Brighton-based Curve IT has implemented a superfast WiFi network across Wagner Hall to coincide with their relaunch as a multi-purpose use venue in Brighton.
Wagner’s relaunch follows the appointment of a new not-for-profit management company KPS Spaces who aim to position the building as a key focal point for Brighton’s business and creative sectors. The venue was first built in the 1970s and is owned by the adjacent St Paul’s church on West Street.
Curve IT’s network now mean that superfast connectivity is implemented across the venue. This will benefit businesses using the space as well as visitors and the general public, with the connection now being more than suitable to support mobile and WiFi card payments, streaming and hotspot needs.
For Wagner’s new management team, the need for seamless connectivity was of the utmost importance. Penny Parker, Venue Manager at KPS Spaces said:
“We knew that in order to make Wagner Hall an attractive and integral venue for Brighton, a strong internet connection was needed. We looked at regular commercial broadband offerings, but were troubled at the thought of us having connectivity issues, and it taking several days to fix, as that could affect business massively.”
“For us, Curve IT was the natural choice, they’re a locally based business, and we know that if we have any issues they’ll be sorted on the same day! We’re really looking forward to growing Wagner Hall into a core event space for Brighton, and Curve IT are just the right networking partners to help with that!”
Curve IT have connected Wagner Hall by establishing a converged network from a wireless link on the roof of Brighton Centre (another Curve IT network). This method means that Curve IT own the network and are not reliant on third parties for support and fixes. Curve IT have provided networking and connectivity solutions for a wide variety of structures in Brighton, London and across the UK. Including the British Airways i360 Observation Tower and a series of Essential Living’s new build apartment buildings across Greater London.
Simon O’Hare, Managing Director of Curve IT added:
“It’s great to see somewhere like Wagner Hall be given a new lease of life as a multi-purpose venue for Brighton. We are pleased that the team there acknowledge the importance of strong connectivity, and we look forward to working with them closely in the future, which I’m sure will be bright for Wagner.”
David Graham, founder and CEO of Code Ninjas discusses how parents can make screen time more productive for their offspring
Children’s screen time is always a hot topic for parents these days. How much is too much, what’s the difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ screen time, and how do you find the right balance? At this time of year, in fact during any school holiday, it’s something that becomes even more of a stressor.
In a recent study by Internet Matters, 9 out of 10 parents said they try to limit their child’s use of devices. 32% of parents with children aged 6-10 said they were concerned about the impact of screen time on playtime, and 30% said screen time means they have to fight for their child’s attention. Interestingly though, despite these worries, parents do acknowledge and understand that there are benefits. 70% think screen time is essential for their child’s learning development and 67% believe that using devices gives their child another way of being creative.
So, what’s the solution? I personally think that instead of categorising screen time as ‘bad’, parents should instead say to themselves, ‘how can we put that screen time to better use?’ As a former coder and entrepreneur, I feel confident that it’s all about turning screen time into something productive. I believe – and have seen first-hand – that through programmes like Code Ninjas, screen time comes with a host of benefits.
Everything about Code Ninjas is built around fun. Kids between the age of 7 and 14 learn how to code by building video games, robotics and drones – they love it! It’s fun, it’s loud – it’s exciting. Our centres are called Dojos, teachers are called Senseis and our Ninjas progress through a game-based curriculum made up of nine belts, just like martial arts. As well as coding, children gain the complimentary skills – such as logic, problem-solving and teamwork – that they’ll need for the jobs of the future.
Instead of simply playing a computer game, scrolling on social media or scouring YouTube for funny videos, encouraging children to use their screen or device time to learn how to code is something that parents can feel good about. Rather than at-home, secluded screen time, encourage your children (although from my experience, it’s often them encouraging you!) to become involved in a regular group or centre-based coding club. There are a multitude of benefits to this type of learning, many of which directly address the top worries cited by parents in the same study mentioned above.
