Free GDPR Guide

Everyone is experiencing a wave of subscriber/data permission emails as the GDPR deadline of 25 May approaches. The new regulation affects everybody who does business in Europe, large and small. For those of you who are still tackling the various challenges of the new regulation we recommend taking a few minutes to read our GDPR Guide, which is now freely available (no need to give us your personal details!) on our website. 

Get your Free EvoSwitch GDPR Guide today! 

Patrick van der Wilt, Commercial Director

The Deadline Approaches

On 25^th May the General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] – the EU’s new regulation covering protection of personal data – becomes law. The new legislation, generally acknowledged to be a major step forward for international personal data protection, is designed to ensure the secure free flow of data across Europe while protecting the personal data of EU citizens. It includes new responsibilities for data processors (as opposed to data controllers), the right to be forgotten, the right to data portability, and new directions on acquiring positive consent from people who share their data.

No Data Required

Failure to comply could be costly, with potential fines of up to €20 million or 4% of global annual turnover. To provide ‘no strings attached’ support to anyone still implementing the changes needed to meet the regulation we have posted a copy of our GDPR Guide on the EvoSwitch website – no registration required.

The guide draws from a wide range of sources to provide a 12-step overview of the process organisations should follow. Plus a comprehensive 20 point checklist for compliance. It only takes 15 minutes to read and is designed to be accessible to all managers. Not just those with a particular technical or legal specialism. It also includes a list of resources and links for background and follow-up.

White Paper Library

The free guide marks the opening up of a lot of the White Paper content of the EvoSwitch Knowledge Center. Over the coming months we will be publishing much of our growing White Paper library which covers many of the latest ICT and infrastructure challenges.

If you don’t mind registering a few details you can download any that interest you today:

• EvoSwitch 2020 Data Center Vision
• Reuse & Recycling of Servers: Next Steps Towards Sustainability
• Data Center Sustainability: The Next Dimension
• How to Build a Better Cloud Part 1: Planning
• How to Build a Better Cloud Part 2: Implementation
• AI: Centers of Data

 EvoSwitch Commercial Director Patrick van der Wilt has more than 14 years of commercial experience in the data center market, having worked with TelecityGroup and IO. The success of his sales and marketing strategies is dependent on profound market understanding and insights into the implications of the latest commercial trends. View full bio

Net Promoter Score

The metric we use for Customer Satisfaction is the Net Promoter Score (NPS). NPS, which is used by more than two thirds of Fortune 1000 companies, divides customers into three categories: promoters, passives, and detractors. Scores can be as low as −100 (everybody is a detractor) or as high as +100 (everybody is a promoter). The critical score is zero, above which the business has more promoters than detractors. An NPS that is positive (i.e. higher than zero) is felt to be good, and an NPS of over +50 is regarded as excellent. It makes me proud to say that EvoSwitch scored over +50 in in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 with an average of +64..

Data protection in Europe is set for a major step up in 2018 when the General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] becomes law. Non-compliance could lose you customers and cost your organization a lot in fines. So, make sure you’re fully prepared with our new GDPR Guide.

Eric Boonstra, CEO, EvoSwitch

Get Ready for GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] – the EU’s new regulation covering protection of personal data – becomes law in May next year. The new legislation tackles inconsistencies in the current data security landscape. It tries to ensure the secure free flow of data between member states while protecting the personal data of EU citizens. It includes new responsibilities for data processors (as opposed to data controllers), the right to be forgotten, the right to data portability, and new directions on acquiring positive consent from people who share their data.

Not everyone is ready. According to Gartner, more than 50 percent of companies affected by the GDPR will not be in full compliance with its requirements by the deadline.

This could be costly. Failure to meet the GDPR’s standards could lead to fines of up to €20 million or 4% of your global annual turnover.

Plan and Implementation

If you do not have a full plan yet you need to make one and start implementing it soon.

As experts in the physical hosting of data, we believe that data center operators should take a proactive role, offering support and advice wherever possible. So, to help you keep ahead of the competition we have put together a short GDPR Guide.

EvoSwitch GDPR Guide

The guide draws from a wide range of sources to provide a 12-step overview of the process organisations should follow. Plus a comprehensive 20 point checklist for compliance. It only takes 15 minutes to read and is designed to be accessible to all managers. Not just those with a particular technical or legal specialism. It also includes a list of resources and links for background and follow-up.

