You may not realise this but as from the beginning of April, failure to take data protection and data loss seriously is no longer an option.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has issued a new guide which means that penalties of up to £500,000 can be imposed for breaching the Data Protection Act.
In its guide the Information Commissioner states:
“We have a statutory power to impose a financial penalty on an organisation if the Information Commissioner is satisfied that:
• there has been a serious breach of one or more of the data protection principles by the organisation; and
• the breach was likely to cause substantial damage or distress.
The power to impose a financial penalty only applies if:
• the breach was deliberate; or
• the organisation knew (or should have known) that there was a risk of a breach which was likely to cause substantial damage or distress, but failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it.
The guide continues that it is the intention only to impose financial penalties in respect of deliberate or reckless handling of personal data which seriously breaches the data protection principles.
Schools have also been warned to check procedures for protecting pupil data after the information watchdog was given powers to issue fines.
Since 1998 we at Redstor have been providing solutions around data backup and data security and if you want any advice around these issues and how the data protection act might apply to you then give us a call.
We certainly have some interesting solutions around laptop data loss as we continue to see this as a big issue in the private and public sectors.
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) for Schools and Local Authorities
The CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment) Energy Efficiency Scheme came into effect on the 1st April 2010 as part of the government’s commitment to tackle climate change.
About 20,000 large private and public sector organisations will be involved in the scheme in some way and it is mandatory.
The scheme aims to improve energy efficiency and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in the UK. This is part of UK governments targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by at least 80% compared to the 1990 baseline.
Organisations that meet the qualification criteria, which are based on how much electricity they were supplied in 2008, will be obliged to participate in CRC.
Participating organisations will have to monitor their emissions and purchase allowances initially sold by Government, for each tonne of CO2 they emit. The more CO2 an organisation emits, the more allowances it has to purchase.
There is a direct incentive for these organisations to reduce their emissions. As well as reducing carbon emissions, by increasing energy efficiency the scheme will help organisations save money by reducing their energy bills. These savings are hoped to be well in excess of the costs of participating in the scheme.
In addition, the better an organisation performs in terms of reducing its emissions, the higher it will appear in the annually published league table, showing the comparative performance of all participants. This in turn provides a further benefit: all the revenue raised from selling allowances is ‘recycled’ back to participants, and the league table position affects how much of the revenue each organisation receives.
If you are a school or local authority then specific rules apply.
In England, Scotland and Wales participating local authorities will be responsible for emissions from all schools maintained by the local authority and any Academies and City Technology Colleges that are geographically located in the area for which the local authority exercises educational functions.
The local authority must consider the electricity supplies to these schools when determining whether it meets the qualification criteria.
■ if the local authority then qualifies, it must either make an information disclosure or participate fully in CRC.
■ during the scheme, schools should give reasonable assistance to their local authority and supply data about their energy supply. In most cases, this can be done once a year and the school can request an annual energy statement from its energy suppliers to help compile this data
■ schools must report their energy supply to their local authority following the same rules that participants must comply with. In the case of PFI schools, where the PFI company is responsible for the energy supply contract, the energy supply will be attributed to the PFI company. Grant-aided schools in Northern Ireland will be included as part of the Education and Skills Authority (ESA) once it comes into operation. Until then, all grant-aided schools will participate as part of their Education and Library Board.
Private schools in Great Britain are not included as part of a local authority’s energy supply. Instead, private schools only participate in CRC if they, or their organisational group (including its school(s), pass the CRC qualification threshold of 6,000 MWh/year of half hourly metered electricity use.
Redstor in partnership with CentraStage provide solutions to help you measure your energy and carbon useage in schools in order to meet the compulsory Carbon Reduction Commitment Obligations.
For more information please call us and subscribe to our RSS feed.
About 20,000 large private and public sector organisations will be involved in the scheme in some way and it is mandatory.
The scheme aims to improve energy efficiency and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in the UK. This is part of UK governments targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by at least 80% compared to the 1990 baseline.
Organisations that meet the qualification criteria, which are based on how much electricity they were supplied in 2008, will be obliged to participate in CRC.
Participating organisations will have to monitor their emissions and purchase allowances initially sold by Government, for each tonne of CO2 they emit. The more CO2 an organisation emits, the more allowances it has to purchase.
