Media Coverage

Circle makes savings of £130k by migrating its network

22nd September 2011

Housing Association Circle has grown both organically and through acquisition - the result of which has been a legacy of multiple service providers, combined with a need for better network performance and traffic visibility. In Housing Technology, James Pitt, Head of Infrastructure, talks about Circle’s strategy to consolidate its network and hosting infrastructure with one provider, Claranet – and the resulting benefits.

This was a big project – it took 18 months to migrate to the new network. However, by consolidating our suppliers and upgrading the network, we expect annual savings of £130,000. James Pitt, Head of Infrastructure, Circle

CIOs say the network is the key to cloud success

25th August 2011

Ensuring that an enterprise's networks are resilient enough to support applications, data and services is a constant worry for CIOs and IT leaders, especially when these services and applications are operating from a hosted environment. Cloud computing has presented companies with a new set of challenges in building an enterprise's infrastructure, not just with regard to technology, but also in terms of data protection, service level agreements (SLAs) and contrracts. Panellists at a Computing roundtable last month, sponsored by Claranet, debated the benefits and pitfalls of placing mission-critical applications in a cloud environment.

We just want to provide a service. We want the ability to flex up and down with the business and be able to add 300 people to the network easily if we need to... but we also want someone kick if it goes wrong. Doug Legge, IT Operations Manager, Berkeley Group Holdings

Article: CIOs say the network is key to cloud success
Source: Computing

Ever ready

11th July 2011

In an interview with CIO Connect, Jo Stanford, Group IT Director of hospitality group De Vere, says that the cloud is the right platform for growth. Her aim is to push the business’ web strategy forward through 2011, and the roll-out of a dedicated hosting platform, or private cloud, is crucial to this strategy. The new hosting platform needs to support peaks and troughs in traffic, and also to provide the flexibility to deal with sudden changes in digital marketing campaigns. Jo was looking for a provider with a scalable hosting platform, and picked Claranet.

If you’re looking at the cloud, you might worry about the loss of control. Resources and contracts are crucial; if we move more business systems to the cloud, we’ll make sure we retain the licences. The cloud is not a panacea, but if it’s fit for your business then it can help to remove part of the technology headache. Jo Stanford, Group IT Director, De Vere Group

Article: Ever ready
Source: CIO Connect

Cost-cutting, social media, cloud hosting: All in a day's work for Amnesty International's IT dept

8th July 2011

Silicon interviews Head of IT Kamesh Patel on how technology is supporting the cause of global human rights. The emphasis on growing digital engagement with contributors, members and partners has driven the organisation to look at how it can improve its ability to call people to action and generate income via its online presence. This has meant putting a secure platform in place, with Claranet's private cloud infrastructure, and the organisation plans to build on this foundation with a new Amnesty International website to go live by the end of 2011.

The move to Claranet has increased uptime and improved security... [we can] better cope with spikes in demand for the website during popular campaigns... This [private cloud] platform with Claranet is really the underpinning piece which will enable that to happen well. Kamesh Patel, Head of IT, Amnesty International

Article: Cost-cutting, social media, cloud hosting: All in a day's work for Amnesty Internatonal's IT dept
Source: silicon.com

Outsource: Enterprise vs mass market cloud

7th July 2011

Cloud computing has dominated the IT agenda of late and is set to continue grabbing headlines with the recent introduction of iCloud and similar consumer services to the market. For business leaders reading the news, though, it can be hard to distinguish that most stories are about mass market clouds, and not enterprise-specific clouds.
So what? Surely the issues that affect mass market clouds affect enterprise clouds too? Well, the answer is yes and no - but most importantly, not knowing the differences between the two can cost an organisation money and cause much hassle. Michel Robert, MD at Claranet UK, clarifies the differences between the two in the next of his columns in Outsource magazine.

The key to making the right decision for your company when outsourcing to the cloud lies in remembering that there is a lot more choice in the cloud market than you might think from reading the news. Companies that have just looked at mass market services and decided that the cloud is not for them should reconsider. In reality, the cloud market is rapidly changing, highly differentiated and very competitive with services to meet all sorts of business requirements. Companies should keep a close eye on the evolution of cloud services and not shy away from testing different services to ensure they are making the right choice. Michel Robert, MD at Claranet UK

Article Enterprise vs mass market cloud
Source: Outsource magazine

First, ask 'why are you doing this?'

29th June 2011

For many chief executives, outsourcing IT functions is seen as a way of cutting costs during tougher economic times. But the decision on what to outsource has to fit into a broader corporate strategy, based on what is crucial to the success of the business and what is routine. The Financial Times interviews some key decision-makers on their views, including Jo Stanford, Group IT Director at the De Vere Group.

