Placing Your Bets on Where the MAGA Heart Beats Strongest

Welcome to the most colorful carnival in the political world, where the popcorn is buttery, the lights are bright, and everyone is wearing the same iconic shade of crimson headwear. We are taking a deep dive into the ultimate love story of the decade—not the kind you see in cheesy rom-coms, but the high-stakes, high-energy courtship between a movement and its undisputed leading man. It is a tale of devotion that defies the usual rules of political gravity, and today, we are breaking down where that affection truly lies and why the sparks continue to fly.

Imagine, if you will, a giant scoreboard in the middle of a town square. While most political figures are lucky to get a polite golf clap from their audience, the MAGA phenomenon operates on a completely different frequency. It is like a permanent homecoming rally where the star quarterback never graduated. The odds of this romance fizzling out have been predicted time and time again by the experts, yet the flame seems to roar higher every time someone tries to douse it with a bucket of cold water. It is a fascinating study in loyalty, showing us that when it comes to this specific corner of the electorate, the heart wants what it wants.

So, who are these devoted suitors, and what makes them swoon? If we look at the digital love letters known as opinion polls, we see a fascinating tapestry of supporters. It is not just one single group; it is a sprawling family reunion of folks who feel like they have finally found someone who speaks their language. From the rolling hills of the countryside to the bustling suburbs, the attraction is rooted in a feeling of being seen and heard. For many, this is not just a political choice; it is a lifestyle brand, a social club, and a shared identity all rolled into one shiny package.

The courtship rituals are truly a sight to behold. While traditional politicians might woo voters with dry white papers and complicated five-point plans, this relationship thrives on spectacle and shared grievances. It is about the thrill of the rally, the camaraderie of the tailgate party, and the feeling of being part of an exclusive club that is shaking up the status quo. The odds suggest that this bond is forged in the heat of battle; every time a new challenge arises, the supporters don’t run for the exits—they move closer to the stage, cheering even louder than before.

Now, let’s talk about the rivals in this grand romantic drama. In any good story, there are always those who try to come between the main couple. We have seen a parade of other suitors stepping onto the stage, trying to offer a different kind of charm or a more "traditional" approach to governance. They show up with their fancy resumes and their polished speeches, hoping to catch the eye of the MAGA faithful. But as the data shows, it is hard to compete with an original. The odds for these newcomers often look a bit like trying to sell a plain vanilla cone at a shop that specializes in triple-fudge-brownie-explosion sundaes. People know what they like, and they are sticking to their favorite flavor.

What is truly playful about this whole situation is how it keeps the professional prognosticators on their toes. Every time a "scandal" or a "setback" occurs, the analysts pull out their calculators and announce that the honeymoon must surely be over. They point to the obstacles and the legal hurdles, claiming that the odds of survival are slim. And yet, the supporters treat these obstacles like obstacles in a fun-run—something to jump over while laughing with your friends. The resilience of this political crush is enough to make even the most cynical observer crack a smile at the sheer unpredictability of it all.

As we look toward the big dance on the horizon—the general election—the question remains: can this love be translated into a winning ticket? The odds are a bit like a rollercoaster right now, with plenty of loops and drops to keep everyone’s stomach churning. But for the true believers, the destination is clear. They aren't looking at the fine print or the complicated maps; they are following the feeling of excitement that started nearly a decade ago and hasn't let up since. It is a long-distance relationship that has survived everything the world has thrown at it.

In the end, the "odds" are more than just numbers on a screen; they are a reflection of a deep-seated cultural bond. Whether you are a fan of the show or just watching from the sidelines with a giant tub of popcorn, there is no denying that the MAGA love story is one for the history books. It is loud, it is proud, and it is absolutely obsessed with the man at the center of the storm. As the music keeps playing and the lights keep flashing, one thing is for sure: this is one party that isn't planning on ending anytime soon. So, grab your gear and find a seat, because the next chapter of this whirlwind romance is about to begin, and it promises to be the wildest ride yet.

The magic ingredient in this recipe for devotion seems to be the sense of "us against the world." It is a powerful glue that keeps the base stuck together even when the weather gets choppy. While other political movements might bicker over details, this group finds unity in their shared enthusiasm. The odds of breaking that kind of spirit are incredibly low, which is why the leading man remains the king of the ballroom. He knows his audience, he knows his steps, and he knows exactly how to keep the crowd asking for an encore.

As the curtains rise on the next act, keep your eyes on the scoreboard but keep your heart open to the spectacle. In the world of modern politics, logic often takes a backseat to passion, and the MAGA crowd has passion in spades. It is a high-stakes game of "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not," but as of right now, the flower petals are all pointing toward a very enthusiastic "He Loves Me." And in the grand theater of democracy, that is the most entertaining story of all.

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Peace Pays the Bills! China Swaps Political Drama for Big Iranian Business Deals

Imagine a giant, high-stakes dinner party where everyone is shouting across the table, throwing bread rolls, and generally making a huge mess. In walks a guest who isn't interested in picking a side in the food fight. Instead, this guest is meticulously checking the menu, calculating the tip, and making sure the kitchen stays open late because they are really, really hungry. That is essentially the role China is playing in the Middle East right now. While the rest of the world is focused on the intense political drama and historical rivalries, Beijing is looking at the situation through a very specific lens: the lens of a businessman who just wants his shipments to arrive on time.

For a long time, the global stage has seen diplomacy as a game of capes and heroes, where everyone is trying to prove who is the most righteous. But China has decided to trade the cape for a calculator. Their recent "active efforts" to encourage a ceasefire and stabilize the region between Iran and its neighbors aren't necessarily about winning a Nobel Peace Prize for the sake of warm fuzzy feelings. It is much more about the fact that it is incredibly hard to sell smartphones and electric cars when there are missiles flying over the delivery trucks. Peace, in this case, isn't just a moral goal; it is a vital business strategy.

Let’s talk about the black gold that keeps the world spinning. China is the world's biggest fan of oil, and they get a massive chunk of it from the Middle East. Iran is a major player in that supply chain. When things get heated in the region, the price of oil does a frantic dance that nobody likes, especially not a country trying to power millions of factories. If the Strait of Hormuz gets grumpy and closes down, the global economy gets a massive headache. By playing the role of the "cool-headed mediator," China is basically trying to keep the energy taps flowing without any air bubbles in the pipes.

The beauty of the Chinese approach is its supreme flexibility. They have managed to stay on speaking terms with almost everyone, which is no small feat. It is like being the one person at a wedding who is friends with both the bride and the groom after a messy divorce. They buy oil from Iran, but they also have massive trade deals with Saudi Arabia and deep tech interests in Israel. By not taking a hard political stance, they keep all the doors open. Their message to the region is simple: "We don't care who you vote for or what your history is, as long as we can keep building bridges, literally and figuratively."

Then there is the ambitious "Belt and Road Initiative," which is basically China's plan to build a giant highway of trade across the entire planet. The Middle East is a huge, glowing neon sign in the middle of that map. You cannot pave a road through a construction zone that is actively on fire. To make their global trade dreams come true, they need the neighborhood to be quiet enough for the cement to dry. Every time a new conflict pops up, it is like a giant "Road Closed" sign for their economic ambitions. Naturally, they are going to do everything they can to clear the path.

