As the global situation continues to evolve we are updating our previous notifications with the latest information at this time.

We wish to assure you that all data centres are currently in full operation, including those with limited or restricted access.

Physical site access

The restrictions on people movements and requirements for social distance and isolation, both locally and globally are naturally now having an effect on visitors to sites.

Many of Continent 8’s geographical locations have closed their borders, implemented restrictions on gatherings and a number are employing curfews, all of which are having effects for any potential visitor to a C8 data centre.

To minimise the risk of operational impact and for the health and safety of your employees, our employees, site security and our communities, we now advise that:

• A number of our 3^rd party data centres in France, Spain and Italy are now unable to permit visitors. It is expected that these restrictions will also increase to the UK and the Netherlands in the coming days. All activity at these sites should be executed utilising remote hands services (see below).
• One of our facilities in Malta is restricting visits to emergency only and requires a minimum of 72hrs notice.
• For those locations which remain accessible there is an appointment approach being taken – to manage people movements and to ensure social distancing can be achieved. Depending on site’s situation will depend on the length of wait required for appointment slots. Access request can be made in the usual manner via Support along with the requested days / times. Support will revert to confirm availability and that access is arranged or suggest alternatives.
• In all cases, for sites which remain open please expect additional controls, further checks and requirements to observe and adhere to guidance for limiting infection risk.
• Any Data Centre access requests must be for critical works only
• The latest specific details for a particular site can be obtained from support@continent8.com

Remote Hands Services

• Remain available at all sites, however their use should be restricted to business critical operations only where possible. This is to manage demand, ensure availability and reduce length of wait in busy sites.

New installations / project work

• If there is an urgent planned installation or project delivery (non-critical) please approach and discuss with your account manager in order that this can be accommodated and managed to minimise risk for all. We would encourage you to undertake any such work utilising Remote Hands wherever possible.

We thank you for your continued understanding at this time.

Following yesterday’s update, over the past 24 hours, a number of our co-location partners have implemented additional steps to manage and reduce physical risk at their data centre sites, whilst maintaining availability and service.

At this time all sites are operating normally and remote hands services remain available at all sites.

Revised data centre access arrangements

To minimise the risk of operational impact and for the health and safety of your employees, our employees, site security and our communities, we now ask that customers adhere to the following guidelines:

• Restrict physical data centre visits to critical works only
• Leverage remote hands services whenever possible to reduce the number of people on site – giving as much notice as possible
• It can be expected that demand for remote hands will be higher in the coming days and weeks – please factor this into plans and response times.
• Minimise the number of people and the amount of time spent in any facility, even in a critical situation.

Customers that have a critical need to access data centres should only do so if they:

• Do not have any cold or flu-like symptoms
• Have not been out of the country within the last two weeks
• Have had no known contact with someone in that same period who has been diagnosed with COVID-19
• Upon arrival at the data centre, visitors should wash hands thoroughly before proceeding to their cage/cabinet, conduct their work and then exit the facility as quickly and efficiently as possible
• If Continent 8 or partner DC employees or security are escorting a customer representative to their cage or cabinet, they will do so while maintaining a safe distance

The goal of this change is to reduce risk, amount of traffic whilst maintaining service and availability for critical site access.

If there is an urgent planned installation or project delivery (non-critical) please approach and discuss with your account manager in order that this can be accommodated and managed to minimise risk for all.

Please note that this is a fluid and evolving situation; current procedures and guidelines may be changed at any time by our partners.

We thank you for your continued understanding at this time.

