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Here at Cogeco Peer 1, we always like to keep up to date with the latest events in this constantly evolving industry to ensure we continue to collaborate with innovators and offer the best technology and exceptional service to our customers. With May well underway, I wanted to highlight some of the North American and UK events we’ll be attending and speaking at. It’s going to be an exciting and busy couple of months, and we can’t wait to be on the road, meeting clients, prospects and old friends! Collision, Toronto, Canada – May 20th – 23rd In its fifth year, Collision is the fastest-growing tech conference in North America, and we are thrilled to be exhibiting alongside some of the biggest makers and shakers the industry has to offer. Some of these inspiring speakers this year will include Ev Williams, the CEO of Medium, Peggy Johnson, the Executive Vice…

In my last post, I explored one of the biggest trends of the moment – AI and emerging technologies. I’d now like to take a step back and focus on the critical infrastructure that underpins these transformational technologies – connectivity. Mobility, flexibility and agility have become table stakes for a successful business and is only possible through powerful and reliable network connectivity. Any loss of connection or downtime can lead to significant financial and commercial consequences. It’s therefore imperative that businesses ensure they have the necessary infrastructure in place to facilitate enterprise connectivity, allowing for greater efficiency, productivity and business growth. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, Cisco predicts that annual global IP traffic will reach 3.3 zettabytes per year by 2021, and the number of devices connected to IP networks will be more than three times the global population by 2021. Furthering this, global analyst house Gartner, predicts…

Cloud-based computing, networking and storage infrastructure and cloud-native applications are standard choices for CIOs in most industries, and in companies of all sizes. However, not every workload is suitable or can easily be moved to the cloud. While 93% of companies will say they are running on the cloud only 25% are running in production. Here are two reality checks about the ‘exploding cloud adoption’ statistics: Reality Check 183% of enterprise workloads will be in the cloud by 2020. IT spend to shift to cloud over next 5 years will be USD 1,000,000,000,000. Reality Check 230% of enterprises operating in the cloud are moving back to an on-premise model as a result of concerns around latency, performance in the public cloud, data sovereignty changes, better on-premise clouds and cost issues. So, what is the real truth? Both are true. And, this dichotomy cements the fact that IT infrastructures are increasingly…

I’m delighted to announce that today marks the official close of Digital Colony’s acquisition of Cogeco Peer 1. This is an exciting evolution for us as it will give us more independence and agility which will enable us to focus on our employee, customer and partner success. Our new company, which will be renamed in the coming weeks, will remain headquartered in Toronto, Canada and will continue to deliver exceptional products and solutions, through two newly created business units. The Fiber business unit will become Canada’s first neutral-host provider of small cell and 5G infrastructure and enterprise and wholesale fiber connectivity. The other business unit will concentrate on growing the company’s data center portfolio in North America and Europe, offering hybrid-solutions and managed services to a global customer base. I am very grateful for what we have accomplished together with Cogeco Communications. Under our new ownership, we will contribute to…

Occasionally in this blog series, I like to take the time to highlight some of the interesting developments in our industry and to look at where Cogeco Peer 1 fits in. Throughout my career, the promise and challenge of understanding and adopting emerging technologies has been a common theme. Lately, that challenge has particularly focused on artificial intelligence (AI), a massive technological advancement that is being adopted at an increasing rate within the enterprise. In fact, a recent Gartner CIO Survey showed that the number of organisations using AI has rocketed 270% since 2015. However, conversations I’ve been having with our customers show that there are still several barriers that are hindering the adoption of AI, despite the industry excitement. These include: The appropriate infrastructure not being in place The right people available to manage such a technology shift Fear of the unknown: business continuity and disruption Last month I…

In recent years, organisations have come to recognise digital transformation as a long-term investment. According to Forrester, executives believe that by 2020 as much as 50% of their revenue will be driven by digital changes to their businesses. Companies large and small are quickly realising that if they do not transform – they will soon lag behind. The pace of innovation over the past few decades has been staggering and is only set to increase, with IDC predicting that worldwide spending on the technologies and services that enable digital transformation will reach almost $2 trillion by 2022. Over the years, the endless opportunities and promises which technology affords us, has become well known among IT decision-makers, and many businesses are welcoming with open arms. New technologies have proven essential in driving business growth, improving customer experience and increasing efficiency. Technologies which were once labelled ‘emerging’, such as the cloud, connected…