There is also a bit of a "cool kid" vibe they are trying to project on the world stage. For decades, the West has been the primary mediator in these conflicts, often with a lot of shouting and complicated alliances. China is positioning itself as the alternative—the "non-interfering" friend. They aren't going to tell you how to run your country; they just want to make sure you have enough stability to pay for that new high-speed rail line they want to sell you. It is diplomacy via the pocketbook, and for many countries in the region, that is a very tempting offer.

Of course, this balancing act is like walking a tightrope during a windstorm. If China leans too far toward Iran, they risk upsetting their wealthy friends in the Gulf or their trade partners in the West. If they stay too silent, they look like they aren't the global leader they claim to be. So, they engage in this delicate dance of "active efforts"—sending envoys, hosting talks in Beijing, and releasing carefully worded statements that sound like a gentle pat on the back. They are the ultimate practitioners of "economic peace," believing that if everyone is busy making money, they will be too tired to fight.

In the end, it’s a fascinating shift in how the world works. We are moving away from an era where ideology ruled the day and moving toward an era where the bottom line is the ultimate peacemaker. China’s push for a ceasefire isn't about rewriting the history books; it's about ensuring the future ledgers are balanced. They are betting that the lure of prosperity is stronger than the pull of conflict. Whether this business-first approach can truly bring lasting quiet to one of the world's most complex regions remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: as long as there is a deal to be made, Beijing will be there with a pen in hand and a smile on its face.

So, the next time you see headlines about high-level meetings and diplomatic shuttles, remember the calculator. Behind the suits and the handshakes is a very simple calculation: Peace equals stability, and stability equals growth. In the grand bazaar of global politics, China is the merchant who knows that the best way to keep the shop running is to make sure there are no fights in the aisles. It's not just politics; it's just good business.

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Tick-Tock Politics: Stressful Stares and Scrambled Papers as Lawmakers Race the Final Clock!

Imagine a grand, echoey theater where the costumes are starchier than a fresh bag of potato chips and the stakes are higher than a cat on a hot tin roof. That is the current vibe inside the hallowed halls of the Capitol this week. As the calendar pages flip faster than a deck of cards in a magician’s hands, the atmosphere has shifted from orderly discussion to a high-speed political grocery dash. It is the ultimate countdown, and everyone involved is feeling the sizzle of the legislative frying pan. If you listen closely, you can almost hear the ticking of a giant, invisible clock hovering over the rotunda, reminding everyone that time is the one thing they cannot buy, even with a massive budget surplus.

The "To-Do" list in question is not your average weekend chore list. There are no reminders to pick up milk or weed the garden here. Instead, it is a mountain of paperwork filled with grand ideas, tiny tweaks, and enough fine print to make a lawyer’s eyes go cross-eyed. Lawmakers are scurrying through the corridors with the focused intensity of squirrels preparing for a particularly harsh winter. They are clutching folders like precious treasures, darting into side rooms for whispered huddles, and emerging with expressions that range from "I just won the lottery" to "I haven't slept since the mid-nineties." It is a marathon of the mind, and the finish line is still a few frantic sprints away.

The tension is so thick you could probably cut it with a dull letter opener. In the chambers, the air is heavy with the scent of expensive coffee and the electric hum of disagreement. It is a classic game of political tug-of-war, where every inch of ground is fought for with passionate speeches and the occasional dramatic sigh. You have one side pulling for their vision of the future, while the other side digs their heels into the plush carpeting, insisting on a different path. It is a masterclass in human nature, watching dozens of people try to agree on where the metaphorical bus should be driven, while simultaneously arguing about who gets to hold the map.

The halls are not just filled with politicians, of course. There is a whole ecosystem of characters adding to the Friday frenzy. You have the lobbyists, hovering like hopeful hummingbirds, waiting for a chance to chirp their piece into an influential ear. Then there are the activists, armed with colorful signs and even more colorful enthusiasm, making sure their voices rise above the clatter of keyboards. And let’s not forget the weary staffers, the unsung heroes of the building, who are fueled entirely by adrenaline and whatever snacks they can scavenge from the communal breakroom. It is a bustling beehive of democracy, and right now, the honey is being guarded very closely.

As the sun begins to dip low, the "Friday fatigue" starts to settle in, but there is no slowing down allowed. This is the part of the session where things get truly interesting—the "lightning round," if you will. This is when the most creative compromises are born, often in the middle of the night when everyone is too tired to remember why they were arguing in the first place. There is something about the 2:00 AM hour that makes a middle-ground solution look a lot more attractive than it did at brunch. The bravado of the morning usually gives way to the pragmatism of the moonlight, leading to those "handshake deals" that keep the wheels of the state turning.

Observers are watching the proceedings like they are witnessing a high-stakes sporting event. Will the big budget bill make it across the goal line? Will the controversial policy change get tackled in the backfield? Every movement is analyzed, every tweet is scrutinized, and every hallway walk is filmed as if it were a red-carpet entrance at the Oscars. It is a spectacle of governance that reminds us that, behind the fancy titles and the marble pillars, it is really just a group of people trying to figure out how to share a very large, very complex sandbox.

Despite the furrowed brows and the heated debates, there is an undeniable energy to the chaos. It is the sound of things happening—or at least the sound of people trying very hard to make things happen. There is a certain beauty in the messiness of it all. It is a reminder that democracy isn't supposed to be quiet or easy; it is supposed to be a loud, vibrating conversation about what matters most. As the lawmakers tick off their items one by one, crossing out goals and circling new problems, the Capitol remains the heart of the action, pulsing with the frantic, hopeful rhythm of a deadline that refuses to wait.

So, as the weekend beckons, the lights in the big dome will stay burning bright. There will be more coffee brewed, more papers shuffled, and more dramatic declarations made before the final gavel falls. Whether they finish everything on the list or leave a few chores for another day remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure: it has been a wild ride through the halls of power this Friday, and the show is far from over. Grab some popcorn and keep your eyes on the clock, because in the world of high-tension lawmaking, the best part usually happens right before the curtain closes.

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The US-Israel-Iran Escalation: Kharg Island Strikes and the Global Economic Fallout

The geopolitical landscape of the Middle East has reached a perilous tipping point. What was once a "shadow war" characterized by proxy conflicts and cyber warfare has transitioned into a direct, high-stakes military confrontation. With the United States launching decisive strikes on Iran’s critical infrastructure and Israel intensifying its targeted operations against high-ranking Iranian officials, the world is witnessing a transformation in the US-Israel-Iran conflict that threatens to reshape the global order.

As the smoke rises from the Persian Gulf, the consequences are being felt far beyond the borders of the Middle East. With oil prices surging past the $100-per-barrel mark, the specter of global economic instability looms large. In this article, we analyze the strategic shifts, the military escalations, and the profound economic implications of this unfolding crisis.