I hope you can find the time to download and read the guide. But also draw it to the attention of colleagues who will be affected by the new regulation. And if you or your colleagues have any questions about this paper or related issues, in particular where they affect your colocation policies and procedures, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Eric Boonstra

CEO, EvoSwitch

Download your Copy of the GDPR Guide Here

Eric Boonstra is the CEO of EvoSwitch. His focus on attracting international customers to EvoSwitch has been helped by his multi-sectoral experience, which includes senior management roles in Siemens, Staples and ABN AMRO View full bio. 

Eric Boonstra, CEO, EvoSwitch

 You’re moving more and more functions into the cloud, and you can see the benefits building up in terms of efficiencies and flexibility.  But to drive even greater innovation in the business – to digitally transform it – you need expert insights, tried and tested partners and new interconnected service providers and customers. If you want more from the cloud, come and see us at OpenCloud Live!

Backing up our OpenCloud commitment to provide customers with the best possible cloud interconnection choices and opportunities, we are delighted to announce that on November 30th, EvoSwitch is bringing its online marketplace to life for the day – offering you the opportunity to meet the OpenCloud community face to face and discuss and share insights, ambitions, and learn about the latest cloud service offerings and possibilities.

Insights into Transformation

Our line-up of expert speakers will share their experiences and insights onto the future of cloud-driven organisations.

• Jaco van Goudswaard pioneering CIO of Kadaster will explain how the Internet of Things – drones, sensors, secure blockchains, AI – will become increasingly crucial to the delivery of effective public services.
• Laurens Lapré of CGI will expand on the opportunities cloud-generated data presents for business transformation through the creation of new services that change consumer behaviour.
• Jan Paul Dekker, CTO of Interconnect Exchange NL-ix will explain how OpenCloud members can automate their cloud access to simplify engagement with new service providers anywhere in Europe while maximizing cost-effectiveness and performance.

There will also be time to get to know the fast-growing OpenCloud community. The majority of EvoSwitch customers are now on OpenCloud, so you will also have the chance to meet a wide range of fellow professionals facing similar challenges and discuss ways to overcome them through new architectures, access solutions, partnerships and services.

I hope you can make it. You can find out more about the event here and register here.

Eric Boonstra is the CEO of EvoSwitch. His focus on attracting international customers to EvoSwitch has been helped by his multi-sectoral experience, which includes senior management roles in Siemens, Staples and ABN AMRO View full bio. 

Recently, I was at a meeting of CFOs in London and the question of Cross Connect pricing arose, leading to some very lively discussion. This happens often at industry gatherings. Cross Connect pricing varies hugely and is surprisingly volatile, making it hard to forecast and creating uncertainty. I strongly believe that pricing should be both reasonable and stable, reflecting and promoting the mutual benefit that customers and datacentre providers gain from our growing and increasingly interconnected ecosystems.

Patrick van der Wilt, Commercial Director, EvoSwitch

Mixed Models
A few years ago Telegeography published top line results from a pricing survey comparing US to European pricing. The average cost of a cabinet with five cross-connects in the US was $2,860, compared to $2,120 in Europe. Cross Connect charges accounted for 50% of the cost of this configuration in the US, compared with just 17% in Europe. According to TeleGeography analyst Jon Hjembo “Operators surveyed charge between $251 and $322 for a fiber cross-connect in colocation facilities in the US, but only $33 to $59 per month in Europe. Colocation providers in the US see connectivity as a part of their revenue stream, while operators in Europe rely more heavily on space and power charges to generate revenues.”

That was in 2014. Now many European operators follow the American model. As a business with facilities on both sides of the Atlantic, EvoSwitch can see the arguments for both approaches. However, on balance, we favour lower prices and stability.

Vision of Value
EvoSwitch currently charges €22 per month for a Fiber Cross Connect. The reason for our approach is that high value interconnected Ecosystems are central to our vision for the business. These ecosystems are promoted by us, and benefit us, making our facilities more attractive, but they are ultimately created by our customers. We believe that to achieve our vision in the long-term customers should be encouraged to derive the maximum benefit from engagement with these ecosystems. A predictable Cross Connect strategy including quality of service, fixed delivery time and stable pricing is in the interests of both EvoSwitch and its customers.

