Ideal Networks Ltd

Microsoft Azure

Ideal offers customers access to Microsoft Azure through the Cloud Solution Provider program.

Microsoft Azure is an ever-expanding set of cloud services that help your organisation meet your business challenges. It’s the freedom to build, manage and deploy applications on a massive, global network using your favourite tools and frameworks

Features

• PAYG consumption-model with no commitment
• Shared responsibility model with the cloud service provider

Benefits

• Free of charge 24 x 7 technical support
• 'Fail fast' approach to R&D

£0.30 a virtual machine an hour

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

• Modern Slavery statement

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

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

301607909977252

Contact

Tim Gaynor
01273 957500
bids@ideal.co.uk

Service scope

• Service constraints: Please refer to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/ to determine applicable constraints based on buyers requirements
• System requirements: See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: P1 - Response 30 minutes; P2 - Response 1 hour; P3 - Response 5 hours; P4 - Response 8 hours
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: Web chat
• Web chat support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the web chat support is accessible: N/A
• Web chat accessibility testing: N/A
• Onsite support: No
• Support levels: Free of charge support for CSP customers
• Support available to third parties: No

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Ideal's account representitive will align the customer with project managers and solutions architects as necessary to ensure you understand what is required to get started with this service. Where required, Ideal can provide architects and engineers to provide consultancy and migration services.; ; See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/ plus comprehensive online documentation for various solutions available across the platform. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
  • Other
• Other documentation formats:
  • Online videos
  • Interactive learning portals
• End-of-contract data extraction: Customer are able to remove their data at any time through the same means they uploaded. Either over their network (internet or express route) or via the Azure Import/Export services. Also see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trustcenter/privacy
• End-of-contract process: Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trustcenter/privacy/you-own-your-data. In our Online Services Terms, Microsoft contractually commits to specific processes when a customer leaves a cloud service or the subscription expires. This includes deleting customer data from systems under our control. If you terminate a cloud subscription or it expires (except for free trials), Microsoft will store your customer data in a limited-function account for 90 days (the “retention period”) to give you time to extract the data or renew your subscription. During this period, Microsoft provides multiple notices, so you will be amply forewarned of the upcoming deletion of data. After this 90-day retention period, Microsoft will disable the account and delete the customer data, including any cached or backup copies. For in-scope services, that deletion will occur within 90 days after the end of the retention period. (In-scope services are defined in the Data Processing Terms section of our Online Services Terms.) See http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/Downloader.aspx?DocumentId=13655

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: Manage and deploy services via the Azure Portal. See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/
• Web interface accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the web interface is accessible: N/A
• Web interface accessibility testing: N/A
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: Users are able to utilise the Azure API Managament service to create their own API's for the solutions they deploy on to the platform. Additionally we have the Azure Service Management API which provides programmatic access to much of the functionality available through the Management Portal. ; Available here https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/ee460799.aspx
• API automation tools:
  • Ansible
  • Chef
  • OpenStack
  • SaltStack
  • Terraform
  • Puppet
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: HTML
• Command line interface: Yes
• Command line interface compatibility:
  • Linux or Unix
  • Windows
  • MacOS
  • Other
• Using the command line interface: Azure CLI 2.0 is optimized for managing and administering Azure resources from the command line, and for building automation scripts that work against the Azure Resource Manager. ; See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type:
  • Automatic
  • Manual
• Independence of resources: Azure represents a hyper-scale public cloud service.
• Usage notifications: Yes
• Usage reporting:
  • API
  • Email
  • SMS

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
• Metrics types:
  • CPU
  • Disk
  • HTTP request and response status
  • Memory
  • Network
• Reporting types:
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards

Resellers

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

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations:
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
  • Other locations
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• 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 CSA CCM v3.0
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: See http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/D/D/0DD8FB12-6343-4A50-80B2-545F2951D7AE/MicrosoftAzureDataProtection_Aug2014.pdf , and https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/storage-service-encryption
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• 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: Under user control
• Backup controls: Under user control
• Datacentre setup: Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery
• Scheduling backups: Users schedule backups through a web interface
• Backup recovery: Users can recover backups themselves, for example through a web interface

