MDS Technologies Limited

Private Cloud

Our private cloud service is designed exclusively for the UK Public Sector, and is compliant with GDPR and suitable for OFFICIAL workloads, based in UK Crown hosting datacentres to ensure data sovereignty. The service provides an isolated single-tenant environment that can be designed specifically for your workload requirements (including Oracle).

Features

• Private single-tenant cloud compute solution provides stronger isolation assurance
• Optimised for OFFICIAL and the 14 NCSC Cloud Security Principles
• Disaster tolerant - two UK data centres separated by 100KM
• Flexible Connectivity options: internet, PSN, N3/HSCN, Janet
• HybridConnect, connect over leased line, MPLS or CPA Encryption
• Available using VMware, OpenStack, Oracle or Azure technology
• Build and configure VMs via secure self-service portal & API
• Meets unique private storage requirements: scale, budget and enhanced security
• Cross-domain functionality: controlled access between internet and Elevated domains
• Integrated with UKCloud's Protective Monitoring service

Benefits

• Security Assured; hosted in the UK by SC cleared operatives
• Highly scalable private cloud, private compute/storage dependent on needs
• Procure as either CAPEX or OPEX
• Offers unique hardware configurations (e.g. high performance compute)
• Green; based in UK facilities which offer market leading efficiency
• Choose the technology required as part of your multi-cloud solution
• Retain your investment in Oracle technology (optional)
• Automated Backup options available
• Dual site private cloud resiliency option available
• 99.99% Private Cloud availability as standard

£150.00 a virtual machine a month

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Framework

G-Cloud 12

Service ID

866368936026985

Contact

Ben Grantham
01225 816280
sales@mds.gb.net

Service scope

• Service constraints: Support for specific hardware configurations only.; UKCloud must be named agents for all support and maintenance contracts. ; UKCloud data centre access is available to UKCloud staff only.; Must include specified top-of-rack/end-of-rack network switches.; Switches will be designed, implemented and managed by UKCloud.; UKCloud provides no SLA or warranty related to performance. No Customer access to management applications used to manage platform
• System requirements:
  • Customers will require appropriate network connectivity
  • Customer responsible for data security over their connectivity method

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Tickets are responded to on a priority basis. We aim to respond to ALL initial questions within 15 minutes during normal business hours and High Severity tickets will be answered 24/7
• 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: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: MDS' standard support includes Project Managers, Service Delivery Managers, Technical Account Managers, Support Engineers and a 24/7 basis. We aim to respond to ALL incidents and requests within 15 minutes 24/7, with a priority on resolving P1 incidents.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: We operate a Service Implementation process to ensure we take on the support and management of the cloud-based platform in a controlled manner. This will be lead by our Prince 2 qualified Project Managers and Service Delivery Managers and encompasses:; • Setup of monitoring, alerting and anti-virus utilising the MDS management toolset; • Establishing the key customer service interfaces and information reporting framework; • Providing access and interfaces to our Service Desk; • Establishing maintenance and patching regimes and schedules; • Ensuring the IaaS, PaaS or SaaS platform is fully documented and baselined; • Understanding the security and assurance requirements; • Formal acceptance by our Customer Service team
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • ODF
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: The customer has complete autonomy of how data is stored and managed within their virtual environment. Data can be extracted either from within the VM (for example, copying data over virtual networks), or the entire VM (for example, exporting as a VMDK or OVF). Assistance with this process can be provided by MDS and charged using our SFIA rates.
• End-of-contract process: Our off-boarding process is focused on ensuring the controlled shutdown of our service and, where appropriate, facilitating the transition to an alternative provider. This encompasses:; • Facilitating the removal of your data and content from the cloud platform; • Securely, and permanently, deleting all data, accounts and access such that they cannot be recovered; We can support the successful transfer of your services to another provider if requested. To support this we may:; • Appoint an Exit Manager; • Appoint a Project team for seamless handover to a new supplier or back to you to ensure service continuity; • Develop an Exit plan with your Exit Manager to identify all tasks and activities, for example:; • Transfer of all data to the new destination and provide backups as required; • Secure removal process for all data, user security, software etc. ; • Acceptance and signoff of successful data and system transfer. This will include access by a nominated security cleared client representative or team to verify all data and systems have been successfully transferred and removed; The Exit team will be charged using our SFIA rates.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: We provide a control panel allowing users to provision, manage and decommission various aspects of this service. It also allows users to interface with the service management system including raising tickets and requests. The web interface also provides access to a comprehensive set of documentation and videos. Launch, manage and delete virtual network, compute and storage resources. Display network topology. Manage images including creation and recover of backups. Control access and security including key pairs, API access and floating IPs. Manage load balancers.
• Web interface accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the web interface is accessible: The web interface is accessible using the most common web browsers and is delivered over various public and private networks including the internet, PSN, N3/HSCN and Janet. The web interface is protected by standards-based encryption, two-factor authentication and optionally IP address restrictions. The web interface is entirely HTML5 and does not require any auxilary plug-ins, therefore the web interface is accessible by any modern day desktop or mobile internet browser able to support secure HTTPS connections.
• Web interface accessibility testing: None
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: You can use API calls to create, manage and monitor Service Requests and view information about the components of your environment. We provide native access to underlying APIs such as vCloud and OpenStack. These are compatible with tools such as Terraform and platforms such as AWS S3.
• API automation tools:
  • Ansible
  • Chef
  • OpenStack
  • SaltStack
  • Terraform
  • Puppet
  • Other
• Other API automation tools: Jenkins
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • Open API (also known as Swagger)
  • HTML
  • ODF
  • PDF
• Command line interface: Yes
• Command line interface compatibility:
  • Linux or Unix
  • Windows
  • MacOS
• Using the command line interface: Customers can full manage their virtual infrastructure resources including compute, storage and networking, including management of virtual images, programmatically or manually via the CLI.

