Announcing the Redstor Education forums

Redstor are pleased to announce 2 dates for the northern and southern forums aimed at Education IT service providers and Local Authorities. We will be confirming the venues and the agenda in due course so watch this space! At these forums, we will be covering a whole raft of topics including remote backup, centralised remote device management, laptop encryption and e-safety. At a time when school budgets are being squeezed and in the unknown, it's key that Education IT service providers are offering proactive and relevant services to their schools. It's also key that they are seen to be offering value as the competition for school's business increases.

Simplify data management and control storage costs

Here at Redstor, we currently manage in excess of 1PB of data as part of delivering our suite of cloud services, from Exchange Backup to Laptop Encryption and Online Storage . Through our own experiences of managing and maintaining an environment of this scale, we are acutely aware of the specific challenges this can present around storage management and storage optimisation. We have also worked on upwards of 2,000 customer storage and backup projects throughout our 13 years of existence and so have width and depth of knowledge in this area which is unrivalled.

As part of our commitment to deliver solutions that address customers' challenges, we are working with F5 around their ARX solution. This enables organisations to take charge of data growth and implement smarter storage optimisation. F5 ARX file virtualisation gives businesses new flexibility in how they manage their file storage. ARX solutions reduce the complexity of file storage environments and eliminate the operational disruption caused by moving data, enabling companies to boost efficiency and reduce storage costs.

The headline figures are that you can:

- Lower spending on disk capacity by 50-80%

- Reduce backup infrastructure costs and achieve 50-80% faster backup times

- Gain better use of your most expensive storage tier

- Receive more flexibility to deal with massive storage growth

Redstor are equipped with a series of solutions from Storage Management to Online server backup and device management , please call our Reading office on +44 118 951 5200.

Redstor and EMC hosting UK launch event for Cloud storage services

Following the recent launch of our suite of cloud storage services, EMC have joined forces with us here at Redstor in hosting a series of UK launch events in London and Birmingham next month.

Many organisations, including FTSE 100 enterprises and household names are looking to the cloud as a way to alleviate costs and mitigate risks, whilst matching their IT requirements to their business requirements.

Is now the right time for you to look to the cloud? Are you considering building your own private storage cloud or having aspects of your data stored in a public storage cloud? Do you have serious questions about the choice of technology, the best route to implementation or whether your internal processes are ready?

If you answered yes to any of those questions and/or are keen to find out more about our cloud services then why not attend one of our FREE UK launch events? Simply click here to register and you could also win an Apple iPad!

Online Backup by Redstor overview - YouTube video

The video below gives an overview of some of the functionality of our cloud based, Online Backup service. Areas covered include how to perform the initial setup of the backup client, an overview of the storage platform and how the client connects to the storage platform. Also featured is the backup process, data restoration and the difference between server backups and Desktop/Laptop backups.

Online Backup by Redstor has been delivered to a variety of industries since 2005 by our community of channel partners. During this time, we have amassed in excess of 1PB of data under protection across our resilient Data Centres and through our 85 Education service providers, we have an addressable 14,000 schools in the UK backing up to our Data Centres each night.

If you'd like to find out more about Redstor's cloud services including Online Backup then please call our Reading office on +44 118 951 5200.

Redstor announces partnership with Nasuni

Redstor have announced our partnership with Nasuni, creator of the storage industry's leading cloud storage gateway. We developed our partnership with Nasuni through our EMC Atmos relationship and have been working with Nasuni since the final quarter of 2010.

Redstor are now able to offer our expanding customer base the Cloud NAS by Redstor service which utilises the Nasuni filer solution. This creates a secure, high performance NAS server with a connection to the Redstor Cloud Storage Platform. The Nasuni Filer simplifies access, storage and protection whilst eliminating any incremental expense and management issues inherent in hardware expansion.

Cloud NAS can be used as primary storage instead of, or in combination with traditional file servers as it provisions storage capacity automatically and delivers local-like performance. Features include synchronous snapshots, deduplication and encryption plus key management for security. Currently the Nasuni Filer manages tens of millions of files securely.