Vendors can offer a fantastic price, but you need to drill down to the after-sales care that they provide and get references from other customers. This is a connection that requires more than the traditional supplier relationship. De Vere's web-based booking system is hosted by Claranet, a provider of managed IT services. Jo Stanford, Group IT Director, De Vere Group

Article: Business case: First, ask "why are you doing this?"
Source: Financial Times

Don't let clouded thinking make you forget the network

2nd June 2011

According to a recent study by the Cloud Industry Forum, nearly half of UK organisations are using some form of cloud computing, and almost all of the other organisations surveyed intend to do so. In the 4th of his columns for Outsource magazine, Michel Robert discusses the importance of the network to businesses that outsource, or intend to outsource, parts of their IT infrastructure - and to the successful operation of their cloud service.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the wonders of the cloud and the business benefits available, and only consider the means of accessing and retrieving your data as an afterthought. The good news is that, with good due diligence, it’s relatively easy to have the right networking solution and cloud service provider for your business. This in turn will ensure cost-effective and reliable access to, and operation of, your cloud-based infrastructure. Michel Robert, MD at Claranet UK

Article: Don't let clouded thinking make you forget the network
Source: Outsource magazine

Amnesty moves to private cloud with Claranet...

13th May 2011

Amnesty International has migrated its web hosting to a private cloud-based infrastructure, provided by Claranet, to support the flexibility it requires as it grows its websites and engages in social media activities.

Initially we undertook a business case exercise, looking at the risks, and how our websites are hosted... Claranet's SLA covered the whole service and guaranteed application availability. We wanted to dramatically streamline our hosting platform and it was clear that Claranet's all-encompassing SLA and single point-of-contact would help us to do this. Kamesh Patel, Head of IT, Amnesty International UK Article: Amnesty moves to private cloud with Claranet for web 2.0 flexibility
Source: Computer Weekly

Stop being a slave to SLAs

5th May 2011

There’s no denying it: SLAs (Service Level Agreements) for outsourced IT services are often convoluted, confusing and misleading. Why? Because many service providers want it that way. In the 3rd of his Outsource columns, Michel Robert, MD at Claranet UK, goes through what you should be aware of when looking to outsource critical IT infrastructure or processes.

When using a courier, you aren’t interested in guarantees about the state of repair of the bike, or the availability of spare tyres, etc.: you just want to know your delivery will get there by 9am the next day. Everything else... is irrelevant detail. This thinking can, and should, be applied to outsourced IT services. Michel Robert, MD at Claranet UK Article: Stop being a slave to SLAs
Source: Outsource magazine

The anti-social network: Avoiding online darkness

26th April 2011

A 75-year-old pensioner in Armenia cut through a fibre-optic cable, to plunge 90% of the country into online darkness for nearly 12 hours. The episode is a timely reminder that our high-tech world can be shut down. BBC News interviews experts including Ian Finlay, CIO at Claranet Group, to assess the impact of downtime on businesses today, and ways to avoid it.

The key message is if you are going to avoid the worst, you have plan for it - and for each business, the worst will be different. Ian Finlay, Chief Information Officer, Claranet Group Article: The anti-social network: avoiding online darkness
Source: BBC News

What is IPv6 and why does my business need to know about it?

1st April 2011

There’s been a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the end of IPv4 and the introduction of IPv6 – and a lot of misinformation. In his second column for Outsource magazine, Michel Robert, MD at Claranet UK, focuses on the key issues - what is IPv6, and what should businesses know about it.

While IPv4 and IPv6 are parallel technologies, they are independent and incompatible. So if you don’t have an IPv6 network connection, and haven’t considered the effect this may have on your business, you may be caught unaware by a number of issues...
Michel Robert, MD at Claranet UK Article: Outsourcing IT Q&A: What is IPv6 and why does my business need to know about it?
Source: Outsource magazine

See also:

CTO v CIO: Which path should you take?

23rd March 2011

Ambitious IT professionals often have one eye on future roles, with C-level positions representing the pinnacle of what many hope to achieve in business. But how will they know which role best suits them? And should they progress within an end user firm or a technology provider?

IT is so embedded into so many kinds of businesses, it is not true to say there is that differentiator these days... [Within] the technology company there is a greater understanding of the challenges faced when implementing an IT project. I have seen a greater amount of realism and less idealism – they do not think implementing new technology will mean everything will automatically be better.
Ian Finlay, Chief Information Officer, Claranet Group Article: CTO v CIO: Which path should you take?
Source: Computing.co.uk
See also: Education vs experience: Is there an ideal mix for becoming a CIO?

