Service description RFL Virtual Data Centre IaaS G-Cloud 6 1
Contents Overview... 3 Highlights... 3 Description... 3 Use cases... 3 Use cases... 5 Use cases... 5 Pricing... 5 Information assurance... 5 On-boarding and off-boarding... 6 Service management... 6 2
Overview RFL provides a tailored virtual data centre management and provisioning services designed for customers requiring a secure, scalable yet sustainable data centre facility. The services are built upon the Skyscape Cloud Pan Government Assured virtual infrastructure and we can create virtual data centres in one or two Tier3 data centres housed on campuses in situated on 80 acre quasi-military sites, geographically separated by 85 miles. Both campuses enjoy resilient communication links provided by multiple providers and N+1 provision for power and cooling facilities. Security is designed into every aspect of the physical data centre locations, which are certified to host information classified at Business Impact Level 3 as standard. The virtual data centres hosted from these locations are hosted on virtualisation platforms certified to host data classified at Official and Official Elevated (Business impact levels 2 and 3 respectively). RFL offer a managed service wrap which encompasses all aspects of the virtual data centre. We draw on standard Skyscape virtual service offerings and following assessment of customers requirement package those services to deploy a virtual data centre facility to host customer IT services. These services could include backup facilities, website hosting or provide a full resilient virtual data centre with managed networking, server management and security. Highlights Security The Virtual data centre is hosted on Pan Governent Assured infrastructure hosted within 1 or 2 tier 3 data centres certified to BL3 security level. Quality Highly available and scalable virtual infrastructure wrapped by high quality RFL managed services. Sustainability Power is procured from 100% renewable energy sources and highly efficient facilities reduce power consumption and customer energy costs Scalability Additional capacity can be added cost effectively and quickly Description RFL provides flexibility and choice to our customers. We are able to provide virtual data centre services for a wide range of public sector customers. 3
The virtual data centre is a dedicated bubble assigned to the customer and includes a gateway, the vshield Edge which acts as a boundary firewall and allows access to the internet or the Public Sector Network. In some cases the virtual data centre may be located wholly or partially within the Skyscape elevated security zone which is certified to host data to Official Elevated or Business Impact Level 3. A Skyscape or RFL managed bridge service allows applications to securely bridge between higher and lower security domains without compromise to the PSN or customer security levels. The data centre networking is provided through the Skyscape virtual infrastructure and RFL are able to offer additional network security through implementation of an additional virtual firewall appliance based on the Sophos Unified Threat Management product. As standard we can offer essential firewall virtual appliance. The virtual data centre configuration is then defined by the customer requirement. We are able to provision full Windows Server domain management facilities through Active Directory services to manage Windows centric domains or deploy Linux based web servers to host your website. A number of potential use cases are given below. Use cases Disaster Recovery site - RFL can offer secure backup facility, where you only pay for the storage you consume and the software used to manage your back ups. We can likely work with your existing backup software. In the event of a loss of service at your own data centre RFL could work with you to deploy a disaster recovery facility within the virtual data centre to maintain your services until your facility is back online. Test facility If you are regularly developing new websites, in-house applications or need a cost effective means to test major application or operating system updates a RFL virtual test facility can be deployed to allow you a safe environment in which to test these updates. Based upon the Skyscape cloud test environment for compute as a service the test facility can be left in a powered down state until required. You only pay for the storage required to store the virtual machines when systems are powered down. Website and web application hosting A virtual data centre can be used to host your website and online applications. The scalability of the virtual data centre means as demand for your online facilities increases the capacity of the system can be dynamically increased to ensure your customers continue to have a great online experience, your reputation remains intact and when demand reduces the system returns to its baseline capacity level. Primary data centre In many cases the virtual data centre could replace your existing data centre. A RFL virtual data centre will provide you access to a fully resilient data centre environment with dual tier3 data centres hosting the facilty. Test environments can still be developed using a single data centre host. Unlike a physical data centre and physical equipment the virtual data centre facilities 4
can be scaled up and down dynamically. Reducing the data centre. In instances where software licensing precludes installation of an application on a full cloud infrastructure we can offer dedicated hardware for these instances. Professional and Managed Services The RFL team can assist customers in designing their virtual datacentre and we have standard templates which can be applied or tailored to help speed up your deployment. As each virtual data centre is different the managed services required to support them will differ from customer to customer and will be aligned to the services the customer takes up. For the underlying infrastructure we apply the Skyscape service levels for each of the virtual data centre components (e.g. compute-as-a-service). Over the top of this facility we would add the RFL managed service and agree service levels with the customer. We are able to offer design, configuration and management services and can call on an experienced, skilled team of technical architects and network and server engineers. In addition to providing a managed service to maintain the underlying virtual data centre facility we are able to provide proactive monitoring for your server operating systems, key application services and checks to ensure backups have been taken and verified. Whatever happens we will work with you and your organisation to ensure we get the data centre sizing, service levels, security protection and other services right for you, your business and most importantly your customers. Pricing Your own software and service may be deployed within the Skyscape Virtual Data Centre and we can work with you to select the best Skyscape services to utilise within your virtual environment to make the optimum use of your virtual data centre. Pricing for the Skyscape Cloud based services are priced as per the Infrastructure as a Service pricing given in our G-Cloud Lot1 service offerings. We can provide budgetary data centre costs based on your estimates of processing power to be consumed, storage required and bandwidth required etc. The RFL service costs are calculated based upon your organisations requirements for professional and managed services. Costs are based upon our published SFIA rate card. Information Assurance RFL holds ISO9000 accreditations which underpins all our business operations. The Skyscape virtual data centre is Pan Government Assured and underpinned by ISO27001 accreditation. 5
The physical data centre facilities are highly resilient Tier3, UK sovereign and separated by >80 miles for geographical diversity. Where managed services are for the virtual data centre infrastructure layer only RFL will have no access to customer information outside of the underlying hypervisor layer. On-boarding and off-boarding Each customer is different. RFL applies project and service management principles to its services and will tailor these services to meet individual customer needs. We treat on-boarding and off-boarding as projects and where required will assign a project manager to ensure the process is smooth and that the risks are identified and managed appropriately. We will agree milestones, deliverables, risk management and the change control process. RFL will assign a project manager who will work with the customer to confirm requirements and prepare for the project initiation stage. During this time we will agree how the project will be governed, reporting lines and reporting tolerances. We will apply risk management to identify and manage any risks, working within customer s internal project management processes as appropriate to minimise the complexity of the project management process. To ensure smooth on-boarding and off-boarding RFL will continue to apply service management principles to manage and control changes to the customer s technical infrastructure. Service management RFL utilise ITIL based process to manage customers data centre environments. Our streamlined process are designed to ensure we are agile enough to respond to changes in customer demand and requirements whilst ensuring that we understand the risks, dependencies and impacts of any changes and that we manage them accordingly. RFL will work with customers to make sure we agree and understand how we will work together to ensure a smooth service management framework to deliver the customer s desired outcomes. 6