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: For data in transit, Azure uses industry-standard secure transport protocols, such as TLS/SSL, between user devices and Microsoft datacenters. You can enable encryption for traffic between your own virtual machines (VMs) and your users. With Azure Virtual Networks, you can use the industry-standard IPsec protocol to encrypt traffic between your corporate VPN gateway and Azure as well as between the VMs located on your Virtual Network.
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: ACL Based Network Security Groups are also used. See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/network-security-groups/

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: See Microsoft's Online Service Terms at http://www.microsoftvolumelicensing.com/Downloader.aspx?DocumentId=13655
• Approach to resilience: Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/global-datacenters and https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/TrustCenter/
• Outage reporting: Please see https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/status/ and https://portal.azure.com/#blade/HubsExtension/ServicesHealthBlade

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google apps)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Azure Active Directory is Microsoft’s multi-tenant cloud based directory and identity management service. Azure-AD provides an affordable, easy to use solution to give employees and business partners single sign-on (SSO) access to thousands of cloud SaaS Applications like Office365, Salesforce.com, DropBox, and Concur. For application developers, Azure-AD lets you focus on building your application by making it fast and simple to integrate with a world class identity management solution used by millions of organizations. Azure-AD also includes a full suite of identity management capabilities including multi-factor authentication, device registration, self-service password management, self-service group management, privileged account management.; ; https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/active-directory-whatis
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
• Devices users manage the service through: Dedicated device on a segregated network (providers own provision)

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: Between 6 months and 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users receive audit information on a regular basis
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: Between 6 months and 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: Between 6 months and 12 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: BSI
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 11/01/2019
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trustcenter/compliance/iso-iec-27001
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: Yes
• CSA STAR accreditation date: 12/02/2019
• CSA STAR certification level: Level 3: CSA STAR Certification
• What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover: None
• PCI certification: Yes
• Who accredited the PCI DSS certification: Coalfire Systems Inc
• PCI DSS accreditation date: 01/04/2016
• What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover: Service Scope is identified here http://aka.ms/azure-pci
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: ISO 27001 (ISMS), 27017 (Cloud Security)

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards:
  • CSA CCM version 3.0
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: FACT, FedRamp, NIST 800-171, EU Model Clauses, Cyber Essentials Plus
• Information security policies and processes: An Information Security Management Program has been established to enable Microsoft Azure to maintain and improve its management system for information security. Through establishment of the ISMS, Azure plans for and manages protection of its assets to acceptable security levels based on defined risk management processes. In addition, Azure monitors the ISMS and the effectiveness of controls in maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and availability of assets to continuously improve information security. ; ; The ISMS framework encompasses industry best-practices for information security and privacy. The ISMS has been documented and communicated in a customer-facing Information Security Policy, which can be made available upon request (customers and prospective customers must have a signed NDA or equivalent in place to receive a copy).; ; Microsoft Azure performs annual ISMS reviews, the results of which are reviewed by management. This involves monitoring ongoing effectiveness and improvement of the ISMS control environment by reviewing security issues, audit results, and monitoring status, and by planning and tracking necessary corrective actions.; ; Also see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/TrustCenter/Compliance/ISO-IEC-27001 and The Microsoft Cloud Security Policy is available via the Service Trust Platform aka.ms/stp

