18th October 2011

Colt, the London-based information delivery platform, today announced the extension of its enterprise cloud services into mainland Europe. The expansion is expected to help new European customers address their need to store and access data anytime, anywhere, while meeting data protection requirements specific to their location.

Colt already offers private dedicated clouds for its customers as well as enterprise public cloud services with its VMware vCloud Datacenter service, however the expansion will now help European customers access local enterprise private cloud services from local data centres by the end of 2012.

Users can also choose to store their data in the country in which they operate, helping 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.

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 of the expansion:

“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 added, “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.”

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Tags: infrastructure as a service