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GCI Network Solutions Ltd

Alcatel Rainbow Hub by Nasstar

Alcatel Rainbow HUB UC is a flexible, customisable Unified Communications system, that makes life easier and better for your users and your customers.
Tailored to individuals, it meets the needs of all staff and it’s easy to make changes without the worry of adding or removing physical lines.

Features

  • Full UCaaS Collaboration and Connectivity
  • Rich Telephony Services
  • Complete UC and Collaboration functionality
  • Multi Device and Mobile 1st philosophy
  • Easy to manage from the client interface
  • Built in business continuity
  • Microsoft Teams and M365 Integration
  • Workflow integration
  • Consistant experience on PC and Mobile Devices
  • Zero Touch deployment of Alcatel deskphone sets

Benefits

  • Multi Device Multi Media Communications for all users
  • Full range of Telephony functions that users require
  • All modern modes of communication at every user's fingertips
  • Communicate on the most appropriate device from anywhere anytime
  • Simple self service and self learning
  • No downtime of communications
  • Enhance existing Microsoft Infrastructure and applications
  • Embed Communications into the heart of Business Processes
  • Accelerated easy adoption of the applications
  • Plug and Play deployment saves time on configuring individual handsets

Pricing

£4.50 to £7.50 a licence a month

  • Education pricing available
  • Free trial available

Service documents

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@nasstar.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

8 5 8 3 1 3 3 2 6 6 1 9 9 9 7

Contact

GCI Network Solutions Ltd Mike Ayres
Telephone: 03450030000
Email: tenders@nasstar.com

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service
What software services is the service an extension to
Standalone but can also supply the telephony service to MS Teams
Cloud deployment model
  • Public cloud
  • Private cloud
Service constraints
Diallers are not supported on the Service. • • BT REDCARE alarm service number porting is not supported
System requirements
  • Internet connection
  • WLAN or Mobile data for Mobile Phone applications
  • Managed Firewall for rules to allow voice traffic
  • LAN infrastructure for IP sets

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
15 minutes
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
Onsite support
Support levels
Nasstar provides reasonable endeavours to achieve maximum service availability as standard for Telephony services. This is underpinned by a 24 hour service desk with a 5 hour fix time for all service affecting faults. In the unlikely event that we are not to meet our service commitments then service credits are available. All support is is included within the subscription licence. All customers have access to the Cloud Telephony technical manager.
Support available to third parties
No

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
As this is an unmanaged service, upon completion of an order a Users guide is sent to the admin contact. This document contains instructions on how to use and set up the service. Our intuitive portal delivers a fully featured self-service experience, allowing you to manage, monitor and make changes to your service at any time, from anywhere there’s an Internet connection. Set up call diverts, hunt groups and recorded messages. Customise individual accounts to include specific features, and add or remove licences as your business needs change. Whatever you need to do, you’ll be able to get it done without high levels of in-house technical knowhow.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
  • HTML
  • PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
User lists can be downloaded into Excel
End-of-contract process
It's crucial for Nasstar's Cease Teams to effectively manage the end of a contract with a customer
Engagement with Customer: Nasstar's Cease Teams will initiate communication with the customer to discuss the end of the contract.
Formal Cease Date: Once the cease date is agreed upon, Nasstar will formalize it with the customer to ensure clarity and alignment on the timeline for contract termination.

Dependency Consideration: Before any critical voice servers are removed, Nasstar's Cease Teams will take into account any dependencies or ports that may impact the customer's operations. This includes ensuring that any necessary data transfers, migrations, or other transitions are completed smoothly and without interruption.
Coordination and Communication: Throughout the process, Nasstar's Cease Teams will coordinate closely with the customer to address any concerns, provide updates, and ensure that the transition is managed effectively. Clear communication is key to maintaining a positive relationship and mitigating any potential issues.
Post-Contract Support: Even after the contract has ceased, Nasstar's Cease Teams will remain available to provide support and assistance as needed during the transition period. This ensures that the customer has access to resources and guidance during the post-contract phase.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
Application to install
Yes
Compatible operating systems
  • Android
  • IOS
  • Linux or Unix
  • MacOS
  • Windows
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
None. The user interface is designed so features are constant across both devices from operational and feature access.
Service interface
Yes
User support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Description of service interface
The service interface is integated into the client with admin restrictions determined by Nasstar and Customer admin.
Accessibility standards
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
Accessibility testing
Testing has been carried out with Screen Readers and AI
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
Rainbow Hub is built on a Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), providing access to 400+ APIs and 6 SDKs to integrate real-time communications into business processes
These resources are accessible to any developers along with sample code, software tools and all needed documentation, via a simple and intuitive public website.
CPaaS is a fundamental element of Rainbow Hub and enables a change in the way to engage with customers and focus the discussion around additional value to their business rather than capabilities of the products and solutions.
The ability to integrate real-time communications deeply inside the customer’s business processes creates new value propositions and possibilities, especially in all the different vertical industries.
The Rainbow ecosystem is extra large: from the integration with on-premises PBX systems to chatbot with natural language processing, and also integration with IoT gateway, servers and devices.
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
  • Open API (also known as Swagger)
  • HTML
  • ODF
  • PDF
  • Other
API sandbox or test environment
Yes
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
What can be customised- Screens and Themes
how users can customise- within the admin console with admin rights
who can customise- Admin and users

