Colt, the information delivery platform for European business, today announced the extension of its enterprise cloud services into mainland Europe. The way organisations consume information is changing against a backdrop of complex legal, regulatory and data privacy demands that make implementing cloud services in Europe challenging and unique. The expansion of Colt’s cloud services in Europe will help customers address their need to store and access data anytime, anywhere, while meeting the data protection requirements of their organisation, their industry, and the countries in which they operate.
Colt already offers private dedicated clouds for its customers as well as enterprise public cloud services with its VMware vCloud® Datacenter service. The expansion of Colt’s enterprise cloud services from the UK into mainland Europe will enable customers to access local enterprise private cloud services from local data centres by the end of 2012. This means customers can choose to store their data in the country in which they operate to address the compliance, taxation and IP challenges caused by the data privacy and contractual requirements associated with placing data “in the cloud” across Europe.
Colt’s customers are already using cloud services throughout Europe for projects such as test and development for new services; carrying out discrete projects that can scale up and down rapidly without building large server platforms; and to build on the capital expenditure efficiencies already achieved through virtualisation.
The programme will also deliver the capacity for other managed IT services such as on demand high volume data storage, significantly reducing the cost and resources required for data analysis and disaster recovery. Colt’s locally hosted cloud services allow customers to use only the storage services they require, reducing the need for a dedicated server infrastructure on standby in case of disaster.
Carl Robertson, Chief Marketing Officer, Colt, said: “Our customers are increasingly turning to cloud computing to help transform their business. But there is a growing recognition that cloud computing does not solve every problem. What customers are really asking for is an information delivery platform, a means of combining network, data centres and IT services. They need flexibility and agility while keeping control of how and where information is delivered across the business. That way, the CIO concentrates on deriving business benefit from information – rather than managing infrastructure.”
Dan Chu, vice president, Cloud Infrastructure and Services, VMware commented, “VMware is pleased to see Colt, our 2010 global service provider program partner of the year, expand its cloud services to meet the needs of its European customers. Colt’s extension of its cloud services footprint enables organisations in Europe to create a hybrid cloud between their dedicated VMware environment and securely provided Colt-managed infrastructure for on-demand scalability and increased operational efficiency.”
About Colt
Colt is the information delivery platform for Europe, enabling its customers to deliver, share, and process and store their vital business information. An established leader in delivering integrated computing and network services to major organisations, midsized businesses and wholesale customers, Colt operates a 21-country, 35,000km network that includes metropolitan area networks in 39 major European cities with direct fibre connections into 18,000 buildings and 19 Colt data centres.
In 2010, the Colt Data Centre Services business was launched to deliver innovative high quality modular data centres which are rapid to deploy and power efficient.
Colt is listed on the London Stock Exchange (COLT). Information about Colt and its services can be found at www.colt.net.
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Email: ColtUK@webershandwick.com
François d’Essertaux, Colt
Mob: +44 (0)7538095485
Email: francois.dessertaux@colt.net
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