hSo

hSo Veeam Cloud Connect

hSo Veeam Cloud Connect is a backup and disaster recovery service. You point your Veeam software to hSo's VCC service. VCC backs up your data and provides you with a failover instance of your server as an option. It's Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service on a trusted, government approved provider - hSo.

Features

• Disaster Recovery as a Service - DRaaS
• Hosted Offsite backup with air gap capability
• Ransomware protection with archived backups
• Both Physical and Virtual server backup
• Complete visibility and control
• End to End Encryption
• Minimal / free Veeam licencing with existing Veeam systems

Benefits

• Managed automatic backups
• "Ready to go" offsite recovery platform
• Hosted service that you don't need to manage
• Customer visibility and control
• Managed fail back process ensuring smooth return to BAU
• No service lock in beyond the contract length
• Industry leading managed solution.
• Replace legacy offsite backup services

£0.90 a unit a month

• Education pricing available
• Free trial 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 marketing@hso.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

747342550999864

Contact

Marketing
020 7847 4510
marketing@hso.co.uk

Service scope

• Service constraints: There are no specific extra constraints with hSo's VCC service.; A suitable network connection to hSo cloud is recommended, hSo is already a government connected partner with CCS, CAS-T and HSCN.
• System requirements:
  • Existing Veeam customers should have Veeam Availability Suite
  • Or Veeam Backup & Replication or Veeam Backup Essentials.
  • Internet connections or connection route to the hSo network.

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: We have a 24/7 support 365 days a week with a 4 hour SLA on service issues. Automated systems log the ticket and follow up is within 4 hours, or quicker for high priority issues.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: HSo provide one level of support 24/7 .; ; hSo operate a dedicated Customer Services Centre. The Service centre provides tiered telephone support so that customers can speak directly to the appropriate technical or non-technical support staff as required.; ; Support of the service is covered within the cost of the service.; Support for configuration or migration assistance - i.e. helping/training you use the service for your own needs is a paid for addition. ; All customers have an assigned account manager to assist in managing your account.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: HSo set up the contract and share the access codes with you. Then you select us as the preferred service provider in the Veeam Cloud Connect management screen.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: HTML
• End-of-contract data extraction: When the contract ends, users remove backups from the hSo VCC service using the Veeam software and their network connection.
• End-of-contract process: For backup services, the contract price includes the storage capacity and a guide number of Virtual Machines.; For recovery (DRaaS) services, the contract includes the storage capacity and a reservation charge for recovery compute resources. In case of activation, there are additional usage based charges for live compute resources.; ; Extra consultancy charges may apply if engineering assistance is required for setting up replication services.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: Yes there is a web interface for the hSo VCC service, Veeam Cloud Connect backup and replication is accessed within the Veeam Availability Suite, Veeam Backup & Replication, or Veeam Backup Essentials interface.; From this interface users select hSo as a service partner and manage their backups, DR service and the fail back process to Business as Usual.; Its designed to be a straight forward process needing minimal user input.
• Web interface accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the web interface is accessible: HSo VCC service, Veeam Cloud Connect backup and replication is accessed within the Veeam Availability Suite, Veeam Backup & Replication, or Veeam Backup Essentials interface.; ; For detailed instructions please see; https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/em/accessing_management_website.html?ver=95u4
• Web interface accessibility testing: The Veeam Cloud Connect service is an industry leading mature service with many customers already using it from around the world. It's easy to use and and will typically be part of a customer's existing usage experience.
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: Although there is an API for Service providers, customers would only typically use the Veeam management interface.; hSo can use Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager RESTful API to work with Veeam Cloud Connect resources though this would be a separate discussion.
• API automation tools: Ansible
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: HTML
• Command line interface: No

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type: Automatic
• Independence of resources: We have individual customer capacity quota limits to ensure that other customers do not affect you as a customer.
• Usage notifications: Yes
• Usage reporting:
  • API
  • Email
  • SMS

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
• Metrics types:
  • Disk
  • Number of active instances
  • Other
• Other metrics:
  • Storage
  • VM instances
  • Backup progress
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

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
• 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: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: Data is encrypted on client end and is therefore encrypted at rest on our storage.
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: 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: HSo's VCC service backs up both physical & virtual machines.
• Backup controls: Customers control which servers to backup on what time schedules and with how many generations. ; Also whether they want Air gap backup facilities to de-risk ransomware attacks.
• 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)
  • Other
• Other protection between networks: Veeam end to end backup encryption.
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: We limit access to data transitioning our our network by restricting management access to devices. We also use VLANs to separate traffic through our network. hSo processes for joiners/leavers access, and for media handling cover privileged access.; We are ISO27001, CAS-T and HSCN certified.

