WIFINITY LIMITED

Virtual Data Centre

Highly resilient hosting and network services providing an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering delivering 99.999% SLAs across both.

Familiarity of VMware (vSphere, NSX and vSAN) using a geographically split multi-data centre cluster (UK-based Tier3) to ensure data is replicated across 2 nodes.

Features

• Software Defined Data Centre as a Service
• VMware vSAN with NVME storage tiers for highest performance
• Employs NSX SDN and vCloud Director technologies
• Enterprise SLAs for a Private Cloud environment.
• Firewall options including upstream HA FortiGate platform.
• DDoS mitigation service options.
• WAN integration and “Direct connections” from customer locations supported.
• Backup service, off sited to 4th Data centre.
• 24/7 Platform support

Benefits

• Familiarity of VMware but delivered as a service.
• Benefits of public cloud without the transformation
• Resource freedom to manage VM estate.
• Removes need for legacy Active Passive Date Centre strategies.
• N+1 delivers 99.999% uptime SLA.
• Provides predictable cost model.
• Full network integration options.
• Feeds fully resilient with multiple upstream feeds.
• Single sign on with MFA integration available.

£6 a gigabyte a month

• Education pricing available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  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 tenders@wifinity.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

104324020973394

Contact

Bid Management
07538410008
tenders@wifinity.co.uk

Service scope

• Service constraints: Services delivered from UK data centre locations only
• System requirements: Access to the vCloud Director management system from controlled IP-ranges

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Support tickets are responded to in line within the agreed SLA based on priority, impact, or escalation; and can be bespoke to each customer.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: No
• Support levels: Platform is supported 24/7 with a proactive support services provided with monitoring technology automatically escalating incidents to the helpdesk. This is included by default at no extra cost.; ; Ad hoc support is provided on a time and materials basis.; ; The customer is responsible for the VM layer and above.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: The delivery team supports customers with the initial set-up. Most customers are already familiar with VMware so support is minimal. If needed VMware provides online resources available to help to start using the vCloud Director, including comprehensive documentation.
• Service documentation: No
• End-of-contract data extraction: Moving your data from the service is within the customer's control. VMware provides complete documentation, tools, and optional services to make the process smooth. Wifinity can also provide a rehydration of a backup to a supported location of your choice, this is charged based on a rate card.
• End-of-contract process: Customers are responsible for any migration of data away at the end of the contract. On completion or if not required the customer will notify us that they are happy to close the service at which point Wifinity will securely delete the virtual data centre and any backup data, providing a cancellation acceptance certificate.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: Customers manage their service and Virtual Machiness through the vCloud Director interface.; ; - Provision VMs (Virtual Machines): request and deploy virtual machines from pre-configured templates or import your own.; - Manage VMs: Users can power on/off VMs, access their consoles, and even adjust configurations within their assigned quotas.; - Monitor VMs: Users can keep an eye on the performance of their virtual machines.; - Network Management: configure networking settings for their VMs within the VDC.
• Web interface accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
• Web interface accessibility testing: N/A
• API: No
• Command line interface: No

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type: Manual
• Independence of resources: Wifinity continuously monitors systems, storage, and networks to prevent issues before they happen. Through our capacity management, we guarantee you'll always have enough resources.
• Usage notifications: No

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: No

Resellers

• Supplier type: Reseller providing extra features and support
• Organisation whose services are being resold: Next Connex

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: None

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: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest: Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Backup and recovery

• Backup and recovery: Yes
• What’s backed up:
  • VM level backups
  • Application-specific backups, such as databases
• Backup controls: Backups, including scheduling, retention periods, and VM and file level restores are managed by the tickets system.; ; Backup schedules are customised to customers’ requirements.
• Datacentre setup: Multiple datacentres
• Scheduling backups: Users contact the support team to schedule backups
• Backup recovery: Users contact the support team