Worry: lack of interest in more traditional subjects
Learning to code in a group environment is complementary to other STEM and non-STEM subjects. The supplementary skills learnt – including teamwork, communication and problem solving – benefit students both in their academic and personal development. A great coding centre, such as Code Ninjas, will foster an environment of collaboration and encourage kids to share ideas and solutions, just like real coders! All of which helps kids to build confidence and independence in their own learning, whilst having fun.
Worry: lack of exercise/obesity
Remember that screen time doesn’t always mean sitting in front of a computer! Building drones and robots gets kids up and out of their seats so, when choosing a provider, look for evidence that sessions are active and engaging. Silence isn’t golden – if you can’t hear the kids having fun, chances are, they aren’t.
Worry: isolation/addiction
Learning to code in a destination setting, particularly a group environment, is a great way for kids to make friends. A good provider will be passionate about their community so, check how sessions are structured and avoid ‘classroom’ style setups. Ask how progression is acknowledged and celebrated – it should be something that everyone takes part in. A great example from Code Ninjas is that our coding centres, or Dojos, are parent-free zones! Kids are encouraged to make friends and work together. And when someone progresses, colour wristbands are awarded in ‘belt-up’ ceremonies that the whole Dojo takes part in. Inclusion and collaboration are big drivers in the coding community.
Worry: fighting for your child’s attention
When kids learn something new – and fun – they are inspired to share it with their parents and friends. Look for a centre or a provider that has a system in place to help your child share their achievements and creations with you when they get home. Can they show you what they have built? What game they have designed? Can you play it with them? By showing interest and celebrating your child’s achievements with them, you can create a real sense of positivity around this kind of screen time over others. Not to mention you are also strengthening your relationship with them.
Worry: staying safe online
Coding programmes rarely require internet browsing. Screen time and online time have come to mean the same thing, when they are in fact, different. In the case of Code Ninjas, learning to code by building games that they already know and love, is a great way to capture their imagination and attention – without a social media account in sight! They are also not connected to anything that would allow someone outside of the Dojo to communicate or interact with them, so they are not in danger of strangers online.
In today’s digital world, you can’t escape screen time. What we can do, as parents, is take a more realistic approach and instead of letting our children passively consume media, we can leverage screen time for future benefit. Whilst our kids are learning and having fun!
For more information about Code Ninjas, to find out when a centre might be opening near you – or if you’re interested in opening one of your own – visit www.codeninjasfranchise.co.uk
Precursive, the fast-growth UK SaaS company that is helping forward thinking companies to create an agile workforce by improving and automating resource management, today announced significant growth in revenues in the USA for the first half of 2019 as well as further market development into the US due to scaling demand.
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in London, Precursive helps companies to scale and grow by improving and automating resource management and workforce planning. The company’s innovative Salesforce-hosted technology platform is frequently chosen over that of larger and longer established competitors such as Netsuite and Microsoft to enable and empower business leaders to deliver better outcomes for people and projects. Precursive is the preferred solution for agencies, consulting and high tech companies with recent customer wins including Atlantic Technologies, East Park Consulting and Polsource.
Mike Dohrmann, Managing Director of Atlantic Technologies commented:
“We have enjoyed working with Precursive to help us improve resource scheduling and capacity planning. It’s a great product and team who have invested in our partnership to help us scale and accelerate growth.”
Precursive’s CEO, Jonathan Corrie, commented:
“Our platform is resonating with operations leaders and project team heads because, for the first time, they have a real-time view of the skills and bandwidth that they have in their business at any point in time. Historically companies have had to manage their workforce using disparate Excel spreadsheets and siloed data, so our solution provides executives with the data they need to run their business as well as reducing the time that front-line staff spend spend on admin. We’re delighted to help our clients be more productive with a tangible impact on their bottom line”.
Precursive has appointed Walter Elly as Head of Delivery and strategic partner for the USA. Corrie continued:
“We are delighted to be working with Walter and have someone of his calibre leading our delivery based out of Boston. With many new customers across the US, we’re excited to grow out the team in the coming year.”
