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30/11/2004 - hSo is Watching Endemol backs up Big Brother with remote solution from hSo As the company behind Big Brother, 'reality tv' producer Endemol needs to back up vast amounts of data, and be able to restore it immediately. "we don't have the luxury of extendable deadlines", said Simon Croydon, Endemol's Head of IT. Endemol turned to Managed Solutions provider hSo...more 5/11/2004 - Data storage – worth the investment? A case study: Disaster recovery in action at ioG In June 2004, iOG came to rely on hSo:VAULT when a multiple server crash disabled operations. It was the worst data crisis in the company's history, and hSo had to work closely with iOG to implement a strategic response to restore business operations...more 22/09/2004 - Managed IT services available to UK SMEs for first time SMEs to reap benefits of affordable and tailored managed services. Now SMEs don't have to suffer the financial pain of a significant up-front investment and a long-term commitment to technology solutions that may not meet their company's requirements. Instead they can opt for a fully managed solution on a 'pay as you go' basis with the option to adjust and upgrade the service to meet changing demands....more 13/07/2004 - hSo introduces exciting new opportunity for resellers to share in the booming business continuity market Significant margins and repeat business opportunities for the indirect channel According to recent DTI figures, only 20% of UK companies have an effective business continuity or disaster recovery plan in place, indicating that most businesses are not set up to cope with the detrimental impact caused by system failure. In order to help address this issue and offer a lucrative new revenue stream to the reseller community, hSo, a leading integrated communications provider, is introducing hSo Vault to the channel...more 18/05/2004 - VoIP from hSo to keep English National Opera in fine voice hSo set to ensure significant cost savings, quality of service and business continuity for ENO English National Opera has chosen to work closely with leading integrated communications provider, hSo, in a move designed to ensure that its voice and data requirements are fully 'in tune' with its ongoing business requirements. In addition to the transition to hSo's fully managed Voice+ Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, ENO has also selected hSo's innovative data backup and recovery solution, hSo Vault. ...more 21/04/2004 - Ex COLT President and CEO joins hSo as non-executive director hSo seeks to exploit opportunities as Telco market continues to consolidate One of the UK's most successful IT and communications managed services providers, hSo, has appointed Peter Manning as a Non-Executive Director ...more 07/01/2004 - Nice idea but BT's first-ever UK Wireless Broadband Week might just miss the point Commercial Landlords must do more hSo, one of the UK's leading integrated communications suppliers, welcomes the move by BT to stage Wireless Broadband Week (26 January - 1 February) but feels that a huge opportunity will be missed if significant emphasis is not placed on educating the business and commercial property sectors alongside consumer markets ...more
hSo is WatchingEndemol backs up Big Brother with remote solution from hSo Customer Profile: The company behind the UK's most famous reality TV show, Big Brother, is Endemol UK Productions. Producing over 8,000 hours of programmes for British television, Endemol has also created some of the biggest national TV hits including: The Games, Changing Rooms, Ground Force, Fame Academy and Restoration. The challenge: After a flying start with record viewing figures, Big Brother 5 peaked at 7.2 million receiving its highest ever share of viewers for a Big Brother UK opening night since the programme was launched in 2000. Such high profile programmes generate large volumes of information, and Endemol's data storage system holds documents from film scripts, to running orders and essential contact details. Currently, the company requires the capacity to store a massive 1250GB of data to ensure the smooth production of its shows. Simon Croyden, Endemol's Head of IT explains: "A secure, reliable back-up system is very important in the fast-paced, television production market not only for disaster recovery but also for business continuity. The fact that we produce 'reality tv' means we need to be able to restore data immediately as we don't have the luxury of extendable deadlines. If disaster occurred, it may mean trying to regenerate huge tasks such as rewriting scripts. "We previously backed-up our data on tape and managed this activity from a separate location. This meant the IT team had to transport the back-up tapes containing highly sensitive and commercially invaluable information between offices. This process was insecure and also prevented us from retrieving data at an efficient rate in the event of a disaster. " The Solution: Endemol opted for hSo's Vault product to provide its entire disaster recovery and business continuity solution at the