The Strike on Kharg Island: A Direct Hit to Iran’s Economic Heart

In a significant departure from previous policy, the United States military recently conducted heavy strikes on Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub. Located in the Persian Gulf, Kharg Island handles approximately 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports.

By targeting this facility, the U.S. has moved beyond economic sanctions into the realm of kinetic economic warfare. The objective is clear: to sever the financial lifeline of the Iranian government. However, the destruction of such a vital node in the global energy supply chain has immediate repercussions.

Why Kharg Island Matters

For decades, Kharg Island has been considered a "red line" for Tehran. The island’s infrastructure allows Iran to load massive tankers that supply markets in Asia and beyond. By disabling this hub, the U.S. has effectively neutralized Iran’s ability to generate hard currency, but it has also sent a shockwave through the global energy market, leading to an immediate and volatile oil price surge.
Israel’s Intelligence Coup: The Assassination of Top Officials

Parallel to the U.S. strikes, Israel has ramped up its campaign against the Iranian leadership. In a series of high-precision operations, Israeli intelligence and special forces successfully targeted and assassinated top Iranian intelligence officials. These individuals were reportedly responsible for coordinating the "Axis of Resistance"—a network of proxies including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and various militias in Iraq and Syria.

These assassinations serve a dual purpose. First, they degrade Iran’s command-and-control capabilities, making it harder for Tehran to coordinate multi-front attacks against Israel. Second, they send a psychological message: no official is beyond the reach of Israeli intelligence. This escalation has forced the Iranian leadership into a defensive posture, even as they vow "crushing retaliation."

The most immediate impact for the general reader is the dramatic shift in the global economy. As news of the Kharg Island strikes broke, Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices skyrocketed, comfortably clearing the $100-per-barrel threshold.

When oil prices rise this sharply, the effects are felt across every sector:Transportation and Logistics: The cost of shipping goods increases, leading to higher prices for consumer products.
Inflationary Pressures: Central banks worldwide, already struggling to manage post-pandemic inflation, now face a new "supply shock" that could lead to higher interest rates.
Market Volatility: Global stock markets have reacted with significant sell-offs, as investors flee to safe-haven assets like gold and the US Dollar.

This global economic instability is not just a temporary market fluctuation; it is a structural challenge that could trigger recessions in energy-dependent developing nations and slow growth in the West.

The current Middle East crisis has brought the region closer to an all-out regional war than at any point in the last several decades. The involvement of the U.S. and Israel in direct strikes against Iranian assets has removed the "buffer" of proxy warfare.

The international community remains deeply divided on how to handle the escalation.The United Nations: Calls for an immediate ceasefire and diplomatic intervention have been frequent but largely ignored by the primary combatants.
China and Russia: Both nations have significant interests in the region. China, as a major consumer of Iranian oil, views the Kharg Island strikes as a threat to its energy security, while Russia may see the distraction of the U.S. in the Middle East as an opportunity elsewhere.

What Happens Next?

The path forward is fraught with uncertainty. Iran’s "Axis of Resistance" remains a potent threat, with the potential to close the Strait of Hormuz—a move that could send oil prices toward $150 or even $200 per barrel. Conversely, the combined military pressure from the U.S. and Israel could force Tehran to the negotiating table, though such an outcome currently seems unlikely given the intensity of the recent strikes.

As we navigate this period of intense geopolitical tensions, the world must prepare for a "new normal" where energy security is no longer guaranteed and regional conflicts have immediate, local impacts on our wallets and our economies.

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The U.S.-Israeli Conflict with Iran: Energy Markets, Geopolitics, and the Quest for a Swift Resolution

The U.S.-Israeli Conflict with Iran: Energy Markets, Geopolitics, and the Quest for a Swift Resolution
The geopolitical landscape of the Middle East is currently undergoing one of its most volatile periods in decades. The long-simmering "shadow war" between the U.S.-Israeli alliance and the Islamic Republic of Iran has moved into a precarious new phase, characterized by direct confrontations and heightened military readiness.


As this conflict reaches a critical juncture, its effects are being felt far beyond the borders of the Levant and the Persian Gulf. From fluctuating oil prices to the shifting rhetoric of U.S. presidential politics, the world is watching closely. With former President Donald Trump recently making headlines regarding a potential "soon" end to military operations, the international community is left questioning what the "endgame" looks like for regional stability and global energy security.
A Region on the Brink: The Current State of Conflict


For years, the conflict between Israel and Iran was fought through proxies and cyber warfare. However, recent months have seen a fundamental shift toward direct engagement. The escalation has been driven by a complex web of factors, including Iran’s advancing nuclear program, the activities of the "Axis of Resistance," and Israel’s determination to neutralize threats on its immediate borders.

The involvement of the United States remains the pivotal factor. While the U.S. has historically sought to contain Iran through sanctions and diplomatic pressure, the current military posture suggests a more active role in supporting Israeli security objectives. This alliance aims to deter Iranian regional hegemony, but the risk of a full-scale regional war remains a constant shadow over the diplomatic table.
The Global Energy Ripple Effect


One of the most immediate consequences of the U.S.-Israeli-Iranian tension is the disruption of international energy markets. The Middle East remains the world’s most vital energy-producing region, and any threat to its stability sends shockwaves through global economies.
The Vulerability of the Strait of HormuThe Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which approximately one-fifth of the world’s total oil consumption passes, is the primary "chokepoint" in this conflict. Iran has frequently hinted at its ability to close the strait in the event of a total war. Even the threat of such an action causes Brent Crude prices to spike, leading to higher costs at the pump for consumers in the West and increased manufacturing costs in Asia.
Market Volatility and Investor Uncertainty


Energy analysts suggest that the "war premium"—the extra cost added to oil prices due to geopolitical risk—is currently at its highest level in years. Investors are wary of a sudden escalation that could damage oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia or the UAE, further tightening a global market already strained by the conflict in Ukraine.
The Political Dimension: Trump’s "Soon" Factor


As the U.S. moves closer to its own electoral cycle, the conflict with Iran has become a central theme in foreign policy debates. Former President Donald Trump has injected a new level of uncertainty and speculation into the discourse.

Trump has recently suggested that, under his leadership or through a shift in current strategy, the military operations and the broader conflict could reach a conclusion "soon." This rhetoric appeals to a "peace through strength" doctrine, suggesting that a combination of overwhelming economic pressure and credible military threats could force Iran to the negotiating table.

However, critics and military analysts question the feasibility of a "soon" resolution. The grievances between the two sides are deeply entrenched, involving:Nuclear Ambitions: The non-negotiable demand from the U.S. and Israel that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon.
Regional Proxies: The influence of groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis, which Iran views as essential to its "forward defense" strategy.
Sanctions Relief: Iran’s demand for the total lifting of economic sanctions as a prerequisite for any long-term peace.
The Israeli Strategic Perspective


From the perspective of Jerusalem, the conflict with Iran is viewed as an existential struggle. Israeli leadership has consistently stated that it will not allow Iran to complete its nuclear fuel cycle. This has led to a proactive military strategy, often referred to as "the war between wars," designed to degrade Iranian capabilities wherever they manifest.

