Acknowledged experts recruited
Pironet NDH has been able to sign up some of the foremost names in the field for its new private cloud operation. Experienced consultant and integration specialist Thorsten Göbel and storage/data center experts Katharina Gülpen and Jan Dilthey are in charge of all aspects of the new offerings. They lead several finely tuned teams of consultants, project managers, system architects and Citrix specialists. Development of this latest offering has necessitated expanding the organisational structure at Pironet NDH Datacenter GmbH by the addition of a Consulting Department and the creation of a new company, Pironet NDH Enterprise Solutions GmbH.
Proven solutions and service frameworks
Pironet NDH presents its private clouds as a framework of proven concepts and technical solutions, all modelled referring to the central cloud architecture in the Pironet NDH data centers. "Designed for local private cloud solutions, My Business Cloud complements the central services we have been providing for some years now from our Pironet NDH data center," explains Udo Faulhaber who has overall responsibility for outsourcing and cloud portfolio sales at Pironet NDH. "These include IT resources and top-quality business software marketed under the Business Cloud brand. But both solutions can also be used in combination."
Customised cloud mix – central, local and hybrid
For example, Pironet NDH customers can now set up individual cloud systems on their own servers and in their own data center while still availing themselves of Business Cloud services. Additionally, they can opt for hybrid forms of externally and internally sourced IT. In this scenario, the Pironet NDH data centers can supply customers with the latest office-related software right through to a complete virtual workstation on the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Particularly sensitive systems and data – for example, those operated by R&D or Human Resources – meanwhile reside in the customer's local My Business Cloud.
Remote operation and user help desk
After completion of the setup process, companies have the option of authorising Pironet NDH to remotely operate their private cloud. Upon request, the service provider will also take on responsibility for end-user support (i.e. User Help Desk). This enables customer companies to use both internally created and externally supplied cloud components while still offering their employees common user support.
Standard technologies in the areas of data center, virtualisation and storage
In designing its solutions and concepts, Pironet NDH relies exclusively on market-leading systems such as Citrix, Microsoft Systems Center, NetApp, Cisco UCS, Cisco Nexus and VMware. "Long-term protection of our customers' investments and stability in day-to-day business operations have the highest priority in our projects," says Udo Faulhaber. "We therefore check very carefully whether new technologies have reached the necessary level of maturity, and we incorporate only technologies that comply with the requisite standard into our projects."
Benefits of having the cloud under full control
Udo Faulhaber sees the development of local private clouds as a major step for companies seeking more service-oriented and flexible IT environments: "IT managers are facing a tremendous pressure to modernise. Cloud technologies can help them get to grips with the new challenges such as mobility, consumerisation and security. But not every company wants to outsource its IT to external data centers. My Business Cloud gives them all the benefits of the cloud while retaining full control of data and autonomy in the operation of highly sensitive systems."