Silvin Galus: We are building an expert Edge computing team in Košice

Silvin Galus is an ambassador of Big Data and Edge Computing in the largest IT company in the East of Slovakia. He is the Product Delivery Manager and he gave us an overview of the direction of Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia in these areas in an interview.

What emphasis do you place on Big Data in DT ITSO SK?

 We are mainly focused on the use of Big Data in the industry on platforms and infrastructure. It’s a challenge, we are trying to expand our portfolio with specific solutions for our customers. We want to focus on data analytics and on solutions that enable clients to collect and analyse large amounts of data. I have been working with the Big Data team at DT ITSO SK for 5 years, but now most of my focus is on Edge computing.

For me personally it is interesting, creative but also challenging work. We offer work with technologies that one does not normally encounter and there is a lot of creativity involved, because solutions for customers are often custom-made. It’s not a task set from A to Z, there are new situations and technological challenges to face on a daily basis.

Regarding Edge computing, how long have you been dealing with this topic in Košice?

We have been working on Edge computing in the company since 2019. This initiative started as a new project that I was put in charge of when I took over the global position. We are still a fairly new team of about 20 experts. Our goal is to build this service with a focus on architecture, product development, and promoting new opportunities.

Who are the target customers for your projects?

We primarily target customers in the industrial sector, but also in resell and manufacturing. We design platforms for clients that enable the collection and processing of large amounts of data. This includes the development of infrastructure outside of datacenters, which we custom design according to the customer’s needs. We develop a self-service platform that ensures that the application runs smooth on-premise. The entire product development, both the process and technical part, takes place in our company in Košice. The application will be user-friendly at the level of conventional products, but also affordable. The computing power will be performed directly at the place where the data are generated. In automated production there are specific technical requirements for low latency, high data transfer, large amounts of data and, of course also requirements in terms of security and data sensitivity.

Do you have any other similar projects?

We are currently running a project for one of the biggest players in the oil and gas industry, who needs to service various applications that run on petrol stations. We are developing a data collection and analysis platform for software that also focuses on identifying problem customers, for example.

What does cybersecurity for industry solutions look like?

In case of physical infrastructures that we deliver to clients, these are closed systems where, for the most part, the customer himself doesn’t have access and we give them access to the interface where the data are evaluated. Often we have to implement encryption and redundancy in case of outages, but that’s an obvious part of the solution. All of our products have to go through a rigorous security process and subsequent auditing, which is part of all new products that T-Systems International places on the market. During this phase, we work with our internal Security department to evaluate the security of the products.

Big data and Edge computing – what do you think the future holds? 

There are countless technologies in the field of Big data, it is as broad a concept as cloud computing for example. It’s a set of technologies with different uses and purposes, we’re looking at specific parts of it.

What was your career at DT ITSO SK like?

In 2015, I took a management position after resigning from my previous job where I worked as an IT consultant. Since joining, I have helped to start up the Big Data team, which was new at the time. Alongside this, I had the privilege of starting other projects, especially in the area of migrating customer datacenters to the cloud. I managed two teams in this area, I helped to start a team of project managers and architects, I was also involved in training activities, but I still tried to stay close to the technology and deal with specific products and projects.

What do you see as the added value of the brand?  

First and foremost, it’s the feeling of being proud of something. Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia gives many people a lot of room for self-fulfilment. If a person has the desire and feels fulfilled by the job, they have the opportunity to grow. It doesn’t matter whether it’s technical or managerial job. Such success may not be common in every company.

What new challenges are ahead of you?

We are currently trying to expand our portfolio in the area of cloud applications (Managed Kubernetes on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Open Telekom Cloud, Bare Metal). We are initiating a re-skilling program in DT ITSO SK so that current employees working at the operating systems level can expand their knowledge and skills closer to applications and clouds.