There is a direct incentive for these organisations to reduce their emissions. As well as reducing carbon emissions, by increasing energy efficiency the scheme will help organisations save money by reducing their energy bills. These savings are hoped to be well in excess of the costs of participating in the scheme.
In addition, the better an organisation performs in terms of reducing its emissions, the higher it will appear in the annually published league table, showing the comparative performance of all participants. This in turn provides a further benefit: all the revenue raised from selling allowances is ‘recycled’ back to participants, and the league table position affects how much of the revenue each organisation receives.
If you are a school or local authority then specific rules apply.
In England, Scotland and Wales participating local authorities will be responsible for emissions from all schools maintained by the local authority and any Academies and City Technology Colleges that are geographically located in the area for which the local authority exercises educational functions.
The local authority must consider the electricity supplies to these schools when determining whether it meets the qualification criteria.
■ if the local authority then qualifies, it must either make an information disclosure or participate fully in CRC.
■ during the scheme, schools should give reasonable assistance to their local authority and supply data about their energy supply. In most cases, this can be done once a year and the school can request an annual energy statement from its energy suppliers to help compile this data
■ schools must report their energy supply to their local authority following the same rules that participants must comply with. In the case of PFI schools, where the PFI company is responsible for the energy supply contract, the energy supply will be attributed to the PFI company. Grant-aided schools in Northern Ireland will be included as part of the Education and Skills Authority (ESA) once it comes into operation. Until then, all grant-aided schools will participate as part of their Education and Library Board.
Private schools in Great Britain are not included as part of a local authority’s energy supply. Instead, private schools only participate in CRC if they, or their organisational group (including its school(s), pass the CRC qualification threshold of 6,000 MWh/year of half hourly metered electricity use.
Redstor in partnership with CentraStage provide solutions to help you measure your energy and carbon useage in schools in order to meet the compulsory Carbon Reduction Commitment Obligations.
For more information please call us and subscribe to our RSS feed.
Friday, 26 March 2010
Redstor Online Backup Specialists, Grow and Move
Redstor synonymous with cloud storage and online backups have now moved into their new home on the Kings Road, Reading.
Following 12 years of growth and renting offices within Reading, Redstor decided it was time to buy their own premises and wanted a location which was close to the town centre and to Reading Train Station.
In November 2009, Redstor finally acquired what were the premises of the RAOB club in Kings Road, Reading, comprising some 5000 square feet. After obtaining a change of use permission from Reading Borough Council, Redstor had the task of turning what were club premises, including 3 bars and a skittle alley into a flexible, modern open plan working environment which the Redstor team would be proud of.
“We created a design brief to reflect the evolving nature of our Data Storage and Online Backup Business. In particular, we wanted a place we could demonstrate and showcase our Cloud Storage Solutions and Storage Expertise to our customers and Partners and a place where our team would enjoy working........” said Dominic Anschutz, Redstor’s Operations Manager....“As a result we needed a client facing data centre suite, training and meeting rooms and a flexible working area which would attract natural light, encourage open communication and be conducive to work”
Following the design brief a competitive beauty parade of interested companies to carry out the office transformation project was conducted and Morgan Lovell was selected.
“They fully understood our brief and came up with some innovative ideas and from our first engagement, they were extremely professional and meticulous” commented Tony Ruane, Redstor’s Co-Founder who was heavily involved in formulating the design.
“We engaged a local company to strip out the building and many of the old fixtures and fittings, including bar taps, dance floors, skittle alley were recycled and distributed to local charities, friends and family and local businesses who were happy to take it off our hands.....Following a 3 week strip out, Morgan Lovell took over the site and within 3 weeks had transformed what was a fully operational club site into a modern office which is now our home” said Paul Evans, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Redstor............ “We have been mightily impressed with Morgan Lovell’s professionalism throughout, from design all the way through to execution and handover of the building and now have an office which better meets the demands of our growing business”.
END
Following 12 years of growth and renting offices within Reading, Redstor decided it was time to buy their own premises and wanted a location which was close to the town centre and to Reading Train Station.
