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HPE Synergy is the world’s first truly Composable Infrastructure and today’s new hybrid IT engine. Synergy enables you to maintain the structure and security of traditional IT, whilst still having flexibility and speed for new applications.

1. Cloud-like speed Composable Infrastructure enables DevOps teams to spin up new services in minutes to get new experiences into customers’ hands faster, delivering cloud-like speed from your own secure datacentre.	2. Single platform Run traditional applications and cloud-native apps from a single platform that supports everything from bare-metal deployment to virtual machines and containers. This allows IT to align behind a single platform to reduce datacentre complexity and cost.
3. Software-defined Intelligent software recognises and automatically integrates compute, storage, and fabric into resource pools that can be aggregated and disaggregated to meet the needs of any application. Template-driven provisioning helps ensure policy compliance and reduces risk exposure.	4. Operational efficiency Remove the need to stand up separate siloed environments for different applications. Automated provisioning via templates and a unified API enables application infrastructure provisioning in minutes instead of days, bringing cloud-giant efficiency to your datacentre.
5. Continuous development Developers can request exactly the amount of compute, storage, and networking fabric their applications need, directly from code. The unified API aggregates physical resources just like virtual and public-cloud resources, giving developers true infrastructure-as-code capabilities.	6. Fluid IT Accelerate application development by giving DevOps teams more control over their environments. Fluid resource pools allow developers to execute non-disruptive changes and to continuously refine applications to meet customer needs as they arise.
7. IT economics Template-driven provisioning and non-disruptive updates mean IT spends less time maintaining infrastructure, reducing labour costs. Fluid pools of resources that can be aggregated on demand increase utilisation and reduce over-provisioning and stranded capacity.	8. Competitive advantages Bridging the performance and control of dedicated infrastructure with the flexibility of the cloud allows lines-of-business to accelerate delivery of new customer experiences and revenue opportunities to stay ahead of the competition.
9. Future-proofed datacentre Be ready for whatever the future might bring with a scalable and extendable infrastructure and robust partner ecosystem that provides a firm foundation for today’s hybrid IT and the capacity and flexibility to take future innovations in stride.	10. Seamless evolution Starting with as little as a half-rack of gear, Composable Infrastructure can be deployed easily and incrementally, side-by-side with your existing infrastructure. Deploy it as part of your standard refresh cycle to grow your capabilities at a pace that makes sense for your business.

If you would like to learn more about any of the technologies mentioned or discuss other ideas for revolutionising your infrastructure, our team are on hand to help. Contact us at info@xma.co.uk or call 0115 846 4000. Alternatively, you can complete our contact form below.

In its 25th year, many will have been anxiously awaiting this years’ shortlist for the CRN Channel Awards 2018. The awards are the perfect opportunity to share acheivements and recognise those who have made outstanding contributions to the channel.  XMA are proud to announce our shortlisting at this years awards.

As the current reigning winners of the CRN Public Sector VAR award in 2017, we have continued to deliver value to our public sector customers. As a result, XMA have been named one of the finalists in the running to be named this years winners. Further to this, XMA have also been shortlisted under the ‘Reseller of the Year (£51m+)’ category, a prestigious title for any reseller in the channel.

Ian Cunningham, Director of Sales & Marketing at XMA had this to say on the news of our shortlistings:

“As competition for the CRN Reseller of the Year and Public Sector VAR of the Year awards is so incredibly high, I am delighted XMA have been shortlisted for both awards for the second year in a row. Last year I was incredibly proud to accept the CRN Award for Public Sector VAR of the year on behalf of XMA, particularly in front of an audience of industry peers.”

“XMA is powered by our people and it is them who make these awards possible through their hard work and focus on our customers.  They live our values and make a difference.”

The awards ceremony will take place on the 15th November, where we look forward to celebrating success with other industry peers from across the channel.

There are two rules when it comes to modernising your datacentre but what it boils down to is focusing on a good outcome.

Rule #1: Keep it simple

When technology needs an update, some organisations choose to modernise over time, following the same problem-by-problem approach they used to build the original data centre. This piecemeal approach is complex and can be agonisingly slow. What’s worse, all that time and effort won’t necessarily lead to a better end product or even lower costs.