Cloud NAS by Redstor is one of three new online storage services powered by EMC Atmos. Redstor will utilise Atmos in our Cloud Storage Platform, hosted in geographically diverse data centres to provide secure cloud storage services to help customers of all sizes develop an overall cloud storage strategy.

Commenting on the partnership, Andres Rodriguez, CEO at Nasuni, said: "We are always looking to partner with leading cloud providers and are excited to be advancing our UK efforts with an established provider focused on delivering the best solution available to customers. We spent the last year building a loyal customer base and are now enabling partners to leverage our solution to provide customers the functionality of a traditional NAS while benefiting from the scalable, redundant and on demand features of the cloud. We are looking forward to working with Redstor and are pleased to be partnering with such a customer-centric organisation."

Tony Ruane, Business Development Director at Redstor, said "The Nasuni partnership has been developed as a result of the demand we have seen from our customers over the last five years for cloud offerings that move data to lower-cost storage locations. Nasuni allows us to deliver unlimited file storage via the cloud and complete protection from a single virtual file server, effectively opening the floodgates to our storage and driving increased recurring income to our partners. We are very pleased to be working with such an expert in the file storage sector."

For more information on Cloud NAS by Redstor, please call our Reading office on +44 118 951 5200.

Universities to share cloud services

According to an article on information-age.com, The Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE) has allocated £12.5million to a new cloud computing shared services initiative for universities in order to ensure they're saving money and resources.

This move could see Universities using Online Backup by Redstor, Cloud Storage and CentraStage to reduce costs but retain enterprise class IT services in line with their business requirements.

City University of London's CIO, Andrew Abboud, said "We all have Data Centre requirements, so we've agreed to sit down to understand what those needs are and see if we can work together, whether it is to build our own facility or use our procurement power to get a cheaper price from someone else's facility".

E-Safety powered by Securus on Safer Internet Day

Today is Safer Internet Day, where several organisations come together to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones amongst children and young people across the world.

The current schooling generation are growing up with mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads at their fingertips as normal and are becoming more and more tuned in with technology. This in itself has hardened children's attitudes and behaviour, as seen in the reports in today's news that 20% of 11-15 year olds have received a sexually explicit text or e-mail in the past year.

One way in which schools can meet their Ofsted requirement for safeguarding and ensure their students are safe whilst online is using E-Safety by Redstor. This solution is powered by Securus and sits silently in the background and monitors everything that occurs on a student's PC without raising immediate alarm and disrupting the lesson if inappropriate content is detected. E-safety by Redstor addresses the pertinent challenge of protecting school children as young as 5 from inappropriate behaviour, content and cyberbullying whilst using ICT and the internet as part of their normal classroom education.

If you'd like to hear more about Securus powered E-Safety by Redstor, then please call our Reading office on +44118 951 5200.

Redstor wins cloud services for business award

As part of EMC's record breaking launch of their unified storage suite of products, today they hosted a Partner launch event. This was attended by a number of Redstor employees and alongside the launch of unified storage, there were also further details released about EMC Atmos. EMC Atmos is the new cloud software behind Redstor's new cloud storage services - Redstor Cloud Silo, Redstor Cloud NAS and Redstor Cloud Drive.

Redstor's cloud storage services enable organisations to scale up or down their storage requirements in line with their business requirements as well as mitigate risks and gain greater financial control with predictable costs.

EMC have recognised the hard work and development Redstor have put in on this journey to the cloud thus far, which has resulted in Redstor winning "EMC's cloud innovation partner of the year" award.

Tony Ruane, Redstor's Business Development Director said, "We're really pleased that our efforts have been recognised and foresee 2011 to be a year of significant growth around our cloud services."

Let this be the first of many recognitions we receive for blazing a trail in the cloud industry!

Curious as to our success in the cloud? Call our Reading office on +44 118 951 5200

Redstor displays it's cloud services at BETT 2011

The Redstor team are back to work after BETT 2011 and after 4 days of greetings and meetings, we've been able to take stock and reflect at another successful year at BETT.

