminable and not fully tapped. 

Figures compiled by IDC for Seagate's 

Rethink Data report estimate only 32% of 

data available to enterprises is fully 

leveraged, with the remaining 68% 

untapped and unused. 

To extract the most value from the data, 

companies are increasingly turning to 

constructing cloud-based 'data lakes' - a 

platform that centralises all types of data 

storage. It provides elastic storage 

capacity and flexible I/O throughput, 

covering different data sources, and 

supporting multiple computing and 

analytics engines. 

A data lake can be hundreds of 

petabytes in size, or even larger. A big risk 

therefore in any data lake project is that - 

if left unattended - it could turn into a 

data swamp; a repository where 

unleveraged yet potentially useful data 

sits dormant on storage media. It risks 

becoming a massive, mostly idle swamp 

of 'sunk' data that is completely 

inaccessible to end users - a waste. 

To keep data lakes from morphing into 

swamps - and keep them fresh, vibrant, 

and full of insights - CIOs, CTOs, and 

data architects should implement the 

following four points. 

1. Have a clear vision of the business 

problem you're trying to solve 

With a clearly-defined objective in mind, 

it should be relatively straightforward to 

target the data you need to collect, and 

the best machine learning techniques for 

gleaning insight from that data. Most 

business outcomes can be improved by 

an investment in storage infrastructure. 

In advertising, a data lake analytics 

engine can be leveraged to run advertising 

campaigns accurately by reaching the 

correct groups of people through the right 

channels. A data lake can be used to 

perform data collection, storage, and 

analytics across the full life cycle of data 

management. By doing so, Yeahmobi, a 

Chinese marketing services company, has 

successfully reduced its overall operating 

costs by approximately 50%. 

In the manufacturing sector, data lakes 

have been used to improve the yield 

rates, through the integration of an 

artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm, deep 



OPINION: DATA LAKES 

learning, and the related manufacturing 

parameters. 

For the above to work effectively, it is 

important that new data is constantly 

introduced into the data lake so optimal 

results can be extracted with the right 

software applications. 

2. Capture and store all the information 

you can 

Organisations need to be able to capture 

the right data, identify it, store it where it 

is needed, and provide it to decision 

makers in a usable way. Activating data - 

putting it to use - starts with data capture. 

Given the overwhelming growth of data 

due to the proliferation of IoT applications 

and 5G deployments, enterprises cannot 

keep up and do not currently capture all 

available data. But increasingly 

enterprises are learning to capture and 

save as much data as they can in order 

not to miss out on its complete value: the 

value that's there today and the value that 

will come alive in the use cases of 

tomorrow. If the data is not stored, this 

value never materialises. 

In the early days of data lakes, it was 

the power user who had the ability to dive 

in, swim in the lake and find the right 

data. Nowadays Structured Query 

Language (SQL) has made big inroads 

into the data lake and given ordinary 

users more access to the data. For these 

users the focus is more on outcomes, with 

AI and machine learning (ML) being 

introduced to sift through the data and 

look for patterns. ML now gives rise to 

near real-time analytics, advanced 

analytics, and visualisation. 

The data lake landscape has evolved 

rapidly, with an emphasis much more on 

turning the right data into value. 

Transferring data to a well-managed 

cloud storage service helps companies 

move data generated daily by their 

businesses into a scalable data 

architecture. For example, Twitter 

transferred 300 PB of data to the Google 

Cloud Storage service. Transferring that 

much data via the network took months 

to complete, but businesses can find 

faster methods of moving this. 

3. Periodically evaluate the data 

Data lakes need auditing and refreshing. 

Enterprises should review the datasets 

they're managing in a cloud-based data 

lake - or they will find that the data lake 

becomes increasingly harder (muddier) to 

use. Worse yet, the organisation's data 

scientists will find it more difficult - if not 

impossible - to find the patterns they're 

searching for in the data. 

The use of cloud storage services, along 

with AI and automation software, is 

expected to have the most impact on 

making massive data lakes more 

manageable. It remains the magical 

solution for ploughing through the 

information. The best way to do this is to 

pick a data set, select a machine learning 

technique to go through it, and then 

apply it to others once a favourable result 

has been achieved. For example, in fraud 

detection in a bank, AI-based systems are 

being designed to learn what type of 

transactions are fraudulent based on 

frequency of transactions, transaction size 

and type of retailer. 

Data that has aged or is no longer 

relevant can be transferred to another 

repository where it can be retained. You 

never know when that data may offer 

new, yet-undiscovered value. To do so, an 

enterprise can, again, use a data 

movement service designed to move 

massive amounts of data across private, 

public, or hybrid-cloud environments. 

Such services deliver fast, simple, and 

secure edge storage and data transfers 

that can accelerate time to insights. 

4. Engage mass data operations 

Mass data operations, or DataOps, are 

defined by IDC as the discipline of 

connecting data creators with data 

consumers. DataOps should be part of 

every successful data management 

strategy. In addition to DataOps, a sound 

data management strategy includes data 

orchestration from endpoints to core, 

data architecture, and data security. 

The goal of data management is to 

facilitate a holistic view of data and 

enable users to access and derive 

optimal value from it: both data in 

motion and at rest. 

DERIVING VALUE FROM DATA 

Businesses today are generating massive 

amounts of enterprise data, which is 

forecast to grow at an average annual 

rate of 42% annually from 2020 to 2022, 

according to the Rethink Data report. 

A new Seagate-commissioned IDC 

survey (see URL below) found that 

enterprises frequently move this data 

among different storage locations, 

including endpoints, edge, and cloud. In 

over a thousand businesses surveyed, 

more than half move data between 

storage locations daily, weekly, or monthly. 

With the average size of a physical data 

transfer being over 140TB, the faster 

businesses can move this data from edge 

to cloud, the quicker they can unlock 

insights and derive value from their data. 

Given the rapid pace of digitisation - 

accelerated in many cases by the 

pandemic - many organisations are 

gathering and managing more data than 

ever before. Cultivating vibrant and 

insightful data lakes will lay the 

groundwork for long-term success of 

enterprise data management strategies, in 

turn enabling the success of digital 

infrastructure and business initiatives. NC 


FEATURE: DIGITAL SKILLS 

TO CODE OR NOT TO CODE? 

48% OF EMPLOYERS THINK THE WORKFORCE IS LACKING IN 

DIGITAL SKILLS, SO COULD NO-CODE BE THE ANSWER? 

Despite the workforce becoming 

more digitally reliant, new survey 

results suggest that, less than half of 

employers (48%) in the UK believe that 

employees joining the workforce have the 

necessary digital skills or knowledge. This 

has created a fear that the lack of relevant 

skills could affect businesses' abilities to 

compete in the digital market, with over 

three quarters of businesses believing this 

could negatively impact their profitability, 

According to research by Gartner, 'low 

code' or 'no code' solutions are gaining 

traction and are predicted to account for 

more than 65% of application development 

by 2024. 

AI-powered software company, Intelastel 

surveyed 400 UK directors/CEOs/founders, 

managers, and self-employed/freelancers to 

reveal people's thoughts towards coding, 

their knowledge in coding and what they 

think are the opportunities within the industry. 

The majority (51%) of business leaders 

polled described themselves as 'somewhat 

digitally proficient' and 29% said they were 

'highly digitally proficient'. However, when 

asked to select the correct definition of 

programming, less than half (46%) of 

those surveyed answered correctly and 

almost a quarter (24%) asserted that 

there's no difference between a 

programmer and a developer. 

Iouri Prokhorov, CEO of Intelastel said, 

"This lack of basic understanding might 

suggest that many top executives are out of 

touch with the realities of the digital world. 

The findings from our survey suggest that 

despite there being a demand for more 

tech knowledge in the workforce, there are 

many reasons why businesses don't invest in 

this sort of education and training. Many 

believe that it is too time consuming (19%), 

while price (8%), lack of awareness (46%) 

and the belief that coding is pointless (5%) 

were stated as barriers." 

This has left many believing that 'no code' 

solutions will have a significant part to play 

in business operations in the future. 17% of 

business leaders believe that 'no-code', is a 

popular and promising alternative to 

traditional software development for nontechnical 

business users hoping to build their 

own full-fledged applications, is the future. 

The majority (58%) of respondents believe 

organisations should be moving towards a 

hybrid approach of training in both coding 

and 'no code', yet businesses cite a lack of 

promotion (39%) and a lack of education 

(26%) as reasons for not investing in 'no 

code' solutions. 

"No-code allows all variations of 

businesses to develop and integrate a 

great digital platform and can minimise 

the number of employees being left in the 

dark due to their lack of digital skills," 

added Prokhorov. 

Despite what many believe, coding is 

more integrated into our everyday lives 

than is necessarily in our working digital 

life. Coding is required for tasks such as 

driving, shopping and even taking a 

shower, whereas it is not necessary for 

building an app, hosting a podcast, or 

launching an ecommerce site. 

Apps can be developed without using 

code, as can creating an online store 

using 'no-code' platforms, yet showering 

requires a pre-set microprocessor code. 

Vegetables are usually grown in 

computerised temperature-controlled 

greenhouses and the use of a checkout till 

is required when purchasing them - this all 

requires coding. NC 

To read more from the Intelastel 

investigation, visit: 

www.intelastel.com/blog/to-code-or-notto-code 



OPINION: POWER MONITORING 

MORE POWER TO YOU 

MOXA OFFERS A GUIDE TO OPTIMISING POWER CONSUMPTION 

THROUGH REMOTE MONITORING 

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) 

generates a tremendous amount of data 

that also needs to be stored. 

Consequently, more and more data centres 

are needed to fulfill this growing demand for 

data storage management, increasing energy 

consumption in the process. At the same 

time, factories, supermarkets, and other high 

power consumption applications are also 

facing pressure to improve energy efficiency 

for their heavy-load equipment and devices. 

Data centre operators and application 

owners need to figure out how to operate 

numerous servers and power-hungry 

equipment while optimising power 

consumption. Power distribution units (PDUs) 

are used to control and distribute power to 

various equipment. Nowadays, intelligent 

PDUs that feature metering and switching 

capabilities from remote sites have seen 

significant market growth due to increasing 

remote monitoring demands. In fact, a recent 

industry report identifies the increasing 

demand for data center monitoring solutions 

as the key driver of PDU market growth. 

Monitoring PDUs in your application not 

only helps you optimise your energy usage - 

by recording daily power consumption for 

payment calculation and energy 

management - but also allows you to collect 

data about the status of your PDUs for device 

maintenance. 

According to Moxa, in order to reap the 

benefits of monitoring PDUs, an energy 

management system (EMS) needs to collect 

meter data from PDUs so that operators can 

control, monitor, and optimise the 

performance of the PDUs. In addition, remote 

power panels (RPPs) may also be used as an 

extension of PDUs to increase the power 

distribution capacity by providing extra circuits. 

Thus, it's also important to monitor the circuit 

breakers and current transformers to ensure 

that power distribution through different 

circuits is under control. It takes reliable 

connectivity between the EMS and power 

devices, such as PDUs and RPPs, to ensure 

smooth and optimised power distribution. 

Here are some tips you can consider to 

ensure reliable connectivity in between. 

UNDERSTAND YOUR DEVELOPMENT 

STAGE 

Once you decide to monitor the PDUs and 

RPPs in your application environment, how 

you go about enabling connectivity depends 

on your implementation plan. Besides 

connecting power meters, circuit breakers 

and current transformers that might use 

different protocols and interfaces than your 

EMS, ask yourself the following questions to 

choose the right solution: 

Are you trying to retrofit existing PDUs or 

deploy a new one? 

Is there enough space for your wiring 

design? 

How many PDUs are you planning to 

connect to the network? 

Your answers to the above questions will tell 

you whether you are looking for a single-port 

or high port-density connectivity solution. For 

example, if you have limited space for 

retrofitting your existing PDUs in a relatively 

small-scale application, a single-port 

connectivity solution may be the ideal option 

due its compact design. In contrast, high 

port-density connectivity solutions can help 

you save costs if you have sufficient space to 

deploy multiple new PDUs. 

INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE 

Choosing an easy-to-use connectivity solution 

can save you significant time and effort. In 

the installation stage, wiring can be painful 

when you are connecting dozens of PDUs to 

the same network. Check if your connectivity 

solution has features such as Ethernet 

cascading, which provides an efficient wiring 

solution across several PDUs and RPPs to the 

EMS located in the control center. When your 

PDUs and RPPs are up and running, your 

networking devices will still require backups 

and updates from time to time. If your 

connectivity solutions provide user-friendly 

software tools, it can take the headache out 

of device configuration and maintenance. 

ENHANCE OPERATION RELIABILITY 

When unexpected network failures occur, 

meter data loss can lead to miscalculation of 

your power consumption, resulting in 

incorrect billing and incomplete power data 

for analytics. To enhance your power 

monitoring system reliability, you need to 

consider backup mechanisms from different 

angles. Start from the networking devices. 

