Enable can provide you with a high quality solution that satisfies your needs now, plus the flexibility to grow with your business in the future. More than products and services, we provide solutions that enable our clients to harness the power of technology and business applications that have been previously only available to large corporations. In short, we make leading technology work for you, in whatever way you need it to.
Service Level Agreement
Enable has an Industry leading Service Level Agreement (SLA), committing ourselves to provide our clients with unsurpassed levels of availability and meaningful refunds for failure to comply with them.
We guarantee that when not undergoing scheduled maintenance, the network and critical infrastructure systems, including power and HVAC will be available 100% of the time in each month.
Network availability means all network infrastructure including routers, switches and cabling is working. Services or software running on your server are not counted as part of the network. Downtime begins when we record in our system your opening of a trouble ticket saying you can't transmit and receive data and ends when the server is able to transmit and receive data.
Typical specification of new hardware
Enable recommends Dell® PowerEdge® servers.
- Chassis: Dell® PowerEdge® 2950
- OS: Microsoft® Windows® 2003
- Processor: Single Quad Core Intel® Xeon® 2.33 4Mb Cache
- Memory: 2Gb DDR RAM
- Hard Drives: 3 x 73Gb SCSI RAID 5
- Backup: Legato® Managed Backup Agent
- PSU: Redundant power supplies included
- Aggregate bandwidth: 100Gb per Month (Burstable)
- Managed backup: 100Gb per week, 2 weeks retention
- IP: 1 x IP address
- Firewall: Cisco® Pix 506 dedicated hardware, 10Mbps
Data centre information
We have access to some of the most highly specified data centres, built to exacting, rigorous standards and delivering unparalleled security, power, connectivity and environmental control. Access to the buildings, data floors and clients' areas are via individually programmed Proximity Access Cards (PACS). Our policy provides all our clients with a redundant high-capacity, stable and reliable power supply, with easily scaleable expansion in the future.
All of our facilities are built to at least an N+1 standard; put simply, this means that if two generators are required to provide non-stop power, then three will be installed. So rather than guaranteeing 99.99% availability, the guarantee is 100%. Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus (VESDA) is installed, which provides very early detection to help avoid fire, loss and business disruption.
This is coupled with a gas-based fire retardant which is environmentally friendly, to put out fires instantly, without damaging equipment. To ensure optimum performance, all data floors are maintained at a constant 21°C ± 2°C and relative humidity is kept at 50% ± 10%. In addition, our facilities operate via computerised building-management systems which monitor and remotely operate sensors covering electrical, mechanical, fire-detection and leak-detection systems.
Physical security information
Security of your mission critical Internet operations is of paramount importance. Enable employs multiple levels of security to ensure that only data centre Operations Engineers are physically allowed near your routers, switches and servers. These include:
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No Public Access | Public access to Enable data centres is strictly forbidden. Enable's hosting partners do not host equipment that they do not own and manage, which obviates the need for anyone but their highly trained Engineers to be allowed into the data centre. |
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Video Surveillance | Live video surveillance of the entire data centre facility is monitored 24 hours per day. All entrances to the building as well as the data centre are monitored to ensure that only authorised personnel enter sensitive areas. |
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On-Site Security Personnel | Onsite security personnel monitor the data centre building 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The security team are responsible for making sure that only authorised personnel enter the data centre building. |
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Biometric Security | Biometric hand scanners are used to restrict access to the data centre. Within the organisation only Enable Engineers are authorised to access restricted areas, ensuring the security of hosted systems. |
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Pass Cards | Access to the facility is also restricted to those who hold an appropriate pass card. The pass cards are also required for moving from room to room within the data centre. |
Network / connectivity info
The Enable network has been engineered from the ground up to accommodate the high availability demands of outsourced solutions.
Enable provides a fully resilient and redundant network infrastructure on which our clients' mission critical Internet based operations are based. Our entirely switched network employs Cisco® 6500 chassis based switches running HSRP (N+1 hot failover) to ensure that data can be routed even in the event of device or link failure. Internet connectivity is provided via multiple links to Tier 1 bandwidth providers which, coupled with our Cisco® powered infrastructure, enables us to maintain 100% network availability.
To ensure network integrity, Enable has put Service Level Agreements in place with the various bandwidth suppliers which enable us to guarantee that all packets will leave our network at full speed. Should one of our providers fail, packets leaving our network are automatically redirected through another route via a different provider.
Our Managed Services are designed to ensure maximum uptime for your application and to relieve your IT staff from the day-to-day maintenance of your hosting environment.
Enable offers performance and availability services which are discrete, optional services that are layered on top of our managed solutions, giving you a wide range of choice when defining your managed technology requirements.
Business benefits
- Protect your critical data using our Data Backup Service, a network-based storage and recovery solution.
- Ensure maximum performance, capacity and uptime with our Load-Balancing Service, which directs internet traffic to multiple web servers.
- Increase availability for business-critical applications through our Managed Cluster Service, which provides resiliency to database and firewall deployments.
- Robust monitoring using our Enhanced Monitoring Service, which monitors and provides alerts on systems and solutions.
- Improved online performance monitoring.
Backup and Recovery
Properly backing up and storing your data has never been more important - you are at risk without it. Having a well planned backup strategy is the most effective way to protect your vital data. Enable provides clients with a complete backup, storage and retrieval service through utilising a powerful suite of technologies paired with our backup best practices.
Enable provides different backup strategies which take into consideration different client needs and priorities i.e. how fast data is recovered in an emergency versus how much backups will cost due to the amount of data to be backed up. Clients can specify retention periods and backup set.