Scaling

Independence of resources
Nasstar and Alcatel monitor the amount of SBC resource for the amount of users placed on the RainbowHub systems. Whenever new users are added checks are made to ensure there will be no service degradation of voice services. The Rainbow Hub is a cloud scale ,carrier Grade multitenant system. Each user of a company are not affected by users of other companies.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
Full system dashboard available to admin including user status, communication and collaboration activity, voice calls and audio quality (down to individual user MOS, QoS. Jitter , Latency and RTT). Other info includes Alarms, reports, configuration history and CDRs .
Reporting types
  • API access
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

Supplier type
Reseller providing extra support
Organisation whose services are being resold
Alcatel Lucent Enterprise

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Conforms to BS7858:2019
Government security clearance
Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
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 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 v3.0
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
Equipment disposal approach
A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
Encrypted and secure file transfer mechanisms including eg - swift, SFTP
Download of certain user congfig info is via csv export from the admin interface.
Data export formats
CSV
Data import formats
CSV

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Legacy SSL and TLS (under version 1.2)
Data protection within supplier network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Legacy SSL and TLS (under version 1.2)

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
99.99%. This is done by maintaining call integrity is the result of more than just hardware compliance. Call integrity has been achieved through a combination of software engineering, server redundancy, and networking capabilities. Alcatel Rainbow has gone to great lengths to address issues at every layer in the system architecture to achieve the highest levels of reliability, redundancy, and performance. The Alcatel Rainbow redundancy solution provides seamless, User transparency failover, in the event of an IP network, application or hardware failure. This solution ensures that no single point results in a service outage.
Approach to resilience
• Geographic redundant model with components distributed across multiple secure locations • All Alcatel Rainbow services are provisioned so that end customer devices connect to 2 geographically separate PoP sites • Each PoP is built with high availability (HA) pairs of SBCs so that if one fails, service continues uninterrupted on the other device • In the unlikely event the primary PoP become unavailable, service resumes via the secondary PoP site • Each of the SBCs have connectivity to multiple application servers that are distributed around the network so that there is no single point of failure. • Automatic user rollover to a secondary Application Server when the primary Application Server fails to reply • Automatic tracking of a user’s active Application Server through dynamic updates of the Network Server location database through the Application Server Redundancy (ASR) protocol • Automatic rollback of users endpoints to primary application server • Failover CDRs • Monthly Capacity and trend analysis reporting
Outage reporting
Email-
We proactively email for any serious outages
Public Dashboard -
provides outage reports
An API can be provided

All key elements of the service can be monitored.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
  • Other
Other user authentication
Rainbow Support Single Sign on with Azure SAML 2.0-based single-sign-on (SSO) Benefit of single-sign-on (SSO) authentication and use your corporate ID/password to sign in to if SSO is allowed in your Microsoft Azure Active Directory tenant.
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Named Contacts with the Admin rights. Nasstar control users that have admin rights, thereafter customer admin can control levels of admin to Rainbow Hub and what level is allowed with the customer policy.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
  • Other
Description of management access authentication
Rainbow Support Single Sign on with Azure SAML 2.0-based single-sign-on (SSO) Benefit of single-sign-on (SSO) authentication and use your corporate ID/password to sign in to if SSO is allowed in your Microsoft Azure Active Directory tenant.

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
United Registrar of Systems
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
31/03/24
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
The Registered Scope is as follows: Information security management system for the delivery of communications and associated technologies, products and services provided by the Group.
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
Yes
Who accredited the PCI DSS certification
NCC Group
PCI DSS accreditation date
14/05/2021
What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover
Our certification covers requirements 9 &12 for our Reading and Global Switch data centres and our HMRC Autopayments service. PCI DSS compliance is designed, built and assessed on a service by service basis. Nasstar is experienced in providing consultancy to help customers to design and deliver PCI DSS compliant solutions on cloud platforms.
Cyber essentials
Yes
Cyber essentials plus
Yes
Other security certifications
Yes
Any other security certifications
  • ISO27018
  • PSN
  • ISO20000
  • ISO27017
  • CISPE Code of Conduct Certification
  • DPIA

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
Nasstar's approach to Security forms part of our overall Integrated Business Systems Management scheme. The Company Secretary is responsible at Board level for Information Security and ensuring that our ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation is maintained and enforced.

