Databarracks boosts its Board with two IT industry heavyweights

(PRWEB UK) 22 May 2012

Cloud hosting and IT Disaster Recovery provider, Databarracks has appointed two leading IT industry figures as Non-Executive Directors.

Top IT specialists, Andrew Brenson and Andrew Green, have both joined the Board at Databarracks.

Andrew Brenson is a well-known authority in the NGO and international charity IT sector and was until recently Head of IT at Save the Children. His previous experience also includes roles at Channel 4 and a lengthy service as treasurer to the Charities Consortium IT Directors Group.

Andrew Green is Managing Director (Asia-Pacific) of PTS Consulting and a globally-recognised expert in data centres and IT relocations. Prior to joining PTS, Andrew was employed by Swiss Re as CEO of the property management company for Londons famous Gherkin building.

Andrew Greens relationship with Databarracks founders, Peter Groucutt and Oliver Mather, is longstanding: I’ve known Peter and Oliver for about 15 years and have spent many an evening discussing strategy and technical solutions for Databarracks, says Green. When they approached me to join as a Non-Executive Director, it seemed a natural progression and means I can now help the company in an official capacity.

Andrew Brenson initially came into contact with Databarracks after selecting its backup service for Save the Children UK. Ive dealt with a lot of suppliers in the 15 years Ive been managing IT and the quality of service varies dramatically, says Brenson. Databarracks stood out from the start as honest, professional and highly responsive.

Importantly, their people were always highly competent in my experience and I got the same feedback from my staff, continues Brenson. Hence an invitation to become more closely involved with Databarracks – and help them develop their business further – was one which was easy to accept.

We are extremely grateful and happy that Andrew Green and Andrew Brenson have agreed to join the Board at Databarracks, says Peter Groucutt, Managing Director at Databarracks. Their guidance will help the Executive Directors and Senior Management team shape the future of the company in what is a very exciting time, especially in light of our recent take-over of backup provider SecuriData.

Andrew Green is responsible for PTS Consultings global Data Centre and Cloud Strategy and so can provide invaluable insight into the way in which companies are changing the way they use technology, continues Groucutt.

Having worked at senior and CIO level for Save the Children and Channel 4, Andrew Brenson provides an in-depth view of what technology leaders are looking for when it comes to implementing IT in large global organisations.

Together, they bring a huge wealth of relevant experience to ensure that, as Databarracks grows, we continue to provide unparalleled levels of service and the best innovative solutions to our customers, says Groucutt.

Find More Disaster Recovery And Backup Services Press Releases

Databarracks boosts its Board with two IT industry heavyweights

Databarracks awarded a G-Cloud Services II framework agreement by Government Procurement Service

(PRWEB UK) 26 October 2012

Databarracks can supply Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Specialist Cloud Services.

The government hopes G-Cloud will increase the provision of cloud services by SMEs to the public sector, with the aim of 80% of all government departments using the G-Cloud in some form by 2015.

G-Cloud is a great initiative making it easier for the public sector to take advantage of cloud services, says Peter Groucutt, Managing Director at Databarracks. It is vital that governmental agencies and the public sector only use suppliers who can maintain the high standards of data security they need for the sensitive and confidential information they hold.

At the same time, over-regulation and too much red tape can prevent the public sector from being flexible and having access to the best technology and cost savings that are available from cloud services. G-Cloud has the admirable aim of trying to merge these two conflicting requirements and we are proud to be a part of it.

As our name suggests, data security is our number one concern, which is especially applicable to the government institutions as they hold so much sensitive and confidential information, adds Groucutt.

By using Databarracks, government departments and the wider public sector will have access to cloud services from arguably some of the most secure hosting facilities in the world. Databarracks Tier 4, ex-nuclear bunker data centres are located in low-risk but accessible areas in England.

As one of the UKs largest providers of managed online backup and disaster recovery services, Databarracks already works with a broad range of public sector organisations including colleges, schools, NHS Trusts and local councils.

Marie-Helene Durif, Head of Sourcing & Category Management – ICT, at the Government Procurement Service states:

At the Government Procurement Service our priority is to provide procurement savings for organisations across the UK public sector. The inclusion of Databarracks to the G-Cloud framework will strengthen our offering and provide public sector buyers with a tried and tested route to achieve value for money.

