The latest BC and Co-Location news from NetSupport

February 2008

GHL Group choose NetSupport for co-location requirements.

GHL Group was established following the merger of two well respected and award-winning mortgage companies, Genesis Home Loans based in the East Midlands and Guaranteed Home Loans based in Kent.

GHL are now one of the leading Mortgage Networks and with their multi-channel approach to business, one of the UK's premier mortgage distribution companies.

January 2008

Bakkavor select NetSupport for their Business Continuity and DR requirements.

Bakkavör Group is a leading international food manufacturing company specialising in fresh prepared foods and produce. The Group operates 55 factories and employs around 20,000 people in eight countries with a pro-forma turnover in 2006 of over £1 billion. The Group’s Head Office is in Reykjavík, Iceland. The Group is listed on OMX Nordic Exchange in Iceland


December 2007

VFM further strengthens their partnership with NetSupport to host their mission critical servers at the Data Centre at NetSupport House.

NetSupport has provided VFM Ltd Business Continuity services for over 4 years for Businesses continuity services, in December 2007 they have further strengthened their partnership with NetSupport by deciding to host their mission critical servers at theNetSupport data centre, this will allow VFM to have a total DR solution for their business.

VFM Services is now, within the UK, universally accepted as the company for volume fraud consultancy and training with brand awareness also well established in Europe.



November 2007

NetSupport upgrades and enhances fire suppression systems for all co-location data centres.

NetSupport data centers now feature resilient, state-of-the-art fire location and suppression systems, ensuring that any fire can be detected and extinguished before it takes hold through a combination of Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus and FM200 technology.

In the event of a fire, the FM200 fire suppression system discharges gas to extinguish fires. Environmentally friendly and non-toxic, it poses no risk to human health and no significant reduction in oxygen levels. FM200 gas is effective within 10 seconds of discharge so that fires are rapidly extinguished. The Data Centrer is also fitted with a gas extraction system, which discharges the gas into the atmosphere

Read More


October 2007

NetSupport is proud to have been named a finalist for the prestigious PC PRO magazine awards.

Nominated in the Real World Business category, the award recognises technology companies whose products have made the biggest difference to business computing in 2007 and will be judged by a panel consisting of PC PRO contributors.

The awards ceremony is being held at The Science Museum, London on 4th December.

October 2007

NetSupport is pleased to deliver Business Continuity services for VFM.

VFM Services offers claims handling, risk management solutions and training to the financial services industry. The company commenced operations in August 2000 and is responsible for introducing what is termed 'Conversation Management' to the commercial world. It designed and developed the ground breaking New ERA Screening Process; based on a mix of forensic psychology and conversation management, with one key strand throughout; true customer focus.

VFM Services is now, within the UK, universally accepted as the company for volume fraud consultancy and training with brand awareness also well established in Europe.



September 2007

Ricnor select NetSupport for server Co-Location.

Ricnor Limited were hosting their servers in-house in their purpose built Data Centre, after taking the decision to outsource and co-locate their servers, Ricnor visited a number of Data centres in the Cambridgeshire area and we are pleased to announce NetSupport have been awarded the contract.

Ricnor are an event management software provider. Their flexible and intuitive cre8system streamlines the processes that typically take so long to administer, significantly improving the overall efficiency and productivity of the event management process.

August 2007

Premier Foods selects NetSupport Recovery Centre to provide them with office facilities and Business Continuity services in an event of a disaster.

Premier Foods is the UK's leading food producer, Premier Foods manufactures some of the nation's favourite foods including Hovis bread, Mr Kipling cakes, Sharwoods Asian foods, OXO stock cubes, Batchelors soups and noodles, Loyd Grossman sauces, Bisto gravy, Quorn meat-free products, Ambrosia custard and rice pudding, Branston pickle and Hartley's jams and marmalades and Jelly. In fact, their top ten brands alone have retail sales of over £1.1 billion.

July 2007

Erinaceous Group select NetSupport for Business Continuity in addition to existing Asset Management technology provision.

Erinaceous Group have been a client of NetSupport for a number of years using NetSupport's asset management software solution, NetSupport DNA. Earlier this year they were looking for a partner who could provide them with Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery support services. After a review of our site and service provisions, we are pleased to welcome Erinaceous to our BC customer base.

Erinaceous provides a one-stop-shop for a broad range of services related to the management, maintenance, procurement, design, construction and insurance of property. Providing innovative services and solutions to both the private and public sectors for residential and commercial property, Erinaceous aim to be the provider of choice.