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
Conforms to ISO20000-1, ISO27001 and SSAE-18.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
Conforms to SSAE18 and ISO27001.
Protective monitoring type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Protective monitoring approach
Conforms to ISO27001.
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
Conforms to SSAE18, ISO20000-1 & ISO27001

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)

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Social Value

Social Value

Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

Fighting climate change

Nasstar is committed to creating innovative Technology with a positive impact by working with your organisation to ensure that opportunities under the contract deliver agreed Policy Outcomes and Model Award Criteria. Nasstar is committed to becoming Net Zero by 2050. Nasstar commits to working with your organisation to ensure that opportunities under the contract deliver agreed Policy Outcomes and Model Award Criteria. Nasstar understand our buyers have commitments in this area and will work with them at implementation stage. We routinely work to ensure delivery of meaningful positive input in this important area. Our initial discovery workshop will include a clear method statement stating how we will achieve Policy outcomes and how our commitment meets the Award Criteria, a timed project plan and process (detailing how we will implement agreed commitments and by when), and how we will monitor, measure and report on our commitments/the impact of our proposals. Related to ‘Fighting climate change’ we will focus on implementing effective measures to deliver any/all of the following benefits through the contract: • MAC 4.1 Deliver additional environmental benefits in the performance of the contract including working towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. • MAC 4.2 Influence staff, suppliers, customers, and communities through the delivery of the contract to support environmental protection and improvement which as part of our Social Value Commitment, this product offering will also be integrated into the company's Continuous Improvement Plan and will be scrutinised to identify, monitor, measure and achieve the MAC 4.2 measures. Example reporting metrics of benefits delivered under the contract may include: People-hours spent protecting/improving the environment under the contract, Number of green spaces created under the contract, reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases, reduction in water use, and reduction in waste to landfill.

Covid-19 recovery

Nasstar commits to working with your organisation to ensure that opportunities under the contract deliver agreed Policy Outcomes and Model Award Criteria. Nasstar understand our buyers have commitments in this area and will work with them at implementation stage. We routinely work to ensure delivery of meaningful positive input in this important area. Our initial discovery workshop will include a clear method statement stating how we will achieve Policy outcomes and how our commitment meets the Award Criteria, a timed project plan and process (detailing how we will implement agreed commitments and by when), and how we will monitor, measure and report on our commitments/the impact of our proposals. Related to ‘Covid-19 recovery’ we will focus on implementing effective measures to deliver any/all of the following benefits through the contract: • MAC 1.1: Creation of employment, re-training, and other return to work opportunities for those left unemployed by COVID-19, particularly new opportunities in high-growth sectors. • MAC 1.2: Support for people and communities to manage and recover from the impacts of COVID-19, including those worst affected or who are shielding. • MAC 1.3: Support for organisations and businesses to manage/recover from the impacts of COVID-19, including where new ways of working are needed to deliver services. • MAC 1.4: Support for the physical and mental health of people affected by COVID-19, including reducing the demand on health and care services. • MAC 1.5: Improvements to workplace conditions that support the COVID-19 recovery effort including effective social distancing, remote working, and sustainable travel solutions Example reporting metrics of benefits delivered under the contract may include: Number of FTE employment for those made redundant due to COVID-19, people-hours supporting local community integration related to COVID-19, and percentage/number of the supply chain to have implemented the 6 standards in the Mental-Health-at-Work commitment.

