City Lifeline’s Managing Director, Roger Keenan, recently took part in a 15 minute interview with the Chartered Institute for IT. During the session he talked about colocation data centres and how they differ from cloud storage, plus a more general overview of London’s Tech City and how it compares to Silicon Valley, followed by his thoughts on making the UK more entrepreneurial.
Colocation vs the Cloud
In the first section of the interview, Roger was asked to give a brief overview of what City Lifeline does for its customers, and how its infrastructure and connectivity provides their businesses with a strong and stable supporting technology base from which to operate. He then went on to answer questions about how using a colocation data centre differs from using Cloud storage, expanding more on areas around which types of applications are best suited to each technology.
This covers why some applications are simply not suited to Cloud storage and explains in more detail which types of application - for example those requiring the movement of large quantities of data, or moving data at high speed or in real time - really cannot be achieved with Cloud storage. Lastly, Roger outlines more about the security aspects of Cloud storage vs colocation, examining the types of business where a colocation data centre is an essential requirement and where Cloud storage would simply not be sufficient.
Tech City, the new UK ‘Silicon Valley’?
Moving on from City Lifeline’s core business, Roger was asked for his views on the company’s location in what has become known as Tech City in the East End of London. Originally developing around the Old Street roundabout, which became known as ‘Silicon Roundabout’, Roger explains how the area was renamed Tech City to make it more suitable for the government to sell abroad. He then goes on to talk more about how well the government is promoting the area, but makes it clear that he does not feel it will ever truly rival Silicon Valley in the US.
According to Roger, this is because the UK’s home marketplace is much smaller, and because Silicon Valley feeds off several large universities nearby. And whilst the UK has something similar in the Cambridge Cluster, which is a group if technology businesses that has grown up around Cambridge University, it is unlikely that Tech City will ever gain a similar size and scale to Silicon Valley - though he does believe that it may well become the European centre for creative industries.
Government help for UK growth
On being asked whether the UK even needs a ‘Tech City’, Roger comments that anything which creates economic activity at the moment is being welcomed by the government as this in turn creates taxes. He goes on to talk about what other things he would like to see the government do to help companies grow, and explains why he thinks they are actually making a reasonable job of things at the moment, as well as supporting Tech City effectively through promotion and overseas selling activity.
The interview then discusses whether the ‘Tech City’ model could be spread around the whole country, but Roger makes it clear that this is unlikely to work - as people come together in the areas where they want to work, and where they are surrounded by like-minded people, so it would be almost impossible for the government to dictate where these types of initiatives should be based. In his opinion, the government cannot control their location, but should instead support and promote those that occur naturally.
Encouraging an entrepreneurial spirit
In the last section of the interview, Roger is asked for his advice on what companies can do to help them survive after the first 18 months, to make them ultimately profitable and hence saleable. He makes it clear that there is no substitute for hard work, and that developing a strong team around you as the business founder is also vital to success. The other key point he mentions is managing cash flow effectively, going on to talk more about what is required in order to maintain financial stability.
Moving on from how new businesses can maintain and build upon their successes, Roger talks about how TV programmes such as The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den have done much to support the entrepreneurial spirit in the UK. He explains that, while primarily developed as entertainment, they do help people to see what is possible and to consider setting up their own businesses as a career choice - something which has historically been more prevalent in the US than the UK. He concludes my reminding us that education is vital, and that even just an A Level in Business Studies can set an entrepreneur on the path to success.