Continent 8 continues to monitor, respond and adapt to the rapidly changing global COVID-19 outbreak. As a further update to the previous guidance issued on Thursday 12^th March a status and response update is below:-

Current status

• All Continent 8 customer-facing data centres remain operating normally at this time
• Due to the regional restrictions and guidance issued by Governments Continent 8 now has a large amount of our staff working remotely and that number will likely increase in the coming days. As a result of this there are no changes to service or service availability and all sites remain with on-site cover as applicable.
• In terms of site access; due to the Government-imposed travel and people movement restrictions a small number of European sites are now not accessible in person at this time, affected customers have been contacted separately.
• In addition, travel guidance in many countries now prohibits or restricts people movement, with mandatory quarantine in place in many locations. In all cases, full adherence to travel guidance in the location of origin and destination now applies, this is also restricting ability for customers to travel to our locations.
• Our partners continue to implement a range of additional controls around health monitoring and access control. Per-site guidance, which is changing daily, is available by contacting Support@continent8.com
• Remote hands services remain available at all sites.
• Whilst no changes to service levels or response times have been communicated by co-location partners it can be expected that demand for remote hands will be higher in the coming days and weeks. We will of course monitor this and communicate any substantive change.
• All staff, customers and partners must at all times follow the guidance issued by the WHO and local health authorities.

Planning considerations

• Given the recent restrictions on people movement a working assumption can be made that in all sites we may become wholly reliant on availability of local hands and eyes services on the ground, or on call – either C8 or partner.
• The level and availability of service available may become location dependent, largely dictated by the local staffing availability, people movement restrictions and ongoing infection situations.
• It is feasible that in high-demand locations that break/fix activities may require to take priority over projects, new installations or new deployments.
• It may also be that additional sites become inaccessible to visitors due to local or Governmental restrictions, or as a result of identified infection.
• Whilst these scenarios remain low risk we will do everything possible to minimise any effect at this time they should be factored in as part of any planning activity currently underway.

We are continuing to monitor developments on a daily basis and will continue to update guidance as necessary.

Should you have any queries, please contact Continent 8 Support at:

Phone: Europe + 44 1624 694611 or North America + 1 514 461 5111

Email:  support@continent8.com

Continuing to build on our focus on the emerging markets and regulatory changes across Latin America, Continent 8 made a strategic incorporation by appointing Gabriel Szlaifsztein, former CTO for Zonamerica, to the firm’s team as a new LATAM Consultant. With great knowledge of all infrastructure networks in Latin America, our expert spoke with GMB about his new position, the company’s interest in Brazil and its objectives for 2020.

GMB: You have recently been appointed by Continent 8 to work in the region. Tell us a little about you’re arrival and what is your primary role now in this company?

Gabriel Szlaifsztein: I was working as CTO for Zonamerica, a free trade zone, established in Uruguay Colombia, EEUU and China. My responsibilities were to provide innovative IT solutions to +350 companies established mainly in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.

Nowadays, my role in Continent 8 comprises mainly of “Business Development”, supporting the global company to interact with companies and regulators in LATAM, detect opportunities and establish an operational infrastructure interconnected with Continent 8’s network of data centers.

What is your opinion about the situation of sports betting regulation in Brazil? First, it was thought about as an unlimited authorization scheme and now they went to grant 30 licenses. How do you see this situation?

At this stage the regulation is leading local operators strategy, if the result is a scheme that will be for 30 licenses, it sounds better than an unlimited number of licenses. Brazil is a very big country, in a regulated and limited licenses market there will be more transparency and benefits for players, operators and the regulator.

You are a consultant for Continent 8 but if the Brazilian government contacts you, what are the first 3 key tips that you would give them in terms of gambling legalization?

• Ensure where data is located
• Clearly define required statistics to assist in analysis and applying fair control mechanisms
• Player safety controls – legalization enables opportunity for gaming to be an activity which people do occasionally, and which helps them relax or have fun.

In this sense, do you see Continent 8 with great chances and plans to arrive in Brazil in the short term? What could the company bring to the market and / or the government?

Continent 8 works in regulated markets, and Brazil will be a good opportunity for us to expand our global network and services to help both local and international operators to establish their operation in a secure and highly resilient manner. Continent 8 has 20+ years of experience providing connectivity, security, high availability, infrastructure and data center services to the online gaming sector.

How did you consider the system chosen by the City of Buenos Aires for its future online gaming market?

City of Buenos Aires has gained valuable experience from Colombia, Spain and many others. It is an important first step and is a strong model however some articles are very generalist and some articles are very detailed. I understand that operators will have many questions just to comply with the requirements to get the license, and the regulator will publish documents clarifying this.