About Databarracks:

Established in 2003, Databarracks has been a cloud service provider for almost a decade, implementing disaster recovery and production environments for companies of all sizes throughout the world.

http://www.databarracks.com

Contact:

Leonie Guguen, Communications Manager, Databarracks

Tel: 0800 033 6633

E: leonie.guguen (at) databarracks (dot) com

Databarracks awarded a G-Cloud Services II framework agreement by Government Procurement Service

Venture Capital Fund invests in Cloud Backup from Databarracks

(PRWEB UK) 31 October 2012

The Company: Advent Venture Partners venture capital investors based in London.

The Challenge: To improve unreliable and inefficient tape backups.

The Solution: Databarracks was chosen to set up cloud backup with Asigra software and Virtual Disaster Recovery (VDR).

Advent Venture Partners is one of Europe’s most successful growth and venture capital investors in market-leading tech and life sciences businesses.

Regulated by the Financial Services Authority, Advent Venture Partners has to comply with strict rules and legislation related to financial information and records. The company holds confidential intellectual property data and commercial information making secure backups an absolute necessity.

Our most critical data is our Finance information , says Paul Girling, Advents Head of IT. This includes all the facts and figures about our investments which are not only very important but also very sensitive.

Our biggest concerns were the reliability of and the efficiency of tape backups. We used tapes for backup and a tape collection service to make sure our data was also stored off-site. The situation wasnt ideal. If we had a problem and needed a restore, we would either have to wait until the following day for our tape to be returned or pay for same-day delivery of the tapes.

Advents location also makes the company vulnerable: In addition to the usual worries about disk failure or corruption of databases, we are based in Central London, in close proximity to Buckingham Palace. It isnt uncommon for us to be denied access to the office because of incidents such as security threats. The office and systems are fine but we arent able to access them. Our continuity – planning has to include in these occurrences too.

Mr Girling cautiously set about improving Advents backup system: Cloud backup was always going to be a better alternative, but we had to wait until the service had reached maturity and could do exactly what we wanted.

During the selection process I saw countless different companies but I was never completely confident. There were always question marks over the software and the technology being used and I was never convinced it would work.

It was quite a challenge to convince the partners here that this was the right route for us. The business had been using tapes since before I arrived, so to move to something completely different was obviously quite a leap, admits Girling.

After meeting with Databarracks, any doubts about cloud back up were put to rest: The functionality of the Asigra software is superb and the infrastructure is first-rate.

A key part of the selection process for us was being able to visit the data centre and see that our information is being stored somewhere so secure and resilient. There are a lot of similar services being hosted out of data centres in the middle of the city but that is a risk we didnt want to take, explains Girling.

Databarracks hands-on approach during the initial setup process was also appreciated: An engineer came to our site to collect our first backup and set us up. Having the one-to-one contact with the engineer really helped and together we went through our different data restoration scenarios and retention needs. We then designed all of the backup sets. We were able to set it up exactly how we needed it rather than being limited by what the software would allow, says Girling.

Now, when we lose data, I have access to all the backups straight away and can have it restored in minutes. The backup system has really been tested. On several occasions we have had to make restores and roll-back the databases.

In the event of a complete disaster, Advent is able to restore its servers into Databarracks’ Virtual Disaster Recovery environment using a bare-metal restore. This allows staff to continue to operate from a temporary, cloud-hosted platform while the onsite problems are resolved.

What has most impressed us is the standard of customer service we have received, reveals Girling. Great technology is vital – but it counts for nothing if the service isnt good. I have actually used Databarracks as an example of excellent customer service to other companies.

About Databarracks:

Databarracks has been a cloud service provider for almost a decade, implementing disaster recovery and production environments for companies of all sizes throughout the world.

Venture Capital Fund invests in Cloud Backup from Databarracks

London, UK (PRWEB UK) 14 December 2012 Survey snapshot: Half of British businesses would move all IT to the cloud, reveals Databarracks survey (with INFOGRAPHIC)

London, UK (PRWEB UK) 14 December 2012

Survey snapshot:

Half of British businesses would move all IT to the cloud, reveals Databarracks survey (with INFOGRAPHIC)