To date, 2019 has also been a year of notable industry recognition for Precursive after the tech disruptor was named as a ‘One to Watch’ by Digiworkz, the Future of Work Digital Disruptor. In addition, the company was recently recognised by peer-to-peer software review site, G2 Crowd, in its ‘High Performer’ and ‘High User Adoption’ categories.
Corrie concluded:
“Precursive plugs a vital gap in the field of business technology. We’ve seen great focus on, and adoption of, FinTech, HRTech and MarTech in recent years, but until more recently, the operations department was overlooked. Our solution fixes this and we’re thrilled to be supporting our customers not only in driving improved business results but importantly, in improving employee experiences and wellbeing via optimized workforce management.”
As a Salesforce partner, Precursive works across the Salesforce ecosystem to drive additional value for customers via a strategic partnership with Taskfeed, the leading customer onboarding app for Salesforce. The two companies’ combined offering helps companies to mobilize and resource customer success and project teams faster. Andy Mahood, Founder and CEO, of Taskfeed commented:
“We’re delighted to be in a strategic partnership with Precursive, we have shared customers and this is the next step in this relationship. Customer Success happens in the first 90 days and with Taskfeed and Precursive, our clients can automate customer onboarding and resource management seamlessly on Salesforce. Our mission is to ensure that our customers See Success Faster.”
Canto, a leading provider of Digital Asset Management (DAM) software, has announced the launch of its new cloud-based service into the UK market.
Early adoption of its content organisation solution among UK brands includes the Scouts, packaging giant DS Smith, and rail infrastructure specialists Pandrol.
An established provider of DAM software in the US, Canto posted record results in 2018. It is named a DAM software leader and a top 100 global software company by G2, the software user reviews site. Last year, the company expanded its sales and marketing operations in Europe and is now delivering its software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution to UK customers.
“Leading brands and organisations are increasingly choosing dedicated software to overcome one of today’s greatest business management challenges – organising, finding and sharing assets. The strong uptake of our cloud offering by customers in the US and European markets means we’re in a perfect position to support UK-based organisations,”
said Mike Paxton, Head of UK Business Development at Canto.
“More companies are looking for better ways of managing vast amounts of content, finding shared internal servers and simple file sharing services are no longer enough. Canto is entering the British market at just the right time with a proven, powerful offering.
“We’re delighted to offer a new generation of DAM features that will give UK marketing, creative and commercial teams a competitive edge through a very user-friendly approach to managing high-volume, fast-growing files.”
Canto’s SaaS solution offers features such as automated tagging, image recognition, facial recognition, metadata management and smart albums to allow media files to be organised efficiently. Secure sharing of digital assets is improved either using links with expiration dates (to avoid sending bulky email attachments) or through self-service portals which can be used for sales materials, event photography, press kits and brand centres.
The software is also easily integrated with marketing tools and messaging services including InDesign, Mailchimp, Slack and WordPress and it provides protection against copyright infringement through built-in Digital Rights Management capabilities.
Canto’s DAM solution has wide applicability to a variety of industry verticals including: retail, manufacturing, education, transportation, hospitality, non-profit, healthcare, local government, food and beverage, technology and more.
Owner of the Rab and Lowe Alpine brands, Equip Outdoor Technologies UK, is a new Canto customer. Giles Polito, Commercial Director said:
“We have thousands of saved files that we’re adding to every year. These are contributed and accessed by multiple teams meaning we needed a consistent method of storage and access from any location. Canto was very quick to implement, is intuitive to use and everyone is now saving time and effort by easily finding and sharing the files they need. We are saving time in the office as our customers do not need the support to show them how to use the platform!”
Interested parties can sign up for a free trial and find more information on Canto features and customer use case studies at canto.com.
