This G-Cloud 10 service is no longer available to buy.

The G-Cloud 10 framework expired on Tuesday 2 July 2019. Any existing contracts with Southern Communications Ltd are still valid.
Southern Communications Ltd

Data Center and Hosting, connected to Crown Hosting and the Crown Campus.

Our network connects to secure, managed tier 3/tier 3+ data centers in the UK. The centers provide a UK wide connectivity core directly accessing Crown Hosting, with secure, private links to commercial cloud offerings such as Azzure and AWS, as well as Government approved secure locations.

Features

  • Secure
  • Both inside and outside the M25 ring
  • Multi route data connectivity
  • Direct Internet Peering
  • Scalable
  • UK super grid power access
  • Direct Access to Crown Hosting and the Crown Campus

Benefits

  • UK Data Centers including, London, Slough, Farmbrough, Corsham, Newport
  • 24/7 UK based support
  • Price competitive
  • ISO9001 and 27001 accreditation
  • 99.9999% up time guarantees
  • flexible pricing models

Pricing

£50 a unit

  • Education pricing available

Service documents

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Framework

G-Cloud 10

Service ID

6 8 3 7 4 7 7 1 4 4 4 8 5 8 2

Contact

Southern Communications Ltd <removed>
Telephone: <removed>
Email: <removed>@32dd2528-9ac0-40bd-b0f8-87ea812a7934.com

Service scope

Service constraints
The SCL Cloud Hosting service is defined around cloud compute or hotel services, including rack facilities and server hardware required to provide the active processing of information. We operate up to the virtual machine level providing the customer with the flexibility to use their own licencing agreements for operating systems and software.
System requirements
  • All customer owned equipment must be rack mountable
  • Non operational spare parts must be correctly mounted
  • All customer provided software must be VMWare compatible

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Dependent on service response and fix times are constant 24/7/365
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
Yes
Online ticketing support accessibility
None or don’t know
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
24 hours, 7 days a week
Web chat support
Web chat
Web chat support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support accessibility standard
None or don’t know
How the web chat support is accessible
Web chat is accessed through our self service portal online
Web chat accessibility testing
None
Onsite support
Onsite support
Support levels
Remote hands and full engineering support
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
Pre-deployment planning identifies each customer need and our team of commissioning agents will develop an on-boarding program for the customer.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
All data is maintained on the customers devices and can be extracted at any time.
End-of-contract process
On termination of the hosting contract the customer is provided with a period of time to close down the location and connectivity.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Using the web interface
Users can monitor and manage attached services and purchase additional resources
Web interface accessibility standard
None or don’t know
How the web interface is accessible
Through web browser on PC / Tablet / Smart Phone
Web interface accessibility testing
None
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
All the features available in the self service portal can be accessed through the SCL API.
API automation tools
OpenStack
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
PDF
Command line interface
No

Scaling

Scaling available
Yes
Scaling type
Manual
Independence of resources
All hotel services to the rack as specific to that entity and all communications traffic is segmented into customer specific VRF's
Usage notifications
Yes
Usage reporting
  • API
  • Email
  • SMS

Analytics

Infrastructure or application metrics
Yes
Metrics types
  • CPU
  • HTTP request and response status
  • Memory
  • Network
Reporting types
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards

Resellers

Supplier type
Reseller providing extra features and support
Organisation whose services are being resold
NGD / Telehouse Group / Equinnix / Ark Group

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Conforms to BS7858:2012
Government security clearance
Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
No
Datacentre security standards
Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
Penetration testing frequency
At least once a year
Penetration testing approach
Another external penetration testing organisation
Protecting data at rest
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
Hardware containing data is completely destroyed
Equipment disposal approach
A third-party destruction service

Backup and recovery

Backup and recovery
Yes
What’s backed up
  • Virtual machines
  • SQL Databases
  • Open file and Exchange databases
Backup controls
Users have access to a control portal through a web interface. This allows them to schedule and maintain a full grandfather / father / son rotation of both full and incremental backups.
Datacentre setup
Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery
Scheduling backups
Users schedule backups through a web interface
Backup recovery
Users can recover backups themselves, for example through a web interface

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Bonded fibre optic connections
  • Other
Other protection between networks
Segmented non routeable VRF
Data protection within supplier network
Other
Other protection within supplier network
Segmented non route-able VRF

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
We offer a 99.999% up time SLA for the environment and the connection services across our network
Approach to resilience
All our connectivity is dual homed and all racks are provided on request with diverse power and connections either in copper of fiber tails.
Outage reporting
Our real time monitoring solution provides automatic outage reporting and alerting. This can be customised by the user to create a specif profile per individual.

Identity and authentication

User authentication
2-factor authentication
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Registered users are provide with unique access authentication to the management systems and all transactions are logged.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least once a year
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
Devices users manage the service through
  • Dedicated device on a segregated network (providers own provision)
  • Dedicated device over multiple services or networks
  • Any device but through a bastion host (a bastion host is a server that provides access to a private network from an external network such as the internet)
  • Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
Users have access to real-time audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users have access to real-time audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
BSI
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
18/01/2017
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
Active data management within customer supplied equipment
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Other security certifications
Yes
Any other security certifications
Cyber Essentials Plus

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
Yes
Security governance standards
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
Other security governance standards
Cyber Essentials Plus
Information security policies and processes
Guided by the ISO security framework of 27001 and aligned to the Cabinet Office HMG Security framework.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
SCL comply with the ITIL standards for change management
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
SCL comply with the ITIL standards for risk assessment
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
SCL comply with the ITIL standards for risk management
Incident management type
Supplier-defined controls
Incident management approach
SCL comply with the ITIL standards for Incident management

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Separation between users

Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart
No

Energy efficiency

Energy-efficient datacentres
Yes

Pricing

Price
£50 a unit
Discount for educational organisations
Yes
Free trial available
No

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at <removed>@32dd2528-9ac0-40bd-b0f8-87ea812a7934.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.