Star Announces launch of ‘Dev2Live’ Services for SIs and ISVs

Star provides on-demand business services to support software development projects from build and test to ‘go live’

LONDON, 15 March 2010 – Star, a provider of on-demand computing and communication services to UK businesses, has announced the launch of a specialist Dev2Live service. This is a complete range of services aimed at developers and giving them access to the managed infrastructure and collaboration tools needed to support software development projects, from build and testing to the ‘live’ environment.

Star’s Dev2Live service is a solution to the resource and cost challenges of managing multiple providers and in-house hardware for every development project. Project leaders can now focus on a project’s success with the support of an extensive range of on-demand, pay-as-you-go services managed within a private cloud environment, all from one trusted partner.

Dev2Live services are built up from components that make up the Star cloud computing platform, and include a dedicated virtualisation cluster, that gives developers a single scalable platform on which to build, test and deploy software with the ability to deploy additional machines in minutes.  To ease collaboration, Star Business Email provides the resources to co-ordinate team activities and improves productivity without the need for in-house servers. Dev2Live services can be deployed within a Star managed network infrastructure, simplifying the secure delivery of applications and data to people wherever they are located.

As part of the launch of the service, Star is offering the ‘QuickStartDV’ Pack which includes a 7-day free trial of the virtualisation platform with a 30 day ‘money back’ guarantee, 5 free users of Star Business Email and Microsoft Team Foundation Server.

James Griffin, Head of Hosting Strategy at Star comments: “Whether they’re working for large corporates or smaller agencies, developers face a host of challenges in taking projects from test phase to live environments. Pressures on time scales, resources and project management combine to create a number of issues which can create barriers to successful project completion.”

He continues:  “Star’s Dev2Live services are designed to provide a complete package, which can help to overcome these obstacles with the tools and infrastructure specifically designed for the needs of developers. Star is an established provider of resilient, secure and tailored services all of which is backed up by a dedicated UK technical support team.”

Dev2Live customer Harvey Flather, CEO at Intelligent ID, recalls his earlier attempt to do everything in-house: “We recognised early on that we had to find a better way to deliver our services than trying to do everything ourselves. We didn’t want the cost and distraction that creating our own delivery platform would mean and the negative impact this would have on our business. I think it had the potential to hold back the development work on our solutions as well as our financial growth if we did not get this right. Making the right decision meant finding a partner with the infrastructure already in place that would help us to deliver our services quickly and cost effectively.”

Download the free developer whitepaper, “Remove the road blocks to project success” from: www.star.co.uk/developer

About Star

Star provides on-demand computing and communication services to UK businesses. Utilising an advanced cloud computing platform, the company has redefined how business people use and pay for the technology that supports them. Star’s On-demand Business Services™ are easy to use and pay for and are available any time and from anywhere, removing unnecessary costs for hardware, software and ongoing maintenance.

Since 1995, when Star was founded, the company has been an Internet technology innovator and pioneered the system for cloud based spam and virus scanning for business email that became MessageLabs. In the last 14 years Star has established itself as a leading IT and communications service provider of the highest pedigree looking after 3,500 UK business customers and their 500,000 users.

Star has UK based data centres that sit within a network and communications capability that forms the basis of the Star Platform, from which a wide range of computing and communication services are delivered to customers. Star has over 230 employees working from offices throughout the UK, providing the highest levels of customer service and support. Star’s technology roadmap will deliver on-demand, cloud computing services to UK businesses who want immediate access to the latest enterprise technologies. For more information please go to: www.star.co.uk

Media Contacts:

Kirsten Scott/Maria Muller

éclat Marketing

Tel: 01276 486000

Email: star@eclat.co.uk

IT professionals yet to see the real data impact of governance, according to Telehouse survey

London, UK, – 5th January, 2010 – UK businesses are primarily concerned with SaaS and cloud computing with 31 per cent saying it is driving increased use of data centre capacity, according to a national survey commissioned by Telehouse of over 100 senior IT professionals. With Gartner forecasting that the cloud computing market could reach a global value of $150 billion by 2013, it is unsurprising that 83 per cent of respondents predict that their data centre requirement will also grow in the next three years. Looking further ahead, over 80 per cent of respondents thought that securing access to additional data centre capacity would be either ‘critical’ or ‘important’ in the next five years.

Only four per cent said governance is driving increased use of data centre capacity in their organisation, suggesting that some businesses may potentially be overlooking the data demands of governance. Currently, businesses are required to retain a vast amount of electronic data for possible government inspection. Key regulatory legislation affecting UK businesses include Basle II and MiFID in banking, HIPAA for the pharmaceutical industry or Sarbanes-Oxley for companies with a US footprint.

According to a study by IDC Research, email and electronic documents, which now have to be retained legally, are a primary factor for the increase in the amount of information stored on servers. In fact, the BroadGroup estimate that storage of this data typically represents 20 – 30 per cent of a data centre’s footprint. If organisations underestimate this, UK businesses could be fast be approaching a tipping point where the requirement to store data far exceeds their current data storage infrastructure.

“The results of our survey indicate that demand for data centre capacity will continue to increase over the next five years, fuelled by SaaS and cloud computing, but we should not underestimate the future impact of governance and the pressure it will put on capacity, too,” commented Michelle Reid, Sales and Marketing Director, Telehouse.

“Until recently, there has not been the storage space in London to meet this demand, with many data centre vendors finding it difficult to secure planning permission within the capital. The launch of our new data centre, Telehouse West, in the heart of the capital, will provide UK businesses with the means to conform to regulations and grow to take advantage of the latest technology trends and meet the requirements of increased regulation,” added Reid.

Telehouse recently announced its Telehouse West facility, an £80 million state-of-the-art data centre in London’s Docklands that will provide 19,000 square metres of secure data centre space for UK businesses; the data centre is manned 24×7 by trained security personnel. The facility will act as an extended communications hub to over 400 carriers and ISPs. Value added ICT services will also be provisioned to support compliance with the latest government legislation.

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