Dimension Data brings Private Cloud solutions to the UK

Dimension Data is providing key Microsoft Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) solutions as a private cloud service to its UK customers. Cloud Services for Microsoft, which includes Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, Microsoft SharePoint 2013 and Microsoft Lync 2013, is a customisable and secure business productivity suite hosted in Dimension Data’s UK managed private cloud environment to maintain data sovereignty and control.

The economics and efficiency benefits of moving messaging, collaboration and unified communication technologies to the cloud are appealing to many enterprises; however, existing public cloud environments can fail to satisfy key business requirements. Dimension Data’s new offering provides a private, single-tenant cloud environment hosted in Dimension Data’s UK data centres, or on the client’s premises. The managed offering provides enterprises with the level of customisation, flexibility and control needed to address unique business requirements.

Part of its Cloud Services portfolio, and based upon Dimension Data’s Managed Cloud Platform™ (MCP), the Cloud Services for Microsoft solution operates on a pay-per-use basis, enabling users to harness the productivity benefits of Microsoft’s solutions while reducing the cost and risk of managing the underlying infrastructure and applications.

Calvin Goom, Managing Director, Dimension Data UK said: “By offering flexible private cloud solutions based on Microsoft’s productivity portfolio, we are helping our clients remove the barriers to placing key business services in the cloud. Cloud Services for Microsoft enables UK enterprises to deploy UCC solutions that best meet their organisational needs, while delivering the security, compliance and customisation assurances they require.”

Noting the importance of data sovereignty, Mr Goom added: “For a large number of organisations working within highly regulated industries, legislation around data means that a number of public and private cloud solutions are unsuitable for UK enterprises. Dimension Data’s UK MCP allows businesses to leverage the benefits of cloud UCC; safe in the knowledge their data remains in the UK on dedicated servers.”

Clare Barclay, General Manager - Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partners Group, Microsoft UK commented, “Microsoft believes that the market move to the cloud will be via both Public and Partner hosted offerings. The Microsoft Unified Communications and Collaboration offering from Dimension Data is a great example of providing customers with a choice to allow the economics and efficiencies of the cloud to be realised where data sovereignty is a key driver.”