Six Degrees

OFFICIAL Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)

Our OFFICIAL DRaaS enables you to build and scale a secure DR solution based on requirements and data criticality, as opposed to forcing you into a one-size-fits-all solution. Services can be mirrored across multiple nodes in the UK with RTOs from near time failover to 24 hours+ based on requirements.

Features

• Flexible configurations from active active to reserved compute
• Flexible RPOs and RTOs based on your requirements
• Agentless snapshot and agent based offerings
• Virtual and physical solutions
• Backup and recover from a 3rd-party DC or Six Degrees'
• Easy to use via self-service portal or AP
• Automated recovery process
• Direct connects with public cloud services available
• Multiple UK data centres, including ARK (next to Crown Hosting)
• Connect via the internet, PSN Assured or PSN Protect

Benefits

• Highly secure for OFFICIAL and OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE data workloads
• Flexible restore options to meet business requirements
• Choose how your data is restored: block or file level
• Easy to deploy and manage
• Select the recovery location for your data
• Automation to simplify processes
• Available as a standalone service or larger Six Degrees solution
• Easy to manage spend with a predictable cost model
• Flexible billing options: hourly, daily, weekly or monthly
• Designed to your requirements

• Education pricing available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at publicsector.sales@6dg.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

602098590443831

Contact

Six Degrees Public Sector team
08000128060
publicsector.sales@6dg.co.uk

About your service

• Service categories:

  Systems Infrastructure Software

  Storage

  Data replication and protection

  • Data Protection Software
  • Backup and Recovery Reporting Software
  • Storage Replication Software
  • Host or Hypervisor-Based Replication Software
  • Systems and Data Migration Software
  • Replication Management Software

  Archiving

  • File and Other Archiving Software
• Multi cloud support: Yes

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model:
  • Public cloud
  • Private cloud
  • Hybrid cloud
• Service constraints: Please see Service Description for details on dependancies.
• System requirements:
  • Requires min. 10 Mbps standard networking (includes reserved bandwidth)
  • X86 operating system and application (non x86 options available)

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: Dependant on incident/request and priority level - please see attached Service Description for details.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: WCAG 2.2 A
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: Please see attached Service Description for support levels.
• Support available to third parties: No

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Our services are simple to consume requiring only a browser (and in the case of VMware vCloud a small plug in to be installed). New customers are asked to provide a list of authorised contacts and permission levels with whom we can engage. Those nominated individuals are provided with documentation and if need-be training on how to contact us for support, how to access the ticketing/monitoring portals.; All customers are provided documentation for using the Six Degrees IaaS. Six Degrees can also run individual and group training sessions for using these clouds. The sessions are delivered via WebEx or face-to-face.; At a base level Six Degrees don’t charge customers to on-board/off-board from the Six Degrees IaaS. Should an organisation require additional support as part of the on-boarding process, such as project management/detailed technical design, then Six Degrees might need to charge for this. This will be charged as time and materials or as a pre-agreed flat service fee.; Once engaged with Six Degrees and a contract has been signed we’ll provision a resource area and grant the user access to our self-service portal and ticketing system where support and service requests can be made.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • PDF
  • Other
• Other documentation formats:
  • Microsoft Word
  • Microsoft Excel
• End-of-contract data extraction: Customers can export their servers to a OVF or VHD format and download to their local machines. Where necessary Six Degrees Service Desk can provide solutions for large or complicated migrations away from Six Degrees.
• End-of-contract process: Six Degrees do not charge for off-boarding as standard and organisations can exit the Six Degrees service without penalty. Where reasonable, Six Degrees will support the client exit of the service, export virtual machines, and decommission resource. If full project management or large-scale support is required, then Six Degrees reserve the right to charge the client. This will be agreed in advance, prior to termination.
• Documentation accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 A

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Other
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: Yes
• User support accessibility: WCAG 2.2 A
• Description of service interface: Via Six Degrees support
• Accessibility standards: WCAG 2.2 A
• Accessibility testing: Via Six Degrees support
• API: No
• Customisation available: No

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Storage is sold based on fixed IOPS, meaning performance is guaranteed irrespective of other user requirements. We can also provide dedicated virtual and bare metal resource for customers who want to further protect their environment.; ; All customers pay for reserved bandwidth. Six Degrees monitor shared inbound connections at our peering level. If a customers usage becomes unusually high we will be alerted. Where necessary customers traffic will be restricted or black holed (in a DDoS attack) to protect our other customers bandwidth requirements. DDoS service options, both Layer 3/4 and Layer 7, are available as chargeable services should customers require.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: CPU, Disk, HTTP request and response status, Memory, Network, Number of active instances, Availability, Running services.
• Reporting types: API access
• Resource tagging: No
• FOCUS resource tagging: No

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Security Clearance (SC)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 4.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v4.0
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: SAN storage encrypted at rest. Customer can use own encryption at the OS level
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001
• Data sanitisation type: Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation / Secure Erase

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: We will work with client to facilitate access to data export / migration in the event of termination
• Data export formats:
  • ODF
  • Other
• Other data export formats:
  • OVF
  • VHD
• Data import formats: Other
• Other data import formats: Six Degrees will manage this process with client

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: A virtual private network is created for each customer. This is logically isolated from other networks and each are controlled by a firewall for security.; SD-WAN and SASE can also be integrated or deployed to deliver network protection.
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: A virtual private network is created for each customer. This is logically isolated from other networks and each are controlled by a firewall for security.