One of the highlights has to be that CentraStage- distributed by Redstor - was selected by Computing Magazine in it's Top 5 "Best of BETT" as reported here.

"Hardware management and monitoring software provider CentraStage launched a new version of its cloud offering; an integrated application that allows users to download and deploy pre-packaged software to their managed IT estate, regardless of network or location. The software also allows schools to track and update a range of devices remotely, and CTO Ian Van Reenan told Computing that the firm will be releasing a version for Apple OS devices, such as MacBooks, but is still working on software for iOS devices such as the iPad and iPhone. "

There was also a significant amount of interest in our new cloud storage services, RBUSS mobile and Redstor e-safety. There was a consistent flow of demonstrations across all of these services taking place for large parts of the exhibition, with all being greatly received by BETT delegates.

Redstor displays it's cloud services at BETT 2011

Another brilliant day at BETT 2011 for Redstor yesterday, several key meetings and a large amount of interest from passing visitors.

On our stand we're demonstrating V4 of CentraStage, our remote monitoring and support tool currently used by over 30 Local Authorities and private sector providers across the country.

CentraStage V4 introduces the ComStore, an integrated application store that allows CentraStage users to download and deploy pre-packaged software to their managed IT estate, regardless of network or location. Core features such as audit, configuration, monitoring, remote support and reporting are all enhanced, while new services and functionality available via the ComStore will include additional reports, monitors, scripts and dashboard widgets as well as 3rd party software packages.

Why wouldn't you want to come and find out more about CentraStage V4 and our continuation of providing cloud services into the education space? We're on stand U23 at BETT. If you can't make it to BETT, our main office is available on +44 118 951 5200

E-safety at BETT 2011

Day 1 feedback from our team at BETT 2011 has been fantastic. Yesterday was a very positive day with a large number of meetings and the launch of Redstor e-safety has been extremely well received by our education partners.

Prior to BETT 2011, The Guardian ran an article on e-safety and safeguarding which references the launch of Redstor e-safety at BETT 2011.

"And Redstor, a managed services provider, has teamed up with Securus on a new e-safety service for local authority networks. It flags up child protection and behavioural issues, such as the use of proxy bypass sites, as well as key words indicating self-harm and drugs."

If you wish to find out more about Redstor e-safety then you can either visit us on stand U23 at BETT this week or call our Main Office on +44 118 951 5200.

Redstor launches e-safety service

Redstor are pleased to formally announce the launch of our new e-safety service. We are looking forward to discussing this in depth with our education channel partners at BETT show this week, where we have a record high number of appointments and meetings.

Redstor, a leading managed services, cloud storage and IT solutions provider, has today launched a new e-Safety service. Redstor e-Safety will be available to Local Authority and education IT service providers in the UK to help schools protect against the rising threat of cyber bullying.

Redstor will continue to work through its vast network of partners and build upon relationships with over 85 Local Authorities and education service providers to provide this new e-safety service to schools and educational establishments.

Redstor e-Safety, powered by Securus, will ensure a safe online working environment for pupils and teachers by capturing ICT issues and misuse. The service identifies and captures incidents such as cyberbullying, access to harmful web sites, the un-safe or inappropriate use of email, computer programs and online applications.

The launch of Redstor e-Safety comes at a time when Ofsted has highlighted Internet safety and the importance of safeguarding against online bullying and cyber abuse while providing pupils with increased access to Internet based technologies.

The new service captures child protection and behavioral issues such as the use of proxy bypass sites, contact with strangers, inappropriate content uploaded to a school’s network as well as key words indicating self-harm and drugs.

Paul Evans, Managing Director at Redstor, said: “Redstor e-Safety allows pupils and staff to feel more confident about using new technologies, safe in the knowledge the ICT network is monitored and protected.”

Evans continues, “Ofsted has stated that Headteachers must meet a legal duty of care to protect pupils and staff and provide a safe learning environment yet without monitoring technology many schools are unaware if a pupil is at risk on-line. Redstor e-Safety allows Schools and ICT service providers to safely manage any schools ICT network, providing a constant vigil for pupils and staff.”

