Derek Friend

Individual Investor profile Derek Friend embarked on his telecommunications journey in the 1990s as an Aero Communications Engineer and IT project manager with French aerospace service provider SITA Aero overseeing secure long-range private communications infrastructure working in London, supporting the UK's busiest airports, and evaluating OEM providers. Over the years, Derek achieved significant milestones, notably founding, leading, and secured funding through equity and private investments for the groundbreaking CloudINX, The Cloud-Connected Independent Network eXchange (INX) 2014 project Before this, held senior advisory positions at Vodafone and Gateway, the largest satellite communication provider in Africa. After a PCCW acquisition that resulted in continued support for privatized networking project. Designed for governments, research and low-latency connections to bypass latency-heavy public ISP networking, CloudINX swiftly expanded its operations to 850+ global core and edge data centres, starting its journey with Digital Realty in Vienna, Austria, extending to Menlo Park, California, USA and Teraco (DigitalReality) in South Africa. The project connected UK clients to South Africa through global private VPN links. His company focuses on network design, telco consulting, and large-capacity services. Derek spearheaded other telecom projects, such as the Virtual Data Centre (VDC) connecting to NAP. The project was later acquired by CloudINX receiving PCCW support and Console Connect as its platform billing partner for commercial use. The peering project partnered with strategic US partners GTT and Cogent, promoting self-service solutions across private networks, Internet exchanges, data centres, and cloud operators, resulted in secure, high-performance connections within a private interconnected network providing on demand low latency SD-WAN networking and global colocation across a tier 1 network. The research focused on reducing latency, simplicity, and efficiency by partnering with major providers, extended operations in the USA, UK, and Africa, with the intention to later form Middle East - Africa partnerships in UAE and Saudi Telecom (MTN) using Africa-1 Cable systems (Kenya, Djibouti, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France). The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to provide future solutions for mega connectivity projects in harsh and rural environments, including Neom, Oxagon, Amaala, Qiddiya, and The Line in Saudi Arabia as a member of the GCC Consulting team. Derek's extensive work across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa involved continued collaborations with global providers to expand private networks, addressing scalability, redundancy, and legacy risk challenges. Today his career trajectory encompasses pivotal roles in major telcos and ISPs, consulting across 46 countries, notably contributing to international carriers' entry into Africa. Additionally, held design involvement and product selection in the AWS data centre with the international design team for the Africa region. CloudINX with many accoloades, was awarded networked contracts to deliver patented liquid-cooled ServerDome data centers in Africa and partners with US manufacturers for comprehensive structural design. Both manufacturers specialize in server and data center liquid cooling, designed for demanding environments. CloudINX exclusively holds rights to build the tier 3 ServerDome energy-efficient edge data centers across Africa. The energy-efficient design employs biomimicry engineering dissipates heat within the facility, consumes 27% less power, utilizes 92% less water with an adaptable load of 2MW or higher, incorporates AI to bring cloud computing and storage to the edge for faster processing, ie 5G, IoT, The inaugural data center achieved 100% uptime over eight years and now provides commercial scaled-edge solutions for carriers, enterprises, and networked facilities. Collaborating with KPMG UK on specialized TMT (Telecom Media & Technology) advisory projects, enhancing his proficiency in telecom and business strategies, focusing on satellite, terrestrial, wireless service providers, ISPs, and data centre development. Serves as an independent advisory consultant, contributing insights at conferences and engaging in think tanks focused on high-speed connected developments and safe and smart city projects. He is the author of "Global Communications" and a sought-after speaker on business Strategy. As a board adviser, Derek collaborates with multinational companies, especially those undertaking US and UK telecom expansion into EMEA, engaging with Fortune 500 portfolios, selective private and foreign defense projects working with advisories to Africa. Derek Friend independently collaborates with global providers to scale and secure legacy networks and expansion projects, leveraging his experience leading operational projects as CEO of leading organizations, across diverse regions, including Asia-Pacific, Northern Australia, and Central Africa. He was based at the Satellite Earth Station in rural Papua New Guinea, a remote country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, ensuring communication and partner selection across the Asia-Pacific, Solomon Islands. (Public Domain) Marble Arch USA, a US based company with global offices established in 2012, a (DOD) Department of Defense prime vendor, founded by Robert Brumley, previously appointed by President Reagan as Chief Legal Officer of the Department of Commerce and Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce. Brumley chaired the Reagan Administration policy working group that privatized commercial space transportation. He has extensive experience as an international law practitioner and as a senior executive with global communications firms such as Deutsche Telekom and Bell Atlantic International [Verizon]. The company concentrates on Defense and Aerospace, functioning as an early-stage financing entity. The group Invited Derek Friend to the board, to lead and evaluate the Africa advisory and research for a Laser Light Communications project, constructing a global Extended Ground Network System (XGNS). This optical data engineering initiative connects specific global data centers at unprecedented speeds, driving low-cost communication. Friend oversees a $129 million exclusive partnership with the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOOC) The international project secures optical networking, working with investors and strategic partnerships leveraging new earth laser links to satellites, ultra-fast Data Transport and Network on Demand converging long range, and undersea cable systems. The BETA Project secured $100 million in financing from The US Capital Global Company to roll out 5 Earth Stations across international strategic locations. The 10-year-long project is set to launch in Australia in partnership with telco giant Nokia. Dover, Kent, was selected in 2023 for the UK-based earth station network operation development facility. The company inked a $175 million reciprocal agreement with Inligo Undersea Cable Networks, focusing on Asia-Pacific capacity for upcoming large-scale projects. Deploying an All Optical Hybrid Global Communications Network using *HALO™ boasting service capacity of +33Tbps, comprising 48 sat-sat 200Gbps optical crosslinks and 72 sat-ground 100Gbps optical up/downlinks, interconnects with customer Points of Presence via the proprietary XGNS and StarBeam™ AI operating system, ensuring carrier-grade service, enhanced redundancy, resiliency, privacy, and security. Public projects include progressive research on Laser Light for safer, extreme security, and long-range networks. Other initiatives involve the Center for Innovation, Testing & Evaluation (CITE), focusing on new communication technologies. CommStar Space Communications operates a space-based network satellite fleet serving government and commercial purposes. CommStar-1, for Cislunar Network Access Point (C-NAP) ventures beyond low earth orbit, collaborates with Pegasus, also a prime vendor for the DOD, specializing in high-tech solutions in defense, telecoms, and space.