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: Azure has developed formal standard operating procedures (SOPs) governing the change management process. These SOPs cover both software development and hardware change and release management, and are consistent with established regulatory guidelines including ISO 27001, SOC 1 / SOC 2, NIST 800-53, and others.; ; Microsoft also uses Operational Security Assurance (OSA), a framework that incorporates the knowledge gained through a variety of capabilities that are unique to Microsoft including the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL), the Microsoft Security Response Center program, and deep awareness of the cybersecurity threat landscape. ; ; Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/SDL/OperationalSecurityAssurance and https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sdl
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: When providing the Antimalware solution for Virtual Machines, Azure is responsible for ensuring the service is highly available, definitions are updated regularly, that configuration through the Azure Management Portal is effective and that the software detects and protects against known types of malicious software. MCIO-managed hosts in the scope boundary are scanned to validate anti-virus clients are installed and current signature-definition files exist.; ; Vulnerability scans are performed on a quarterly basis at a minimum. Microsoft Azure contracts with independent assessors to perform penetration testing of the Microsoft Azure boundary.
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: Microsoft Azure employs sophisticated software-defined service instrumentation and monitoring that integrates at the component or server level, the datacenter edge, our network backbone, Internet exchange sites, and at the real or simulated user level, providing visibility when a service disruption is occurring and pinpointing its cause.; ; Proactive monitoring continuously measures the performance of key subsystems of the Microsoft Azure services platform against the established boundaries for acceptable service performance and availability. When a threshold is reached or an irregular event occurs, the monitoring system generates warnings so that operations staff can address the threshold or event.
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: Microsoft has developed robust processes to facilitate a coordinated response to incidents. ; • Identification – System and security alerts may be harvested, correlated, and analyzed. ; • Containment – The escalation team evaluates the scope and impact of an incident. ; • Eradication – The escalation team eradicates any damage caused by the security breach, identifies root cause for why the security issue occurred. ; • Recovery – During recovery, software or configuration updates are applied to the system and services are returned to a full working capacity.; • Lessons Learned – Each security incident is analyzed to protect against future reoccurrence.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Separation between users

• Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart: Yes
• Who implements virtualisation: Supplier
• Virtualisation technologies used: Hyper-V
• How shared infrastructure is kept separate: Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/TrustCenter/Security/default.aspx

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: Yes
• Description of energy efficient datacentres: Please see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/sustainability

Social Value

• Fighting climate change:

  Fighting climate change

  "Whilst Ideal are not legally required to report annual greenhouse emissions, due to the small size of the organisation, environmental sustainability is a focus area and we have pledged to put reporting practice in to place during 2022 with the target of having a full reporting year for 2023. ; ; We are also scoping how our services can support customer data to report Scope 3 emissions and provide.; ; The way in which our Cloud Services are delivered support the fight against climate change as can be delivered remotely, which reduces our carbon footprint and the need to travel to a customer location."
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  All of Ideal's Cloud Services are designed with remote access in mind, supporting the most vulnerable in society and those who seek to continue remote working or hybrid working as well as sustainable travel.
• Tackling economic inequality:

  Tackling economic inequality

  We recognise that the skills shortage in the IT and Cloud industry is an area of concern, however hope that services such as Cloud Migration, Managed Azure Cloud and Virtual Cloud Engineering will help support business that do not have such skills allowing them to scale and overcome barriers to operating.
• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  "As an Equal Opportunities employer, Ideal know that simply having a diverse workforce is not enough. We want to create an inclusive environment, where everyone can contribute their best work and develop to their full potential. We value people as individuals with diverse opinions, cultures, lifestyles and circumstances and therefore are committed to equality of opportunity and following practices which are free from unfair and unlawful discrimination. ; ; We want our employees to have pride in their company, by knowing that they will be accepted for who they are, treated equally and with respect. ; We believe that having a diverse employee mix brings new ideas, interesting debates and a broad range of perspectives to our internal and external relationships. ; ; As the business evolves, we want to keep our fantastic informal workplace culture, continue to be innovative and deliver our very best to our customers. "
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  "Simply put, Wellbeing is about how we are all doing as individuals, as a team and as an organisation. It is a personal and subjective thing, but it is universally relevant. Wellbeing can be impacted by your environmental, physical & mental health, personal finances, work, the economy, and many other areas of life and can be a key factor in determining how happy we are with our lives and day to day experiences.; ; We know that the responsibility for our health and wellbeing at work belongs to all of us and by building strong relationships and maintaining healthy communication we can improve our wellbeing at work.; ; In order to support this Ideal have regular initiatives to promote wellbeing, from in company pamper days, to wellness bingo challenges, health challenges and sporting activities as well as access to apps supporting mindfulness.; ; We also have an Employee Support programme and health Cash plan available to all employees on day 1 of their employment."

Pricing

• Price: £0.30 a virtual machine an hour
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

• Modern Slavery statement

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