Author: Steve Salter

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Cloud Step 8: Have you Prepared a Migration Strategy?

There has been an increased amount of recent research which indicates that many organizations will move to the cloud in the short term. Defining a migration strategy involves understanding the various options which are available, establishing business priorities, and also creating a strategy that offers a fine balance between costs and meeting business priorities. Fundamentally, enterprises have the two following options with a cloud infrastructure – private or public. The choice is driven by priorities such as business model, market strategy and constrained by factors such as technical feasibility, security, migration costs, and future spending.

By considering these factors, you can consider the cost reductions upon migrating applications to a cloud platform, the security applications which are available and understanding how their full potential can be realised, as well as discovering what future hardware and software acquisitions can be migrated into the cloud platform.

A lot can happen in five years, and this is especially true for the cloud industry. With this in mind, it is highly likely that things will be significantly different five years from now. To stay ahead of the pack, consider your migration options sooner rather than later.

Netcetera’s Managed Windows Cloud Server offers ease and simplicity with scalability and resilience. All this, for as little as £40.98/pm and it includes the Essential Management Pack, FREE Site Migration and a 7 day RISK Free money back guarantee.

Previous posts:

Next posts:

  • Step 9 – The importance of Considering Downtime and How to Deal with it.
  • Step 10 – The importance of Data Migration.

Questions? Let us help!

To speak to one of our Sales Consultants about what our services can do for you, or for any other queries, please fill out our Enquiry Form or call 0800 061 2801 or click our Live Chat


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Netcetera Selected to Join Microsoft BizSpark Program

Netcetera are proud to announce that they have been selected to join the Microsoft BizSpark Program as a Network Partner. The BizSpark Program is a global program designed to accelerate the success of early stage Startups by connecting them to Network Partners: active members of the global software ecosystem who can provide mentorship, guidance and resources to BizSpark Startups. BizSpark creates an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship between Microsoft Corp., Startups and Network Partners.

“The announcement of this strategic relationship with Microsoft provides Netcetera the opportunity to provide  enhanced services to our clients”, said Dan Taylor of Netcetera “In addition, it enables us to access exclusive resources to help increase our customer’s revenues and provide new market opportunities and solutions to grow and develop their business. BizSpark is an exciting program specifically designed to provide early stage Startups with software, support, and visibility to help ignite your success and is ideal for software developers, particularly ISVs and SaaS companies, looking to develop using Microsoft tools.”

BizSpark gives Startups fast and easy access to Microsoft’s current full-featured development tools, platform technologies as well as production licenses to bring to market innovative and interoperable solutions for the next generation of user experiences.

To be eligible for the Microsoft BizSpark Program, Startups must be actively engaged in development of a software-based product or service that is a core piece of their business model, have been in business less than three years at the time of enrollment, and have less than USD$1M in annual revenue. Startups may enroll for the program by obtaining an enrollment code from a designated BizSpark Network Partner.

More details on the BizSpark Programme offered by Netcetera can be found at http://www.netcetera.co.uk/bizspark/

To speak to one of our Sales Consultants about what our services can do for you, or for any other queries, please fill out our Enquiry Form or call 0800 061 2801 or click our Live Chat

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Netcetera Launches Free ASP.NET 4.5 Hosting Beta Sandbox for Developer Community

Netcetera are delighted to announce that they have launched a new free ASP.NET 4.5 Beta Hosting sandbox as part of their hosting lab. This free hosting sandbox program allows users to experience the next generation .NET framework technology.

The free sandbox hosting program is a limited program offered as an open beta for developers, on a first come first served basis.

With .NET Framework 4.5, Microsoft .NET has been enhanced significantly to enable developers to be as productive as possible while building rich, reliable and high-performance software in managed code. Enhancements include language, performance and networking support.

Netcetera’s CTO Tim Cass commented  “With the beta release of .NET 4.5, we wanted to make sure developers get early experience with the newest framework in a hosted environment. We hope that the beta program will help the Microsoft developer community get a jump start building ASP.NET 4.5 applications.”

