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Last night's AWS S3 data centre outage serves to underline the importance of having a plan in place to offset the effects of such events, emphasised Six Degrees Group Marketing Director Campbell Williams.

"Outages do happen," he stated. "Cloud platforms will go down, data centres will go offline and networks will break. But it's all about how you plan for these technology failures, and if your data only exists in one place, then there will always be a risk."

He urged organisations to back-up their data, and back-up their back-up. "Six Degrees builds AWS clouds with geographical resilience and multi-zoning, and offers hybrid and multi-cloud solutions to add vendor diversity," added Williams. "Companies that want to embrace cloud technology need to bring in the right expertise and do it properly."

Greater transparency in energy sustainable practice among data industry players will help improve collaboration to tackle rising carbon emissions seen in the industry.

In Greenpeace's 2017 green IT report, 'Clicking Clean: Who is winning the race to build a green internet?', many hyperscalers scored highly in the report for its adoption and initiatives on renewable energy, but other players in the industry were urged to improve advocacy and transparency, and to work more collaboratively.

Roel Castelein, Customer Services Director, The Green Grid, said: "The Greenpeace Report is a good indicator that while there are definite movements towards a more sustainable data centre industry, many organisations have sought individual goals, rather than working together to share best practice and find the best ways to a sustainable future.

"Google, Facebook and Apple are constantly pushing the barriers of green innovation, while also working closely with energy suppliers to help achieve sustainable company targets. Their ability to advocate such measures is beginning to influence the rest of the sector, yet more must be done.

"Netflix is one such hyperscaler that whilst having one of the largest data footprints out of all the companies profiled, it has been urged to increase the adoption of renewable energy and advocate for more use of renewables across the data centre industry.

"As the video streaming market continues to grow and produce unprecedented amounts of data, the need for Netflix or an equally large provider to set the standard and advocate green policies can set a precedent for others to follow."

The latest Greenpeace report analysed the big tech and data centre companies on its use of renewable energy, advocacy and transparency on energy sources and planning. Google, Facebook, Apple and colocation provider, Switch, received an A grade ranking for its ability to meet all these criteria and be powered through 100 per cent renewable energy.

Since 2012, the amount of electricity consumed by the IT sector has increased by six per cent (totalling 21%) in the past five years, making the need for a green data centre industry stronger than ever before. With an anticipated threefold increase in global internet traffic by 2020, the advocacy of renewable energy for data centres will be important in sustaining its growth.

"The growth in the amount of data demands that all data centre providers come together, rather than working in silos, and be clear in their use of renewable energy in creating a more sustainable industry," added Castelein.

"Whether it's meeting government sustainability objectives, using renewable energy as secondary sources, or pushing for stronger connections with energy suppliers, it can all contribute to enhanced efforts in tackling carbon emissions.

"The need for data centre providers and end users to collaborate to ensure our use of data is sustainable has never been greater. Organisations like The Green Grid are providing the space for this to happen and are developing a range of tools to make sure that our growing dependency on technology is sustainable."

A global study published by Aruba reveals that 85% of the businesses approached for the survey plan to implement IoT by 2019, driven by a need for innovation and business efficiency.

While the analysis confirms the clear business benefits from investments in IoT, Aruba's report cautions that connecting thousands of things to existing business networks has already resulted in security breaches for the majority of organisations.

The research questioned 3,100 IT and business decision makers across 20 countries to evaluate the current state of IoT and its impact across different industries.

The study shows that while virtually all business leaders (98%) have an understanding of IoT, many are unclear of the exact definition of IoT and what it means for their business.

Congrats to 4Com which scooped top place in the The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Chairman Daron Hutt collected the much coveted award for the mid-size company category from TV personality Ben Shephard who hosted the awards event.

4Com's expansion to more than 300 staff saw it compete in the medium-sized business category for the first time after featuring in the Best Small Companies List for the previous four years, achieving 12th place in 2015.

Hutt said: "Being named as the Number 1 Best Company to Work For by the Sunday Times is a massive step forward for us and, arguably, it's even harder this year as we were up against bigger companies in a new category.

"It is testament to the commitment and positivity of our staff that we have been able to achieve this ranking as an independent mid-sized business.

"Everybody at 4Com works incredibly hard to continually improve the working environment and to build a place where people genuinely want to work. So it's particularly gratifying to see this result as it is based entirely on what our team think."

Jonathan Austin, CEO and founder of Best Companies, added: "Organisations like 4Com that have demonstrated an ability to create an engaged workforce and recognise the importance of caring about their employees puts them in the best position to retain and attract the talent they need."

Power protection and connectivity product maker Tripp Lite has secured a distie relationship with Ingram Micro in the UK and Ireland.

The distributor joins Exertis, Micro-P and other component specialists in the vendor's two-tier model in the UK, and two others in Ireland.

Richard Tricklebank, Business Manager for Advanced Solutions at Ingram Micro UK&I, said: "Tripp Lite's complete product portfolio, which includes UPS systems, PDUs, racks, cooling, KVMs, cables, connectivity solutions and more, will now be available to Ingram Micro customers."

Peter Airs, Country Manager, Tripp Lite UK, added: "We have seen growth of the Tripp Lite brand in the UK over the past couple of years, and we see great potential for further growt."