Intrigued? Redstor will be at stand U23 at BETT, where we will be happy to answer your questions.

BETT 2011

Next week, Redstor will be exhibiting at BETT 2011, the largest education technology exhibition in the world. This will be our 6th consecutive year of exhibiting and is a brilliant way for us to interact with our channel partners in the education sector including Local Authorities and service providers.

At BETT 2011, we will also be formally launching our new Cloud e-safety service, this is a combination of technical training for pupils and content monitoring. Specifically this helps to eliminate cyber bullying, illegal activity, breaches of child safety and enables schools to achieve more than "Satisfactory" mark for the category "Safeguarding" in their annual OFSTED reports.

Paul Evans, Redstor's Managing Director said, "The whole team is highly enthused ahead of BETT, we've got over 60 meetings booked which is a record high for us. We're all very excited to be meeting our existing and new partners to discuss new services to deliver; in particular e-safety which we believe further strengthens our position within education. "

Intrigued? We're at Stand U23 if you'd like to find out more - if you wish to book an appointment to meet with us at BETT then please call 0118 9515 200.

Access to the cloud, whatever the weather

Redstor Cloud Storage is an easy to use online storage solution providing business-grade storage over the internet or a secure dedicated link that scales up and down to any capacity and allows you to pay only for the storage you use. It offers elastic capacity on demand and allows access to your stored data at any time and from anywhere.

Typically suited to data that doesn't requite high performance access such as user data, file based archives, infrequently accessed files or backup data. You no longer need to purchase, implement and manage physical storage systems in your own data centre thus you can avoid capital outlays, purchasing delays and reduce your IT costs. Instead, you pay as a monthly operating expense much in the same way you would any other utilities.

Redstor Cloud Storage is always available and so it only takes minutes to setup and expands as you use it. Storage maintenance tasks such as backup, data replication and expansion become Redstor's responsibility allowing you to mitigate risks and focus on your core business.

Redstor Christmas Raffle

Here at Redstor over the past few weeks we've been working to organise a Christmas raffle in order to raise money for a local charity TBA.

During this, we have worked closely with a number of our suppliers, partners and local businesses to donate prizes and help generate raffle sales with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. The final figure is being topped up with additional money raised as some of the Redstor staff auction off their prizes to go back to into the pot.

We would like to thank the following businesses for their help and support with this project:

Aptare, Arrow ECS, Attix5, Avnet, Basilica, CMS Peripherals, CommVault, CA, The Consult, Dell, EMC, Frasers Office Supplies, Germinare, Hammer, NCE, Nexsan, Picnic Reading, Printware, Quantum, The Warwick and Zycko.

After the Christmas break, we will announce the final figure raised and the charity selected as beneficiary.

US Government moves to the Cloud

At the tail end of last week, the US Government announced plans to reduce it's number of Data Centres by 38% over the next 5 years as they move to the cloud.

The key driver behind their adoption of the cloud is the ability to rapidly scale their IT requirements with increased flexibility in the face of quickly changing business needs. Just as key however, is being able to operate on a pay as you go model with no up front investment and further investment only required as the service scales. Additionally, the move will straighten out lengthy procurement cycles and certification processes meaning that further efficiencies can be made on a business level as well as a technology level.

Redstor have been providing cloud services for the past 5 years to help organisations achieve goals which are similar to those of the world's largest and most powerful Government. Through using our Online Backup, Redstor Protector and Online Backup Plus services; organisations have been able to scale their IT requirements to match those of the business and reduce capital expenditure as well as mitigating risks associated with managing internal solutions. We're just 22 days away from the next chapter of our Cloud Services story when we launch Cloud Storage in conjunction with EMC which will offer elastic capacity on demand.

If it's the right time for the US Government to look to the cloud, is it the right time for your organisation to look to the cloud with us? Call Redstor on 0118 9515 200 if you wish to find out more.