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: The service level agreement covers an availability of 99%, a response time of 30 minutes; these are backed by customer credits if SLAs are breached.
• Approach to resilience: HSo's network and services are designed for built in resilience and failover, this includes multiple circuit and active-active resilience in multiple geographic locations. More information is available on request.
• Outage reporting: A customer portal dashboard is available to show the state of hSo services; Also for customer chosen monitoring packages the service data is available for the customer over selectable time periods.; And there is the overall status website - https://status.hso-group.net/; which also has RSS feeds.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: HSo has identity and authentication controls in place to ensure users are authorised to access specific areas. Authentication and access to management interfaces over secure channels is restricted through ISO 27001 & CAS-T approved hSo access policies, only active staff concerned with the service have access to system management features. These staff are managed through the hSo support department.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Devices users manage the service through:
  • Dedicated device over multiple services or networks
  • 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: 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

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: Alcumus ISOQAR ISO/IEC 27001-2013
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 13/03/2022
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: N/a - all hSo business processes are within scope.
• 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
  • Other
• Other security governance standards: CAS-T; HSCN
• Information security policies and processes: HSo's governance framework includes our ISO 27001, CAS-T and HSCN approved Information Security management system of policies and processes. these are regularly assessed . We have a defined information security manager on the management team and have an on-going process of risk reporting and compliance conformance checking.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Our configuration management processes and systems ensure the composite assets of the service are recorded and their configurations known. Changes to services are submitted for review, assessed, prioritised and then planned and recorded in the audited change request system. Orders, incidents and planned works of the customer service and host environment are covered by our ISO 27001, CAS-T & HSCN processes including the patching policy, and by our ISO 20000 service management system.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: Lnerability threats to services are managed through the network operations centre and major issues also via the risk register. These are identified through vendor alerts, threat subscriptions and protective monitoring systems and employee alerting. We patch systems according to our ISO 27001 patching policy and we protect systems though automated updates to threat management systems. We also mitigate potential threats through our access control policy.
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: HSo is ISO 27001, CAS-T & HSCN certified, and applies these principals to all services it provides. hSo continually monitors its own base infrastructure through automated network management tools and a 24/7 network operations centre. We also have a propriety network flow monitoring system called GTflow which is a network data analysis tool to identify potential attacks. We protect our systems through DDOS protection against abnormal traffic to individual servers.
• 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: HSo incident management processes conform with ISO 27001, CAS-T & HSCN certified assurances; hSo follows ITIL incident management processes and has trained its staff using this to satisfy ISO 20000. We have defined processes for common and uncommon events and test these annually. Incidents are reported by users, email and phone; And also by our automated monitoring systems. Incident reports are either through the portal, email or phone calls. For major events a root cause report can be provided. We have built in escalation paths depending on the severity of incidents. We can demonstrate robust and rehearsed incident management procedures.

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: No

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: No

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  Fighting climate change

  Fighting climate change

  hSo has implemented measures to reduce its environmental impact and carbon emissions and remains fully committed to reaching its targets of achieving net zero emissions and reducing its overall environmental impact. The following environmental management measures and projects have been completed or implemented since the 2019 baseline. The carbon emission reduction achieved by these schemes equate to approximately 275 tCO2e, a 45%ge reduction against the 2019 baseline.; In 2021 hSo successfully gained its ISO 14001 accreditation and has been working towards further improving its environmental footprint.; ; hSo products and services assist in tackling climate change by using greener products and low carbon solutions. Our Cloud Compute solutions enable customers to reduce their energy consumption in buildings, and our secure connectivity solutions promote flexible working. This results in their staff being able to work flexibly, releasing the benefits of lower transport emissions and a reduced demand for office space. ; ; We are implementing further measures including: ; (1) Developing and improving the automation of our office based activities through network and tech based initiatives and efficiencies; (2) Implement a waste recycling scheme for food waste and packaging. Replace any single use plastics with recyclable or biodegradable. ; (3) Improve our repurposing and recycling initiatives by introducing further measures in relation to product testing in our training lab and hardware. This includes introducing more ZTP products and services so that more equipment can be shipped directly to customers ; (4) Continue to promote Cloud-based services avoiding the need for dedicated customer equipment and eliminating equipment shipping to customer sites or visits by engineers; (5) Continue to only use carbon neutral suppliers ; (6) Continue to design and encourage efficient and sustainable solutions for our customers ; (7) Offset all our carbon emissions by 2030

Pricing

• Price: £0.90 a unit a month
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: We offer a 2TB trial for 14 days.

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