companies head offices in London and Birmingham, in time to support the production staff throughout the broadcast of Big Brother 5. hSo Vault provides a remotely managed and online back-up system and was installed using Endemol's existing internet connection. It took less than a week to upload one full set of data which involved working outside of production hours to install Vault and configure servers. All data is now encrypted and sent to the hSo Data Centre where Endemol can remotely access its archived data filing system and receive the benefits of 24 hour customer support. Simon Croyden explains: "We trialled Vault throughout the production of Fame Academy 2003 and were impressed with the support provided by hSo for the programme's duration. It was cost-effective to roll-out and ensures we have a resilient disaster recovery plan in place. The solution was installed with minimum fuss and effort and compliments our existing communications infrastructure." The Benefits: hSo Vault allows Endemol a much more sophisticated and secure management of its mission critical data than the previous tape solution via the 'always on' access to online monitoring and management facility. Different teams within the operation can vary when to back-up according to the stage in the production cycle. Simon Croyden concludes: "hSo Vault has transformed the way Endemol handles the task of backing-up vast amounts of data. Now, the IT department is able to prioritise exactly what types of data are backed-up and at what intervals, to best suit Endemol's needs. If a member of staff has lost data, they can now phone our IT department, who are able to restore any missing information whilst they are still on the phone, irrespective of any other back-up taking place. "The system has provided Endemol and Big Brother with a fail-proof disaster recovery plan. If our data is irregular a member of the hSo team will contact us, and if a disaster did occur we could restore data within minutes. Previously it would have taken up to 24 hours because of the time required to download taped data. Vault has revolutionised the way Endemol would handle disaster recovery and business continuity." ENDS Further Information on hSo Vault: hSo Vault not only offers compelling business and IT benefits but also improved customer service as part of the proposition. Customers enjoy improved control over their company data via 'always on' access to online monitoring and management facilities including billing options. Users are also able to determine exactly what types of data are backed up and at what intervals to best suit their needs. Requiring no further client hardware investment, hSo Vault offers true value for money in terms of reducing IT management time and delivering a scaleable solution to cope with increasing data generation. Systems failure and the threat of downtime are much reduced in comparison to the alternative 'on site' storage of data via tape download. In the event of a business systems failure there is no need to physically transfer data tapes from one location to another saving time and ensuring business performance is not compromised. - ENDS - For further information, please contact: Katrina Walker/Kelly Stroud top | Data storage – worth the investment?Disaster recovery in action at iOG iOG is one of the UK's leading asset management companies leasing industrial property across Europe. By establishing joint ventures with local property experts in Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and The Netherlands, the company has become a leader in the management of investment funds for both the UK and mainland European industrial investment markets. The iOG UK Investment Division alone administers a portfolio of over 120 industrial estates, with a value in excess of £375 million. Expanding business operations and data generation led to iOG examining the way its data was protected. In January 2004 - following an in-depth evaluation of the data protection services available - the company opted to install hSo:VAULT, a managed online remote back-up service. Prior to this, iOG had relied on an on-site tape system to protect its assets and customer information. Christian Martin, head of IT at iOG says: "We chose hSo:VAULT because it provided the high level of security and reliability we needed. We knew our data would be safe in the event of a disaster. And, the fact that it's a remote, managed solution meant we’d have more time to focus on other critical IT tasks." A new study by Enterprise Strategy Group reveals that data protection is a growing concern for many businesses. The study predicts the worldwide market for back-up and recovery products will increase at a 16% compound annual growth rate through 2006. Corporate governance, business continuity and information security are identified as key factors stimulating companies to increase spending in this area. With the hSo:VAULT solution, data is encrypted before being transferred to the remote hSo data centre. iOG prioritises what types of data are backed-up, and at what frequency. Chris Evans, managing director of hSo, adds: "hSo:VAULT has an agent-less architecture, which enables it to be integrated into iOG's existing system with minimal fuss - this meant we could get the solution up and running without delay." In June 2004, iOG came to rely on hSo:VAULT when a multiple server crash disabled operations. It was the worst data crisis in the company's history, and hSo had to work closely with iOG to implement a strategic response to restore business operations as quickly as possible. The course of events On Sunday night the iOG servers went down, resulting in the loss of 600 gigabytes of company information. Employees were left with no access to email, company files or accounts. Stage One: Using the hSo:VAULT system, iOG was able to begin recovering files immediately. An hSo technician was also on-hand to assist in the restoration. Repairs to the servers started and hSo worked through the night to restore the servers, so that business could begin, as normal, the following day. "During a business systems failure, time is critical because there is the hidden cost of employee downtime. As IT systems also become more complex, there is a growing need for round-the-clock managed technical support service. " says Evans. Stage Two: To minimise the impact of the event, hSo implemented a staged recovery where iOG prioritised the data that needed to be recovered immediately. Martin comments, "The ability to prioritise files for restoration meant that we could get the business up and running as quickly as possible." Evans adds: "During the data recovery process, hSo:VAULT customers can use their existing Internet connections to retrieve their backed-up files from hSo data centres. An online solution means they don't have to physically transfer data tapes from one location to another, delivering significant time and cost savings. "To protect iOG and their customer information, all data was encrypted prior to being transferred via hSo's remote storage facility. Additional security features ensured that at all times only iOG could view the password-protected data." Stage Three: Given the breadth of iOG's international operations - with satellite offices in locations including Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen and Warsaw - regaining access to communication and organisational tools was a high priority. hSo's next task was to ensure the iOG workforce had full access to their email and calendars. While regaining access was essential for all iOG employees, individual departments within the company had unique priorities for file recovery. Stage Four: By this time, data was being recovered at a rate faster than 30 seconds per file - and the bulk of the restoration had been achieved. Martin comments: "The back-up solution was recovering all of the information we had lost. Our previous data recovery plan could have been unreliable if disaster struck. We were backing up all of our data on tapes that were only taken off site once a week. Tapes can be damaged easily, which would have presented a huge problem during an outage such as this. hSo:VAULT has ensured this won't happen now as all our data is stored securely online. "It's important to provide people who choose to invest in our business with the assurance that data is secure, and with hSo:VAULT, we are able to provide evidence of an effective business continuity plan." Stage Five: At this point, the entire restoration was complete and iOG regained full network capabilities, enabling business operations to be resumed to full capacity. Evans comments: "Company servers will inevitably fail – be it on a small, or a large scale – which is a threat no business can afford to ignore. Investment in remotely-managed back-up solution can quickly pay off." How hSo:VAULT back-up and recovery works:
- ENDS - For further information, please contact: Katrina Walker/Jill Benedict top | Managed IT services available to UK SMEs for first time
hSo, one of the UK's leading integrated communications providers, is set to roll out its managed IT services to SMEs across the UK in a bid to tackle wasted IT investment issues in that sector. The company's mission is to offer highly affordable, managed end-to-end IT solutions to small and medium sized enterprises - services that are normally only available to large corporates. Now SMEs don't have to suffer the financial pain of a significant up-front investment and a long-term commitment to a technology solution that may, or may not, meet the company's requirements. Instead they can opt for a fully managed solution on a 'pay as you go' basis with the option to adjust and upgrade the service to meet changing demands. The innovative range of hSo solutions available to SMEs includes hSo:VOICE+, a fully-managed Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, providing telephony customers with increased resiliency, functionality and dramatic cost savings. hSo is launching a national, Ethernet-based, connectivity service for SMEs, allowing those companies with voice services from carriers other than BT - currently unable to benefit from carrier pre-select - to increase the resiliency of their service