Cloud economics and flexibility with local choice and control

Transcription

1 Cloud economics and flexibility with local choice and control

2 Schools are expected to operate in a hybrid IT environment for the foreseeable future, part on-premise and part cloud service. Schools require a secure IT infrastructure that provides appropriate safeguarding to enable pupils to engage the public Internet and facilitate local school administration applications. Zynstra s Education IT Appliance makes it possible for schools to embed Cloud services within their school IT strategy by providing a complete and efficient managed service delivered by their trusted local IT partners. This award winning solution will appeal to schools that wish to retain some aspect of their IT capability locally, like local files or Capita SIMS, but also want to benefit from access to cost effective and flexible Software-as-a-Service solutions like Microsoft Office 365. The School IT Challenge IT infrastructure increasingly sits at the heart of a school. It has to work for the staff and pupils, but in doing so, not consume the Head s entire attention or school capital expenditure budget. Zynstra s own survey of the key IT challenges facing School Heads are summarised in the diagram below. The Zynstra Education IT Appliance addresses these challenges in an innovative, cost effective and pragmatic manner. Introducing the Education IT Appliance from Zynstra Zynstra s Education IT Appliance is designed for schools that that want a flexible method of refreshing existing IT servers, retaining control over systems and data, at a predictable and affordable cost without going all in to the Cloud. The Education IT Appliance can be selected as a single server or a highly resilient local server cluster. It can be used to efficiently run a wide range of local school applications whilst integrating with the Public Cloud services for access to cloud hosted applications. Local Applications can include Capita SIM s, a Virtual learning Environment (VLE) like Espresso, or other school specific applications, such as Protex for School Specific content and web filtering. The Education IT Appliance utilises Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services to provide easy to use, Single-sign-on (SSO) to Cloud applications like Microsoft Office 365. Top 12 School IT Challenges 1. No central or offsite back-up capability 2. No disaster recovery capability. 3. Multiple servers from different providers. 4. Poor server/systems performance 5. No remote access to Keeping software current & secure. 7. Remediation time to identify/fix problems. 8. No skilled IT resources on-site. 9. Lack of CapEx to upgrade PC s & servers. 10. Inability to support student s own devices. 11. Need for local Wi-Fi/LAN upgrades 12. Increased website & parent communication demands.

3 Education IT Appliance - Key Features at a Glance Education IT Appliance Benefits The Education IT Appliance provides a central platform for managing a school s IT, ranging from user credentials including Single-sign-on through local print and file management to the local running of key school applications. In addition, the Education IT Appliance automatically creates data storage snapshots of the locally held files, providing complete reassurance that all school data remains accessible and under direct control. Locally stored files and managed applications can be optionally backed up to Microsoft Azure for further peace of mind to provide a full Disaster Recovery capability in the event of a loss of school buildings or stolen equipment. Whilst the Education IT Appliance is a physical server appliance built upon HP s ProLiant server range, it is delivered through your trusted IT partner as a managed service, in a highly automated, efficient and secure service package for a monthly fee without an up-front capital cost.

4 Standard Features and Functionality Zynstra s cloud managed Education IT Appliance offers all the standard Zynstra functionality within a specially discounted bundle. The Education IT Appliance is configurable, adaptable and able to evolve with the changing needs of the school in a modular and incremental manner. The appliance is delivered as a managed service including break/fix services for hardware, operating system (OS) and application software patching (for managed applications, such as Protex) with automated backup services to ensure systems and data are protected at all times. Configuration options range from a single resilient appliance through to a local high-availability cluster based on shared-nothing principles that ensure all the key school operations continue even in the event of a hardware fault. The added option of a low-cost full cloud backup and disaster recovery service running on Microsoft Azure provides complete peace of mind for the school and its governors. Education IT Appliance Standard Features Hardware File & Print Server Access Backup & Admin Security & Networking Apps HP Gen8 ML or DL server based Appliance configuration An Appliance product range supporting between 0 to 600 Pupils in a single campus deployment Ability for In-Place Upgrade/ Scale-Out Capacity Expansion Dedicated Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 (or 2008 R2) File Server VM Support for Windows 8.x, 7 & Vista clients Support for Apple MacOS and ios clients Standard user & departmental shares (with secure local file sharing) Dedicated Windows Print Server VM Dedicated Active Directory Domain Controller VM with users/groups running Single Sign-On to local applications Automated and monitored local backup File history with self-service restore (local file system snapshot) Automatic patch and security updates with unique keep current mechanism for platform and Zynstra Managed Applications Local web based end user administration tool Standard network configuration (IPv4, DNS & DHCP) Schools Specific Content and Web Filtering (Please See Specific Datasheet) Faster Internet browsing (web cache) Internet gateway security including firewall Anti-malware for storage, anti-spam for website blocking 24x7 health monitoring with business day support Local VPN server for remote access Zynstra Intrusion Detection System (IDS) Integration with Microsoft Office 365 providing SSO and backup from Office 365 to appliance Virtual Machine (VM) container based IaaS for business workloads