Greenbone, a leading provider of vulnerability analysis for IT networks, today announced that its proven portfolio of vulnerability management (VM) products is now available via virtual appliances. Greenbone’s customers can now choose to deploy physical or virtual appliances, increasing flexibility and efficiency, while ensuring that data protection is always guaranteed.
VM solutions identify and patch security-relevant vulnerabilities in IT systems, helping businesses reduce their exposure to risks and improving the overall resilience of their infrastructures. Greenbone’s entire portfolio of VM solutions – ideal for entry-level, SME and mid-sized companies – is now available via virtual appliance.
Entry-level solutions include the Greenbone Security Manager (GSM) MAVEN and the GSM ONE, both with capacity for up to 300 IP addresses. For SMEs, the GSM CENO virtual appliance supports up to 500 IP addresses. For mid-sized companies, options include the GSM DECA virtual appliance, which manages up to two sensors and up to 1,500 IPs, the GSM TERA (up to six sensors and 3,000 IPs), the GSM PETA (up to 12 sensors and 9,000 IPs), and the GSM EXA (up to 24 sensors and 18,000 IPs).
The GSM MAVEN is provided with Base Support on a one-year subscription. All other appliances are available to customers on a one-year, three-year or five-year subscription basis. This includes Platinum Support as well as all updates and upgrades.
Customers can opt to deploy physical or virtual appliances, depending on which solution is best for their existing infrastructures and fields of operation. To help customers make the right decision, Greenbone has created a paper that compares the key features of both options. Because both solutions operate within the customer’s infrastructure, not on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) basis, data protection and data sovereignty remain assured.
Dirk Schrader, CISSP, CISM, ISO/IEC 27001 Practitioner at Greenbone, comments:
“There are a number of differences between physical appliances and virtual appliances that need to be considered to ensure secure operations. ENISA, European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, has presented a comprehensive analysis of these differences. It is crucial that all assets are integrated into a holistic security concept. Physical appliances can also be insecure if they are openly connected to the internet and use default passwords.”
Virtualisation has been an integral part of IT infrastructures for many years. It enables a more flexible and efficient use of resources but it also harbours risks. For a long time, the security aspects of virtualised environments have been neglected, leading to serious cyber attacks. In the past two years, there has been a growing awareness that virtualisation is not 100 percent secure and that complementary controls must be used. This understanding was the prerequisite for Greenbone to also offer its proven VM products as virtual appliances.
Written by Anthony Webb, EMEA Vice President at A10 Networks
Four out of five enterprises are now running containers, and 83% are running them in production. Given that only 67% were doing so in 2017, it’s clear that containers are more than a fad.
With containers’ newfound popularity, some companies are struggling to establish an efficient traffic flow and effectively implement security policies within Kubernetes, one of the most popular container-orchestration platforms.
As a container orchestrator and cluster manager, Kubernetes focuses on providing fantastic infrastructure, and has been adopted by countless companies as a result. Companies that use a microservices architecture (MSA) for developing applications, tend to find that Kubernetes offers a number of advantages when it comes time to deploy those applications.
For all those reasons, it’s essential that organisations understand the unique traffic flow and security requirements that Kubernetes entails.
What Is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is an open-source container-orchestration system. It’s a portable and extensible program for managing containerised workloads and services and provides a container-centric management environment.
Kubernetes has one master node and two worker nodes. The master node functions by telling the worker nodes what to do, and the worker nodes function to carry out the instructions provided to them. Additional Kubernetes worker nodes can be added to scale out the infrastructure.
Another primary function of Kubernetes is to package up information into what are known as “pods,” multiples of which can run inside the same node. This way, if an application consists of several containers, those containers can be grouped into one pod that starts and stops as one.
Challenges in Kubernetes Environment
Like all other container-orchestration systems, Kubernetes comes with its own set of obstacles.
The networking of Kubernetes is unconventional in that, despite the use of an overlay network, the internal and external networks are distinct from one another.
Plus, Kubernetes intentionally isolates malfunctioning or failing nodes or pods in order to keep them from bringing down the entire application. This can result in frequently changing IP addresses between nodes. Services that rely on knowing a pod or container’s IP address then have to figure out what the new IP addresses are.