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
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Wifinity delivers a 99.999% Availability for platform and infrastructure resources under the service level agreement (SLA).
• Approach to resilience: Wifinity operates from highly available Tier 3 UK data centres, ensuring maximum uptime and resiliency. Every component of our solution is designed to be fault-tolerant, with N+1 redundancy built-in with data replicated synchronously to two data centre nodes. This means we can run from a single data centre in case of an outage or maintenance without impacting the service.
• Outage reporting: Outages would be reported through our ticketing systems via email alerts to any affected customer. Following any outage a full root cause analysis is performed and a comprehensive report of findings and remedial actions taken, including future improvements, is delivered to the customers.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Only authorised users can access our management interfaces. We use two layers of security to achieve this:; Role-based access control: Each user has a specific role with pre-defined permissions. This ensures they can only access the features relevant to their job.; Multi-factor authentication: Users need to verify their identity.; Access is strictly governed by VPN access.
• Access restriction testing frequency: Less than once a year
• Management access authentication: Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
• Devices users manage the service through: Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: You control when users can access audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: Less than 1 month
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: British Assessment Bureau
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 10/07/2023
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: N/A
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: No

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: Wifinity employs a number of policies and processes including but not limited to; Security policy, Access control policy, and Acceptable Use policy.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Continuous reviews and testing occur on the software development pipelines for individual products and components. All components that support the service are recorded and any changes to the components or the service have to be risk assessed and put through a change management process.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: VMware has a comprehensive vulnerability management program in place which includes continuous internal and regular third-party vulnerability scanning. ; ; Once identified, a new vulnerability is assessed and categorised depending on the potential impact.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: Wifinity proactively monitors and protects the system. Any breach or compromise is treated per our policies. Depending on the priority and level of risk, patches are usually deployed within 24 hours, if not sooner.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Incident Management follows the supplier ITIL framework

Secure development

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

Separation between users

• Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart: Yes
• Who implements virtualisation: Supplier
• Virtualisation technologies used: VMware
• How shared infrastructure is kept separate: The platform is a true multi-tenanted set-up orchestrated by VMware software that can be logically separated and dedicated to a specific client's at all levels including Network, Compute and Storage.; ; As software-defined, vCloud Director enables individual customer virtual data centres (vDC) to be provisioned and fully isolated from other customers.

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: Yes
• Description of energy efficient datacentres: Our chosen data centres adhere to ISO14001 and 50001. Energy is sourced from only 100% renewable sources. It also utilises market-leading colling technology to operate efficiently, requiring far less electricity. Our data entres utilise the Power Usage Effectiveness index to measure energy efficiency by dividing the amount of power entering into the DC by the power used to run the computer infrastructure within it.

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  Wifinity is committed to reaching Net Zero by 31 December 2030. This places us 20 years ahead of the recommendations put forward by the IPCC and the UK government’s target, demonstrating our leadership and ambition. ; ; To this end, we have completed a baseline exercise of our Scope 1, 2 and several Scope 3 emissions and have set realistic and achievable targets to reduce these across our entire organisation and within each and every programme of work we deliver, including this one. We are working towards the inclusion of currently excluded categories as part of our program to improve data collection.; ; Wifinity aims to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 30% by 2026 (within the lifetime of this contract). We will also offset our residual Scope 1 and 2 emissions in FY2023 to become carbon neutral via high quality verified offsets. Alongside this, we have set ourselves a 63% reduction target in all Green House Gases (GHGs) emissions across all Scopes by 2030, offsetting any residual emissions via high-quality nature-based or direct air capture projects. ; In 2022 we appointed external specialist carbon consultants to advise Wifinity on our process, collating and verifying data to calculate our carbon emissions (baseline) and advise us on our carbon reduction options. ; Wifinity will achieve: ; • 21% absolute reduction in emissions by 2024 (within the lifetime of this contract); • 40% absolute reduction in emissions by 2027; Where emissions are because of our supply chain (Scope 3), we are committed to using our purchasing power and choice of supplier to encourage the correct carbon-reducing behaviour within our supply chain. This includes during the delivery of this service.