Instead of focusing on daily problems that arise, hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) lets you focus on the outcome: a simpler data centre that’s cost-effective and easy to manage. HCI takes a building block approach to architecture, consolidating compute, storage, network switching, replication, and backup in a single integrated system. The consolidation of these IT functions onto virtualized hardware can greatly simplify environments that have been divided by siloed point solutions.

VM-centric HCI systems are also simple for IT administrators to manage, and require much less data centre space than traditional IT devices.

Rule #2: Don’t overspend

Hyperconvergence requires some upfront investment, but it can deliver a huge return on that investment. In this study based on research with real world customers, Forrester Consulting found that HCI reduces TCO by 69% on average compared to traditional IT. Converging the entire IT stack – firmware, hypervisor, and data virtualisation software – has additional advantages, according to that same study. Data centre footprint can be reduced 10:1, backups and disaster recovery become simple and straightforward, and upgrades are managed for the whole stack. The most efficient solutions also free up significant staff time, boosting the economic benefits even further. IDC reports an 81% increase in time available to focus on new projects as a direct result of hyperconverged deployment.

Our data centre solutions guarantee high availability, reliability and security for your infrastructure

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With GCSE results out today and expected to have been the toughest yet with the new grading system, it got us thinking. How essential is technology to the way our students learn? 

When I think back to my school days, which actually weren’t too long ago (no, really!), the overhead projector was the latest mod-con to hit the assembly hall and the chalkboard was still the smartest way to share real-time lesson content.

Well, technology has come a long way since those days, yet we still managed back then. Students were still learning, achieving and prospering from their education. So if we were able to nurture success before the technology boom, why is it so important in today’s classroom?

Here are 4 reasons why we believe technology now plays a critical role in learning:

1. Students demand it

Teens spend nearly 9 hours every day consuming media and have grown up immersed in technology, so keeping up with this demand is essential. The innovative adoption of technology can also play a key role in the recruitment of the next student body but IT departments should ensure that core infrastructures and applications have the flexibility to support these changes.

2. Learn at their own pace

Traditional learning could often be fast paced, risking a drop off of concentration and understanding. With the integration of technology in the classroom and learning concepts such as flipped learning, students can learn at their own speed, pause, and recap whenever they need, meaning that the more advanced student can go ahead, freeing up the teacher to provide support 1:1 to those who need it.

3. Enhance Engagement

Feedback from our customers over the years suggests that students learn best being more interactive. This is particularly apparent in STEAM subjects where content is often more complex. Technologies such as 3D print and robotics are leading the way in STEAM by breaking down the learning barriers and offering more practical methods of learning, whilst future-proofing students as they enter the workplace.

4. Enable Collaboration

Technology permits a connected world and in this case, a connected learning environment. With intelligent applications such as Office 365 and G Suite, students and teachers can communicate, collaborate, chat and use the familiar productivity applications in a secure environment.

As experts in education technology, we are close to the market and its trends. Here are a few technologies that are already making a real impact in the classroom:

Chromebooks

Chromebooks are taking over the classroom and the reasons are simple. They are cost effective and affordable, feature an all-day battery life and instant on functionality; and with Chromecast, students and teachers can instantly share their screen.

If you are interested in Chromebook, you should check out our latest offer! You can get a HP Chromebook for as little as £65.00!

3D print

For reasons we’ve previously discussed, 3D printing can play a valuable part in STEAM subjects, transforming the classroom into an interactive learning environment.

iPad

iPad is the ideal computing companion both inside and outside of the classroom. Its portable format, instant load up time and touch screen makes life easy for teachers and students alike. Perfect for internet research, making videos and music, taking lesson notes and sharing and managing content.  What’s more, iPad is now much more cost effective and has full integration with cloud platforms such as Google and Microsoft.

So it’s clear, we have come a long way since school days were guided by a text book and piece of chalk. The dawn of the internet revolutionised the way we gained information and technology evolved around us – so much so, that teens today are technology native and would probably rather swap their right kidney than sacrifice their mobile phone.