5 Commercial Considerations The Education IT Appliance is charged for on a monthly fee, based upon the special school bundle selected (from the range highlighted in the diagram below), amount of data storage required and the Zynstra or 3 rd Party managed applications to be deployed on the Appliance. Zynstra s Authorised Partner will conduct a simple site survey to determine the precise scope and specification of the Education IT Appliance and its associate costs and internet bandwidth requirements, to best meet the schools current and planned growth. Higher Pupil numbers can be supported by using a combination of the Appliances to best meet the specific School requirements. Virtual Machines (VMs) can run almost any popular Windows or Linux based applications. Choose between Zynstra Managed Applications, the standard set of Microsoft applications, Line of Business (LoB) applications or even custom workloads. Please consult with your IT specialist who can advise you as to the best Appliance to match your workload and the VM s to be supported. SPLA Licensing and/or Microsoft s Office 365 solution are licensed separately unless specifically stated in the proposal from your IT supplier. Microsoft Windows Active Directory, File Server and Print Server Licences are included in the Zynstra fees for all platforms and priced using the special Microsoft Education not for profit qualifying discounts. It is also possible to license and install applications within VMs independently of Zynstra under standard license terms (Microsoft SPLA, Volume Licensing or equivalent from other third parties). Applications licensed independently of Zynstra are not managed by the Zynstra appliance and are not covered by Zynstra DR capability. Zynstra can provide recommendations on the upload & download bandwidth required to achieve specific data recovery points, backup of Office 365 data from Cloud to the Appliance & optional features e.g. IaaS VMs.

6 Education IT Appliance Range The table below provides further details of the Education IT Appliance range and the capability of each of the special Education bundles available: Optional Feature Additions Available The Education IT Appliance enables a range of technical options and services to be implemented and operated as follows. All of the below are extra cost options. Option Resilient SSO High Availability Cloud Backup & DR Multi-Site Configuration Advanced Caching Education IT Appliance Optional Features Redundant Active Directory in a Virtual Private Cloud (Azure based), with integration to Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS). The latter enables SSO integration with a wide range of SaaS applications. Upgrade of Standard Appliance to a High Availability Cluster, providing a second mirrored Appliance with higher levels of Service Availability, data storage and resilience. Encrypted cloud backup, storage & Disaster Recovery (DR) using Azure (including 10 day Azure based operation in event of loss of server/site). Multi-site configuration with combined Active Directory across sites and Microsoft Distributed File System (DFS) based global name space across all Zynstra provided and connected Windows File & Print servers. Choose between IPsec or OpenVPN based VPN or alternatively use an MPLS based VPN from a service provider. Advanced file system caching using Microsoft Branch Cache. Requires multi-site support option and customers must have a Windows Enterprise license to benefit from this feature. Microsoft ADFS simplifies the process of connecting securely to a SaaS application with a Singlesign-on (SSO) experience by providing the most popular SaaS applications. Zynstra Appliances are delivered under a set of public commitments to transparency and service which are publicly available on the Zynstra website. To view Zynstra s service commitments please visit

7 Notes About E2BN Protex. E2BN Protex is a registered product and trademark from E2BN Limited. E2BN Protex was developed by E2BN with Teachers and schools from the East of England. It has successfully provided reliable, flexible and fast internet filtering giving schools and Local Authorities the ability to offer differentiated access to the internet appropriate to age and setting. Over 600,000 users have been using the product for 7 years and the service provides the fastest, most flexible solution designed specifically to meet the needs of Schools and Libraries Capita SIMS is acknowledged as a registered trademark of Capita Business Services Limited. Espresso is acknowledged as a registered trademark of Espresso Education Limited About Zynstra Zynstra is a software company, formed by experienced technology and business entrepreneurs. We have a track record in creating enterprise grade software, and delivering it into successful operation inside some of the most complex and rigorous IT organisations in the world. Our experience has shown us how to delight our customers, with a singleminded focus on how software can help them grow and save them money. We are proud to have been awarded Most Innovative SMB Cloud Solution at the 2014 UK Cloud Awards. For more information about our Appliances visit zynstra.com Please note this document may be subject to periodic revision. Anyone using it should check that there is no later version available.