and enjoy the benefits of cheaper calls, without the need to change numbers, often a costly process. As part of the company's disaster recovery offerings, hSo is offering the SME market its hSo:VAULT solution, an innovative online data back-up and disaster recovery platform, helping businesses to cope with systems failures and operational shut downs; a service which has already witnessed success in the London Metropolitan area. Chris Evans, managing director at hSo, said: "Traditionally, managed IT services have only really been available to larger organisations due to the volumes required to make it cost effective. Our new services bring the entry-level price down significantly and now the SME sector can begin to reap the benefits of this business model, at an affordable price. "I am confident that, with our breadth of services, market knowledge and proven customer service approach, we will provide SMEs with the support they need. We aim to help them grow their businesses - by letting them focus on just that - and prevent them from making incorrect, long-term, IT purchasing decisions." Underlining hSo's commitment to the SME market, the company has appointed Nick Tasker as national sales manager. Tasker's role will include developing new business opportunities and managing nationwide accounts, working with SME clients to provide scaleable and cost effective solutions that can be integrated into their business growth objectives. He commented: "As companies generate increasing amounts of information that require a correspondingly more complicated infrastructure to handle, I firmly believe that the managed services model is the only approach moving forward." Large numbers of SMEs across the UK are reporting wasted investment in IT. Working with a managed solutions provider that understands their business needs will also help them to focus on what they do best. A service level agreement will also help then to remain confident that their IT supplier is focusing on service." hSo customers include Endemol, The English National Opera (ENO), Hunter & Partners and The Salvation Army. On hSo's service, Ian Hurlstone, managing director of architects and project managers, Hunter & Partners, said: "As a medium-sized company operating in a highly-competitive market, we were keen to ensure we worked with the right IT supplier to suit our business. hSo has provided Hunter & Partners with Internet and data back up managed IT solutions for the past two years, and we have been impressed with the high levels of customer service offered." - ENDS - For further information, please contact: Katrina Walker/Kelly Stroud top | hSo introduces exciting new opportunity for resellers to share in the booming business continuity marketAccording to recent DTI figures, only 20% of UK companies have an effective business continuity or disaster recovery plan in place*, indicating that most businesses are not set up to cope with the detrimental impact caused by system failure. In order to help address this issue and offer a lucrative new revenue stream to the reseller community, hSo, a leading integrated communications provider, is introducing hSo Vault to the channel. hSo Vault is its innovative, automatic, remote back-up service which offers immediate restore capabilities and instant accessibility to data online. In a move designed to underline its commitment to the channel, hSo has appointed Simon
Weise-O'Connor as Business Development Manager to lead the company's new reseller initiative. "With this service, we're offering the channel an introduction to the huge business continuity market. In addition to significant margins, resellers will benefit from product training and 24 hour customer support," concluded Simon Weise-O'Connor. One reseller trialing the programme and already reaping the benefits from hSo's offering, is Ron Brand at Link Connect. He said, "hSo is providing a fantastic opportunity for us to offer both our existing and, more significantly, potential new customers a cost effective and innovative solution to their business continuity problems. In fact, in conjunction with hSo, we're now running over-subscribed seminars to showcase the opportunity to potential corporate customers." Chris Evans, Managing Director at hSo, said "The DTI Report indicated that two thirds of UK businesses suffered an incident involving loss of data in the past year and that only 32% of organisations take back-ups of their data to a separate, secure location.