DEEP DIVE

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE OFFICE .

What would you describe as your most memorable achievement in the data centre industry ?

Setting up Proximity two years ago to focus on the Edge colocation market and seeing it scale rapidly and successfully . It ’ s a really exciting time to be developing and cornering a new area of the data centre market – low latency , scalable data centres bringing data closer to users and supporting nextgeneration applications and services .

The data centre market is going through significant changes from enterprise to hyperscale ( including hybrid private / public cloud ) to Edge . In addition , layering on services such as private 5G for specific applications in verticals , such as manufacturing and healthcare which all need a secure Edge data centre environment . The data centre market is probably more dynamic now than it ever has been . It ’ s a challenge but a hugely enjoyable one .

What first made you consider a career in technology / data centres ?

I have been in the technology , telecoms and IT outsourcing industry for a long time – it ’ s ever-changing and data centres are an essential pillar of the industry as well as at the heart of keeping our digital economy ticking . My career experience includes sales , marketing , commercial and investment roles , spanning major corporates including Cable and Wireless where I was Customer Director for Global Markets and as Group Sales and Marketing Director of a venture capital-funded hosting and IT outsourcing company . Here I was responsible for leading initial investment in the data centre market and early entry into the hybrid cloud sector .

What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position ?

I am hands-on but fully recognise the importance and value of delegating responsibility to my team across all departments , empowering them with the appropriate levels of authority

required to get on and do their jobs to the very best of their ability .

How do you deal with stress and unwind outside the office ?

I try to keep a good balance in life – it ’ s a matter of working hard but importantly finding time for activities outside of Proximity . For me , I really enjoy sailing as I need to focus 100 % on the boat , the sea and the weather so I don ’ t have time to think about work . I also find that spending time with my family helps me to unwind particularly as this year I became a grandparent which I have found is an awful lot more relaxing than being the parent !

What do you think is the current hot talking point within the data centre space ?

How to maximise the potential of Edge Computing , 5G , IoT , AI and immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality . This all requires reduced latency which is driving the move to interconnected Edge regional data centres . These can rapidly provision and scale compute and storage resources exactly where they ’ re needed . They are designed to bridge the gap between centralised data centres / clouds and the users , computers , machines and devices at the network Edge .

What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry ?

On the one hand , global data centre infrastructure is largely being driven by hyperscale public cloud provider

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