Storage services provider Sagitta has launched a new eXpert Support Service. Visit www.sagitta-ps.com
According to the firm, the service will enable organisations to use critical business information more effectively by providing access to a virtual team of storage experts, to complement existing resources and manage complex storage infrastructures more efficiently. This is supported by 24/7 monitoring of the storage infrastructure to reduce problem resolution times by up to 50 per cent, the firm says. The team also provides ongoing strategic evaluation, capacity forecasts, business continuity reviews and change management programmes.
Sagitta customer West Yorkshire Police, responsible for running the new National VIPER (Video Identity Parade Electronically Recorded) Bureau on behalf of a Home Office Video Identify project has already experienced the benefits of the eXpert Support Service. Project manager, Tony King said: ?Sagitta now manages the day-to-day running of our storage infrastructure through the eXpert Support Service. This has removed the headache of recruiting and retaining highly skilled staff, enabling us to concentrate on our core business, the delivery of ID parades to our customer police forces. I feel much more comfortable in the knowledge that our infrastructure is being monitored and supported 24/7 with the aim of solving or negating problems before they effect the National VIPER bureau and thus Police Forces around the country.?
Independent research commissioned by Sagitta identifies the need to maximise utilisation of available, reliable and stable data management infrastructures. Whilst networked storage delivers technology to meet these demands, the research highlights IT managers? anxiety to drive up storage utilisation and eliminate wastage through effective storage management. Crucially, the research also identifies how many organisations are struggling to find, train and retain people with all of the pre-requisite skills required to manage these diverse and complex infrastructures. This leads to increased risk and inefficiency; neither of which is acceptable in today?s environment.
Andy Norman, founder and CEO at Sagitta, said: ?For months now the industry has talked long and hard about the benefits of networked storage from a technology, business and return on investment perspective. However, many of today?s organisations struggle to plan strategic infrastructures for business growth, flexibility and agility. By complementing an organisation?s internal resources with a virtual team of storage experts, Sagitta?s new eXpert Support Service offers a third, much needed, dimension to managing complex storage infrastructures ? the skills dimension!?
The eXpert Support Service has been devised to minimise both risk and inefficiency. This is achieved by reducing the time taken to resolve technical issues with vendors and by minimising the cost of managing a storage infrastructure. Sagitta?s own WatchDog tool pro-actively monitors the environment in a non-intrusive way, pre-empting issues and simplifying administration. Ongoing strategic evaluation, as well as rigorous change and configuration management processes based on the ITIL model, ensure the delivery of a stable and consistent storage infrastructure. The service reduces the impact of unplanned and untested changes and also provides storage experts to facilitate strategic planning, changes and upgrades to what are now complex storage infrastructures.
eXpert Support Service elements:
– Storage assessment service ? pre-contract assessment designed to maximise the overall effectiveness of the planned service contract.
– Infrastructure audit ? audit of existing storage environment with report highlighting results and full configuration details.
– Configuration management ? a secure configuration master database is developed and kept in the Sagitta service operations centre for use in delivering the service.
– Change management ? technical assessment of the impact on the storage environment of any proposed changes, review of proposed changes, implementation and handover documentation detailing how to use newly implemented hardware or software.
– Release management ? monitors and reviews change requests and reports on all approved, rejected and completed changes.
– Automated incident submission ? Sagitta WatchDog monitors and reports on any communication or event in relation to the storage environment. Reported incidents are acknowledged within the agreed response time and if not resolved immediately will follow the agreed escalation process until resolved.
– Client incident submission – clients can report an incident by telephone, email or via a Web form. It will then follow the procedure detailed above.
– Problem management ? regular reports are produced to review all significant, recurring or unresolved incidents, requests for changes, client training needs, documentation changes etc.
– Telephone technical support ? telephone access to technical specialists.
– Service level monitoring and reviews ? regular performance reviews where the performance of each service element will be reported upon and discussed.
– Customer satisfactions surveys ? detailed surveys identifying satisfaction levels.
– Onsite and offsite support ? if required as a supplement to the Web, email and telephone support detailed above.
– Expert WatchDog ? non-intrusive monitor of storage infrastructure activity with automatic reporting.
About Sagitta
Storage solutions provider, Sagitta offers data storage, including storage utilisation, server and storage consolidation, back-up and restoration, email management, disaster recovery, ongoing 24×7 remote monitoring, storage management and technical support. The company was established in 1997. Customers include Debenhams, Bank of Scotland, B&Q, AGFA, Sony Broadcast, Capital Radio, the Portman Building Society and the Natural History Museum. In addition Sagitta has a number of strategic partnerships including IBM, HP/Compaq, DataCore, Brocade, BMC, QLogic, StorAge, Veritas and Tivoli.