When it comes to access control between microservices, it’s important for companies to realise that traffic flowing between Kubernetes nodes are also capable of flowing to an external physical box or VM. This can both eat up resources and weaken security.
Kubernetes and Cloud Security Requirements
There are many requirements of Kubernetes and cloud security:
Advanced Application Delivery Controller
Companies already use advanced Application Delivery Controller for other areas of their infrastructure, it’s necessary to deploy one for Kubernetes as well. This allows administrators to do more advanced load balancing than what’s available with Kubernetes by default.
Kubernetes is equipped with a network proxy called kube-proxy. It’s designed to provide simple usage and works by adjusting iptables rules in Layer Three. However, it’s very basic and is different than what most enterprises are used to.
Many people will place an ADC or load balancer above their cloud. This provides the ability to create a virtual IP that’s static and available to everyone and configure everything dynamically.
As pods and containers start up, the ADCs can be dynamically configured to provide access to the new application, while implementing network security policies and, enforcing business data rules. This is usually accomplished through the use of an “Ingress controller” that sees the new pods and containers start up, and either configures an ADC to provide access to the new application or informs another “Kubernetes controller” node about the change.
Keep the Load Balancer Configuration in Sync With the Infrastructure
Since everything can be constantly shifting within the Kubernetes cloud, there is no practical way for the box that’s sitting above it to keep track of everything. Unless, however, you have something like the purple box, generally referred to as an Ingress controller. When a container starts or stops, that creates an event within Kubernetes. The Ingress controller identifies that event and responds to it accordingly.
This takes a great burden off of administrators and is significantly more efficient than manual management.
Security for North-South Traffic
North-south and east-west are both general terms to describe the direction of traffic flow. In the case of north-south traffic, traffic is flowing in and out of the Kubernetes cloud.
As mentioned before, companies need traffic management above the Kubernetes cloud to watch and catch malicious traffic.
If there’s traffic that needs to go to specific places, this is the ideal place to do that. If enterprises can automate this kind of functionality with a unified solution, they can achieve simplified operations, better application performance, point-of-control, back-end changes without front-end disruption and automated security policies.
Central Controller for Large Deployments
Scaling out is something else that enterprises need to take into account, especially in terms of security.
The Ingress controller is still there, but this time it’s handling multiple Kubernetes nodes and is observing the entire Kubernetes cluster. Above the Ingress controller would be the A10 Networks Harmony Controller. Such a controller allows for efficient load distribution and can quickly send information to the appropriate location.
With a central controller like this, it’s imperative to choose one that can handle scaling in and scaling out with little to no additional configuration on existing solutions.
Access Control Between Microservices
East-west traffic flows between Kubernetes nodes. When traffic flows between Kubernetes nodes, this traffic can be sent over physical networks, virtual or overlay networks, or both. Keeping tabs on how traffic flows from one pod or container to another can become quite complex without some way of monitoring those east-west traffic flows.
Plus, it can also present a serious security risk: attackers who gain access to one container can gain access to the entire internal network.
Luckily, companies can implement something called a “service mesh” like the A10 Secure Service Mesh. This can secure east-west traffic by acting as a proxy between containers to implement security rules, and is also able to help with scaling, load balancing and service monitoring.
With this type of solution, companies like financial institutions can easily keep information where it should be without compromising security.
Encryption for East-West Traffic
Without proper encryption, unencrypted information can flow from one physical Kubernetes node to another. This presents a serious problem, especially for enterprises that handle particularly sensitive information.
When evaluating a cloud security product, it’s important for enterprises to select one that encrypts traffic when it leaves a node and unencrypts it when it enters.
Application Traffic Analytics
Lastly, it’s of vital importance that enterprises understand the details of traffic at the application layer.
With controllers in place to monitor both directions of traffic, there are already two ideal points to collect traffic information.