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type:
  • Automatic
  • Manual
• Independence of resources: Private Cloud, including compute, storage and private cloud based on Oracle, is a single tenant environment where the service is not affected by the demands of other users. We do have resource reservations and shares on our connectivity services that are not dedicated to our customers - such as internet bandwidth. In addition, the capacity planning team ensure that connectivity usage in terms of all resources are constantly monitored and increased accordingly to demand.
• Usage notifications: No

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
• Metrics types:
  • CPU
  • Disk
  • Memory
  • Number of active instances
  • Other
• Other metrics:
  • IP Management
  • User quotas
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra features and support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: UKCloud

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2012
• Government security clearance: Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: Customers are encouraged to protect their own data using encryption technologies where only they have the decryption key. In this way, our customers are assured that their data can never be accessed by a third party.
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Backup and recovery

• Backup and recovery: Yes
• What’s backed up:
  • Virtual machines and associated data
  • Use infrastructure as code to redeploy solution to different regions
• Backup controls: Depending on the backup or replication service that the customer chooses, this can be done either via the API or the UKCloud portal
• 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
  • Users contact the support team

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: We offer the choice of connecting: ; • Via the internet using additional encryption such as TLS 1.2 ; • IPSec VPN tunnels; • Via private networks such as leased lines or MPLS; • Via public sector networks such as PSN, N3, Janet
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: We use dedicated CAS-T circuits between each of our sites to ensure the protection of customer data in-flight. We additionally encrypt this data within our Elevated OFFICIAL platform. All data flows are also subject to our protective monitoring service.

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: 99.99% - Availability indication is based on an average 730 hours per month. Excludes planned and emergency maintenance.
• Approach to resilience: A number of options enable you to build resilience into your applications. We offer Private Cloud, compute and storage, as well as private cloud for Oracle, from two geographically distinct sites, both located in the UK and separated by over 100km for excellent geo-diversity.
• Outage reporting: All outages will be reported via the Service Status page and the notifications service within the Portal. Outages are identified as Planned maintenance, Emergency maintenance, and platform issues. In addition, the designated Technical Account Manager will proactively contact customers as appropriate.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Customers have the option to raise a support request via telephone or email. MDS will always authenticate the identity of the user by validating known phone numbers and asking them for specific characters within their pre-agreed memorable word. The management interfaces are only available on the UKCloud network.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication: 2-factor authentication
• Devices users manage the service through:
  • Dedicated device on a segregated network (providers own provision)
  • Dedicated device on a government network (for example PSN)
  • 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 contact the support team to get audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: Between 1 month and 6 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: Between 1 month and 6 months
• How long system logs are stored for: Between 1 month and 6 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: LRQA
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 03/11/2017
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: MDS' risk assessment process has highlighted that the following area of ISO27001 is out of scope:; 14.2.7 Information Systems: Outsourced Development
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: Yes
• CSA STAR accreditation date: 28/10/2016
• CSA STAR certification level: Level 1: CSA STAR Self-Assessment
• What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover: Nothing
• PCI certification: No
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications:
  • Cyber Essentials Plus
  • PSN Connection Certificate