Dual-power inputs and high EMI immunity 

are features that can protect your networking 

devices from electrical interference. Next, 

develop a redundancy mechanism for your 

network transmissions. There are various 

network redundancy features in the market. 

When considering these options, see if their 

recovery times are acceptable for your power 

monitoring application. NC 



WHY SD-WAN? 

AMY HOOD, PRODUCT SPECIALIST FOR DRAYTEK UK & 

IRELAND, EXPLAINS HOW SD-WAN CAN ENABLE DIGITAL 

TRANSFORMATION WITH SAAS/CLOUD 

Traditionally, the challenge of most 

network administrators was one of 

simple connectivity. With most 

applications running on private servers in 

a company's headquarters, the question 

was how to enable connectivity for other 

sites to access resources. 

However, with the adoption of a hybrid 

model including SaaS, public and private 

cloud infrastructure and applications such 

as Outlook365, Team, Zoom, OneDrive, 

Google Drive and Dropbox, it's not just 

connectivity that's the concern - it's also 

the quality of the connection and the 

flexibility to simultaneously handle routing 

to both public and private facing 

applications. 

This challenge has drawn attention to the 

solutions SD-WAN provides to make 

complex routing schemes simple and 

intuitive, and to give better insights to the 

performance of the network and a 

responsiveness to handle any degradation 

which has been detected. 

IMPROVED INTERFACE STATS 

With SD-WAN, wired WAN, Wireless WAN 

(including wireless 2.4G/5G WAN, LTE 

WAN, and USB WAN), and VPN quality 

are monitored 24/7. Using an "average" 

Mean Opinion Score (MOS), Network 

administrators can view the sustained 

quality of a WAN interface, to easily 

determine the performance of each 

connection. "Active" interface quality, on 

the other hand, shows the interface quality 

right at that moment. By integrating 

percentage numbers, network 

administrators can specify rules to load 

balance or failover based on the reliability 

and quality of connections. Ideally the 

connections should always be higher than 

the target MOS threshold. For example, 

4.0 MOS out of 5 for important traffic. 

INTERFACE QUALITY - FROM 

MACRO TO MICRO 

In SD-WAN environments, more data is 

collected for every interface on monitored 

CPEs. This makes it easier to create 

dashboards to track any suspicious 

Interface quality results. Network 

administrators can dive into more details 

about an interface, such as, data usage, 

latency, jitter and packet 

INTELLIGENT VOIP OPTIMISATION 

SD-WAN also provides intelligent VoIP 

optimisation from the start of a VoIP call to 

the end. Based on your network topology 

and the Interface quality, SD-WAN 

intelligently assigns the best-quality WAN 

for VoIP calls. So whenever you are 

making a new call, SD-WAN makes sure 

you are calling via the best WAN. 

After sending the VoIP call via bestquality 

WAN, SD-WAN will continue to 

monitor the quality of the live call and 

enforce a WAN failover to a secondary 

VoIP WAN if call quality is poor. As every 

call is logged with a MOS score and indepth 

interface data, the network 

administrator can analyse and refine 

routing policies based upon WAN 

performance. 

FULL TRAFFIC CONTROL 

SD-WAN provides complete routing control 

by allowing network administrators to 

specify the preferred route for selected 

applications/domains, to ensure their 

specific routing scenarios can be achieved. 

Sessions matching the criteria can be 

NATed or routed, all under your control. It's 

especially useful if you have a mix of 

private/MPLS WAN (requires routing). 

COMPONENTS AND TOPOLOGY 

SD-WAN is a great addition to any 

remotely managed network of routers. It 

provides network admins information to 

assess the quality of a WAN interface, 

easily determine the performance of each 

connection and make intelligent decisions 

on where to route traffic. Here are the 

typical components for an SD-WAN 

network topology: 

Edge routers providing edge 

computing. Edge routers are physical 

routers installed in HQ and branches. 

Established VPN tunnels from branches 

to HQ to form hub-and-spoke or mesh 

topology. 

A central software platform where 

network administrators perform 

configurations, provisioning, and 

monitoring activity. 

As organisations discover the 

effectiveness of their connectivity is directly 

related to the effectiveness of their teams, 

the benefits of deploying SD-WAN 

technology should be considered by all 

network admins. NC 



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Jul-Aug-Sep 2021

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