Intelligent Data Centres Issue 14 | Page 67

DEEP DIVE a busy week of work there’s nothing like spending quality time with my family. My son and I enjoy taking his foot-powered scooter to the local skate park; I probably look like a bit of a plonker when I take a turn on it, but I love it all the same. What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry? 5G is a major investment area for the data centre industry, as data centres have a key role to play in achieving the infrastructure robustness the new technology will necessitate. Six Degrees recently worked with a client that is building 5G networks, using multiple Edge/ aggregation data centres in each metropolitan region to aggregate the data from the 5G network in a resilient way. As 5G rolls out across the UK, I expect more organisations to invest in regional data centres in order to leverage its capabilities. www.intelligentdatacentres.com What are the region-specific challenges you encounter in your role? Operating in Birmingham offers us great transport links, high bandwidth connectivity and access to top talent when it comes to recruiting new staff. Honestly, I don’t believe there are any region-specific challenges we face – I feel very lucky to run data centre facilities in the West Midlands. What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months? At Six Degrees, we have merged our connectivity and colocation businesses within a unified network infrastructure practice. I think this makes a lot of sense – connectivity and colocation are intrinsically linked and expanding my role into connectivity has given me a great opportunity to consolidate and align our data centre facilities even more with the connectivity requirements the latest transformational technologies carry. Technologies I’ve spoken about like 5G, SD-WAN and Edge Computing are here to stay – I expect them to become common parlance over the next 12 months, so pursuing a unified approach across connectivity and colocation makes sense for Six Degrees and for the clients we support. ◊ MY SON AND I ENJOY TAKING HIS FOOT- POWERED SCOOTER TO THE LOCAL SKATE PARK; I PROBABLY LOOK LIKE A BIT OF A PLONKER WHEN I TAKE A TURN ON IT, BUT I LOVE IT ALL THE SAME. Issue 14 67