In November 2009, Redstor finally acquired what were the premises of the RAOB club in Kings Road, Reading, comprising some 5000 square feet. After obtaining a change of use permission from Reading Borough Council, Redstor had the task of turning what were club premises, including 3 bars and a skittle alley into a flexible, modern open plan working environment which the Redstor team would be proud of.
“We created a design brief to reflect the evolving nature of our Data Storage and Online Backup Business. In particular, we wanted a place we could demonstrate and showcase our Cloud Storage Solutions and Storage Expertise to our customers and Partners and a place where our team would enjoy working........” said Dominic Anschutz, Redstor’s Operations Manager....“As a result we needed a client facing data centre suite, training and meeting rooms and a flexible working area which would attract natural light, encourage open communication and be conducive to work”
Following the design brief a competitive beauty parade of interested companies to carry out the office transformation project was conducted and Morgan Lovell was selected.
“They fully understood our brief and came up with some innovative ideas and from our first engagement, they were extremely professional and meticulous” commented Tony Ruane, Redstor’s Co-Founder who was heavily involved in formulating the design.
“We engaged a local company to strip out the building and many of the old fixtures and fittings, including bar taps, dance floors, skittle alley were recycled and distributed to local charities, friends and family and local businesses who were happy to take it off our hands.....Following a 3 week strip out, Morgan Lovell took over the site and within 3 weeks had transformed what was a fully operational club site into a modern office which is now our home” said Paul Evans, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Redstor............ “We have been mightily impressed with Morgan Lovell’s professionalism throughout, from design all the way through to execution and handover of the building and now have an office which better meets the demands of our growing business”.
END
Redstor at Norfolk County Council's ICT in Schools Conference 2010
We've had a successful 2 days exhibiting at the Norfolk County Council ICT in Schools Conference where over 200 delegates attended the conference over the 2 days. These delegates consisted of IT personnel, headteachers and teachers.
We had a great amount of interest in the online backup service with many schools talking about how painful their manual backups are and how an online service would certainly be of benefit!
It was good to support Norfolk Council as their online backup for schools partner.
From the good work at the Conference, we're confident that the ICT Solutions team at Norfolk should be getting requests for the backup service.
We had a great amount of interest in the online backup service with many schools talking about how painful their manual backups are and how an online service would certainly be of benefit!
It was good to support Norfolk Council as their online backup for schools partner.
From the good work at the Conference, we're confident that the ICT Solutions team at Norfolk should be getting requests for the backup service.
Monday, 15 March 2010
Redstor Growing and Moving
From the 22nd March, Redstor, the Data Storage and Online Backup specialists are pleased that following 12 years of growth we are moving into our new purpose built home at St James’ Wharf Reading………..
Our New Address will be:
Redstor Limited
St James’ Wharf
99-105 Kings Road
Reading
Berkshire
RG1 3DD
Please update your records following our move from Soane Point.
More to follow………..
Monday, 1 March 2010
CentraStage SIMS-SQL Webcast
View the latest CentraStage SIMS-SQL webcast that took place on the 17th February in conjunction with Scott Baxter from Buckinghamshire Local Authority. The webcast discusses how Local Authorities can save considerable time, effort and money by automating their SIMS-SQL upgrade.
Buckinghamshire LA ICT support team look after over 230 schools. Over 80 working days have been saved due to time and efficiency savings generated through automation.
Using CentraStage has also resulted in reduced disruption during teaching time, reduced IT downtime and lowered IT risks, enabling schools to focus on teaching.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Not Just Online Backup
We have seen phenomenal growth on our online storage platform due to the success of our branded ‘cloud’ service offerings and through empowering service providers to quickly and cheaply generate new income streams. Our online platform, hosting many hundreds of terabytes of data, spanning two sites and supporting many thousands of customers has given us our own challenges, the same challenges our customers face regarding their data storage infrastructure – from a users perspective, how do you keep the infrastructure secure, available at all times and without disruption, and from a business perspective, how do you keep pace with growing business needs, make it easy to manage, make it scaleable and at the same time, drive out cost.
Redstor has a successful history of advising our customers how to do just that and for the last 5 years we have been practising what we preach managing our online platform! Many of our customers have forgotten and in some cases don’t even know, the breadth of experience and skills Redstor have and that we are not just one of the largest on-line service providers in the UK, we are in fact an end-to-end storage infrastructure solutions provider. We offer our advice and guidance on all data storage, protection, management, business continuity and disaster recovery needs and offer a complete range of best-of-breed technology, services and solutions.