June 2007

Complete IT has selected NetSupport to host their mission critical servers at the Data Centre at NetSupport House.

After visiting number of suppliers in and around the area Complete IT chose NetSupport for its ease of access, excellent facilities and flexibility in dealing with their clients. For over 10 years Complete I.T. have been successfully providing a wide range of IT solutions to a diverse client base.

May 2007

Lightstone and NetSupport have further strengthened their partnership by extending their use of NetSupport for Business Continuity and Co-location services.

Lightstone works with both SME and blue chip companies. They design, develop and implement solutions ranging from web services to entire websites to Enterprise level application development/integration. They also provide a range of ancillary services to ensure that the web solutions they deliver are employed to their fullest extent.

April 2007

NetSupport provide dedicated server hosting for Sharman Quinney

NetSupport are pleased to extend the provision of dedicated server hosting services to successful and innovative estate agency and property services business Sharman Quinney.

The company provides customers one-stop property services, from buying and selling, to the funding solutions from Sharman Quinney Mortgage Services. To help speed the legal process and provide customers with transparent fee structure, the company established its own conveyancing business, Fastmove. This is further augmented with a Land & New Homes division, acquiring land for developers and in doing so providing customers a chance to release equity or realise assets.


March 2007

Top online job search provider, allthetopbananas.com selects NetSupport to host its high volume data and server requirements.

With over 230,000 jobs posted online, www.allthetopbananas.com is one of the UKs leading Job Search Engines. With such high traffic requirements and need for guaranteed uptime, NetSupport was selected for their server colocation requirements.


February 2007

Frontline choose NetSupport as a partner in delivering Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity services for their Peterborough office.

Frontline is the result of a magazine distribution joint venture between BBC, Haymarket and EMAP. Frontline has consolidated its position as the UK's leading distribution company achieving "category" captaincy in a number of major retails. Frontline are responsible for maximising the sales of all it partners' magazines by providing critical link between publishers and retailers.

November 2006

NetSupport limited are again ranked in the Deloitte and Touche UK fast 50 awards, for the seventh year in sucession. The annual awards recognise the fastest 50 growing technology companies in the UK and Ireland.

Distributed Customer Support tool available.

If your staff can't make it to the office, they can still be productive.

As a complimentary solution to offsite Business Continuity, NetSupport also provide a Internet based software solution that allows an organisation to provide distributed Customer Support and, if needed, remote assistance to customers from any location. Click here to find out more.

City firms warned on disaster recovery plans.

Too many critical back-up sites located in London, says FSA...

Financial firms in the City of London risk being brought down by a terrorist attack or natural disaster because too many critical business functions and back-up sites are located close by within the capital.

The warning comes from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) following a resilience benchmarking project involving 60 of the UK's most significant firms and financial infrastructure providers.

The FSA said those businesses who represent the core of the UK's financial system have "highly resilient" IT systems and that they could recover critical functions rapidly following major operational disruption but warned there are several areas that need improvement.

Firms have been warned there is a "significant geographical concentration" of critical business functions and back-up sites in and around London that could be affected by a major incident and the FSA also expressed concern at the "high degree of reliance" on financial infrastructure providers, key telecoms providers and disaster recovery organisations.

Businesses have also been advised to move towards "more rounded" business continuity principles and address staffing issues as part of their plans. More than half of those who took part in the FSA's benchmarking survey currently have no plans for dealing with staff fatalities while others have not tested the feasibility of getting staff to alternative back-up sites.

London's financial sector also undertook a simulated disaster recovery exercise in November to test preparedness for terrorist attacks, natural disasters or major infrastructure damage. More than 1,000 people and 80 UK organisations took part in the test, which included simulations of car bomb attacks and casualties. KPMG is due to produce a report on the effectiveness of the disaster recovery planning early next year.

NetSupport are proud to have been named within the UK Fast 50 Awards (Eastern Region) for the 6th consecutive year.

The Deloitte Fast 50 Awards were started in San Jose, the centre of Silicon Valley, California in 1995 and quickly became the growth benchmark of success in the USA. They have now expanded world wide to incorporate nine countries and regions, including the UK, France, Germany, Central Europe, the Netherlands, Asia-Pacific, Israel, and Australia.

Now in their eighth year in the UK, the Technology Fast 50 Awards are unique in championing the cause of growing technology companies.

Based on percentage revenue growth over a five year period, the ranking features the 50 private and publicly-held ‘TMT’ companies that have demonstrated innovative strategies, sound management practices and marketplace vision driving them to achieve the status of high-growth leaders during the current marketplace challenges.