This is an excellent opportunity to experience the newest framework in a hosted environment. More details on the ASP.NET 4.5 Beta offered by Netcetera can be found at http://www.netcetera.co.uk/hosting/beta/

Questions? Let us help!

To speak to one of our Sales Consultants about what our services can do for you, or for any other queries, please fill out our Enquiry Form or call 0800 061 2801 or click our Live Chat

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Netcetera ranked as the 5th Most Reliable Hosting Company Worldwide for February 2012

We are very proud to announce that Netcetera is ranked as the 5th Most Reliable  Hosting Company worldwide for the month of February 2012, by Netcraft.

This is a fantastic achievement for Netcetera as the ranking is measured against the world’s top Hosting companies!

From a customer’s perspective, the percentage of failed requests is very important and for this reason to give a clear indication of reliability of routing, the ranking is measured by a table of fewest failed requests, rather than periods of outage.

Netcraft measures and makes available the response times of approximately forty leading Hosting providers sites. The performance measurements are calculated at fifteen minute intervals from different points around the internet, and averages are calculated over the immediately preceding 24 hour period.

Netcetera was formed in 1996 and today is one of Europe’s leading Web Hosting service providers, offering a full range of products, from a basic hosting service catering to individuals who need to host a single website, to large companies who require more complicated setups using, for example, our latest Managed Windows Cloud Server, a Virtual Machine or a Dedicated Server. Whatever your Hosting requirements, our range of Managed hosting options will provide you with a solution, and our UK based Hosting packages can help create a professional backbone for your online business.

Questions? Let us help!

To speak to one of our Sales Consultants about what our services can do for you, or for any other queries, please fill out our Enquiry Form or call 0800 061 2801 or click our Live Chat

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Cloud Step 7: Why is Cost analysis of the Cloud so Important?

The business case for cloud application migration is never complete without taking the target cloud platform into consideration. The migration and overhead costs vary widely based on the target cloud platform and thus will skew the estimated cost savings. Cost analysis helps decide whether to go ahead with moving a particular application to the cloud or not from a return on investment perspective. Cost should include capital expenditure, operational expenditure, and the overhead costs involved with migration.

Up to now, the success of applications in the Cloud, both virtual and physical, has been viewed in only two ways, availability and performance. Perhaps however, the most important dimension is cost, and it is this cost that will dramatically influence what, when and where businesses deploy to the cloud. Cost can increase exponentially without proper cloud monitoring and cloud cost modeling. The result of this is that it has become crucial for IT to tie cloud success to cost analysis, in addition to overall system performance.

To date, companies have been oblivious to the workload cost of an application running in the cloud, apart from unclear monthly billing. We are entering a new era where performance and availability will be baseline requirements, but workload cost efficiency will be the new key to success.

Netcetera’s Managed Windows Cloud Server offers ease and simplicity with scalability and resilience. All this, for as little as £40.98/pm and it includes the Essential Management Pack, FREE Site Migration and a 7 day RISK Free money back guarantee.

Previous posts:

Next posts:

  • Step 8 – Have you prepared a Migration Strategy?
  • Step 9 – The importance of Considering Downtime and How to Deal with it.
  • Step 10 – The importance of Data Migration.

Questions? Let us help!

To speak to one of our Sales Consultants about what our services can do for you, or for any other queries, please fill out our Enquiry Form or call 0800 061 2801 or click our Live Chat

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Netcetera Voted Top 25 Most Popular Web Host for February 2012

Netcetera are proud to announce that for the 15th consecutive month, we have been voted by the Web Host Directory in the UK as one of the Top 25 Most Popular Web Hosts, for the month of February. This month, Netcetera are proudly placed at #11.