That said, technology has enabled personalised, engaging and even mobile learning. Its enhanced collaboration and takes traditional subjects such as science, engineering and technology to the next level. Without it, the classroom struggles to thrive which is why building a technology environment that supports these trends is essential.

Is your tech up to the task?

Not sure how to enable cloud managed mobility, whether your network can support the load or how flipped learning can really make a difference? Our specialists have the answers and can help determine whether your existing IT is up to the job.

Ben Brown
Head of Schools

Simplifying All-flash with HPE Nimble

The path to an all-flash data centre and cloud may be complicated, but it doesn’t have to be disruptive. Like many other organisations, you may be planning to move to all flash as your primary storage technology because of the many advantages over traditional storage.

But there are many obstacles related to application performance, availability, manageability, scalability, investment protection, and disaster recovery that need to be considered first. With a few simple recommendations, your organisation can avoid the most common missteps and make the transition painless.

Download this FREE check list and find out how to overcome the obstacles related to the all flash data centre.

Everyone seems to be looking for ways to be more “green” these days ­– hybrid cars, reusable grocery bags, etc. And those in IT are no exception. Traditional IT environments consume an incredible amount of energy resources, such as power and cooling. The key for organisations focused on moving towards a greener data centre is to emphasise efficiency in energy consumption and efficiency in IT processes and systems. In other words, green IT needs to align to efficient IT.

The road to a greener data centre is paved both by small, incremental changes as well as monumental technology shifts. Advancements in software often naturally lead to more energy efficient data centres. For example, hard drives are now built to consume less power than in the past, new server features help reduce superfluous cooling costs, and data optimization techniques, such as inline and at inception deduplication and compression, lead to efficiencies in processing, storage, and backup.

Hyperconvergence represents a major technology development capable of transforming the data centre into a lean, green, efficiency machine. By converging all IT below the hypervisor, hyperconverged infrastructure immediately makes the data centre more efficient and environmentally sound. The data centre goes from as many as 12 disparate IT components to a single solution, so there is no longer a need to utilise storage space, power resources, or cooling functions on these IT components.

In fact, an IDC whitepaper found 75% of respondents realised an average of a 65% improvement in utilisation of storage resources as a result of hyperconverged infrastructure. In addition, nearly half of surveyed customers realised a 47% reduction in cost of data centre power and cooling expenses.

Though revolutionary, hyperconverged infrastructure is not a rip-and-replace technology as it can be introduced into existing environments as part of normal refresh cycles. For example, a hyperconverged solution can first be deployed in place of traditional data storage as a first step to modernising a data centre, and can later replace additional IT components over time as needs arise. This approach offers an opportunity to simplify the existing infrastructure and the complicated process of updating that infrastructure. Once standardised on a hyperconverged solution like HPE SimpliVity powered by Intel®, IT teams would only have a single product to refresh instead of a variety of separate IT components – which helps explain why 26% of customers in that same IDC study cited the need for fewer tech refresh cycles.

Hyperconvergence has always been focused on simplifying and consolidating the data centre. It’s no surprise that organisations looking to reduce their environmental footprint have discovered significant “green” opportunity in hyperconvergence. The benefits in space utilisation and operational efficiency make it more than worthwhile to implement a hyperconverged solution and transform your data centre into a lean, green efficiency machine.

When access to your data lags, your business lags. Understand how to apply machine learning in your data center to predict and prevent the problems that cause downtime.

This research by Nimble Storage, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, outlines the top five causes of application delays. The report analyses more than 12,000 anonymised cases of downtime and slow performance. Read this report and find out:

• Top 5 causes of downtime and poor performance across the infrastructure stack
• How machine learning and predictive analytics can prevent issues
• Steps you can take to boost performance and availability

Download the free report by completing the fields below

Beating customer SLA’s

HPE InfoSight took infrastructure management out of the equation for Rent-a-Center, and freed up staff time to execute instead of managing storage. Hear from their Director of Technical Operations on how they transformed.

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Explore how an integrated network, built around 802.11ac, can provide SMBs with a higher-performing, secure network for today’s business environment, and how simple – and profitable – setting up such a network really is.

Download your FREE eBook by Aruba by completing the form below.