* hSo Vault is the perfect solution for any company that relies on fast and secure access to its corporate data, and can be deployed quickly and effectively without compromising business performance." - ENDS - * DTI/PriceWaterhouseCoopers Information Security Breeches Survey April 2004 For further information, please contact: Fraser Butters/Kelly Stroud top | hSo first to market with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Service for UK businessCable & Wireless claim comes under scrutiny Dear Sir, I read with interest, and some incredulity, the claims by Cable & Wireless this week that it is the first to market with a managed Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. Here at hSo we've been successfully rolling out Voice+ - our own, fully managed VoIP service - for some months. In fact, high profile customers such as Endemol and English National Opera are already reaping the benefits of unparalleled quality of service levels, increased business resilience and cost savings. For the record, Simon Croyden, Endemol's Head of IT, told me just the other day that he's: "delighted to see that Voice+ is living up to all of your (hSo's) claims. We're seeing improved service levels and saving money". Proof of the pudding and all that! Yours sincerely, Chris Evans ENDS Voice+ is the UK's first managed Voice over IP (VoIP) based communications platform and offers users unrivalled levels of 'future-proofing', resilience and guaranteed cost savings - often with no initial capital outlay. Voice+ is suitable for single and multi-site organisations and, as well as offering reduced running costs and a resilient call delivery platform, also gives mobile workforces instant, remote access to all of their personal organisation tools including email and diary functions. A voice access network with advanced telephony services, Voice+ is a network-based solution that uses IP telephony in the access network to guarantee the quality of service. Voice+ connects directly to the customers' existing PBX using standard PBX connections such as DPNSS and Qsig. This solution also provides an additional direct network connection so that businesses benefit from increased resiliency should the incumbent provider experience exchange problems. Chris Evans, hSo's managing director, commenting on the service, said: "VoIP is nothing new and we appreciate that suppliers have been offering IP telephony products with varying degrees of success for a while. What we're doing, however, is original. We're eliminating the hassle factor for customers and providing a genuine fully managed service. No capital outlay, increased resilience and cost savings from day one. Its not often as clear cut as that!" top | VoIP from hSo to keep English National Opera in fine voicehSo set to ensure significant cost savings, quality of service and business continuity for ENO English National Opera has chosen to work closely with leading integrated communications provider, hSo, in a move designed to ensure that its voice and data requirements are fully 'in tune' with its ongoing business requirements. In addition to the transition to hSo's fully managed Voice+ Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, ENO has also selected hSo's innovative data backup and recovery solution, hSo Vault. In excess of 250 ENO users, spread across three main central London sites with many users also working from home, have created a huge demand within ENO for ongoing data support and daily backup. hSo Vault provides a fully managed, online remote backup service for corporate data that will be encrypted before being securely transferred to the hSo data centre. Replacing a legacy, on-site, tape system, the hSo Vault solution will provide ENO with a faster, more sophisticated and resilient way of managing its own data resources. Robert Childs, ENO's head of IT, said: "We fully expect hSo's innovative voice and data solutions to enable us to reduce our monthly costs and present us with a fully scaleable and manageable solution that integrates perfectly with our own business growth objectives." Chris Evans, managing director of hSo, commented: "hSo Vault is the perfect solution for any company that relies on fast and secure access to its corporate data and can be deployed quickly and effectively without compromising business performance. Coupled with our Voice+ VoIP service, with its unparalleled quality of service levels, ENO will now enjoy significant cost savings and optimum business resilience." Further information on hSo Vault and Voice+ hSo Vault not only offers compelling business and IT benefits but also improved customer service as part of the proposition. Customers enjoy improved control over their company data via 'always on' access to online monitoring and management facilities including billing options. Users are also able to determine exactly what types of data are backed up and at what intervals to best suit their needs. Requiring no further client hardware investment, hSo Vault offers true value for money in terms of reducing IT management time and delivering a scaleable solution to cope with increasing data generation. Systems failure and the threat of downtime are much reduced in comparison to the alternative 'on site' storage of data via tape download. In the event of a business systems failure there is no need to physically transfer data tapes from one location to another saving time and ensuring business performance is not compromised Voice+ is the UK's first managed Voice over IP (VoIP) based communications platform and offers users unrivalled levels of 'future-proofing', resilience and guaranteed cost savings - often with no initial capital outlay. Voice+ is suitable for single and multi-site organisations and, as well as