Netcetera was formed in 1996 and today is one of Europe’s leading Web Hosting service providers, offering a full range of products. Whatever your Web Hosting requirements, Netcetera’s range of  Managed Hosting options cater to your needs. Our UK based hosting  packages can help create a professional backbone for your online business. Hosting packages start from as little as £2.99/pm and include FREE Migration from your current host and one month FREE Trial. As always everything comes with our excellent customer service 24/7!

View some of the prestigious awards we are honored to have earned so far at http://www.netcetera.co.uk/about/awards/

Please remember to visit the Web Host Directory UK Awards to vote for us. We would especially like to thank everyone who has voted for Netcetera this month.

Questions? Let us help!

To speak to one of our Sales Consultants about what our services can do for you, or for any other queries, please fill out our Enquiry Form or call 0800 061 2801.

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What are the Advantages of Hosted Exchange?

To stay ahead of the game, email, collaboration and scheduling tools have become critical factors to the success of any business today.  Unfortunately, small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) often lack a large IT budget or in-house team to implement and maintain the sophisticated messaging software they need. Yet SMBs need this critical toolset in order to succeed in the marketplace. Microsoft Exchange is used by the majority of large corporations for their email, calendars, contacts and files. Exchange powers the full collaboration functions of Microsoft Outlook 2007, such as group calendars, contacts and file-sharing.

Netcetera provide the latest version, Exchange 2010, as a hosted service. You can subscribe to this on-demand service for a low monthly fee of just £6.00/pm instead of paying tens of thousands of pounds upfront for expensive servers and software licenses, hiring specialist IT staff to install and maintain the system and being responsible for a 24/7 infrastructure. We let you focus on your core business.

Hosted Microsoft Exchange 2010 means that we provide all hardware and software, then run and maintain it for you in one of our Tier-4 data centers. For a very low monthly fee, you will be able to access your email using Outlook® or Entourage® on your desktop, Outlook Web Access (OWA) in any web browser, or wirelessly from a device like the BlackBerry® or iPhone.

How can this Hosted Exchange help me?  Well, most people running Exchange as their email server typically use Outlook as email. Among many advanced features, it allows them to:

  • Securely access email remotely via the web or a mobile device like a BlackBerry or iPhone
  • View colleagues’ up-to-date calendars and schedule meetings
  • Assign and manage company tasks on central ‘to do’ lists
  • Manage contact information of employees and customers and access it anytime

Exchange is a quantum leap from basic POP3 or IMAP4 email, which is most suited for home and personal use, and makes your team much more productive through constant access to email, shared calendars and contacts.  It helps outsource management duties, lower management costs, heighten security and provides more robust business continuity and data backup.

Businesses can significantly reduce costs by using this approach.  For just £6.00/pm, see how this great product can enhance your business.

Questions? Let us help!

To speak to one of our Sales Consultants about what our services can do for you, or for any other queries, please register your interest or call 0800 061 2801.

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Netcetera Voted 4th Most Popular Dedicated Server Provider for January 2012

Netcetera are very proud to announce that for the month of January, we have been voted the 4th Most Popular Dedicated Server Provider in the UK‘s Top 25 Most Popular Dedicated Server Companies. Every month, at the Dedicated Server Directory, a list of the Top 25 Most Popular Dedicated Server Companies is complied.  This list is based on the amount of unique visitors each profile receives, and for this reason we are extremely happy with our position this month!

As the premier provider of Co-location, Dedicated Servers and Managed Services in the UK, Netcetera offers an array of services designed to more effectively manage IT infrastructures. Our state-of-the-art Data Centre environment enables us to offer your business enterprise level co-location and hosted solutions.

Providing an unmatched value for your budget is the driving force behind our customer service and managed infrastructure services. We are able to deliver solutions that meet the needs of businesses of all sizes. From Single Server Co-location to fully customized Dedicated Servers, we can provide companies with the IT solutions they need to focus on their core business instead of managing servers, networks and firewalls often at a significant cost saving. Our prices are very competitive and prices start from as little as £57.99/pm including FREE setup.

Questions? Let us help!