We live at a stage of varied legislation in Latin America in terms of gambling. How do you see the region in general? Do you consider its growth slow or going at the expected rate?

In my opinion it is going slow, Governments should move faster to develop the regulation as a benefit for them in terms of collection, transparency and security of the activity. People in Latin America gamble, despite if regulated or not, the difference are the benefits mentioned above.

Why are countries in LATAM so advanced and others so backward in online gaming legislation? Which do you see as an example to follow?

As we all know, Colombia is an example to follow, they understood the benefits for all the parties of a regulated market and implemented the law. Argentina is similar, but not fully implemented. In Latin America there are multiple visions, the first thing to understand is that in some countries gambling is forbidden, and others there is a grey market (not strictly regulated) and they feel comfortable with that. Particularly Brazil is moving to a regulated market, but the unregulated activity is very strong and this maybe slows the transformation to regulated.

Regarding technology, security and transparency in gambling, how do you analyze? the Latin American market? Is it somehow late or at some point at the level of Europe?

Regarding technology Latin America has the technology but is not configured to support the activity considering risks of attacks and failures. Business requires high levels of security, replication, strong connectivity and availability as Continent 8 have implemented in 50 other global locations serving the online industry.

What are your short and medium-term objectives within Continent 8 for LATAM? What goals would you like to reach by the end of 2020?

The main objectives are:

• To follow Continent 8 strategy to support new markets and help operators to establish high quality operations in Latin America
• Interact with the regulators supporting best practices that Continent 8 can share as a technology provider with global experience
• Participate in the gaming ecosystem of the region explaining the benefits of Continent 8 as a specialized technology partner and connecting LATAM to the rest of the world to encourage global players to enter LATAM, as well are supporting local providers
• Help customers to certify their technology and collaborate with them providing our knowledge of the region

Source: Games Magazine Brazil

In light of ongoing developments regarding the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) we wanted to share the latest information regarding our response to this developing situation – both corporately and practically.

Please be advised that we are taking the situation very seriously; the health and safety of our customers, our employees and our partners is our primary concern.

There have been a number of additional developments in the past 48 hours at key sites for Continent 8 and varying travel and quarantine restrictions continue to be imposed by Governments globally. We remain following the direction of the World Health Organisation and guidance of the local health authorities in the jurisdictions we operate to ensure we are best placed to minimise any potential effects.

Continent 8’s Business Operations:

Continent 8 has robust business continuity plans in place to provide direction to our teams in the event that the COVID-19 virus poses a health and safety threat to our customers, partners or employees, or otherwise threatens our ability to effectively deliver services.

As a global business with geographically separated teams we have extensive remote and teleworking capability. Our plans therefore allow for scenarios such as the current one unfolding where remote working may become mandatory. In the past 24hrs additional controls have been placed by the Governments of Malta and Ireland to which we are adhering in full. At this stage neither are expected to have any effect on service or service availability.

Local site access and remote hands services will, subject to any location or Government imposed lockdowns, remain available too. This situation is currently unlikely to change, however if there are any further developments we will advise all customers in any affected location.

We have a number of contingency plans underway in readiness, such as:-

• Reduce staff to minimum (critical only) levels at all Continent 8 locations.
• Identify critical staff who must be on-site and prepared to shelter in place for up to 48-72 hours if necessary.
• Engage critical suppliers to understand their Pandemic Response Plans and review their capacity to provide service during any long-term event.
• Ensure a heightened Customer Communication plan exists to maintain and provide for customer feedback.

Current situation at Continent 8 and partner data centres

At this time all Continent 8 customer-facing data centres are reporting as operating normally, with a number of heightened awareness and additional control measures in place based on regional guidance.

At our partner sites, there are varying additional controls and measures in place. These range from enhanced hygiene through to temperature verification, travel history checks and, at a small number of sites, mandatory wearing of protective masks. Guidance in some locations is changing daily.

Continent 8 continues to monitor the situation closely and, should new guidelines or precautions from any Government or health organisational body be recommended, we will implement immediately.

If you require any further information regarding the COVID-19 infection and to reduce exposure to the illness, please follow the below link to the World Health Organisation website.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019