The current juncture is unique because Israel is now balancing multiple fronts simultaneously. The strategic goal is not just to "end" the war, but to ensure that any conclusion results in a fundamental change in the regional balance of power—one where Iranian-backed militias are no longer a threat to Israeli towns.
Looking Ahead: Is De-escalation Possible?


While the rhetoric of a "quick end" to the conflict provides a glimmer of hope for global markets, the path to de-escalation is fraught with obstacles. A sustainable peace would require a grand bargain that addresses nuclear proliferation, regional interference, and economic integration—a tall order for a region defined by decades of mistrust.

For now, the world remains in a state of "watchful waiting." The next few months will be decisive. Whether the conflict concludes "soon" through a breakthrough in deterrence or escalates into a broader confrontation will depend on the diplomatic maneuvers in Washington, the strategic decisions in Jerusalem, and the resilience of the leadership in Tehran.
Conclusion


The U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran is more than a localized dispute; it is a global crisis that sits at the intersection of energy security, nuclear non-proliferation, and international law. As energy markets continue to react to every headline, the need for a clear, strategic, and professional approach to Middle Eastern diplomacy has never been more urgent.

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National Coding Week 2015 – older people can learn programming skills too

National Coding Week ran from 21 to 25 September 2015, aiming to teach coding and digital skills to adults across the UK.

Those wanting to get involved joined in events and learned skills online or face-to-face to encourage more people to step across the digital divide.

Co-founder Richard Rolfe said he thought of the initative after he left teaching to recover from a serious illness.  

In a meeting with an ex-student who was running a web development business, Rolfe was left feeling as thought technology was only for “younger people”.

“I wasn’t into coding and all that kind of stuff, and I thought: If I’m 50 or so, can I learn these skills?” Rolfe explained.

But after researching around the subject area, Rolfe found the skills gap was soon to become a skills chasm, and children were the only ones being trained to fill it.

“There were lots of jobs that were unfilled and projections about them increasing within the technology space – particularly in coding and programming.” Rolfe said.

“All of the efforts were going into teaching children, older people were being written off.” 

After teaching himself coding through online tutorials in 2013, Rolfe wanted to teach unemployed or older people those skills.

Teaching skills, building confidence

He and his ex-student co-founder ran a trial week, after which 80% of the attendees went into a job in coding or related fields – so Rolfe decided to run the event again.

“Yes, coding and technology are important for the future generation – but what about those people who are adults who think they’ve missed out?” said Rolfe.

“We try and tease them into this digital world, build their confidence, give them some skills and then if they want to know more that’s great; if they don’t want to know more, that’s fine too.”

The scheme has attracted a lot of support from teachers, many of whom feel they have not received the training they need. “The children are running away with their learning,” leaving parents and teachers “disenfranchised" as they fail to keep up, said Rolfe.

Read more about digital skills

• Tinder, the digital inclusion agency, has funded an innovation product allowing libraries to teach community members digital skills.
• The government has invested in Stem initiatives but the IT industry still thinks it could be doing more to fill the skills gap. 

He said the number and variety of people taking part in the week surprised him. The mix included teachers, parents, the unemployed and business managers.

“In the past, business leaders have felt embarrassed to ask questions with regards to digital,” Rolfe said.

He said the lack of digital skills higher up in organisations often leads to business leaders opting for outsourcing contracts.

“If they don’t know anything about digital or coding or technology, or analytics or big data, then they’re going to miss opportunities in the global economy,” Rolfe said.

Digital literacy for wide range of careers

National Coding Week events used languages from CSS to JavaScript, but Rolfe pointed out that a technical background could lead to many other career paths – such as in marketing, design or team leadership.

“I don’t think coding is necessarily where the future is,” said Rolfe.

“You need teams of creative people who aren’t afraid of technology.”

Rolfe said he plans to use case studies from the events to inspire people who weren't interested in the coding side of a digital career, but need “wider digital literacy skills”.

“We want people exposed to it – but they need to find a route because digital encompasses so many routes, and you don’t have to be stuck down just one, but understanding coding at the core is important.” said Rolfe.

In 2014 the initiative attracted over 1,300 interactions online, was hashtagged on Twitter more than 155 times and written up in more than 30 articles. This year was even bigger.

In 2016, Rolfe wants to involve more libraries, more adults from school communities and expand into the US and Australia.

“We are seeing the effects of last year’s national coding week now and next year we’ll have an even bigger caseload of people that have changed their lives as a result.” Rolfe said.

“We want this to be a movement that says: Older people can learn these skills too.”

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European IT budgets expected to fall in 2016, research reveals

IT departments have plenty to plan for in 2016 with Windows 10 upgrades and Microsoft SQL Server and Server 2003 refreshes, yet their budgets are expected to barely budge over the coming year, according to a survey by Spiceworks.

While North American IT professionals anticipate a slight lift in their 2016 budget, European IT pros predict no increase at all.

The survey of more than 800 IT professionals on the Spiceworks social network revealed that 38% of IT professionals think their budgets will increase in 2016, while 42% believe there will be no change and 10% anticipate a drop in funds, with the other 10% not sure.

Globally, annual budgets for IT were expected to increase on average by just $2,000, from $291,062 in 2015 to $293,094 in 2016, while in Europe IT budgets were projected to decrease by an average of $668.

Despite this, the survey revealed that IT professionals have plans for major migrations in 2016, with 64% claiming that end of support for products would be the driving force behind new hardware, software and services spending.

A total of 60% of IT professionals surveyed said they do not expect their IT staff to increase in 2016.

According to Spiceworks, the top operating system initiatives for 2016 are upgrading to Windows 10 and migrating from Windows Server 2003. In addition, surveyed IT professionals who have allocated budget to operating system upgrades expect to upgrade older hardware during these projects.

Some 53% of European IT professionals said they plan to invest in Windows 10, which is 6% higher than the global average. Additionally, 28% said they are planning a Windows Server 2003 migration and 8% said they are planning a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 migration, which Microsoft will no longer support after April 2016.

Read more about IT budgets

The largest chunk of IT budget – 37% – is expected to be spent on hardware, which is 4% less than in 2015. Software is predicted to account for 31% of IT spending, compared with 33% in 2015. Managed services spending is expected to increase by 3% to 13% in 2016, while cloud spending is set to increase by 2% to 14%.

As previously reported by Computer Weekly, CIOs' IT budgets have also been heavily affected by the strong US dollar, which has made hardware 20% more expensive. Some IT departments have acquired servers in the current quarter to avoid even higher costs in 2016, when the strength of the dollar could increase further.

Meanwhile, the Spiceworks survey also revealed that 54% of IT professionals in Europe do not feel their organisation is adequately investing in security.

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Risky and untested: What went wrong with the ESN procurement?

With a fully constructed and paid-for network spanning 99% of the UK’s geographical area, one could easily be forgiven for thinking that long-standing incumbent emergency services communications supplier Airwave would have been a serious contender when the Home Office kicked off the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) – a procurement to replace its terrestrial trunked radio (Tetra) network with a 4G LTE system called the Emergency Services Network (ESN).