Sustainability is at the heart of the EvoSwitch business model, both in environmental and commercial terms. We were first-movers in the use of renewables and our focus on energy efficient design and operation has benefited us and our customers over the past decade. Flourishing interconnection is also at the heart of this model of sustainability. With the shift of business processes into the cloud and the ubiquitous interconnection needed to support the Internet of Everything, accelerating interconnectedness will be the key to commercial growth. Our pricing model should encourage rather than undermine this process. Cross Connects should be an enabling utility for this digital transformation, letting customers start new relationships, create partnerships, enter new markets and buy, sell, use and test new services such as the huge and growing range of cloud services available on our neutral OpenCloud platform and marketplace.

Further Reading

• Telegeography survey 2014: https://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2014/07/15/colocation-cross-connect-prices-vary-greatly-between-us-europe/
• Further comment including Jon Hjembo quote: https://cyrusone.com/industry-insight/data-center-colocation-pricing-models-disparate-around-the-world/

EvoSwitch Commercial Director Patrick van der Wilt has more than 14 years of commercial experience in the data center market, having worked with TelecityGroup and IO. The success of his sales and marketing strategies is dependent on profound market understanding and insights into the implications of the latest commercial trends. View full bio

This week we are celebrating EvoSwitch’s 10^th birthday. It’s amazing to think how much has happened in that decade. So, as we prepare to party, I thought I would spend a moment looking back at some of the highlights of our journey.

Eric Boonstra, CEO

• 2007: EvoSwitch opened the first carbon and carrier-neutral tier 3+ data center in the Netherlands, powered by 100% green energy.
• 2008: major growth in Dutch and international customers, attracted by EvoSwitch’s location, service portfolio and  24/7 personal support.
• 2009: EvoSwitch gave in-kind sponsorship to the Wikimedia Foundation, becoming the European hub for Wikipedia.
• 2010: As customer demand grew, we announced plans for a major expansion, doubling the size of the AMS1 datacenter, with a new energy efficient architecture to ensure constant improvements in energy efficiency.
• 2012: We went transatlantic, opening a new colocation facility in Northern Virginia, in one of the world’s busiest interconnection hubs.
• 2013: We were given AMS-IX Gold Partner status this year. To qualify as an AMS-IX Gold Partner, companies have to introduce significant numbers of new members or 100GE (Gigabit Ethernet) of new port capacity. We have been AMS-IX Gold Partners every year since.
• 2015: In the autumn of 2015 we launched OpenCloud, our cloud-neutral platform and marketplace for service providers and enterprises. Nearly half of our customers have now signed up.
• 2016: AMS-IX traffic at EvoSwitch AMS1 broke the 500 Gigabits per second threshold, putting us in the top tier of interconnection hubs in the region. Much more importantly, I am very proud that our customer satisfaction levels, expressed as NPS (Net Promotor Scores), moved up to +75 this year after year-on-year growth.
• 2017: In June we were given the ‘Best Energy Solution’ award at Datacloud Europe in Monaco, an exciting public recognition that we’re on the right track with our sustainable design and engineering innovations. We also announced plans to build a new datacenter on the campus in Amsterdam. After a decade of growth we need more space to service our many customers for the years to come.

We offer next generation data centers, so we spend most of our time looking forward. But now and then it’s useful to look back, and we have come a long way together, from a single dataroom in Haarlem to a well-respected and fast-growing transatlantic business with more than 55 connectivity providers, and over 250 satisfied customers.

I would like to take this opportunity to give a big thank you to everyone who has made all this progress possible – our staff, our partners and, of course, our customers.

Thank you all for all your dedication, your ideas and your support. And there is much more to come, so here’s to the next decade!

Eric Boonstra is the CEO of EvoSwitch. His focus on attracting international customers to EvoSwitch has been helped by his multi-sectoral experience, which includes senior management roles in Siemens, Staples and ABN AMRO View full bio. 

A week ago you may have seen the announcement of our latest white paper – ‘How to Build a Better Cloud: Part One – Planning. Part Two, covering implementation will be published very soon. So now seems a good time to set out the main reasons why there has never been a better moment to start a digital transformation by moving to the hybrid cloud.

Patrick van der Wilt, Commercial Director EvoSwitch

There are many more reasons to take the cloud road, but here are what I regard as the top 10:

1. More flexibility: Cloud infrastructure scales up – and down. Your apps and data become accessible from any Internet-connected device. You can choose public, private, or hybrid storage offerings to suit

2. Tailored control: Set the level of control that suits you with as-a-service options, i.e. software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

3. Cutting-edge security: Virtual private cloud, encryption, and API keys help keep data secure with a growing array of plug-in security services. Also, network backups avoid loss of data through hardware failures

4. Major efficiencies: Putting DevOps in the cloud speeds time to market. You save hassle and cost on servers. And, of course, with pay as you go, you only pay for the resources you use.