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, PSN connection compliance, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001
• Information security policies and processes: We follow the policies and procedures laid down in ISO 27001:2013 standard. In particular, our Information Security Management System contains all of the policies that support our security management approach. Our Information Security Policy provides the highest level policy statements which is supported by a comprehensive Acceptable Use Policy which all staff must sign before being granted any system/Network access. Additional policies cover key areas including Security Incident Management, Management Review, Document Control, Data Protection, Access Control, Business Continuity, Encryption, Patch Management and Auditing.; ; As part of our Service Implementation Process we carry out a pre-handover security audit to ensure that we have met the required MDS Security standards as well as any specific customer security requirements which have been agreed.; ; All of the above is supported by an extensive internal and external (UKAS accredited) Audit programme which ensures that we maintain the high level of security standards laid down in our processes.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: Configuration and Change management processes are fully aligned to ITIL best practise and documented within our Information Security Management System.; ; New customer environments are deployed using our scripted deployment tools to ensure a consistent and reliable build. Configuration changes to these environments are closely managed throughout the project to ensure that configuration records are maintained.; ; All changes to customer environments require both MDS and customer approval. This ensures that customers are fully aware and agree to any work being implemented within their environment.; ; The MDS Change Advisory Board meets weekly although Emergency Changes can be processed at short notice.
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: Our vulnerability management processes are compliant with ISO27001:2013 and supported by a comprehensive Patch Management policy. We undergo regular vulnerability assessments and also continually monitor a number of recognised sources of new vulnerability and threat information as well as any known exploits for them.; ; Our Patch Management process includes the regular and timely application of patches to software whilst minimising the potential impact of problem updates through testing and evaluation.
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: MDS can implement a GPG-13 compliant Protective Monitoring solution through our relationship with Assuria. The Assuria Log Manager (ALM-SIEM) application is a CESG CCTM accredited Forensic SIEM/Log Management Solution. ALM-SIEM is cloud ready, Scalable, Flexible and provides analysis and real time alerting as well as full compliance reporting.; ; The ALM-SIEM architecture allows the collection and management of almost any format and supports a wide range of log standards. Although ALM-SIEM can work agentless, the installation of an ALM-SIEM Agent (available for a wide range of platforms) enhances the service with automated log collection, rotation, digital signing and forwarding.
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: MDS’ Information Security Incident Management Policy fully complies with ISO27001:2013 and includes:; • Potential or actual breaches of confidentiality of a company or supported customer information asset, or potential or actual breaches of confidentiality of a supporting asset; • Potential or actual breaches of integrity of a company or supported customer information asset, or potential or actual breaches of integrity of a supporting asset; • Potential or actual interruptions to the availability of a company or supported customer information asset; ; The Policy applies to all employees, contractors and third party users of MDS information systems, and other related infrastructure.

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: Yes
• Who implements virtualisation: Supplier
• Virtualisation technologies used: Other
• Other virtualisation technology used: VMware, Oracle VM, Red Hat Virtualisation, Microsoft Azure
• How shared infrastructure is kept separate: As the solution is based on private isolated hardware, there is no issue regarding the segregation of users.

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: Yes
• Description of energy efficient datacentres: UKCloud’s services are CarbonNeutral® cloud services. We achieved this certification by working with Natural Capital Partners to measure and reduce our CO2 emissions across all sources used to deliver our cloud services to our customers. These include direct emissions from all owned or leased stationary sources that use fossil fuels and/or emit fugitive emissions, and emissions from the generation of purchased electricity and steam (including transmission and distribution losses) to power our servers. For our cloud services to achieve CarbonNeutral® status, an independent assessment of the CO2 emissions produced from direct and indirect sources required to deliver them was carried out, followed by an offset-inclusive emissions reduction programme. This means that for every tonne of greenhouse gas emissions we produce in delivering cloud services, we buy a verified carbon offset which guarantees that an equivalent amount of greenhouse gas emissions is reduced from the atmosphere through a renewable energy or clean technology project.

Pricing

• Price: £150.00 a virtual machine a month
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF