Through the partnership with SDC, R-365 will be able to offer its clients a cost-effective and high quality outsourced solution that is designed to remove many of its clients’ current barriers to Cloud services, including cost, skills shortages and lack of a high quality, secure data centre.
Jeremy Willson, Director, R-365, explains, “R-365 is a specialist in providing mid-market companies with Cloud solutions for their IBM infrastructure. In recent years, we have identified that many organisations are struggling to properly understand and use Cloud services, an issue that has arisen mainly due to the fact that many have their own data centres, which can frequently be sub-optimally scoped and managed.”
He continues, “In addition, our customers have typically not invested a lot in disaster recovery and are now realising its significance. Through this partnership with Sovereign Data Connect, we are able to solve both issues at the same time.”
Specialising in the mid-market, R-365’s objective is to deliver Cloud solutions for its clients’ IBM infrastructure, including IBM Power Servers, hosted in a secure, power efficient Data Centre reducing running costs alongside the need to support a non-strategic OS from the client’s data room. R-365 also offers hosted application and infrastructure services (IaaS) from locations using the advantages of low cost bandwidth.
The IT provider selected Sovereign Data Connect for a number of reasons, the location of the SDC data centre being outside central London but still within close proximity being key. “London is too expensive,” Willson says. “Yet the data links that SDC has to London are very important and extremely valuable.”
In addition, both SDC and R-365 provide extremely complimentary services, with a large number of mid-market customers, knowledge of the IBM solution portfolio and a managed service approach. “It is a very good partnership,” Willson adds. He continues, “SDC goes the extra mile in its 24-hour customer service and service desk capability, something of significant differentiation in offering business critical services.”
Through the partnership, R-365 aims to further educate its clients in the benefits achievable through investing in Cloud services and present them with a compelling reason to do so. “Approximately 60% of our average client’s IT budget currently goes on hardware. Cloud services, when properly executed and managed, take away a lot of the problems at less cost than they could ever imagine,” Willson states. In conjunction with SDC, R-365 can offer a full managed service, with a 24 hour service desk and managed services.
As part of the secure service provided by SDC, the data centre is monitored at all times, with restricted access and locked server racks. The servers are also located within their own managed environment, with air temperature and moisture ingress monitored and controlled, for example. SDC’s in-house engineers are also available 24/7 to provide a rapid response to any issues that may arise, preventing potential incursions from escalating into a disaster.
Willson concludes, “SDC provides a service which is over and above our and our clients’ expectations and has the ability to do a lot more for us than other pure data centre suppliers would ever do. Anything we ask for is sorted out straightaway, enabling us to maintain a continuous operation. Being able to provide us with such a high level of service whilst still remaining cost effective is enabling us to become even more integral to our clients’ IT strategy and a great, like-minded company to deal with.”