To speak to one of our Sales Consultants about what our services can do for you, or for any other queries, please fill out our Enquiry Form or call 0800 061 2801.

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Netcetera successfully renews ISO9001 and ISO27001 accreditations for 2012

Netcetera, one of Europe’s leading Web Hosting and Datacentre service providers , are very proud to announce that our ISO9001 and ISO27001 accreditations have been successfully renewed following an extensive audit of our standards and procedures. This accreditation is only awarded to companies that demonstrate the highest quality management systems.

 

Netcetera’s CTO Tim Cass commented “Netcetera’s services and products are continually reviewed to ensure that the company provides the highest quality service to their customers. This accreditation confirms our status as a company capable of internationally recognised standards and we are pleased that our dedication to outstanding customer service continues to be acknowledged by ISO.  Netcetera strives to maintain its established reputation for quality and security; it is our aim to provide world class service using the best facilities for our clients. The successful recertification of ISO9001 and ISO27001 reflects our ongoing efforts to maintain the highest service and security levels by implementing effective systems to enhance the working environment of our Isle of Man Datacentre .”

ISO 9001:2008 specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organisation needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products that meet customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. Netcetera aims to enhance customer satisfaction through effective quality assurance and continual improvement.

Being ISO9001:2008 certified and registered means an independent auditor has checked that the processes influencing quality within Netcetera conforms to the relevant standard’s requirements. The primary objective is to give our management team and our clients confidence that we are always in control of the way we do things. An organisation that engages an independent auditor or certification body to check their processes receives a certificate of conformity from the auditor/certification body.

The ISO 27001:2005 standard is an international certification that applies requirements for information security management systems. The standard is designed to provide customers with an assurance that their provider uses industry best practices or information security.

First awarded in 2007, Netcetera was the first Isle of Man Datacentre to be completely certified for both Quality Management System ISO 9001 and Information Security Management System ISO 27001. The successful recertification is a result of the full integrated management system (IMS) which ensures the cohesion of all aspects of service including customer service and information management.

Questions? Let us help!

To speak to one of our Sales Consultants about what our services can do for you, or for any other queries, please fill out our Enquiry Form or call 0800 061 2801.

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Cloud Step 6: Helping you answer your Compliance Queries in the Cloud

Companies considering using Cloud services should perform a gap analysis between the specific requirements identified in relevant regulations and the set of controls provided by the cloud service provider. Virtually every regulation requires organizations to adequately protect their physical and informational assets. You should be asking yourself these questions:

  • What information is stored on a system?
  • Where is the information stored?
  • Who can access the system?
  • What they can access?
  • Is the access appropriate?

All of these questions imply some level of ownership of the assets in question, and that is where cloud compliance issues become apparent.

Using Cloud Computing services for data and applications subject to compliance regulations requires a high degree of transparency on the part of service providers. If you are considering these services, you need to closely review contracts and service-level agreements and understand how the Cloud service meets your specific compliance requirements.

So what can you do? Ensure that the provider you use is able and willing to work with you, to provide and prove any data location restrictions you may have.

Much of compliance is about ensuring proper controls over who has access to assets, what level of access they have and how those levels are maintained.

Netcetera’s hosted Cloud infrastructure provides you with an agile infrastructure delivered from our secure, highly available data centre so you can respond quickly to your needs.

Our Cloud services allow you to focus on your business rather than your IT infrastructure. With our aim to provide our customers with top quality service, we decided to introduce a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to emphasise the importance we place on server uptime.

Previous posts:

Next posts:

  • Step 7 – Why is Cost analysis of the Cloud so important?
  • Step 8 – Have you prepared a Migration Strategy?
  • Step 9 – The importance of Considering Downtime and How to Deal with it.
  • Step 10 – The importance of Data Migration.

Questions? Let us help!

To speak to one of our Sales Consultants about what our services can do for you, or for any other queries, please fill out our Enquiry Form or call 0800 061 2801.