For a while it was. Airwave was the only supplier invited to bid across three lots of the four-lot programme. However, in early 2015, the procurement began to break down, ultimately resulting in the current near-farcical situation of having two lots out to tender with only one bidder on each and one potential lot with no bidder at all.

On 11 February 2015, it emerged Airwave would no longer be taking part in the ESN procurement. As Computer Weekly revealed at the time, a source close to the procurement said that, in private, it was considered Tetra was too old, too costly and too inflexible to meet the changing needs of the UK’s emergency services.

But now, Airwave’s side of the story of what really went wrong can be told, and along with it comes a warning that the UK government may be setting itself up for another costly IT disaster and a potential public safety nightmare.

Tetra: The right system at the right time

To understand the problems that have dogged the ESN procurement process, it is first necessary to understand a little more about Tetra itself.

First developed in the 1990s by the European Telecommunications Standardisation Institute, Tetra was designed from the outset as a targeted infrastructure for emergency services customers. Ambulance, fire and police services all rely on mobile radios to communicate in the field – and Tetra is the technology they rely on.

It is based on digital, trunked radio technology and includes mobile radio, paging and wireless data features. Tetra-based hardware also comes with encryption hardwired into it and – when first developed – was able to transfer data packets much faster than existing mobile technology, to the extent that Airwave became the sole supplier to the UK’s emergency services.

However, it will eventually become obsolete, and the Home Office believes 4G LTE mobile networks will one day supersede Tetra. This is why it left no place for Tetra in its procurement and set out a plan to procure an enhanced mobile service over a commercial 4G network – with priority routing for emergency services traffic.

The logic behind using an existing commercial network was partly a logistical one, in that there was no spectrum available to buy a dedicated mobile network for the blue light sector, and partly a financial one, in that in these times of austerity there was no money available either.

Airwave’s CEO, John Lewis, fully backs the Home Office’s view on the eventual dominance of 4G, as he takes care to point out when he sits down with Computer Weekly for a no-holds barred dissection of the process.

“The first thing you have to understand is that we fundamentally agree 4G LTE is the right system for the future of public safety communications, and that’s an important point to register. The problem with 4G LTE is that it is not the best system currently,” explains Lewis.

“The best system in the world today for what we do is Tetra. The reason for that is Tetra is a proven and trusted mission-critical voice system.”

This view was echoed by many when the procurement began, including the then shadow policing minister Jack Dromey, who accused the government of acting with “unseemly haste” in its rush to replace Tetra.

As Tetra is such a critical element of the current emergency services communication system, it is vital the ESN procurement is fit for purpose and can transition seamlessly.

The consequences for public safety if something were to go wrong would be dire. Imagine the consequences for the victim of a car crash in the remotest part of the Highlands if the first responder could not request an air ambulance, or for London if it saw a repeat of the 7 July 2005 bombings and nobody could call for help.

Risk for no reward

According to Lewis, the procurement came with a number of risks attached to it. Firstly, the standards for mission-critical voice over LTE (VoLTE) have yet to be agreed or specified, and will not be until long after Tetra is switched off in 2020.

This means features such as group calling, handset-to-handset communications and the all-important emergency button – which is used by a police officer somewhere in Britain every six minutes on average – will not be ready in time for the final switchover to ESN.

“The government is addressing that through using pre-standards systems, which we have looked at, validated and demonstrated, but those pre-standard systems have never been deployed on a national scale anywhere in the world. This is high-risk adoption of immature technology,” says Lewis.

“The second issue is really about the maturity of LTE networks and their ability to provide the coverage and the resilience the emergency services need. The roll-out of those networks will not be sufficient in the timeframe the government is aiming for.”

Given that 2G and 3G networks still do not cover the entirety of the UK, in Lewis’s view it is simply not worth the risk to assume 4G will be fully available by 2020. “We have experience of building a Tetra network in these remote areas, so we know what it takes,” he adds.

Convinced the technology and infrastructure were too high risk and the commercial model didn’t really work, Airwave elected not to bid on Lot 2, User Services, or the deleted Lot 4, Extension to Mobile Services, and articulated these concerns to the Home Office at the time.

For a little while, it remained involved with Lot 3, Mobile Services, alongside its strategic partner, Hutchison Whampoa’s Three.

“When we submitted our bid, we made it very clear we didn’t think the timeframe was achievable. We outlined our view of the risks on what the government was trying to achieve,” says Lewis.

“In all my experience of bidding on these things, that doesn’t normally set you up to be selected on the shortlist, but we thought it’s better to be honest about what we thought the industry was feeling,” he says.

Airwave was not selected. Instead O2 and EE were invited to submit their final tenders. Following O2’s withdrawal – citing almost identical concerns to Airwave’s – EE remains the only bidder and therefore the presumptive supplier on the crucial Lot 3.

On Lot 2, meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard’s withdrawal – again citing concerns over risk – has left Motorola as the only company bidding for Lot 2. The tender process for Lot 1 concluded in early September 2015, with Kellogg Brown and Root winning out.

“To put it simply, the new technology is not ready. You don’t throw out old technology until new technology is ready. Motorola, the only bidder left on Lot 2, says LTE won’t be ready until 2020 or 2022, so even the government bidders who are going to deliver the system don’t think it will be ready,” says Lewis.

ESMCP: The wrong procurement at the wrong time?

Although he is no longer involved in the process and can speak only at arm’s length, Lewis maintains a certain amount of sympathy for the Home Office’s situation, saying it had done everything it should and could have done.

“The Home Office talks about cheaper, faster and better. Quite rightly, it’s looking at driving efficiencies with austerity, improving its capabilities as technology evolves and doing better things with it,” he says.

The Home Office could never have just renewed the Tetra contracts as it had to run a procurement. However, with Airwave at the end of its contract and holding a paid-for asset that will cost less in the future – neatly knocking the austerity argument on the head – and 4G networks already good enough for non-mission critical processes, it seems it was just the wrong procurement at the wrong time.

“They have to understand and approve what the market can bear. It’s perfectly reasonable to run a procurement to test what the market can do, but the market’s telling them it’s too soon because they’re left with one bidder in Lot 2 and one bidder in Lot 3 and no bidder in Lot 4,” says Lewis.

The fact that Lot 4 was revived barely eight months after it was axed also suggests the government has no answer for how to provide coverage in remote areas, most of Scotland and Wales, the London Underground or for air-to-ground communications with emergency service helicopters, which are all crucial elements of a national plan.

So what should have happened? Lewis says the right answer would have been to continue to use Tetra until 4G LTE was good enough to implement – in effect – a parallel system.

“Users would have had two devices: Their emergency radio and a smartphone, whereby commercial LTE brings them the business process improvements. You run those together and at some point LTE overtakes Tetra and then you switch over, in a timeframe that’s probably somewhere between 2020 and 2025,” says Lewis.

Looking to the future

With Tetra eventually on the way out, it is inevitable Airwave will have to evolve. Lewis is leading the firm down the route towards becoming a company less known for its network asset and more for its services offering.