Luxury hotel group De Vere moves to private cloud

4th March 2011

Luxury hotel group De Vere is preparing to migrate its e-commerce solution to a private cloud with the help of managed services provider Claranet. De Vere hopes the service will drive traffic to its web site and boost revenue.

Although we did a cross-sense check with other providers, essentially we trusted [Claranet] because we had an ongoing relationship with it. The implementation needed to be seamless as the systems cannot go down at any time because there is always revenue going through them. The greatest benefit for us is the ability to flex up all our e-commerce strategy. A lot of the discussions on cloud are around cost savings and efficiency, but for us, it was more about driving revenue.
Jo Stanford, Group IT Director, De Vere Group Article: Luxury hotel group De Vere moves to private cloud
Source: Computing.co.uk

See also:

Who's in control?

21st February 2011

With business continuing to embrace cloud-based platforms and virtual networks, how can these systems be better managed to deliver efficiency gains and cost savings?…‘Handing over’ your network services to a hosted provider doesn’t therefore mean you also hand over total control. IT managers looking to manage their own virtualisation technology will still need a broad set of skills.

Aside from being fully trained on the virtualisation technology itself, they will also need to understand how to run their own data centre to ensure optimisation at all times. This will include specialised knowledge on how to properly maintain storage and computing resource, how to manage the networking layer, and how to adapt server operating systems, to interface with the virtualisation technology.
Martin Saunders, Marketing Director at Claranet UK Article: Who's in control?
Source: Networking Plus

Education and experience: Is there an ideal mix for becoming a CIO?

18th February 2011

Many IT professionals see themselves as chief information officers (CIOs) in the making, but how should they go about realising this ambition, and what, for that matter, does the role require anyway? The trouble budding CIOs face is that there is no clear career path in terms of either education or experience, compared with high-profile positions in disciplines such as law or medicine.

I think there are two ways to approach the journey to CIO. There's the formal education approach, but rather than go down that track, I've had experience around different parts of the business. I like delivering, I like doing stuff and I've been fortunate to grow in organisations and move around them and gain experience in each of them... You don't have to think about everything theoretically – there is no time for intellectualising.
Ian Finlay, Chief Information Officer, Claranet Group Article: Education and experience: is there an ideal mix for becoming a CIO?
Source: www.computing.co.uk

Outsourcing your business IT functions to the cloud

18th February 2011

In his first column for Outsource magazine, Michel Robert, MD at Claranet UK, discusses the practical steps businesses need to take when thinking about outsourcing parts of their IT infrastructure from in-house physical servers to a remote, cloud environment.

Outsourcing to a managed cloud isn’t a panacea for all IT ills; it is simply a means to help businesses get more of what they need from their IT function. And ultimately, by selecting an experienced vendor able to manage [the] IT infrastructure effectively, [businesses] will be able to focus clearly on [their] business whilst the service provider manages, supports and monitors [their] virtualised infrastructure to ensure system availability and efficiency. And a cloud provider that has networking expertise as well, will help to ensure the network element of the cloud service is optimised.
Michel Robert, MD at Claranet UK Article: Outsourcing your business IT functions to the cloud
Source: Outsource magazine

Claranet makes senior appointments

8th February 2011

Claranet today announced four senior appointments as the business sets its sights on growth across Europe. The appointments mark the beginning of a new stage in Claranet's evolution as a managed services provider. Following recent investment in a market-leading virtual hosting infrastructure and the ongoing development of its networking services, Claranet is set to capitalise on the growth in demand for cloud services across Europe.
Source: Source WS
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Cloud Expo: Channel 5 IT Chief says capacity planning is key to cloud success

3rd February 2011

Speaking at the Cloud Expo conference, Francois Chabat, Senior Technology Manager at Channel 5, said that businesses will lose the cost benefits of cloud if they don't make sure they have factored extra capacity for unexpected events.

When we first started, we were running at 90% capacity... We soon found that that slack of 10% was not enough. There wasn't enough room to accommodate sudden peaks in programme popularity , and I think when CIOs look into moving to the cloud, they should work out how much they want to plan for the unplanned.
Francois Chabat, Senior Technology Manager, Channel 5 Source: Computing.co.uk

See also:
Article: Cloud should have extra capacity (15th February 2011)
Source: Insight Blog

CIF Code of Practice: Seeking transparency in the cloud

10th January 2011

On 22nd November 2010, the CIF launched a Code of Practice ("Code") in the hope of improving standards in the industry and promoting confidence in cloud services.

a key benefit of any certification is to help customers to make more informed buying decisions. From our perspective as a cloud service provider, we're not convinced that the self-certification offered by the CIF would do this for our prospective customers. Even if we were certified, our potential customers – who are usually medium to large organisations that are considering placing a substantial proportion of their IT infrastructure in the cloud – would want to conduct proper due diligence on us and our services. This means that the utility of the self-certification to us would be limited to its potential use as a marketing tool.
Michel Robert, Managing Director at Claranet UK Source: CIF Code of Practice: Seeking transparency in the cloud

Is 2011 the year of the cloud?