Our partnerships with global, leading and innovative technology vendors, coupled with over 12 years of data experience and an in-depth understanding of the processes and procedures required to make solutions work, make Redstor a leading provider of storage infrastructure solutions. And, if you don’t want to manage the environment yourself, Redstor offers a complete range of remote managed backup and storage services as well!
With Redstor we offer the best choice, we can help you build it yourself or you can take it from our ‘cloud’.
Redstor has a successful history of advising our customers how to do just that and for the last 5 years we have been practising what we preach managing our online platform! Many of our customers have forgotten and in some cases don’t even know, the breadth of experience and skills Redstor have and that we are not just one of the largest on-line service providers in the UK, we are in fact an end-to-end storage infrastructure solutions provider. We offer our advice and guidance on all data storage, protection, management, business continuity and disaster recovery needs and offer a complete range of best-of-breed technology, services and solutions.
Our partnerships with global, leading and innovative technology vendors, coupled with over 12 years of data experience and an in-depth understanding of the processes and procedures required to make solutions work, make Redstor a leading provider of storage infrastructure solutions. And, if you don’t want to manage the environment yourself, Redstor offers a complete range of remote managed backup and storage services as well!
With Redstor we offer the best choice, we can help you build it yourself or you can take it from our ‘cloud’.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Do you want to quickly generate a new revenue stream?
The Redstor Protector ‘Cloud’ Service allows you to quickly generate a new revenue stream. Redstor provides all the technology infrastructure and marketing support you need to rapidly take to market the most comprehensive and secure data protection and recovery solution available. Redstor Protector is a unique service designed to be offered by Service Providers and includes:
• Policy-driven desktop and laptop backup and recovery
• At rest AES encryption
• Remote data delete
• Port access control
• Device trace
If you are a Service Provider, Redstor Protector represents a unique service proposition for your customers and will give your organisation a competitive edge by offering differentiated functionality - Redstor Protector combines 5 best-of-breed components into one powerful solution.
Grow your organisation during these challenging times as a Redstor Services Partner. Redstor provides its ‘cloud’ experience and everything you need to take the service to your customers and quickly generate a new recurring income stream with minimal cost of entry:
• No infrastructure costs and low operating overheads
• Built on solid, proven award winning technology
• Designed to generate recurring revenues
• Simple sign up process for you and your customers
• Keeps support calls to a minimum
• Extend your brand and create customer loyalty with re-branding options
• Extensive sales tools and customer facing collateral that can be re-branded
• Built on Redstor's Storage Platform
Redstor have been focused on data management and protection since 1998 and have created one of the largest service provider enabled storage infrastructures (storage clouds) in the UK.
Contact Redstor now to find out how you can quickly generate a new revenue stream and GROW YOUR BUSINESS.
+44 (0)118 951 5200
sales@redstor.com
For more information on Redstor Protector click here
• Policy-driven desktop and laptop backup and recovery
• At rest AES encryption
• Remote data delete
• Port access control
• Device trace
If you are a Service Provider, Redstor Protector represents a unique service proposition for your customers and will give your organisation a competitive edge by offering differentiated functionality - Redstor Protector combines 5 best-of-breed components into one powerful solution.
Grow your organisation during these challenging times as a Redstor Services Partner. Redstor provides its ‘cloud’ experience and everything you need to take the service to your customers and quickly generate a new recurring income stream with minimal cost of entry:
• No infrastructure costs and low operating overheads
• Built on solid, proven award winning technology
• Designed to generate recurring revenues
• Simple sign up process for you and your customers
• Keeps support calls to a minimum
• Extend your brand and create customer loyalty with re-branding options
• Extensive sales tools and customer facing collateral that can be re-branded
• Built on Redstor's Storage Platform
Redstor have been focused on data management and protection since 1998 and have created one of the largest service provider enabled storage infrastructures (storage clouds) in the UK.
Contact Redstor now to find out how you can quickly generate a new revenue stream and GROW YOUR BUSINESS.
+44 (0)118 951 5200
sales@redstor.com
For more information on Redstor Protector click here
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