Airwave has taken to 4G services like a duck to water, supplying its Pronto application suite to a number of police forces, enabling officers on the beat to easily and quickly go through processes such as issuing tickets and fines, booking an arrest or checking someone’s details on the Police National Computer.

To date, 15 forces have bought into Pronto, says Lewis, which he sees as an indication of the relationships Airwave has built up with its users.

“We are the trusted brand for emergency services. They know and like the quality – a third of the police forces have entrusted us with dealing with the digitisation of their capabilities, and there are a few more we are talking to and hope to bring on board as well, so there’s a big aspect of evolving the system in the market, which is a big part of what we do,” says Lewis.

Tetra isn’t going to go away for at least five years: The fire service has recently signed a national extension to keep using its radios right up until the network is switched off at the end of 2020; the ambulance service’s contracts don’t expire until then either.

Elsewhere, Airwave is taking Tetra into Germany, where it is currently advising the government on its network build, and has also opened a satellite office in Dubai to support its work in the Middle East.

Rural broadband

But what of Tetra? What of its sites and what of its spectrum? The spectrum will ultimately be returned to the Ministry of Defence when Tetra is switched off, but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily be taken out of use.

One area Airwave is actively exploring alongside the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is the repurposing of its infrastructure for rural broadband. Lewis believes the demand is clearly there and the will from government could be there to repurpose Airwave’s infrastructure into a much-needed element of the consumer broadband roll-out.

Lewis concludes: “I guess the re-issue of Lot 4 is interesting because it says the Home Office doesn’t have an answer to the complete challenge it’s trying to solve.

“It neatly fits into the discussion about rural broadband – if the government is trying to solve the rural problem in multiple ways, there’s a sensible answer there, which is to do it once. I think this seems to be leading to a proper debate about how you address rural communities. We’re excited to see where that leads in the coming months.”

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London launches cyber defence centre for small businesses

London’s deputy mayor for policing and crime Stephen Greenhalgh has launched a public-private partnership initiative to help the city’s small businesses protect themselves from cyber criminals.

The first of its kind in England, the London Digital Security Centre (LDSC) has been set up by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) as part of the mayor’s business crime strategy and is staffed by a team of professionals from the civil service, law enforcement and industry.

“This is a landmark because we have moved from strategy and aspiration to action, and today sees the start point of thinking about how we protect London’s micro to medium-sized businesses,” said Greenhalgh.

There is a “huge amount of goodwill”, he said of bringing together policing, technology, business and ethical hacking expertise. The LDSC offers the latest cyber industry guidance through its website, roadshows and advice surgeries. It also offers expert security assessments and digital footprint reports to enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to identify and resolve vulnerabilities.

“Above all, the mission is to prevent crime from happening in the first place by ensuring that businesses are as diligent in ensuring their digital infrastructure is robust and as hard to penetrate as they are about protecting their physical office space and assets,” said Greenhalgh.

“It is hugely important that we focus on London which has a massive part to play in the national economy as do small businesses which provide around 50% of employment in the capital.”

Mopac is providing £325,000 funding over two years to establish the LDSC, after which it will be self-sufficient, paid for through revenues generated from the sale of its services and from donations.

“The success of the LDSC will depend on the good will of London’s businesses and the Metropolitan Police’s Falcon cyber crime and fraud unit, and the expertise of technologists to come together to provide a one-stop shop for small businesses to help ensure that London is the best and safest place for small businesses to thrive,” Greenhalgh said.

Falcon officers will be working with the LDSC to help arm SMEs with the tools and knowledge they need to better protect themselves from fraud and cyber crime.

In addition to the Met’s Falcon unit, the LDSC involves the National Crime Agency and the City of London Police, working in partnership with academics, and businesses and technology firms, including Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland and BT.

Read more about cyber security for SMEs

SMEs lacking resources to fight cyber crime

Millions of pounds are lost to cyber crime each year and online security is a growing concern for SMEs with 250 or fewer employees that face many of the same threats as larger organisations, but typically lack the resources to address them.

According to the government-sponsored 2015 Information security breaches survey conducted by PwC, 74% of UK SMEs were hit by cyber attacks in 2014-2015 and 16% had their network hit, losing both sensitive data and the ability to trade.

The LDSC, which builds on the model used in Scotland by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, is aimed at providing affordable access to support from the professionals in the fields of digital policing and cyber security.

LDSC head Patrick Nuttall said: “We have consulted extensively with SMEs in London and we know the demand is there for a trusted, affordable resource to provide cyber security advice and support.

“The LDSC is here to help London businesses that may not be able to afford the in-house expertise found in larger companies to identify and manage cyber risks, enabling them to safely harness the power of technology,” he added.

Nuttall said the aim of the LDSC is not to compete with commercial service providers. “We are here to fill a gap, but once SME have started to do basic infrastructure hardening and looking at more complex issues such as user behaviour, that is when the private sector can start to help,” he told Computer Weekly at the launch.

“Once SMEs start doing the activities, they will start to understand the business impact of cyber crime and appreciate that they really need to make the investment in professional services.”

Alan Seldon, operations director at Voneus Limited, a digital telecommunications agency whose systems have undergone testing by the LDSC, said: “No company should be complacent about the possibility of being targeted by cyber criminals and held to ransom, which is massively under-reported because companies do not want to risk any reputational damage or loss of confidence.

“Like all SMEs, we cannot dedicate a full-time resource, so it makes sense to bring in the experts at the LDSC to test our systems and to provide advice,” he added. A small investment could potentially mitigate against a large loss, and by using the LDSC we are able to protect ourselves as much as possible.”

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Facebook court judgement threatens Safe Harbour data-sharing agreement with US

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will give its final judgement in the case against the Irish data protection commissioner Helen Dixon and Facebook on 6 October 2015 at 9.30am.

The judgement could have profound implications for the high-tech relationship between the US and the European Union (EU), if it rules as illegal the Safe Harbour agreement that permits US corporations to send European data to the US.

The Safe Harbour agreement is at the heart of the case, because Facebook – the other defendant – cannot use its US-based cloud storage without the consent of the EC through the Safe Harbour agreement.

The case was brought by the Austrian law student Max Schrems, 27. He challenged the legality and effectiveness of the EU/US Safe Harbour data-sharing agreement.

Schrems asked Irish data protection commissioner Helen Dixon to investigate Facebook, which has a European base in the Republic of Ireland. Dixon refused and Schrems went to the Irish High Court, in effect to seek a judicial review.

NSA used Safe Harbour data for ‘mass surveillance’

In a judgement scathing of the data protection commissioner, Irish High Court judge Gerard Hogan found the US was using Safe Harbour to impose mass surveillance on the citizens of Europe through its Prism programme.

He wrote that "only the naive or the credulous could really have been greatly surprised over these forms of mass surveillance".

The judge further found “that personal data transferred by companies such as Facebook Ireland to its parent company in the United States is thereafter capable of being accessed by the NSA in the course of a mass and indiscriminate surveillance of such data.

"Indeed, in the wake of the Snowden revelations, the available evidence presently admits of no other realistic conclusion.”