Tackling economic inequality

Nasstar commits to working with your organisation to ensure that opportunities under the contract deliver agreed Policy Outcomes and Model Award Criteria. Nasstar understand our buyers have commitments in this area and will work with them at implementation stage. We routinely work to ensure delivery of meaningful positive input in this important area. Our initial discovery workshop will include a clear method statement stating how we will achieve Policy outcomes and how our commitment meets the Award Criteria, a timed project plan and process (detailing how we will implement agreed commitments and by when), and how we will monitor, measure and report on our commitments/the impact of our proposals. Related to ‘Tackling Economic Inequality’ we will focus on implementing effective measures to deliver any/all of the following benefits through the contract: • MAC2.1: Create opportunities for entrepreneurship and help new organisations grow. • MAC2.2: Create employment/training opportunities for people who face barriers to employment, are located in deprived areas, and in industries with known skills shortages or high growth sectors. • MAC2.3: Support educational attainment including training schemes • MAC 3.1: Create a diverse supply chain including new businesses/entrepreneurs/start-ups/SMEs/VCSEs/mutuals. • MAC 3.2: Support innovation and disruptive technologies throughout the supply chain to deliver lower cost, higher quality goods/services. • MAC 3.3: Support the development of scalable and future-proofed new methods to modernise delivery and increase productivity. • MAC 3.4: Demonstrate collaboration and a fair/responsible approach to working with supply chain partners. • MAC 3.5: Demonstrate action to identify/manage cyber security risks in the delivery including in the supply chain. Example reporting metrics of benefits delivered under the contract may include: Number of FTE employment/apprenticeship/training opportunities created, learning interventions delivered, start-up/SME/VCSE/mutuals opportunities awarded, and relevant supply chain metrics e.g. Cyber Essentials certification and adoption of NCSC 10 steps.

Equal opportunity

Nasstar commits to working with your organisation to ensure that opportunities under the contract deliver agreed Policy Outcomes and Model Award Criteria. Nasstar understand our buyers have commitments in this area and will work with them at implementation stage. We routinely work to ensure delivery of meaningful positive input in this important area. Our initial discovery workshop will include a clear method statement stating how we will achieve Policy outcomes and how our commitment meets the Award Criteria, a timed project plan and process (detailing how we will implement agreed commitments and by when), and how we will monitor, measure and report on our commitments/the impact of our proposals. Related to ‘Equal opportunity’ we will focus on implementing effective measures to deliver any/all of the following benefits through the contract: • MAC 5.1: Demonstrate action to increase the representation of disabled people in the contract workforce. • MAC 5.2: Support disabled people in developing new skills relevant to the contract, including through training schemes resulting in recognised qualifications • MAC 6.1: Demonstrate action to identify/tackle inequality in employment, skills, and pay in the contract workforce. • MAC 6.2: Support in-work progression to help people, including those from disadvantaged/minority groups, to move into higher-paid work by developing new skills relevant to the contract. • MAC 6.3 Demonstrate action to identify/manage the risks of modern slavery in the delivery of the contract, including in the supply chain. Example reporting metrics of benefits delivered under the contract may include: Percentage/number of FTE disabled/under-represented people employed as a proportion of the total FTE including apprenticeships/training schemes, percentage/number of companies in the supply chain to have committed to the five foundational principles of good work, percentage of supply chain mapping completed, and people-hours devoted to supporting victims of modern slavery.

Wellbeing

Nasstar commits to working with your organisation to ensure that opportunities under the contract deliver agreed Policy Outcomes and Model Award Criteria. Nasstar’s Wellbeing policies are aligned to the UK Government’s Good Work Plan (satisfaction, fair pay, participation and progression, well-being, safety and security, voice and autonomy). Nasstar understand our buyers have commitments in this area and will work with them at implementation stage. We routinely work to ensure delivery of meaningful positive input in this important area. Our initial discovery workshop will include a clear method statement stating how we will achieve Policy outcomes and how our commitment meets the Award Criteria, a timed project plan and process (detailing how we will implement agreed commitments and by when), and how we will monitor, measure and report on our commitments/the impact of our proposals. Related to ‘Wellbeing’ we will focus on implementing effective measures to deliver any/all of the following benefits through the contract: • MAC 7.1: Demonstrate action to support health and wellbeing, including physical/mental health, in the contract workforce. • MAC 7.2: Influence staff, suppliers, customers, and communities through the delivery of the contract to support health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health. • MAC 8.1: Demonstrate collaboration with users and communities in the co-design and delivery of the contract to support strong integrated communities. • MAC 8.2: Influence staff, suppliers, customers, and communities through the delivery of the contract to support strong, integrated communities. Example reporting metrics may include: Percentage/number of the supply chain to have implemented measures to improve the physical and mental health and wellbeing of employees including the 6 standards in the Mental Health at Work commitment and mental health enhanced standards in ‘Thriving at Work’, and people-hours supporting local community integration e.g. volunteering/community-led initiatives and Mental Health First Aiders.

Pricing

Price
£4.50 to £7.50 a licence a month
Discount for educational organisations
Yes
Free trial available
Yes
Description of free trial
Full access to the Rainbow Hub service is availble for potential customers that wish to trial the service, with live DDIs. The customer can choose the amount of users they require and the length of the trial up to 3 months. This can be extended within acceptable reasons.
Link to free trial
Each instance is based on an individual customer

Service documents

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@nasstar.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.