Data Backup Business Benefits:
- Offers a network-based storage and recovery solution for Managed Applications clients
- Enhanced and Basic Managed Backup Service options available
- Utilises leading-edge, secure and reliable managed data-protection software from IBM
- Tailored backup schedule to meet your organisation's requirements
- Clients define the files or directories critical to the business
Disaster Recovery
Enable offers a number of levels of disaster recovery as follows:
Level 1 - loss of data on the server. As soon as this has been reported by the client, data can be restored from backups which are taken at the end of each day. The maximum data loss is therefore limited to changes made since midnight that morning. Enable will begin restoring from backups within 1 hour from receiving the request. The time taken to complete depends on the amount of data.
Level 2 - hardware failure. Should there be any hardware failure, such as that of a Motherboard, hard drive or entire server, Enable has the ability to transfer your web applications to a number of other servers situated in each data centre, or put in place replacement hardware within 4 hours. As Enable operates a number of racks and numerous servers there is always sufficient capacity to deal with multiple hardware failures at any one time.
Level 3 - connectivity failure. Each data centre is connected to the Internet by at least 3 tier 1 bandwidth and connectivity providers. Should any of these fail, connectivity seamlessly continues through the remaining providers ensuring that uptime is not affected and the web applications are not interrupted.
Level 4 - total data centre failure. In the highly unlikely event that an entire data centre is inoperable, Enable benefits from having multiple data centres and server hosting facilities. Through partnerships with 3 separate hosting providers located across the UK, as well as having an in-house data centre, web applications can be ported to entirely new data centres and data can be restored from the previous night's backup. In over 8 years of operation this situation has never occurred. However, our disaster recovery plans are tested on a 6-monthly basis and we have consistently achieved a full transition of our test server environments from one data centre to another.
Monitoring
Without an effective monitoring solution, an organisation can suffer the effects of swamped servers or overloaded databases without even knowing it until it's too late. Security breaches and basic hardware or software failures are an even greater threat. Aggressive monitoring can prevent many of these frustrating and costly failures and help guarantee a high quality of service for your end-users. Enable specialises in performance monitoring of enterprise-class Web operations. We have a variety of monitoring tools available for clients.
We offer a 24 x 7 monitoring service which checks the availability of clients' servers. Enable offers different levels of our monitoring service. The one most suited will partially depend on how critical your hosted environment is to your business, as well as the extent you would like us to react to service alerts.
Across all service levels, our monitoring system performs service checks at 5 minute intervals to ensure the quick identification of problems. Should a device not respond, support engineers are sent an alert via pager and email and they investigate the problem immediately, checking the console for the error message and determining the severity of the problem. Our support and data centre operations engineers respond to hardware failures as per our guaranteed 1 hour hardware fix SLA which ensures that you suffer minimal device or solution downtime. Depending on the level taken and the emergency instructions specified, Rackspace take the relevant proactive action should a service/device fail.
In addition to our basic monitoring package, Enable offers two other options:
- Option One is a solution which monitors the performance and availability of both infrastructure and web transactions against user defined service level objectives, providing real time notification and escalation. It maps the performance of client transactions to backend infrastructure by monitoring servers, applications, storage and network devices as well as web transactions. The result is valuable information about components in your enterprise's operational environment which can be used to analyse and manage your services and help improve the end user experience. Infrastructure problems can be quickly identified, and as a remote monitoring tool, this option can be installed without affecting the servers being monitored.
- Option Two is a web statistics and analysis suite. It is useful for tracking web site usage and trends. This option has outstanding performance with low resource utilisation and is perfect for running in single server environments. Larger environments incorporating multiple servers can also select a load balancing module in this option. There are a variety of useful features, such as custom reporting tools, SVG based interactive charts and graphs, the ability to export data into Word/Excel, UTM2 first-party-cookie enhanced data collection etc.
Support / Helpdesk Overview
Our support policy is included in all our hosting packages. Therefore all clients know that they will get fast response to critical issues, unlimited technical phone support, and guaranteed network and infrastructure uptime.
Enable operates a service team approach to managing clients' Internet operations. We have built an architecture of service delivery teams to deliver superior client service. This is achieved through developing deep relationships with clients and a comprehensive understanding of their hosting environment in order to get problems solved as quickly as possible.
Each support team is comprised of technical experts in the particular operating system the hosting environment is running, an account manager and a support specialist.
Many organisations find it difficult to dedicate resources to detecting and eliminating security vulnerabilities. The task of monitoring and detecting security vulnerabilities and managing and administering a firewall can be time-consuming. Our managed security solutions provide a highly scaleable, reliable and affordable way of safeguarding your business from the ever-present security threats of the internet, leaving your in-house team to concentrate on key tasks. As a managed security client, you can have peace of mind knowing that your firewall is being managed by highly skilled security specialists, and still retain control of your overall security strategy. Key features include:
- Security alerts and system vulnerabilities monitored and investigated 24/7.
- Threats categorised by risk and appropriate fixes applied to your systems.
- Updates to security policy templates.
- Configuration changes managed through a secure change request procedure.
- Custom-built monitoring tools provide 24/7 status check on connectivity.
- Includes additional service modules that provide alerting, monitoring and reporting on your security appliance.
Trusting your outsourcing partner is paramount. At Enable, we take comprehensive steps to provide peace of mind. Firstly, our dedicated support team includes product specialists, network operation engineers, client service executives and help desk operators, who are available to help you every day between 8:30am and 5:30pm. For emergency technical support, our help desk is available 24/7. Secondly, your contract is backed up by high service level agreements, which underline our commitment to your services.
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