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Six Degrees offer a 99.99% availability SLA on all components up to the OS.
• Approach to resilience: All components have been built in fully resilient pairs. With fully resilient networking links between all components and to external third parties, including multiple ISPs. For host availability Six Degrees use VMware’s HA failover for redundancy.
• Outage reporting: All infrastructure is monitored on the network 24/7. Should there be an outage monitoring alerts are sent to the Public Sector operations team via e-mail and SMS.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Other
• Other user authentication: 2+1 factor authentication using a certificate, token and password to access the Public Sector VPN which is required to reach the vCloud Service. API is additional protected with a WAF
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Only authorised contacts are granted access rights to Public Sector cloud allowing them to connect to the secure VPN to manage their service. The Service Desk for support will only accept requests from authorised contacts. Communication with anybody at Six Degrees will need to be pre-approved by a known individual in writing. Management of the infrastructure is via dedicated connectivity and out of band of customer data and customer networks
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Other
• Description of management access authentication: 2+1 factor authentication using a certificate, token and password to access the Public Sector VPN which is required to reach the service, including management areas.

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: ISO/IEC 27001
• Information security policies and processes: All ISO 27001:2013 controls and associated policies are in place. Enhanced weekly and quarterly external approved scanning vendor (ASV) vulnerability scanning. Six Degrees operate a rolling internal audit programme to ensure continuity of compliance to our various accreditations, as well as internal technical auditing of our systems through the use of various integrity checks. This ensures that there is always a fully justified and documented Change Request for any modification of our secure systems.
• Software Security Code of Practice: Yes

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: All non-standard changes must be pre-authorised by going through a peer, senior and CAB approval process. Standard changes are created in template form and are approved in CAB before being implement into Change controls.
• Vulnerability management type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: Six Degrees (Public Sector) run an internal vulnerability test once a week. All reported vulnerabilities that are reported are categorised into priority depending on the severity and a case is logged with the operation team who will fix the vulnerability under the time frames dictated by Public sector patching policy. This conforms to the PCI-DSS standard.
• Protective monitoring type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: Six Degrees (Public Sector) have a protective monitoring system where all logs are centralised and checked on a daily basis for security breaches using several key search filters. Alerts are sent out for high risk activity and are pro-actively responded to by the operations and security teams. This conforms to the PCI-DSS standard.
• Incident management type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v4.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: Six Degrees operate an ITIL aligned incident management process with associated procedures for security related incidents. The process has a clearly defined governance framework, including roles & responsibilities, clear policies and associated KPIs. This process conforms to PCI DSS.
• Post-quantum cryptography secure: Yes

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Supplier-defined process

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: Yes
• Connected networks:
  • Public Services Network (PSN)
  • Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)

Pricing

• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: No

Discount percentage by annual call-off contract value (excluding VAT)

• Less than £250,000: 0%
• Between £250,000 and £500,000: 2.5%
• Between £500,001 and £1,000,000: 5%
• Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000: 7.5%
• Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000: 10%
• Over £5,000,001: 12.5%

Non-mandatory Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: LQRA
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Friday 13 March 2015
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: N/A all is covered
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO 9001 certification: LRQA
• ISO 9001 accreditation date: Tuesday 11 August 2009
• What the ISO 9001 doesn’t cover: N/A all is covered
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: Yes
• Who accredited the PCI DSS certification: IT Governance Ltd
• PCI DSS accreditation date: Thursday 6 November 2025
• What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover: N/A all is covered
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Certificate Number: 4fac61c0-0804-4641-bafb-8491a85aefad
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Plus Certificate Number: Bd936e65-aa84-4efe-a586-1a80b7409c04
• Other security certifications: No

Social value

• Section B - Commitment for Future: Delivery:

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 1: Fair work: That offers fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. Notes: Where there is a large proportion of labour costs in the contract, commercial teams should consider MAC in Outcome 1 as a priority

    • Providing opportunities for, and measuring and monitoring of, staff workforce conditions over time, including employee engagement, involvement in decision-making and satisfaction and adapting to any changes in the results, with clear processes for acting on issues identified
    • Plans to engage the contract workforce in deciding the most important workplace issues to address
    • Monitoring of employee engagement rates (by protected characteristic) and, where necessary, the development of actions to ensure all voices are heard across the diversity of the workforce
    • Employment contracts that reflect actual hours worked; steps taken to ensure employees understand their contracts and have the ability to review and adjust them if actual hours regularly exceed contracted hours
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about, and feel empowered to, address their physical wellbeing
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about and feel empowered to report and address bullying and harassment
    • Activities to cascade good practice on fair working conditions throughout the supply chain
    • Offer a pay and leave entitlement to all eligible staff who become kinship carers, ideally equivalent to statutory adoption pay and leave
    • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
    • Monitoring and reporting of gender and ethnicity pay gaps and plans to address them where necessary
    • Plans for an appropriate income replacement policy for staff who are required to spend time away from work to care for a sick dependent or close relative
    • Understanding of in-work progression issues affecting the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • Measures to support in-work progression to help people in the contract workforce, to move into higher paid work by developing new skills relevant to the contract
    • Support for the contract workforce by providing career advice, and providing opportunities for staff working on the contract with in-work progression career development into known skills shortages or high growth areas
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Volunteering opportunities for staff

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at publicsector.sales@6dg.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.