...Government AccreditationG-Cloud expert and largest provider of assured cloud services to the UK public sector announces the accreditation of its VMware Zimbra offering to include IL3 dataLondon – 9th April 2013 – Skyscape Cloud Services Limited, the easy to adopt, easy to use and easy to leave Assured Cloud Services Company, today announced that its Email and Collaboration service, has been awarded Pan Government Accreditation (PGA) status from CESG (The National Technical Authority for Information Assurance), up to and including Impact Levels 2 & 3 (IL2/IL3).
Email and Collaboration as a Service, based upon VMware Zimbra, is the latest Skyscape offering to be accredited to IL3 – the highest available PGA status. VMware Zimbra is a next-generation email and collaboration solution that connects end users to their personal cloud and critical data on any device or platform, enhancing productivity with a feature rich experience. The open collaboration platform allows IT to support all clients and operating systems seamlessly through a web-based administration console and easily integrates with third party platforms and applications.
While email continues to be the most used tool for communication and collaboration within organisations, email systems vary in their features and functionality, as does the impact they have on IT support overhead and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). VMware Zimbra has been proven to offer 25-50% lower TCO than Microsoft Exchange.
David Parry-Jones, regional director for UK & Ireland, VMware, commented: “There’s currently a massive opportunity for UK public sector IT departments to transform the way they deliver services to their organisations – and significantly reduce costs - by taking advantage of virtualisation and cloud technologies.
“Unlike legacy email systems, VMware Zimbra has been specifically designed for the post-PC era, allowing end users to access services anywhere, on any device. Built on the power of VMware’s virtualisation and cloud expertise, the solution dramatically simplifies IT and sets the standard for web and cloud based collaboration.
“With VMware Zimbra, UK public sector organisations will be assured that their email and collaboration services are Pan Government Accredited to the highest possible standard. This new Skyscape service now delivers a genuine alternative to running email services in-house.”
“We are delighted to announce that our email and collaboration offering, has received the highest level of accreditation possible,” said Phil Dawson, CEO of Skyscape. “Not only will our solution deliver real choice to the public sector – which was previously restricted to more inflexible and expensive offerings – but our service is the only one accredited to both IL2 and IL3.” Dawson added, “At a time when budgets are increasingly constrained and when the Government is understandably looking to emerging technologies to facilitate positive changes and improve operations, Skyscape is focused on providing services in a more agile, secure and cost effective manner.”
Email and Collaboration as a Service is now available via the G-Cloud CloudStore to all UK Public Sector bodies via the internet or Government Secure Networks including GCF/GSi, PSN, NHS N3 and others. This solution can be run using a range of clients, including popular browsers and Microsoft Outlook.
Skyscape provides a range of assured cloud computing services dedicated to the UK public sector, delivered with leading technologies from Alliance Partners: QinetiQ, VMware, Cisco, EMC and Ark Continuity. Skyscape’s assured cloud services allow organisations to benefit from lower costs, reduced procurement times and a simplified tendering process, without compromising on performance or security. Skyscape is currently working on over 100 projects across central government, local authorities, police, healthcare and other publicly funded bodies.
Further information can be found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEPUU65GDnM