6th January 2011

Cloud computing is one of the most hyped technologies of 2010. Will 2011 see the cloud move into the IT mainstream?

If you look at our large hosting customers, they are all moving to a virtualised environment that is more and more ‘cloudy’. That can bring fantastic savings in electricity costs and machine costs.
Martin Saunders, Marketing Director at Claranet UK Source: IT Pro

How do you put innovation to work?

December 2010

What are the ingredients for successful innovation? Is there a 'secret sauce' for getting it right? Just some of the questions Management Today put to a panel of respected corporate leaders...

Innovation in the service industry is very hard to get right. The best answer I have so far is that it has to sit alongside all the other managerial functions, to become a process to catch the ideas and relentlessly turn them into value adding changes. That’s the nitty-gritty of everyday business.
Charles Nasser, CEO at Claranet UK Source: Management Today: The RBS Series (Innovation)

Future perfect? What 2011 holds for business technology

31st December 2010

As 2010 leaves by the back door, what lies ahead for technology of business for 2011?
Fiona Graham at BBC News, canvassed the opinions of some of the leading thinkers in the field, including Claranet CEO Charles Nasser, to find out what the future holds for business technology.

In hosting, it's no surprise it's all about virtualisation, or what people call cloud computing, which is a very generic term. For us, the real game changer is the fact that businesses are really starting to understand what virtualisation technology can do for them. It lets them do things they couldn't do before, more cost-effectively...
Charles Nasser, CEO at Claranet UK Source: Future perfect? What 2011 holds for business technology, BBC News

"Claranet boss hails end to 'decision paralysis'"

22nd October 2010

The ‘decision-making paralysis’ that afflicted businesses during the recession has passed, offering significant growth opportunities for companies that sell products which offer cost savings to public and private sector clients...
Charles Nasser, CEO of Claranet UK Source: The Telegraph

"Claranet launches virtual hosting services; bridging cloud gaps"

20th October 2010

In September, [Claranet] launched its Managed Virtual Hosting to complement its managed dedicated virtual server environments – or private clouds. The company may have been late to the cloud game on the marketing front, but is making up for lost time by aggressively filling the gap between public cloud and private clouds...
Antonio Piraino, Vice President of Tier1 Research, a division of The 451 Group Source: Tier1 Research

This article also featured in:

CBR interview Charles Nasser, Claranet CEO, in a Q&A session

20th October 2010

What we saw when things went bad in 2008 was six months when literally nothing happened - the whole market was like a rabbit in the headlights. But then we moved back to business as usual...
Charles Nasser, CEO, Claranet UK Source: Computer Business Review

"Cloud Computing: The Next Big Thing?"

Cloud computing is really all about the ability to have an IT infrastructure managed and located outside the customer’s premises. As a concept, cloud computing really isn’t anything new. It’s what businesses have been doing with their websites for years.”
Martin Saunders, Claranet UK Marketing Director - Source: Business Review Europe

"Infrastructure as a Service: Not just for the IT director"

I firmly believe that the vast majority of organisations will migrate from on-site data centres and colocation to IaaS within the next two years. Don't be left behind. Source: Search Vital Data Centre, Michel Robert, Managing Director, Claranet UK

Healthcode upgrades to virtualised managed hosting platform with Claranet

27th May 2010

Healthcode has selected Claranet to provide a private virtualised application platform for its online practice management software.

Source: IT Backbones website

This article also featured in:

  • Telecom Paper
  • Tmcnet
  • IT Reseller

Channel Partners speed into pole position

27th April 2010

Managed network and hosting services provider Claranet is attempting to drum up some new business in the comms channel with a series of recruitment sessions, the first of which was held at the Red Bull Formula One team's factory. Twelve potential resellers and distribution partners were invited to tour the Milton Keynes facility... Source: MicroScope.co.uk

This article also featured in:

  • CommsBusiness.co.uk

Claranet connects with Net-a-Porter.com

16th March 2010

Claranet is providing Net-A-Porter.com with hosting and connectivity services to support its expansion plans.

