Niels Svenningsen became SVP and EMEA general manager at Hitachi Data Systems on April 1 this year.  
 

DCD, Q:What can the data centre industry do to increase its involvement in shaping government policy?

 

NS, A: Where government policy meets issues such as data protection, energy efficiency and managing vast volumes of data, the industry can provide invaluable insight into the heart of the debate. 

 

Q: The greatest achievement of the data centre industry in the last 3 years has been...

A:Innovating solutions able to deal with the unprecedented increase in data created by the digitisation of content in industries such as healthcare, finance and media. The job is far from complete and we need to continue to innovate for our customers but considering the challenge, I think the industry as a whole has done well.

 

Q: What is current key customer concern?

A: Currently, we’re seeing customers become very concerned not just about the huge volumes of data they must manage but the increasing complexity of managing it effectively. The proliferation of mobile devices in the work place and the digitisation of different types of content are causing a real headache. 

 

Q: What should it be?

A: The concern above is well-placed. The worst part, however, is that the technologies that were meant to solve these problems five years ago are now themselves multiplying. This is elevating the storage management challenge to a new level. Many vendors are offering solutions which, over time, create more and more silos within the system – deferring the problem rather than solving it. The real challenge for the customer is to recognise these technologies and avoid them. To do this, IT leaders need to move from thinking about the data centre to planning the information centre - taking a more integrated, business-focused view of their company’s data assets.

 

Q: What I learned at the last major industry event I attended was...

A: Every time I speak to customers at an industry event, it reaffirms that while different sectors have specific challenges to face, the main concerns about data growth, management complexity and regulatory compliance are universal. Vendors need to keep innovating to provide customers with the technologies their business needs in the future – this is what makes the industry such an exciting place to be.

 

Q: In my professional career I was most influenced by...

A: I think Kasper Rorsted, CEO of Henkel.  Great guy. (Henkel is the German manufacturer whose brands include Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite)

Q: The most impressive person I’ve met in the data center industry is:

A: Hu Yoshida (CTO Hitachi Data Systems)

 

Q: 

Virtual or physical?

 

A: Storage virtualisation is now the single most important thing for the data centre. It prepares the ground for a sound cloud computing strategy, which is increasingly important to organisations of all sizes.

 

Q: Public/Private/Hybrid Cloud?

A: All of these are important – which one is the most important will depend on the industry and business in question.