NetSupport recognised in Evening Telegraph Business of the Year Awards 2005.

The ultimate accolade of the local business world – The Business of the Year Award 2005, sponsored by Barclays.


NetSupport Directors Al Kingsley, Rob Hawkins and Marcus Kingsley being presented the award by the BBC's Dermot Murnaghan.

BUSINESS AWARDS 2005: A decade of business excellence
It was a night of celebrations. The sky was illuminated and the red carpet was out. Peterborough's Moat House Hotel was transformed for the glittering gala dinner for The Evening Telegraph's 10th Annual Business Awards.
BIGGER, better and even more exciting than ever was the verdict from Greater Peterborough's business community who turned out for the champagne celebrations on Friday.

When the awards were launched earllier this year, Evening Telegraph editor, Rebecca Stephens, told businessmen and women she was keen to make the ceremony the best it had ever been. And on Friday, it was clear the mission had been accomplished.

Rebecca told guests at the gala dinner: "A few months ago I stood in almost this same spot when we launched the awards and said we wanted this year, our tenth, to be bigger and better than ever before. We couldn't have done it without you." Professional audio, visuals and top television host Dermot Murnaghan all helped to make the evening extra special.

NetSupport were presented with the Highly Commended award, to recognise the growth and success of the business over the last 12 months. NetSupport has also won the UK Technology Exporter of the Year Award for 2005, fighting off competition from more than 200 national entries.

After being presented with the award, managing director Al Kingsley said: "Its great to receive local recognition for our efforts and this award reflects the market leading services we offer. To have now received one award to recognise our success at home and an exporter award for our efforts overseas, it really does round off one of our best years yet.",

Business Continuity manager, Colin Jeffs added "We are overwhelmed with the success we have achieved with our Business Continuity services in 2005, building on a strong 2004. The unique combination of continuity facilities supported by award winning systems management tools really does mean we have the most Advanced Business Continuity on offer in the region. Once again the quality of our services and the strong commercial foundation of our business have been recognised as market leading".

Date 17/08/05

Indesit Company conduct latest Business Continuity test at NetSupport Powerweb facilities.

Indesit company have been a Business Continuity partner with NetSupport Powerweb since 2004. Indesit have invested in a Continuity plan to provide an alternative base for the UK call centre in the event of electrical failure, fire, Telephone switch failure, industrial action, damaged service cables, IT comms failure or a local BT exchange failure.

The test day was conducted on th 17th August 2005 with the objective of successfully transporting Peterborough Call Centre agents to the off-site continuity centre and for all agents to succesfully access the Indesit call allocation systems, route live calls to the continuity centre and complete a full customer cycle.

A summary of the day can be viewed here.

Date: 17/01/05

NDR AND NETSUPPORT POWERWEB ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP

Network Disaster Recovery Ltd (NDR), a leading business continuity supplier and NetSupport Powerweb a provider of business continuity solutions and facilities have announced their partnership.

The partnership of these complimentary service offerings will capitalise on each company’s expertise. NetSupport Powerweb's services include full consultancy for accurate problem identification through to problem resolution and the provision of an unrivalled infrastructure, including state of the art purpose built recovery premises in Market Deeping, on the outskirts of Peterborough, providing a complete operational environment with 210 recovery positions, within easy access of road and rail links. This includes three separate recovery suites of varying sizes, creating choice of ready-made offices to move into, complete with fully networked environment, two separate server rooms, digital telephony, auxiliary office equipment, rest areas, parking, UPS, controlled access and 24/7 security.

NDR with over a decade of experience in multi-platform disaster recovery provide a range of flexible recovery solutions and recovery methods, which can be chosen at the time of a disaster. One of these recovery methods is the relocation of client staff to a business recovery centre where they will have their systems recovered on NDR’s replica hardware. NetSupport Powerweb’s Peterborough facility provides the perfect extension of these business recovery positions within the UK. Together NetSupport Powerweb and NDR can offer companies in the area greater scope for their business continuity and disaster recovery needs with the assurance of two established, specialist business continuity solution providers.

NetSupport Group Managing Director, Al Kingsley said of the partnership; “The combination of NDR's proven disaster recovery skills with NetSupport Powerweb's regionally unique advanced infrastructure, provides an unrivalled platform to harness and satisfy the significant demand that exists for Business Continuity solutions from this fast expanding regional catchment. Being able to leverage the extensive range of complimentary facilities offered by NDR, allows NetSupport Powerweb to further enhance its offering by incorporating Mobile Recovery and Equipment Offload services, ensuring its customer base has access to the very latest industry innovations.”

