The story so far.......
As a market leader within the IT Managed Services arena, Selection Services is always looking to provide innovative solutions to our ever growing customer base, whether it be from the deployment of a new Network Infrastructure which improves communications between office locations and remote users, or through the implementation of a Managed Helpdesk & SupportNet24™ service thus improving end user experience of support – what’s important is that they all improve efficiency, reduce overall costs, and further strengthen our relationship with customers.
With business becoming increasingly reliant on IT we have a fantastic opportunity to further expand our involvement with our customers.
In many cases Selection Services has already become the IT Support organisation which our customers cannot do without, providing consultancy, account management, logistics, and managed support we are our clients’ “Right Hand” man in many situations. With the addition of LeftHand Networks SANiQ product we have the opportunity to further enhance our position.
SANiQ, with virtualisation hits at the very core of where we appeal to our client base, the IT/ Network infrastructure. Previously high profile developments within the industry such as CRM software, Document Management and E-mail Archiving have missed our core offering and sat on the peripheral of our competence. This is potentially very different………
It all started.......
Apparently Mike was informed that this product SANiQ was going to change the way our customers thought about Storage Area Networking and was the best thing to happen in the IT arena since we all thought the world was going to end on New Years Eve 1999 when the millennium bug struck.
Obviously Mike was cautious at first and wanted to ensure this was not just another marketing scam or an organisation and a product which had no substance, and I’m pleased to say that it is proving to have substance and widespread appeal.
So enough about how we got here, what’s it all about I hear you shout (those that are still reading)…. Basically, IT departments have historically evolved and grown from a very small infrastructure of maybe 2 – 3 Servers, which provide all the users within the business their applications, and file / print, e-mail, internet, accounts & CRM systems…..e.t.c., I mean you just have to look at our own servers….. at the last count we had over 20 of them located in Bromley and the Docklands. That type of infrastructure costs a great deal of money to implement in the 1st instance, and an even greater amount to manage, administer and support….. they do break too, so sometimes need replacing (which again costs).
How do people get around this increased cost for supporting and maintaining ever increasing quantities of Servers….. That’s the easy bit, we Virtualise them. We what…??
We use software from VMWare, which transforms (or converts) what was a physical server (which had its own place in a Server Rack, within a Datacentre) into a Virtual Server which now “lives or resides” on a new Server along with maybe 5 or more other “Virtual Servers”
By virtualising the 20 or so Physical Servers in a datacentre onto maybe 4 VMWare Servers, it doesn’t take Einstein to realise there will be a huge saving in costs: Power to run the server, Rackspace to host them, Costs for maintenance, Cost for administration e.t.c they all play a role in a companies decision to Virtualise.
Its all very well virtualising your servers, but the dilemma faced by IT departments with this type of solution is the fact that on a Virtual Machine, you do not have a “Physical Disc to store your Data”….. for example, we all have e-mail on our PC’s, and all the emails are stored on the Exchange Server….. but if we have a Virtual Exchange Server, where we do store the emails….?? We store them on the LeftHand Networks Storage servers.
I’m pleased to say that the solution itself is not only very popular with our customers due to its flexibility, cost effectiveness (significantly lower in price that alternative solutions) and it ease of integration and deployment, but we as a business (Stuart Hanks & Mike Povall) are currently going through the exact same process internally of converting our Physical Servers into Virtual, and storing all our critical Data (File & Print, Exchange, Remedy Database e.t.c.) on the LeftHand Networks Storage Servers.
Due to our success in deploying these solutions to both new and existing customers such as GIA, Space NK, Styles & Wood we have been recognised by both VMWare (Enterprise Partner Status) and LeftHand Networks (Gold Partner Status) and would hope that we can be seen by our customers as both their Right & Left Hand.
