DCN September 2016 | Page 4
welcome
data centre news
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4
W
elcome to the September
issue of Data Centre News.
A recent survey has
revealed that IT specialists
are the least likely to use all
their annual leave among all professionals. This
doesn’t hugely surprise me. For as long as I’ve
been working, the IT guy/girl has been the go-to
person to solve any issues with technology within
the workplace, from the printer jamming to an
email not sending. The time old ‘have you tried
turning it off and on again?’ is now a well worn
cliché, and the image of the IT team being a
timid, small group of anti-social geeks, like in the
popular Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd, is an
outdated stereotype. IT specialists are dedicated
professionals, and most modern companies
depend on them to ensure their business runs
smoothly. For larger companies this isn’t too
much of a problem, as they are likely to be well
covered staff wise. For smaller firms, though,
the news that their IT expert is going away for a
week can send panic through the office – what
happens if the Wi-Fi goes down?!
A friend of mine joined a well known high
street confectioner in his early 20s, initially
working in the call centre. After a few months his
boss had noticed how adept he was at solving
small computer problems and he was quickly
reassigned as an IT manager. He is still there
now in a senior IT role, and with the company’s
growth in the past decade the IT department is
well covered for sickness and holidays. In his
earlier days, however, he was often ‘on call’
at the weekends to address any IT issues in
the office – and with this kind of pressure on
individuals it is perhaps unsurprising to discover
that many IT professionals do struggle to use all
of their annual leave if they feel their absence
could cause problems at work.
Our special feature this month is Colocation
and Outsourcing, beginning on page 16 with
an article from Cogeco Peer 1 looking at the
benefits of storing data in an edge data centre.
Our Meet Me Room guest on page 13 is Jim
Hart of Business Critical Solutions, and Nic Scott
of Code 42 delivers the Final Thought on page 44.
Thank you for reading and if you have any
opinions on any of the topics discussed please
write to [email protected]
Russell Drury
Editor