offering reduced running costs and a resilient call delivery platform, also gives mobile workforces instant, remote access to all of their personal organisation tools including email and diary functions. A voice access network with advanced telephony services, Voice+ is a network-based solution that uses IP telephony in the access network to guarantee the quality of service. Voice+ connects directly to the customers' existing PBX using standard PBX connections such as DPNSS and Qsig. This solution also provides an additional direct network connection so that businesses benefit from increased resiliency should the incumbent provider experience exchange problems. Chris Evans, hSo's managing director, commenting on the service, said: "VoIP is nothing new and we appreciate that suppliers have been offering IP telephony products with varying degrees of success for a while. What we're doing, however, is original. We're eliminating the hassle factor for customers and providing a genuine fully managed service. No capital outlay, increased resilience and cost savings from day one. Its not often as clear cut as that!" For further information, please contact: Fraser Butters/Kelly Stroud Ex COLT President and CEO joins hSo as non-executive directorhSo seeks to exploit opportunities as Telco market continues to consolidate One of the UK's most successful IT and communications managed services providers, hSo, has appointed Peter Manning as a Non-Executive Director. Mr Manning was formerly President and CEO of COLT Telecommunications PLC a FTSE 250 listed, pan-European telecom operator with revenues in excess of £1Bn. Prior to joining COLT, he was the President and CEO of Concert Communications in the USA and his earlier career was spent with BT where he held a number of senior positions in Europe and the USA. Chris Evans, Managing Director at hSo, said: "We're absolutely delighted that a director of Peter's calibre and experience is joining us at what is a key period in our development. hSo has been growing at more than 100% year on year since our formation in 2000. Whilst we appreciate that growth at that rate isn't sustainable through organic growth alone, we look forward to working closely with Peter to ensure that we can further exploit the ongoing consolidation in the telecommunications sector." Commenting on his appointment, Peter Manning added: "What hSo has achieved in a few short years is testament to the quality and vision of the company and its management. I'm looking forward to working closely with the hSo team over the coming years and fully anticipate an exciting and hugely rewarding relationship". Peter Manning, 48, is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, a Liveryman of London (Worshipful Company of Information Technologists), and holds a first class Honours degree in Computer Science. He is married with three children and in his spare time coaches rugby and soccer. A keen runner, he also enjoys kayaking and diving. Nice idea but BT's first-ever UK Wireless Broadband Week might just miss the pointCommercial Landlords must do more hSo, one of the UK's leading integrated communications suppliers, welcomes the move by BT to stage Wireless Broadband Week (26 January - 1 February) but feels that a huge opportunity will be missed if significant emphasis is not placed on educating the business and commercial property sectors alongside consumer markets. hSo's managing director, Chris Evans, explains: "wireless networking is struggling to take off in the commercial sector where the real benefits can be truly significant. There are an increasing number of crucial business applications that can be offered wirelessly which should be ensuring that UK businesses are the driving force behind the uptake of wi-fi. "It's widely reported that wireless users can be much more productive in the office environment. However, both the user companies themselves and, significantly, landlords in the commercial property sector, have been slow to realise the value in making wireless networks available to tenants and users. By offering tenants the opportunity for increased employee flexibility and productivity, wireless networking adds real value and 'letability' to a commercial property". Chris Evans continues: "Wireless enabling a building really can make commercial sense for all concerned. Only when tenants and landlords wake-up to this, will it be possible to realise the true potential for the wireless environment. So, whilst we wholeheartedly support BT's initiative, we're keen that the commercial sector shouldn't be forgotten". Commercial property landlords can benefit from the improved rental income per square foot that tenants are willing to pay for a wireless networking environment. In addition, landlords can commercially benefit from the extra floor space that is generated by the lack of need of network cabling infrastructure. To speak with Chris Evans or to receive hSo's white paper on the benefits of wireless networking to commercial landlords and tenants, please contact: Fraser Butters/Kelly Stroud |
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