Fred McFarling, Sales and Marketing Director at NDR said; ”The partnership offers us the opportunity to work with another business continuity supplier and offer the best of both of our quality services to the surrounding business community. We chose this partnership with NetSupport Powerweb because it is clear that the company understands both the technical and customer needs of business continuity solutions in terms of excellent quality and complete reliability. NDR currently have 4 recovery centres located in Birmingham, Bristol, London and Uxbridge. The additional facilities offered by the partnership with NetSupport Powerweb increases the number of recovery positions we can offer to our customers to over 1300. We look forward to a very productive partnership.”

Trying not to make a drama out of a crisis. Any business can be affected by an emergency, be it a fire, computer problems, or even a terrorist attack. But one Market Deeping firm hopes to limit any problems a business can suffer during such a situation. Mark pearson reports. With January drawing ever closer, it is time for businesses to consider making resolutions to start the new year in a secure and stable position.

One important issue, often overlooked, is making sure your company is fully protected for an emergency.
Fire or flood damage to a property is devastating, whether it be a business or a residence. And a company in Towngate East, Market Deeping, near Peterborough, has taken on the responsibility of getting as many Peterborough businesses as it can to have the measures in place to deal with disasters.

NetSupport PowerWeb provides business continuity, disaster recovery and a co-location service.

This means it enables businesses afflicted by disaster to continue operating their company without impacting customers, suppliers or own operational viability.

Al Kingsley, the group managing director for NetSupport, is making it his job to ensure Peterborough's businesses are fully aware of the importance of being covered for disaster in the new year.

He said: "Every business, including ours, wants to kick start the new year in style.
We provide the necessary infrastructure and facilities to relocate you staff to our premises."

"This will allow your company to recover from the disaster, be it a flood or a fire, while carrying on with day to day business as normal."

NetSupport's business continuity provides an "insurance policy" for companies, should they suffer a disaster, which could equally be a failure in key services, i.e electricity or telephone breakdown, so they have a location where they can relocate key staff and services to continue without interruption.

The branch is fully equipped with 220 networked computers, desks and telephones. All the on-site services, i.e. power, air conditioning and networks have full dual redundancy, so even if there is a power cut in Market Deeping or their Cambridge internet connection is lost, full on-site power generators and distributed network connections can take over.

NetSupport Powerweb is part of the NetSupport Group of companies which were founded in 1989, the head office is in Market Deeping with additional international offices in Atlanta, California, Toronto, Munich and Tokyo.

The company have invested just over £1.5 million in the last year, developing its new head office in Market Deeping.

It has a number of high profile customers on board, and works closely with the Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce to help make sure its services are tailored to the local community.

One company which works with NetSupport is Merloni Elettrodomestici UK Ltd, in Morley Way, Peterborough.

Information technology director Steve Jackson said: "NetSupport Powerweb works together with us to provide a robust and secure disaster recovery infrastructure for our call centre at our site in Peterborough.

"Our call centre is the largest white goods after-sales service operation in Europe, employing over 1,700 people which makes the excellent support we have from NetSupport Powerweb vital to the success of our business in the UK.

"We looked at a number of suppliers for our business continuity requirements for our busy contact centre in Peterborough, and after a lot of research we found that NetSupport Powerweb was the only company who could deliver the required functionality in the Greater Peterborough area."

"We were impressed by their processes, methodology, facilities and their commitment to delivering requirements within agreed timescales. We are very happy with their support and service and look forward to a productive new year partnership."

NetSupport Powerweb is currently the only company providing the service in the Peterborough area.

• For more information about NetSupport, call 0870 4014010, or visit www.powerweb.co.uk

Firms are still not ready for disaster

According to a study commissioned by storage services company Sagitta, although companies are aware of the damaging effects of a disaster – with one third citing damage to the reputation of the business and a quarter expressing direct loss of revenue as key concerns – current IT budgets do not reflect the need for a disaster recovery strategy.

Three quarters of 1,000 information technology managers questioned indicated they only have a base level disaster recovery programme in place, despite the fact 28 per cent of respondents stated that disk failure would be a key threat to their business.

Andy Norman, chief executive of Sagitta, said: "With the recent publicity disaster recovery has been getting it is astonishing to see that it is not a priority for companies today.
It is clear from the results there is still a gap between what people need to ensure an effective disaster recovery strategy is in place, and what they actually have.