5. Greater competitiveness: With the help of your Cloud service providers you can focus on the front end. You are guaranteed the latest tech and updates. And you can partner, create and shift workstreams and solutions faster.

6. The cloud train is leaving the station: In 2016 the cloud accounted for over 50% of IT spend (Gartner), and now, in 2017, over 50% of companies are operating in the cloud. According to McAfee, hybrid cloud adoption tripled last year, increasing from 19% to 57%.

7. Key concerns are being ironed out: Particular headway is being made in overcoming the key challenges of security and resourcing. According to Rightscale, concern about these two issues has dropped 4% and 7% respectively over the last year.

8. Less lock-in: Multi-cloud strategies are far more common, powered by easy-to-use vendor-agnostic platforms and marketplaces like our own OpenCloud 

9. Better quality: Price-to-performance is generally excellent, with many publicly available league tables. Interestingly, these throw up many more high-performing providers than just the big IaaS providers.

10. Stronger support: As well as improved standards and clearer SLAs, there is a lot more analysis, piles of best practice cases, and very well-populated and user-friendly cloud user communities who will help you build your business case.

Further Reading

Gartner cloud usage stats and forecast (release) http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3616417

McAfee Cloud Security Report on hybrid cloud surge

Rightscale 2017 State of the Cloud Report http://www.rightscale.com/blog/cloud-industry-insights/cloud-computing-trends-2017-state-cloud-survey

Some price to performance analysis: https://cloudspectator.com/

EvoSwitch How to Build a Better Cloud Part One – Planning: https://evoswitch.com/white_papers/build-a-better-cloud-part-1-planning/

EvoSwitch Commercial Director Patrick van der Wilt has more than 13 years of commercial experience in the data center market, having worked with TelecityGroup and IO. The success of his sales and marketing strategies is dependent on profound market understanding and insights into the implications of the latest commercial trends. View full bio

Last week, I was delighted to receive the Best Energy Solution Award on behalf of the EvoSwitch team at this year’s Datacloud Awards. And during the congress which followed I was also extremely impressed by the levels of energy, leadership and innovation in our industry.

Eric Boonstra, CEO, EvoSwitch

The beginning of this month saw the 10^th Datacloud Awards in Monaco, followed by the Datacloud 2017 congress. And, yes, I’m very pleased to say we did win one of the top awards on offer on the opening night, for our work on energy-efficient customer solutions and the promotion of sustainability in the industry.

This was something I found myself reflecting on as the congress got underway. The Datacloud event gives an excellent snapshot of the state of the European colocation industry, which according to organisers BroadGroup is set to grow to approximately €13.5bn in 2020, with a CAGR of around 11%.

The industry has come a long way in just a few years. Seeing 2000 delegates from around the world discussing everything from DevOps and Digital Transformation to opportunities in 5G, IoT and AI gave me a strong impression of a mature, well-funded, forward-looking sector, with an appetite for expansion and innovation. In particular, the easy collaboration between operators, networks, pure tech and cloud providers, helped to give the whole event a buzz of excitement.

As anyone who works with us will know, sustainability is very close to our hearts at EvoSwitch. The award recognised our two-pronged approach to the problem – on the one hand a close focus on giving customers more processor cycles per kWh on the data floor through modular design, monitoring and one-to-one consultancy, and on the other hand encouraging the extension of the role of the data center provider to facilitate end-to-end ICT sustainability, by encouraging new approaches in areas such as server lifecycle analysis, reuse and recycling.

It’s always satisfying to receive some recognition from the industry, and it makes getting dressed up feel worthwhile. But the range and impact of the other award winners was also impressive. As Gerd Simon, Chairman of the Judges, said, there were “entries of outstanding quality, reflecting the amount of change and innovation that is happening in the industry right now.”

This year’s keynote discussion, with a panel of senior figures from Microsoft, Uber and Google, was: ‘What’s wrong with the data centre industry?” In my view this is always a question worth asking. But the answer, judging by this year’s congress, is “Nothing that we can’t put right, if we all keep working together.”

Eric Boonstra is the CEO of EvoSwitch. His focus on attracting international customers to EvoSwitch has been helped by his multi-sectoral experience, which includes a degree in Law and senior management roles in Siemens, Staples and ABN AMRO View full bio 

We’ve refreshed our identity and created a new logo that expresses what we do in a simple and powerful way.  We hope you like it!

