One of the challenges a business has always faced is where their data is located. Previously UK companies have invested thousands in their own IT infrastructure to allow them to stay in control of their service and more importantly the location of their data. The problems with this approach have been many, from data encryption right the way through to server room air conditioning and UPS cover, all of which come at a big capex cost and rolling agreements for servicing and warranty and eventual replacement.
With the release of Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and Amazon Web Services, cloud computing has become more accepted and easier to use. Whilst these tools offer most companies the ability to scale quickly with no upfront costs, the fact remains that most of the current cloud offerings do not locate data within the UK. This knowledge coupled with the collapse of the safe harbour agreement and Microsofts long running legal battle against the US government, which believes it has the right to force domestic companies to surrender data even when its held overseas means that companies are now being forced to review their use of cloud services particularly when data is of a sensitive nature.
Whilst Microsoft has announced the opening of their UK Azure offering organisations like the MoD said that none of the 230k plus staff will be allowed to store classified documents on Azure.
As we work with many companies in data secure sectors we know all too well about the cost of owning your own infrastructure, the commitment needed to ensure data is secure, the finance required to keep the infrastructure in tune with business needs. We also know the benefits of cloud computing. After working with many of our clients we found a common thread, companies want the benefits of cloud computing i.e. scalability, a vastly reduced capex, removing the cost and responsibility of ownership, not having to continually invest in hardware upgrades or warranties etc but also wanted the benefit of knowing the data is secured within the UK.
After many months of planning and working with our clients we are very proud to announce that we have invested a significant amount of money in to creating the Yellowbus UK Cloud Solution. The solution resides within several racks situated in a state of the art data centres within the UK which are ISO27001 certified, PCI compliant and secured to UK government IL4 standards. The data centres benefit from being wholly owned, are built on best of breed enterprise grade infrastructure, they are ultra-secure, highly connected and carrier neutral. Each rack is built using enterprise class firewalls, switches, servers and sans all of which allow us to offer our clients all of the benefits of cloud computing safe in the knowledge that their data is secure and will remain within the UK.
The solution allows us to align our clients growing business needs with the latest scalable technology. Whilst this new offering facilitates granular configuration for each client allowing them to jump to the cloud right now no matter how complex their current infrastructure is, it can also offer the ability for a client to migrate their business needs in a more staggered roll out and offer innovative solutions with a fresh approach to how a business uses its IT and software solutions.
What does this mean for our clients? In short it means that we are now providing an easy way to migrate to the cloud from simple compute and data store requirements right the way through to VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) and application streaming. It can simplify and stream classic client/server applications no matter what programming language they are in and present them on any device, solve long winded application updates and server maintenance windows, consolidate security, reduce the time required to get new sites and personnel mobilised. It also means that when implemented, clients can reap the benefits of cloud, reduce their capex, not worry about hardware upgrades and warranty renewals and most importantly, keep their data within UK.
Cloud solutions can help your business no matter what size, make-up, location or sector so there has never been a better time to consider cloud solutions and we feel that this significant investment puts us ahead of the game with every core benefit being passed on to our clients.
If you would like a totally impartial chat about what the cloud might be able to do for your business please contact one of our customer success team.
