Panelists discuss Cybersecurity, Wiring Infrastructure at DE-CIX Summit
What are the challenges businesses face to not only keep customers happy, but also secure?
This was the highlight of the DE-CIX Summit held at CBRE Midtown Manhattan on Oct 13, where panelists from top telecommunication companies discussed hurdles in the future of connectivity. Ed d’Agostino, Vice President of DE-CIX North America, served as the main moderator for the morning event.
Panelists did not hold back opinions on the future of connectivity and wiring in New York City and beyond.
“There’s a great duct system that goes underneath the city streets, but it’s very congested. “It’s hard to manage,” Ray La Chance, CEO of ZenFi said. “So the primary challenge, number one for building fiber in this town is really the duct system, and the expense of dealing with that.”
Shrihari Pandit, CEO of Stealth Communications added that there should be a better way to manage it.
“I think to make broadband really available and to make all these buildings cost effective, a common duct system is required,” he said. “I go to a building sometimes and I see there’s like five different ducts from each different company built and this is hilarious.”
La Chance pointed out problems with municipalities and rules governing wiring infrastructure.
“We get conflicting messages,” La Chance said. “One message from the city (New York) is we’d like to propagate broadband access to the under served and every part of the city. On the other hand they put a franchise model in place that charges us per foot of network that we deploy.”
The event had another panel titled, ‘Impacts of the Cloud on Network to Network Connectivity’.
“Small businesses want to know, How can I get the best service with longevity?” New York City Wired Editor-in-Chief, Monica Link said. “Cybersecurity is also a huge issue among small and mid-sized businesses shopping for cloud.” Link also served as a moderator for the Connectivity To Anywhere – Under The Asphalt And Beyond Buildings, panel discussion.
Ivo Ivanov, executive board member of DE-CIX, a carrier and data-center neutral internet exchange point, assured customers that their platform protects them and their data. The company launched a new service In Munich Thursday, which will also be available in Frankfurt, called DE-CIX Cloud Direct. Ivanov describes the service as a “very secure, dedicated, private link to a variety of different cloud operators or cloud aggregation providers.”
Cloud panel moderator Ilissa Miller, CEO of iMiller Public Relations left the audience with this thought.
“Being in the cloud presents us all with opportunities to look at our businesses from a very different perspective,” she said. “I think that security at each layer of the platforms, the capabilities that we’re providing access to is really important, and having ownership of your own security of what you are responsible for.”