  Tackling economic inequality

  Wifinity is committed to tackling economic inequality and has a range of initiatives that directly or indirectly support current and future employees and the communities we serve.; Remote First – Significant talent exists beyond the main city hubs and therefore our remote-first status allows us to proactively promote our roles to the communities in which we serve ; Field Workers – We proactively recruit field workers in areas that align in proximity to our customer’s communities, reducing unnecessary travel and impact to our environment and on the work life balance of our employees.; Recruitment – inclusive hiring policy – One behaviour linked to our company value of Inclusion is “Come as you are”. We actively seek diversity in recruitment, using systems design theory ; Disability Confident – We are an approved Disability Confident Employer; Apprenticeships – We have set ourselves a minimum and stretch target for apprentices of 3% and 5% respectively. ; Traineeships – We run traineeship programmes to support our employee pipeline.; Volunteering Programme – Our Good Connections programme is an annual programme that leads to the installation of our product for free, in a facility for the underprivileged; Job Centres and Job Fairs – We proactively contact job centres in regions where we deliver or plan to deliver our services. This supports both unemployed and underrepresented community members. ; Promote internal development – This is especially important for remote team members in regions with limited opportunities ; Mentor Programme – We have a volunteer mentoring programme for employees to both mentor and reverse mentor.; Employee Champion and Social Groups – We’ve created a platform for two different types of Employee Groups. The first, Employee Champions, is business driven and supports areas such as Environment and Social Champions as well as Champions for Women in Tech.

  Equal opportunity

  Wifinity takes a positive approach to fair work practices, in providing equal opportunities, and supporting the learning and development of our staff. ; We commit to:; • Paying all directly employed staff on the project the Real Living Wage or above; • Supporting the development of project staff through on the job learning, peer-to-peer development and formal training. This includes shadowing, where appropriate.; • Investigating where we can provide apprenticeship opportunities, particularly in areas with low employment ; • Ensuring all staff benefit from our commitment to providing a positive environment that recognises and values their different experiences, abilities and skills and where equal opportunity will be provided for all; • Aiming to reflect the diversity of your staff and the wider population in our team; • Not utilising any zero-hours contracts; • Providing a positive work-life balance for all project staff, with opportunity for flexible working where eligible; • Creating an atmosphere of collaborative workforce engagement through regular staff representation and an open and honest culture of feedback; Wifinity has a number of policies that demonstrate our wider commitment to fair working practices (Parental/Adoptive Leave, Communication and Collaboration, Equal Opportunities, Flexible Working, Absence, and Skills and Training) which we would be happy to share.

  Wellbeing

  Wifinity has an established Health and Safety Management system that is compliant with the requirements of the ISO45001:2018 Standard. ; Wifinity has core areas of focus which ensure that all employees have the necessary skills and information to achieve and maintain Health and Wellbeing.; All staff undergo a mandatory induction that covers all aspects of the Health and Safety Management System relevant to their activities along with information relating to employment and the help and support available to them for areas such as mental & occupational health. ; We hold a training matrix that indicates the required competencies by role which is then monitored to ensure individual employees renew their training at the required frequency.; Each team active on our projects has a team leader who is responsible for general supervision on site and ensures that all works are carried out to the requirement of the Management System and work-related documents. ; All Wifinity projects are subject to a specific Risk Assessment / Method Statement (RAMS). We complete a Point of Work Risk Assessment (POWRA) prior to work commencing. We use specific software to aid the programming of individuals, ensuring that those within the closest proximity of the delivery location are used to reduce travel along with effects on health caused by fatigue. ; Wifinity has trained six Mental Health First Aiders to provide support throughout the company. The team provides frequent communications to both raise awareness of mental health issues and to provide a contact point for individuals, should they require it. We also offer Private Health Insurance to all permanent employees, and this includes coverage for both physical and psychological health.

Pricing

• Price: £6 a gigabyte a month
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  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 tenders@wifinity.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.