A smart strategy and the right investments can help organisations to stay ahead of cybersecurity threats

With health care experiencing accelerated adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT), demand is skyrocketing for connected medical, operational and personal “things.” Not coincidentally, attacks on health care organisations are also rising, with numerous high-profile breaches having been reported this past year.

Although many IoT devices offer extraordinary benefits for improving patient outcomes, staff effectiveness and operational cost savings, they also bring with them new security risks. Instead of just targeting employees with sophisticated email phishing schemes, hackers now can exploit vulnerabilities in any type of connected device, right down to your light bulbs.

That’s why the latest cybersecurity best practices call for a multilayered IoT security strategy to mitigate threats and reduce risks. These seven steps can help organisations to develop a comprehensive cybersecurity game plan while ensuring that they won’t become the next headline.

Step 1. Know what’s on your network

Understand how to secure the network that supports IoT infrastructure begins with knowing what’s running on it. Assuming it’s a great network, people will want to connect devices to it. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Further, it’s no longer just information technology (IT) staff who are connecting devices via wired ports or wireless systems. Practically every hospital staff member is skilled enough to connect a device. In other words, no matter how hard an IT team tries to establish guidelines and procedures, someone will always connect something unexpected.

This makes modern network access control (NAC) solutions the first line of defense, the best of which offer granular centralised, role-based management and network segmentation. Such solutions enable policies to be set regarding which devices or things can, and cannot, access a network, as well as what data or applications they can access and who has the ability to manage or maintain these devices.

Such solutions monitor connections 24/7 and automatically quarantine anything that doesn’t fit. Simultaneously, an alert about a quarantined device goes to the individual assigned.

Quickly alerting IT is a vital capability, as it ensures that a human can swiftly permit the right people to gain access in support of the primary mission: meeting patient needs. For example, an IT team can determine whether a quarantine alert is simply a biomedical technician attempting to connect a new patient device or a suspicious activity that merits further investigation.

Step 2. Know the role of each user, device and thing

Controlling IoT access to a network requires controlling both the devices and the humans who connect them. To determine what type of access to give a person or an IoT device, it’s not as important to know what each one is as it is to understand what they do. In other words, it requires understanding the business aspect of why a person or device is seeking network access.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it needs to be emphasized because a significant number of health care IT and facilities professionals are hired from outside the field. It’s important for organisations that fall under this category to work with their business counterparts to understand the role each connected user or device plays.

For example, IoT-enabled, smart hand-washing stations track clinician compliance with organizational hygiene policies. The data these stations collect is critical to tracing and mitigating infection sources before they become a hazard to patients or put an organization at risk.

On the staff safety side, an increasing number of building security systems include a smartphone-enabled duress app. This empowers clinicians to request assistance with a single touch.

Clearly, each of these IoT connection types requires the right role to ensure smooth, seamless and always-on network access.

Step 3. Infuse real-time intelligence to detect subtle changes

Security experts agree. No matter how well wired and wireless network are secured, threats eventually will find their way in. In fact, recent reports show that more than two-thirds of breaches actually involve internal actors rather than external forces.

That’s why the most advanced defenses now include sophisticated analytics and artificial intelligence (AI)-based machine learning. Such solutions spot changes in user or device behavior that often indicates that an invader has evaded perimeter defenses, whether originating from inside or out.

So, if a smart hand-washing station tries to masquerade as a duress app, an AI-infused access control solution can detect this behavior faster than humanly possible and immediately deny network access while notifying both the appropriate IT staffer and facilities manager.

An even more advanced solution provides clear, understandable feedback to anyone attempting to use the compromised statio, such as sending a text message to a station’s potential user to redirect the person to an operational unit.

Step 4. Insist that your vendors improve device security

Historically, medical and facilities device vendors have focused on engineering their products to address health care and building needs with less, or no, regard for the security implications. Consequently, most are still well below IT networking standards, such as supporting the ability to utilize and store encryption keys on the device.

This is where you, the IoT-enabled device purchaser, comes in. By insisting that vendors place networking best-practice security protocols on their development road maps prior to making the investment, it will challenge them to improve their solutions to earn more business.