Eric Boonstra, CEO, EvoSwitch

Internally, we call it the ‘two worlds’ logo.  The logo takes the central ‘S’ of EvoSwitch and uses it to show how the world of the interconnected EvoSwitch data centre supports and enables everyday life in today’s digital world.

End-users take seamless data access for granted.  This is a good thing as it means we are doing our job right.  As all of us working in the industry know, their enjoyment of the latest apps whenever they need them and wherever they are takes a great deal of work behind the scenes.  Even the smallest online transaction relies on an intricate web of service providers, partnerships, software and servers, all designed and orchestrated at the data centre level.  The logo gives a glimpse of how success in ‘the real world’ rests on successful digital architecture, switching from one view to the other.

Yin and Yang

With its division of the circle into two halves, the logo is also a bit like the ancient Chinese Taoist ‘yin and yang’ symbol, representing the perfect balance of opposites which drives life’s dynamism and energy.  This is particularly relevant for our business today, as we promote new – and sometimes surprising – partnerships between members of our neutral OpenCloud platform, helping to create the dynamic new online solutions that will keep the data economy thriving and expanding.

Eric Boonstra is the Chief Executive Officer of EvoSwitch. His focus on attracting international customers to EvoSwitch has been helped by his multi-sectoral experience, which includes a degree in Law and senior management roles in Siemens, Staples and ABN AMRO View full bio 

In a cloud-powered world, the business with the most flexible and seamless access to multiple clouds will have the advantage. But in this highly competitive and fast-growing environment, interfaces and technologies will change fast, and over time vested interests and channel agreements will tend to limit choice. So choose carefully. A guaranteed cloud-neutral platform with a commitment to diverse cloud delivery mechanisms is a vital starting point.

Patrick van der Wilt, Commercial Director, EvoSwitch

Stacks of Services

Hybrid architectures use a stack of cloud services, not a single cloud. For instance, most businesses will probably need an IaaS vendor to manage infrastructure, a range of SaaS offerings for automating workflows, and a PaaS provider for, say, the development environment.  But what if some of these businesses are locked into a contract with a single cloud provider, or with a limited range of partner vendors?

Guaranteeing Neutrality

A genuinely open cloud platform should offer low cost, flexible interconnection to a marketplace of network and cloud service providers in which the platform operator has no vested interest. This is the service we offer as EvoSwitch OpenCloud.  But platforms should evolve with services, and as hybrid cloud becomes the norm for enterprises of all sizes, we will continue to develop and promote mixed access to the cloud, bringing the best the market has to offer under one roof and creating a win-win situation for service providers, developers and consumers.

The CIO’s Nightmare

This is the nightmare that infrastructure leaders fear: Being tied to a service with all the costs that implies, while the competition takes advantage of newer, better offerings. To avoid this scenario, a wait-and-see approach which ensures maximum room to manoeuvre should be used. Here are three things to bear in mind:

1. Avoid environments built on vested interests: these would include Network-owned data centers, where alternative network selection can be limited. Also System Integrator-owned facilities, which may have good network choice but limit the choice of cloud, hosting and infrastructure providers.

2. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: buy components rather than complete packages. While this may be more complex initially, the agility it gives your business is one of the most valuable benefits of the cloud, and there are a growing number of effective cloud orchestration services

3. Resist long-term tie-ins: insist on short -term contracts with your cloud and connectivity providers. New management interfaces and process-related services will change quickly, and you should be well-placed to move on them quickly.

Further Reading

• Find out more about OpenCloud, EvoSwitch’s cloud-neutral, partner-rich cloud interconnection platform. https://evoswitch.com/services/opencloud/
• October 2016 article on why cloud neutrality matters: https://rootleveltech.com/what-is-cloud-neutrality-and-why-does-it-matter-to-your-business/
• An EU thesis on anti-competitive threats cited in the above: ftp://ftp.repec.org/opt/ReDIF/RePEc/idt/journl/CS8501/CS85_RENDA.pdf
• ComputerWorld article on potential conflicts of interest in the clouds: http://www.computerworld.com/article/3083915/cloud-computing/in-search-of-a-neutral-top-tier-cloud-service.html

EvoSwitch Commercial Director Patrick van der Wilt has more than 13 years of commercial experience in the data center market, having worked with TelecityGroup and IO.  The success of his sales and marketing strategies is dependent on profound market understanding and insights into the implications of the latest commercial trends. View full bio