CMS Distribution's international reach has extended to Spain with a new office opening in the capital Madrid.

The move follows the addition of Netherlands and Sweden to its multi-country proposition.

CMS Distribution said the Spanish market is a strategically attractive due to its size, quick-to-market time frame and its fast technology adoption cycle.

"If you are a US or far east vendor wanting to enter the European markets you have two choices - you either go with several distributors in each country or you opt for one master distributor and you rely on it to push out, coordinate, and work with the sub-distribution partners," stated David Elder, European Managing Director at CMS Distribution.

"Our strategic objective is to have a presence in all significant European markets and offer our partners the flexibility, attention and experience they need to become successful. Culturally and economically speaking, Spain is considered a key location for penetrating the European market."

CMS Distribution says it will continue its expansion within the European markets in order to achieve master-distributorship status for as many desirable new tech products and companies as possible, offering the opportunity to take a long-term strategic view to bringing products to market.

Technology services distributor Intelisys Global has signed UK-based network connectivity specialist Blue Planet Networks, which will join its Supplier Partner family.

Under the terms of a deal Blue Planet will offer its next generation Internet and SD-WAN technologies through Intelisys' network of sales agents in Europe.

Blue Planet had been selling previously its networking solutions directly to UK customers through its own reseller channel.

According to Blue Planet's CEO, John Hammond, the partnership with Intelisys means the firm will benefit from an accelerated sales cycle and the deal will help drive its growth plans across the EMEA region.

"Intelisys sales partners also gain faster access to our Internet and SD-WAN technologies, allowing them to build out new sales opportunities - so it's a win-win situation right across the channe," he said.

"We are also seeing how Intelisys Global's Technology Services Distribution model helps us to move remarkably quickly, as sales partners have already largely determined their client needs when they first get in touch and that results in a better outcome for everyone involved," Hammond says.

Intelisys Global UK MD Stephen Hackett added: "We've already had a lot of interest in Blue Planet's solutions through the sales partner network - not only in the UK but across Europe."

Distributor Exclusive Group has posted record financial results, reporting strong growth in each of its business divisions and global territories.

Despite currency volatility and economic and political uncertainties throughout European, Middle East and Asian markets, Exclusive Group's total 2016 revenues of €1.27bn represent 'balanced, organic like-for-like' annual growth of 22%, said the firm.

Exclusive Networks' cyber security and infrastructure operations says that half of the Group's top 10 vendors are showing annual growth of over 50%.

BigTec, the data centre transformation arm, now contributes over €100m to annual Group revenues with its portfolio of chiefly 'born in the cloud' webscale vendors.

BigTec's largest vendor, the recently IPO'd Nutanix, is now among the top five largest in the Group.

Including the full impact of its January 2016 acquisition of pan-Asian cyber security distributor, Transition Systems, year-on-year growth for Exclusive Group is over 51%.

The 2016 results do not reflect last month's acquisition of Benelux-based VAD, TechAccess.

"To succeed in the face of extraordinary global challenges is testament to our VAST vision, delivering service-defined value through a good balance of geographies and continued expansion into new markets, both organically and through strategic acquisitions," said Olivier Breittmayer (pictured), CEO at Exclusive Group.

"Our business divisions are consistently outperforming the market and complementing one another to provide compelling differentiators for our vendor, service provider, SI and specialist reseller partners."

The Government says it is determined to help SMEs in the ICT sector ‘grasp the nettle' and start selling products and services to the public sector. Speaking at the ‘Go Public Sector' event in London yesterday, Small Business Crown Representative Emma Jones (pictured) said: "I have a simple message. The Government is open for business and it is a good client for SMEs."

Jones was joined by senior representatives from the Cabinet Office SME Panel, the Crown Commercial Service, BT's Procurement division and specialist public sector trade organisation Innopsis in urging small comms and IT providers to take advantage of the Government's commitment, initially pledged in the Conservative's election manifesto and rubber stamped by Cabinet Office Minister Ben Gummer, to spend £1 of every £3 through SMEs by 2020.

"Selling to the Government is good for credibility and good for cash flow," emphasised Jones. "The Government pays 80% of undisputed invoices within five days and then rest are paid within 30 days," she stressed.

Jones also confirmed that simplification of the procurement process was high on the Cabinet's change agenda and a range of improvements are being trialled.

"Soon I hope somebody will say to me that selling to Government was a delightful experience," she said.

As a starting point, SME comms and IT providers were urged to search online for tender information - for example, Sell to Wales, Contracts Finder and TED (Tenders European Daily), and explore the G-Cloud Digital Market website. For more advice contact mike.thomas@innopsis.org

Leeds-based Diva Telecom is targeting businesses of all sizes with the launch Diva Cloud, a hosted telephony solution based on Ericsson-LG technology.

MD Erica Lewis commented: "Hosted telephony isn't a new concept but to-date it has been restrictive. As a company we'd rather wait until technological innovations reach full vitality. With the backing of Ericsson-LG's technology, Diva Cloud is ready to be put through its paces."

According to Diva over four in five UK organisations have adopted at least one cloud service.

The news follows Diva's launch of Gigabit City Leeds, an ultrafast business broadband service that went live in 2016.