In some cases, health care organisations may even be able to share with prospective vendors why they’ve selected a competing product.

The sooner users start insisting that IoT device manufacturers comply with security expectations, the faster we’ll see solutions to match.

Step 5. Change default credentials and passwords

Despite the fact that most high-profile IoT-related breaches to date have resulted from failing to change default credentials, it’s surprising how often we still encounter organisations that permit devices to connect via manufacturer-supplied user names and passwords.

Although many vendors now embed options that are more unique than classic “admin” and “password” defaults, know that all factory settings are documented — to enable users to receive help remediating a device — and, therefore, are easily found on the internet.

However, this doesn’t require creating a unique user name and password for every single infusion pump or door lock. Instead, assign need role-based credentials that follow today’s recommendations for character combinations and length. This allows one set of credentials for all infusion pumps or other medical device types.

Additionally, only employees with the correct role, based on their login credentials and the device’s role, should be permitted to access device settings, all of which are then monitored by the sophisticated access control solutions already addressed.

Step 6. Remember, cybersecurity is really about people

No matter what technologies are adopted for securing IoT, people remain the most important priority. All of the sophisticated systems in the world won’t protect a network if someone places the credentials for a device on the unit itself or hangs a list of passwords on the wall in his or her office.

Most of the time, inadequate practices result from insufficient understanding. This makes training on IoT device security policies critical, as well as requiring regular review or recertification, for all staff members across all departments. Strict enforcement of security protocols is also key.

When training, one of the most important tips to give employees is to create prompts for passwords based on something they know, but others will not, and record only the prompt where it’s accessible. For example, the prompt “fishing trip” could relate to the password “B$gH0rnMTo9^2o^16.”

Once employees have created their lists of prompts and associated passwords, make sure they lock lists containing passwords in a drawer and never, ever, discuss them — either at or outside of work. Of course, they can keep their prompt lists handy for efficiency.

Step 7: Reassess and revise

Regardless of how thorough an IT department is at creating a comprehensive IoT security strategy, it should never be considered “complete.” Instead, the most secure organisations are those that continue to evolve their practices as new tools and recommendations emerge.

This doesn’t mean becoming a cybersecurity guru. Instead, savvy professionals leverage trusted resources to learn about the latest best practices and options. Simultaneously, they regularly scan their organisations for ways to improve.

Source: Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

Are you looking to go greener with your IT efforts?

Whilst universities have been at the forefront of understanding the challenges of sustainability, Higher Education remains one of the UK’s largest non-commercial consumers of energy, therefore concerns about sustainability need to be addressed.

An increasing number of universities are focusing on carbon emissions and footprint and putting this as a main priority, with targets to reduce emissions set by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

The HEFCE is committed to reducing carbon emission levels by 43% (against a 2005 baseline) by 2020 and requires all the higher education institutions (HEIs) it funds, to have a carbon management plan that contains carbon reduction targets, meaning it’s paramount to monitor performance to create a sustainable campus.

To help the sector reduce their carbon emissions, HEFCE are providing:

• Recoverable grants through the Revolving Green Fund (RGF) for projects that reduce institutions’ emissions
• Good practice guidance on producing carbon reduction strategies, targets and associated carbon management plans
• A report to estimate carbon dioxide emission baselines for each HEI that they fund.

However, many institutions have also adopted the SMART strategy when setting targets:

1. Specific – each target should address one issue
2. Measurable – targets should be expressed as a quantity
3. Achievable – targets should be reasonable for everyone involved
4. Realistic – targets should be challenging but practical, they can be reviewed once accomplished
5. Time-bound – target must have a deadline

Although, there are no financial penalties for failing to meet the 2020 targets, institutions are required to publicly report their progress towards carbon reduction targets – which is hoped will encourage them. It’s also predicted that a university’s record on sustainability will become increasingly important for students deciding where to study.

What is conclusive, is that sustainability must become deeply embedded in an institution’s policies and practices, the easiest way to make a difference and become more sustainable is through innovative and pioneering new technologies.

XMA sit on a number of frameworks that can help you meet your needs. Our team of tech specialists can find opportunities for you to save time and money in your efforts to provide cleaner, greener technology in your institution.