Cloud Computing "could boost EU Economy"

A recent news story on the BBC website has outlined that the growth of the cloud computing industry within the EU could give the economies within a much needed growth injection over the next five years. It's anticipated that 466,000 net new jobs would be created each year as well as providing an additional €177bn per year. Of the 5 major economies in the EU, only Germany is expected to see more dividends from this than the UK.

This will come off the back of organisations moving from a 'classic' environment of having local solutions and the necessity to maintain and support those to having business agile, cloud services on a pay as you use model.

Through moving to an environment compromising of cloud services, organisations can completely scale their IT to their business requirements rapidly. Instead of making purchases for large scale solutions out of capital expenditure, organisations can now treat IT as a utility much in the same way as they would consume Energy and Communications.

If you wish to increase the flexibility of your IT services and look to the cloud then Redstor are well placed to assist you as we have been offering cloud services since 2005; amassing 800TB+ of data and in excess of 15,000 end user customers of these services in that time. The next cloud service we'll be launching is Cloud Storage in 28 days time in conjuction with EMC which enable organisations to scale up their storage capacity in line with their business/project demands. Please feel free to call our Reading office on 0118 9515 200 for further details.

Redstor's vision 10 years ago and the subsequent journey

March 29th 2001, just shy of 10 years ago was the day that NASA announced the discovery of narrow rings of cold air over Earth which formed clouds that destroyed the o-zone. On the same day, Redstor were planning their vision for creating clouds which were much more useful and less harmful than NASA's discovery.

Redstor's Product & Services Manager Mark Treweeke put together a Powerpoint presentation which is accessible below detailing our vision to become a European supplier of storage services, our desire to deliver managed services and "on-tap" storage i.e. cloud storage.

Presentation 29 march 2001

In just 29 days time we will officially be launching our Cloud Storage service in conjunction with EMC. This will enable organisations to easily access enterprise level storage scaled up and down to their business requirements for various periods of times or projects. We are EMC's first partner in Europe to launch this service; this comes hot off the back of our track record in both building and managing large enterprise grade backup and storage platforms since 1998 as well as delivering Online Backup services since 2005. At present we have close to a petabyte of data under management.

This will see us complete the journey to our vision and is the result of a lot of hardwork and determination from the Redstor team. Who knows what the next 10 years will see us achieve?

To find out more about cloud storage please contact us on 0118 9515 200 or visit our Cloud Storage page.

ICO serves first fines for data losses

Today, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) have fined 2 organisations a combined total of £160,000 for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act. Full press release here.

One of these is an employment services company who had issued an employee with an unencrypted laptop so that they could work from home - a very familiar story for organisations across the country. However, this is where the story takes a turn for the bad, with the laptop stolen meaning that personal information relating to over 20,000 people had fallen into rogue hands.

2 of Redstor's leading cloud services include full end to end encryption. Redstor Protector combines laptop encryption, device trace, remote data deletion, automatic backup and port access control. This enables organisations to fully manage their risks in the event of having laptops stolen. You can find out more about how Redstor Protector can help you protect your data by downloading our whitepaper here.

Redstor Online Backup is an automated backup service, your data is sent over your existing internet connection to one of our secure Data Centres before mirroring to our secondary Data Centre for Disaster Recovery purposes. From the moment the data leaves your site, whilst in transit and right the way through until it resides in our Data Centres; it's fully encrypted to give you that peace of mind you've got off-site data protection.

Backup millions of files - IP Backup

At Redstor we found a fantastic software and have been using it in house for sometime now to protect our own data. The backup software solution worked so well we decided to bring it to market and it now powers our Redstor Online Backup Plus Service.

The software is extremely suitable to large data sets, large files and data sets with millions of directories and files. Redstor Online Backup Plus uses a delta block technology and this approach is fundamentally different to the way in which other backup applications, (file or block level) operate. There are further key differentiators that give huge advantages when backing up millions of files and large data volumes. This method of backing up and recovering large data volumes within small periods of time is commonly referred to as IP Backup.

If you have these challenges or want to know more, click here to read about the service and download the datasheet or feel free to contact Redstor and we can provide you with further technical details and assist you in any implementation.

This is your backup window of opportunity to change the way you backup forever!