DEEP DIVE
WE ‘DEEP DIVE’ WITH ERAN BROWN, EMEA CTO,
INFINIDAT, WHO TELLS US ABOUT LIFE INSIDE AND
OUTSIDE THE OFFICE.
What first made you think of a
career in technology/data centres?
I grew up with dial up modems and
BBS and experienced first-hand the
evolution of the web from text-only to
its interactive, engaged format today.
I was a programmer for a relatively
short period of time but always
wanted to work with ‘bleeding edge
technology’. I enjoyed customer
interaction, so started to shift focus
towards professional services and
consulting roles.
The deeper discussion about what
the customer’s business motivation
was and the need to better
understand it and then tailor the
solution accordingly became very
interesting to me. I moved closer
to the business conversation;
pre-sales. My next goal became
a product focused position.
The four years in that role saw
some of the most interesting
discussions that I’ve ever had in
my professional career.
What style of
management philosophy
do you employ with your
current position?
I consider myself to be an
enabler within the company
– ensuring a smooth flow
of information and ideas
between team members,
the customers and the
wider business teams. I
have found that this allows
me to work more closely,
in more detail, with our
customers who are facing
unique challenges. I
believe that collaboration
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is critical when you’re working
to design tailored solutions
that help businesses
capitalise on their data
infrastructure and deliver
the expected results.
What do you think is
the current hot talking
point within the data
centre space?
There are two. Transforming
IT to be agile/cloud like and
protection from the ever-growing
risk of hackers.
Businesses expect their IT to be ready
to deploy new business services
instantly while effectively aligning to
the public cloud experience. However,
few organisations are willing to pay for
the infrastructure required in advance.
IT is being asked to achieve something
without the proper funding.
When funded, IT ends up being cheaper
than the cloud (for large organisations).
IT people are looking for elasticity in the
infrastructure they buy. We see many
customers adopting our Capacity on
Demand model to be able to provision new
data-rich services instantly without waiting
for long procurement processes. Without
these accelerated deployments these
workloads will go into the public cloud
adding to an already strained IT budget.
At the same time, there is no doubt
that cybercriminals are increasingly
sophisticated. While perimeter
defences can be enforced, attackers will
eventually find other ways to get in.
The battlefront has instead moved to
managing ‘the day after the breach’
and organisations need to prepare
accordingly. I believe the answer
lies in end-to-end data encryption.
How do you deal with
stress and unwind outside
the office?
I am hyperactive. Sitting in meeting
rooms half of the time is like
charging my personal batteries
to 150%. So, when I get out of
the office, I need to release this
excess energy. I spend my free time
destressing in the gym, playing
volleyball, cycling with friends or
‘bouldering’ which is along the rock-
climbing theme. They all serve to clear
the mind, creating space for some of
my best ideas to present themselves.
What do you currently
identify as the major areas of
investment in your industry?
Everybody is talking about agility, from
the business level down to the enabling
IT technologies. However, agility can
only be achieved if the business decision
(for example – launching a new business
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