Ireland refers Facebook dispute to European Court of Justice

Judge Hogan referred the matter to the ECJ, the highest court in the EU. That court does not go back to the facts, but takes them as found in the Irish Court, and looks at how they relate to EU law.

Two weeks ago the judge advocate general on the case – French jurist Yves Bot – advised the court that the US was, as Judge Hogan had found, using mass surveillance via the NSA, to take European data; and that the Safe Harbour agreement did not protect European data.

This week the US government launched a stinging attack on judge Hogan's facts and Yves Bot's opinion, via its ambassador in Brussels, Anthony Gardner.

US ‘risked perjury’ if it gave evidence

The ambassador said there had been "no actual fact-finding in this case". Gardner added: "The US does not and is not engaged in indiscriminate surveillance of anyone, including ordinary European citizens."

Read more about Max Schrems vs Facebook

This caused a furious reaction at the court where an official – who wished to remain anonymous – said the US failed to exercise its right to make its case during the hearing.

"The US had a proper and legal opportunity to make it's case at the Irish Court. The procedures of the European court are well-known to the US authorities," he said.

Speaking to Computer Weekly, plaintiff Max Schrems was more cynical.

"If the US had appeared in Dublin, they would have had to swear their evidence under oath. They would not be able to deny Prism without committing perjury," he said.

The problem for ambassador Gardner is that both the US government and the UK government have publicly acknowledged Prism. That programme is a mass surveillance programme, the full workings of which were originally disclosed in the Guardian in 2013 by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Court reacts with unprecedented speed

Dai Davis, a solicitor who specialises in information technology law, said he cannot remember a case where the judgement has followed so fast on the judge advocate's opinion.

"I do speculate that the final judgement will closely follow the judge advocate's opinion," he said.

The judgement is bound to make an impact on current negotiations between the US and the EU, about the renewal of Safe Harbour, underway in Brussels.

Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group – a group campaigning against surveillance and censorship – said Safe Harbour rules were ineffective.

“Safe Harbour is in an untenable position, claiming to protect European citizens’ privacy right while the USA places everyone under mass surveillance," said Killock.

"The advocate’s opinion shows that the court is considering the right issues, so we hope they will produce a strong judgment that insists on our right to protection of our privacy when using US companies’ services."

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Digital inclusion agency funds libraries to teach digital skills

Digital inclusion agency Tinder has funded an innovation project to allow libraries across the UK to teach community members digital skills.

The funding has been awarded to 16 libraries to run innovative pilots of digital inclusion projects using new approaches.

This initiative is part of a six-month research pilot into ways to teach and support socially excluded members of the population to learn digital skills. It will also allow the libraries to investigate partnerships and new technology to establish support models for members of their communities.

Tinder Foundation chief executive Helen Milner said: “We’re delighted to have been able to award funding to 16 library services, which all demonstrated innovate ideas for engaging with their local communities, reaching new people and having a real impact on closing the digital divide.”

Milner highlighted the work already done by the Tinder-managed UK online centres network to support people learning digital skills, and hopes this new funding project will help to reach more people and scale the support effort.

The libraries that will receive funding are: Barnet Library; Jubilee Library in Brighton & Hove; Hounslow Library; Coventry Central Library; Workington Library; Chesterfield Library; Doncaster Central Library; Gateshead Central Library; Leeds Central Library; Warrington Library; Newcastle City Library; Nottingham City Library; Northumberland Libraries; Oswestry Library; Portsmouth Central Library; and Somerset Library.

Read more about digital inclusion

• Government Digital Service launches Digital Inclusion Outcomes Framework to act as a template for digital inclusion evaluation
• TechUK called on the next government to implement a properly funded digital inclusion strategy and provide assisted digital support

Some of the libraries plan to develop initiatives such as a pop-up digital skills centre that will visit rural communities, services for low-income families to search for jobs through model devices, a tablet-lending scheme, training members of low-income families to be “IT buddies”, and visits to housebound or disabled people.

The pilot will allow the Tinder network to collect research and case studies about the successes and best practices of the libraries' projects, as well as identify what resources the libraries will need to help progress digital inclusion, in partnership with the Leadership for Libraries Taskforce and Society of Chief Librarians.

A representative from the the Leadership for Libraries Taskforce described the project as "an exciting opportunity" for various libraries to further develop digital access for their communities.

"It is important to help all users to grow in confidence and awareness of the wide range of services that libraries provide,” they said.

In implementing the project, organisations involved hope to address not just the digital skills gap but also cater to the 20% of the population who do not have access to digital by offering them the ability to learn to use technology to apply for jobs and stay connected.

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Worldwide #peacehack hackathons use technology to promote peace

Hackathons dubbed #peacehack have been staged in four cities to encourage the use of technology for promoting peace.

Run by International Alert, the hackathons held simultaneously in London, Beirut, Washington DC and Barcelona during September 2015 were designed to act as an outlet for people with digital skills to use technology for good.

Dan Marsh, who joined International Alert as head of technology in 2013, explained how a small London-based hackathon in 2014 led to the team pursing bigger and better ideas the following year.

Rather than a general hackathon, the 2015 worldwide hackathons focused on specific subject areas to target a problem each city has.

“We were more focused this time on the problem statements we faced. We took a look at the issues that were happening in each of those cities,” said Marsh.

“We started to think about technologies that could solve some of the problems in the particular context we were talking about.”

In London and Washington DC, the subject area the hackers had to tackle was countering violent extremism. Hackers in Beirut and Barcelona were tasked with developing technological systems to deal with the refugee crisis.

The hackathons took place with the help of associated partners – Build Up in Barcelona, Creative Associates international in Washington and Chayn in Beirut.

Technology as a power for good

Participants in the hackathon explained that when the subject matter is something you care about, you become more creative at finding ways to solve the problem.

Marsh said many technologists attended the event because they wanted to help peace-building causes, but were not sure how, and could only offer their experience with technology as a tool.

“It’s just an outlet for people who are using technology in their day-to-day lives to use it as a power for good,” said Marsh.

The London hackathon hosted around 40 participants, with more than 200 technologists and peace practitioners involved across all of the events.

“The one thing that’s interesting with peacehacks is that we have to try to teach people about the peace-building context to start with. That got the participants thinking about some of the relevant technology they can use,” said Marsh.

The two joint winners of the London branch of peacehacks each built community platforms for individuals with little access to like-minded people or wider communities.

One team did this through the development of a Tinder-style application allowing marginalised members of society to connect to others in their community. The other team created an online platform to allow people to take part in events near them to fuel community engagement.

The teams will work together to combine their ideas and create a joint project. They also won a place on the next hackathon and tickets to the Build Peace event.

Community collaboration

“Young people who don’t have access to good support networks or might not have jobs or interests – they’re the people who can become vulnerable to violent extremism,” said Marsh.

“We’re trying to build communities so people have a safe space to discuss difficult issues and can meet like-minded individuals or individuals in their community.”

Marsh explained many of the participants used real-life experiences as the inspiration for their projects, often to prevent the same experiences from happening to other people.

“This is a way they can engage and make a real difference,” he said.