Source: Retail Systemswebsite

This article also featured in:

  • RetailTechnology.co.uk
  • The Host Portal
  • Safenethosting
  • Internet Retailing

Michel Robert talks to IT Pro

16th November 2009

Michel Robert, managing director of Claranet in the UK talks about how companies are actually doing better business with suppliers as a result of the economic slowdown. Source: IT Pro website

Watch online:

Amnesty International revamps web infrastructure

2nd November 2009

Amnesty International has outsourced the hosting and management of its web site as part of a wider revamp of its online setup. The platform was introduced following a thorough review of the charity’s web strategy and the need to mitigate operational issues while introducing more up-to-date functionality.Source: Computing.co.uk

This article also featured in:

  • V3 News
  • ComputerActive.co.uk
  • Yahoo News
  • Channellweb.co.uk

Leaders look to the future in broadband race

13th October 2009

We have done a lot of traffic analysis and the numbers are staggering. At peak times – and that means in business hours – up to 80 per cent of the bandwidth is being used for non-business applications such as Facebook, Google and YouTube. What does the business really need? Most managers have not asked themselves the question, nor do they have the tools to answer it. Source: Claranet CEO, Charles Nasser talks to FT.com

"IT must innovate to beat the recession"

5th October 2009

Technology is going to have to deliver innovation and greater efficiency in the future if it wants to secure sales as users come out of the recession with budgets down... Martin Saunders, marketing director at managed services specialist clara.net, said the situation in the market was improving, but customers wanted SLAs and more support with the day-to-day running of their IT departments.Source: Computer Weekly

Michel Robert talks to Hexus about Cloud Computing

25th September 2009

Ten years ago, before the great consolidation, there was an ISP free-for-all in the UK market, and one of the better known brands was Claranet. However, the owner was wise enough to see that margins were going to be uncomfortably tight for ISPs in future and decided to transform Claranet into an MSP (managed service provider).Source: Hexus.Talkingshop

Connect picks Claranet for Managed Application Hosting

1st September 2009

Connect Distribution, has signed up Claranet to provide managed application hosting to support its growing online aftercare, spares and repair service and enhance its web channel.Source: Internet Retailer

This article also featured in:

  • VoIP in Business
  • Telecompaper.com
  • ITShowcase.co.uk

UK- IT Security, the best form of defence?

When we last visited the UK, less than a year ago, the true effect of the worldwide financialinstability had yet to hit. IT Europa decided to find out just how the UK’s IT business has been affected, which IT sectors are particularly vulnerable and how companies have dealt with the situation.Source: IT Europa

Claranet Selected as Best Business Broadband Provider by ISPA

10th July 2009

Claranet has scooped the Best Business Fixed Broadband award at the 2009 Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) Awards. The business broadband provider was presented with the highly coveted prize after judges found it to offer the best combination of value for money and contract flexibility in the market.Top10.com (Broadband)

This article also featured in:

  • Webuser.co.uk
  • UK Broadband ISP Reviews
  • The ISPAs
  • IS Preview

Singing From the same Channel song sheet

19th June 2009

The traditional reseller model is evolving, particularly within the managed services space, thanks to the growth of online services. Many service providers such as Claranet are providing remote hosted applications, and are finding that as trust grows in the reliability of delivering the same IT services, at the same standards, over the Internet, the pace of uptake of these services is increasing. Source: Channelweb.co.uk

What Recession? A Break in the Clouds

Back in January we at CRN discovered that the channel's outlook for 2009 was overwhelmingly positive. But six months on, what is the feeling? Are there still opportunities out there or are we stuck firmly in a rut? Martin Saunders, marketing director of MSP Claranet, said pricing pressures had caused wobbles in the early part of the year, but he felt confidence was improving.... “Many of the business customers of our channel partners had a tough start to the year, focusing solely on saving money. However, confidence has been returning and appreciation of the benefits of outsourcing has been growing. Partner are capitalising on this and providing businesses with outsourced services that both save costs and allow them to focus on what they do best; service customers, compete and grow the business.” Source: V3.co.uk

Claranet retunes Channel strategy

20th February 2009

Managed services provider Claranet has formalised its partner programme to drive increased revenue through the channel. The company started life as an ISP and now offers services around network connectivity, hosted applications, security and storage. It has revenue in excess of £85m and presence in seven countries. UK sales director Matthew Parker said some 300 VARs had resold Claranet services over the past few years, but no formal channel structure had been in place.Source: Channelweb.co.uk

Channel 5 retunes Its Internet strategy

22nd January 2009

TV broadcaster Five has completed the outsourcing of its web site technology as part of a plan to improve its use of the internet to better engage with viewers.Source: Personal Computer World