Doing so can aid in both application optimisation and security and allows for several different functions. Organised from the simplest to the most advanced, those functions can allow for:
Performance monitoring via descriptive analytics. Most vendors provide this.
Faster troubleshooting via diagnostic analytics. A smaller number of vendors provide this.
Insights via predictive analytics generated by machine learning systems. Even fewer vendors provide this.
Adaptive controls via prescriptive analytics generated by truly intuitive AI. Only the best and most advanced vendors provide this.
So, when companies are talking to vendors, it’s essential that they determine which of those benefits their products can offer.
Additional Considerations for Dev and Ops Simplicity
Companies should be looking for a simple architecture with a unified solution, central management and control for easy analytics and troubleshooting, common configuration formats, no change in application code or configuration to implement security and gather analytic information and automated application of security policies. If companies prioritise those items, enterprises can enjoy streamlined, automated and secure traffic flow within Kubernetes.
NTT DATA has announced the launch of its 10th international Open Innovation Contest. The global technology leader invites startup businesses around the globe to submit ideas for new technologies that can make the world a better place.
Worldwide, regional contests will be held in 15 cities across 13 countries, where 1-2 winner(s) in different business challenges will be chosen. This winner will earn a place at the grand finale in Tokyo, Japan in January 2020. In the UK, the regional competition will be held in London and Edinburgh in December, with applications open from today.
“NTT DATA’s Open Innovation Contest has actively helped dozens of startups to get the head-start they need to make new technologies and ideas a reality,” said Tom Winstanley, Head of Innovation, NTT DATA UK.
“The UK is home to some of the world’s best talent and through our contest we can help to bring their technological innovation to the global stage and identify the unique ideas that will make a real impact on our clients’ business’ and society at large.”
“The UK is in a highly competitive global market but with some of the best talent and technological innovation in the world, is ideally placed to thrive as an innovation hub. The contest allows us to create a win-win-win situation, providing added value for us, for our customers and for the startup entrants. With this mentality, we are ideally positioned to help our UK clients become more agile and succeed in their market,” added Winstanley.
NTT DATA is committed to using information technology to help contribute to a more affluent and harmonious society and this outlook underpins the mission of the company. Following the selection of winner(s) at each regional contest, NTT DATA experts will work with their respective winner(s) to develop where the startup company’s product or service would be used in NTT DATA’s client ecosystem. Regional winners will be invited to present their pitch to a panel of judges for the Tokyo grand finale in January 2020 to determine the ultimate grand champion of the global contest.
To develop innovative business together with NTT DATA, the ultimate grand champion contest winner will be funded up to $100,000 USD to develop a proof of concept (POC) with NTT DATA clients in addition to receiving support of a dedicated team of expert consultants, technologists and business experts who will work together with the startup. NTT DATA will also help make important mentoring and business connections for finalists and winners among their client base and professional networks.
“This contest is an important measure to realize the following three strategies for NTT DATA Group: the contest promotes innovation that helps tie back to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, expands global digital offerings for our company, helps unleash our employee’s potential that maximizes organizational strengths and, most importantly, delivers great value to our clients all over the world based on their regional needs,” said Yo Honma, CEO, NTT DATA.
Any startup company is welcome to submit a proposal for a collaborative business with NTT DATA group companies in the following fields: Healthcare and Life Sciences; Finance, Insurance & Payments; Automotive & Manufacturing as a Service; Telecom & IoT ; In-Store Front & Marketing Digitalization; Smart Automation; Data Distribution and Disruptive Social Innovation.
Last year’s global contest champion, India-based FlytBase ‘Pune’, is working with NTT DATA experts to field the world’s first Internet of Drones platform for easily deploying intelligent drones connected with cloud-based business applications.
In the UK, regional winner for the 9th contest hosted in London in 2019 was GeoSpock, a spatial big data startup that demonstrated a unique power to discover new insights in data, with huge potential to drive a hyper-connected future.
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