There is a common misconception that disaster recovery solutions have to cost a lot of money, this is simply not true."

"The lack of suitable disaster recovery strategies is leaving many companies at risk."

Boss set for session at breakfast network club

A networking breakfast takes place at The Cresset, in Bretton, Peterborough from 8am to 10am on January 27.

It costs £14 for members of the Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce and £21 for non-members who wish to attend.

Mr Kingsley will be doing a presentation at the breakfast and will be open for questions afterwards.

• To book for the event, call the chamber on 01223 237414.

BCC News : 17th November 2004

NetSupport PowerWeb held an Open Evening for local businesses on Wednesday 17 November 2004

Members of the Sales Academy attended an Open evening at NetSupport PowerWeb’s new purpose built Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Centre in market Deeping, Peterborough.

The members were shown around the latest facilities which included 210 workspace recovery positions with room for further growth. This makes NetSupport's facilities as the biggest operational Centre within 50 miles radius of Peterborough.

BCC News : Peterborough Evening Telegraph: 10th November 2004

PHASE TWO: Software firm expands site

NETSUPPORT PowerWeb part of the NetSupport group, a leading provider of network management software, has doubled its business continuity capacity by expanding its Market Deeping site as a direct consequence of customer demand.

The opening of the £420,000 phase II of the site has meant the capacity has now increased from 100 to more than 200 recovery positions, and is fully equipped to include high bandwidth availability and data hosting capability.

NetSupport PowerWeb is the only operational Business Continuity Centre able to provide more than 200 seats to local companies within a 50 mile-radius of Peterborough.

The facility features fully-equipped workstations, latest generation telephone system with full call and queue management, a 20 per cent additional capacity on phone lines to workstations and up to 100Mb on demand bandwidth.

The entire facility features state-of-the-art 24/7 security and CCTV monitoring, all suites are air-conditioned and the entire facility features its own redundant power supply.

Dave Apsey, NetSupport Group chairman, commented: "We currently have 210 seats permanently set up with all the required PCs, telephones and infrastructure in place and ready for immediate occupation.

"In the longer term we have outline planning permission that would allow us to increase our capacity to approximately 600 seats if there proves to be sufficient demand."

At a recent open day, more than 40 representatives from local businesses visited NetSupport Powerweb to be given a tour of the facilities and hear presentations by both the management team at NetSupport and by existing continuity customers who identified the benefits the services have provided to them already.

BCC News : Business focus : 12th October 2004

NetSupport Sponsor 2004 Business Focus

CLOSE-UP: Proud to be a part of the local economy THERE could be no clearer evidence of how Greater Peterborough businesses are supporting each other than to listen to the sheer buzz of the networking that was underway at this year's Business Focus event. Business editor SARAH GUNTHARDT went along to the fourth annual event which was staged at Peterborough's Moat House Hotel this week.

MORE than 500 businesses attended the event which enabled the region's businesses to network while showcasing their expertise and identifying potential sales leads and potential partners.

Brian Soanes, chief executive of The Business Club in Peterborough, opened the event which is organised voluntarily by his organisation, along with Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce, Inland Revenue, Lite FM, Herald & Post and Jenny Weston Promotions.

Mr Soanes said: "We believe it is right for Peterborough. The aim is for us to promote local trading with the aim of stimulating the local economy.

"This is the fourth year we have held the event and each time it gets better and better. We have more than 80 exhibitors and a fantastic programme of seminars running throughout the day.

"The success of an event such as this is about the business that is done here. We know there was certainly lots of business done here last year."

The event was officially opened by Stewart Francis, chairman of Lite FM, the Passenger Rail Council and the Strategic Health Authority, who said: "As a city we need leaders to build on our foundations. Leaders take risks, build high trust relationships, build the infrastructure to encourage future development and investment.

"Business networks are so important and events like today are so important. The majority of businesses in this city are local businesses and the message must be to support each other and your businesses will grow.

"Peterborough is already a vibrant local economy. Peterborough still boasts one of the best road networks, high speed rail link and first class rail services.

"It's a partnership. It's this investment in public services, coupled with entrepreneurial skills that will ensure Peterborough remains a viable place to do business. Peterborough has very much to be proud of."

Gillian Beasley, chief executive of Peterborough City Council, also spoke some promising words.

She said: "I think Peterborough City Council needs to have a strong commitment for working with businesses in the city. I have encouraged the use of local businesses for the Queensgate and North Westgate developments. The city council is open for business and I think the city as a whole is open to business too."