After the event, the code for all of the systems contributed is opened sourced and stored in a Github repository so people can collaborate and work on building what has already been done to continue to build peace.

Two more peacehacks will take place before the end of 2015 in Colombia and Northern Ireland. In 2016, Marsh hopes the event will scale to 30 cities worldwide.

“We’re using these hackathons to come up with ideas or even repurpose old ideas to help us with our peace-building work around the globe,” he said.

Read more about hackathons

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Brightsolid opens Tier III datacentre in Aberdeen to support oil and gas sector

Scottish datacentre operator Brightsolid has claimed its new £5m facility in Aberdeen can store the same amount of data as Facebook does globally, and will turn a profit within six months of opening.

The company, part of the DC Thompson publishing group, already has two datacentres north of the border, including one in Dundee and another in Edinburgh.

The latest addition to its burgeoning datacentre portfolio will reportedly help capitalise on the success the company has already had with serving the datacentre needs of the public sector – through the company’s inclusion on the Scottish government’s datacentre hosting framework in May 2015.

The energy industry has also proven a keen adopter of the firm’s services to date, and with many firms in the oil and gas sector located in Aberdeen, Brightsolid CEO Richard Higgs said the area emerged as the best site for its next facility.

“The business we’re already transacting means that within six months of opening, we’ll be profitable. The demand has been such that we’ve already exceeded our expectations and the business case for the pre-signed contracts we have in place before we’ve actually opened,” he told Computer Weekly ahead of the site’s opening.

However, amid the recent slump in oil prices, Higgs said the board did take some convincing that ploughing investment into a datacentre to help address the energy sector's hosting needs was the right way to go.

He explained: “When the DC Thompson board saw the oil price going south, we hadn’t actually committed to investing in the datacentre, and they said – quite rightly – ‘Are you sure you want to be investing such a large sum of money in Aberdeen right now?’

“We said yes, because we knew we could fill the facility with non-energy sector demand from the wider UK.”

Read more about datacentre investments

As it stands, the economic challenges the oil and gas sector are facing are actually working in the firm’s favour, Higgs claimed, as their appetite for cheaper datacentre space is growing.

“When we looked at a lot of the costs for the energy sector and where they do a lot of their data hosting, one of the stats that emerged was that more than 50% of the energy sector’s data processing takes place in or around the M25,” he explained. 

“That is a heck of a lot more expensive than hosting in Aberdeen. Our thinking was, if the market goes into a cost-conscious phase and needs to save money, we have our Aberdeen facility.”

The datacentre officially opened today (1 October 2015), and the 2,200m² site will initially contain 400 high-density, 25 kW racks but will have the capacity to house up to 400PB of data. This, the company has claimed, is the same amount as social networking giant Facebook holds globally.

It has been a year in the making, with Brightsolid first announcing news of the build in October 2014.

To achieve its goal of having rack power densities of up to 25kw the company has deployed the Ecofris cooling technology created by datacentre building consultancy Keysource.

The Tier III facility also reinforces Brightsolid’s position as Scotland’s only Microsoft Cloud OS partner, said Higgs, which means the company can deploy the software giant’s technologies earlier than its Scottish competitors.

“We absolutely believe that there is a requirement for regional datacentres, as well as huge utility datacentres, and see ourselves as effectively a virtual integrator of the future, where people will have part of their data in-house, some with us and with others,” he added.

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HP Cloud 28+ enters beta and introduces self-certification scheme for providers

Hewlett-Packard's’s bid to create a Europe-wide one-stop cloud shop has moved up a gear, with the introduction of a self-certification system for providers that want to sell their services through it.

Dubbed Cloud 28+, the initiative was formally unveiled by HP in March 2015 after a year of preparation, and is geared towards driving adoption of off-premise technologies across Europe by providing users with a centralised catalogue of cloud services.

HP claims this will help make it easier for commercial and public sector organisations to adopt cloud – as they can consult the catalogue before embarking on a deployment, to find a provider and service that fits the bill.

Speaking at the Cloud 28+ in Action event on 30 September 2015 in Brussels, Xavier Poisson, Emea vice-president of HP Converged Cloud, marked the beta launch of the project by talking up the attention it has garnered in other parts of the world looking to replicate what HP is trying to achieve.

Similarly, the cloud provider community has also thrown its weight behind it, he continued, helping the firm exceed its target of having 200 services listed through it by September 2015.

“We had a dream in March that the catalogue would be live in September and we would have 200 cloud services in the catalogue for this meeting,” he said.

“Not only is Cloud 28+ live, but it is hosted by one of the members and we have 320 cloud services.”

In light of this, Poisson said the aim now is to have 600 services listed on the catalogue by the time of its official go-live date in early December.

Turning his attention back to the problems providers face when trying to do business with users in other countries, he claimed it can cost up to €9,000 to ensure a service does not infringe on local laws.

And it’s those kinds of financial and legislative barriers to doing business across borders, Cloud 28+ is looking to eradicate, he said.

“I’m hoping to generate what all of us are working for everyday. That’s employment and to generate growth. That’s the ‘why’ of everything we’re doing today with Cloud 28+.” 

Cloud 28+ self-certification scheme

Every cloud provider, reseller or independent software vendor (ISV) that secures a listing on the portal can now have their offerings rated via Eurocloud’s Star Audit system – a move HP claims will make it easier for users to pit one firm’s offerings against another.

Eurocloud board member Tobias Höllwarth told attendees the rating system should streamline the procurement process by providing users with certified assurances about the quality of the services they provide.

Otherwise, providers can find themselves repeatedly fielding the same questions about security and uptime, from users trying to work out whether or not to trust those suppliers with their data.

This results in slower and more expensive cloud procurements, driving up the costs of doing business.

“Answering the same questions again is boring and is not generating business,” he said.

Read more about HP's Cloud 28+

For smaller firms – that don’t have access to dedicated IT, legal or procurement teams to guide them through the process – knowing which provider to go with can be fraught with challenges.

“They need to buy cloud services as they may have a big competitive disadvantage if they don’t,” he said, adding that the rating system should accelerate the buying process for them too.

The EC Digital Single Market

Cloud 28+ initiative has drawn parallels in the past with the UK government’s G-Cloud scheme, and – in the light of that programme's success – on the continent, attention has focused on recreating a similar cloud services procurement portal for European public-sector users.

Similarly, what HP is trying to achieve with Cloud 28+ fits in quite well with the European Commission’s Digital Single Market initiative, which seeks to create a single marketplace for digital services within the European Union (EU).

Speaking at the event, Francisco Medeiros, deputy head of the software and services and cloud computing unit at the EC, said that – while the organisation could not directly endorse the work HP is doing with Cloud 28+ – such initiatives had an important role to play in supporting the EC’s cloud goals.

“This is indeed a promising and enriching initiative that has the potential to substantially contribute to the development of the European cloud services market and will provide opportunities for small and large cloud service providers,” Medeiros said.

"Of course, we – as the commission – are not in a position to endorse specific market initiatives but, in general terms, I can tell you initiatives like Cloud 28+ and others are key, in our view, for the establishment of a competitive market for cloud services.”

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