ARROW BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED (Trading under the brand name ARO)

ARO - Disaster Recovery iSaaS

Arrow Disaster Recovery as a Service is a cloud-based disaster-recovery capability delivered as an Infrastructure Software as a Service (iSaaS) offering. The service provides data and application recovery functionality, supporting recovery to an alternative public or private cloud environment in line with defined recovery policies and the agreed service scope.

Features

• Policy-based backup of virtual machines
• Virtual machine–level backup using Veeam technologies
• Full virtual machine restore capability
• Granular recovery of individual files and supported application items
• Accredited to International standards including ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus
• Secure, resilient, and redundant backup infrastructure
• UK-hosted service delivery
• Optional off-site or secondary-location backup storage
• Integration with Arrow IaaS and bespoke cloud services

Benefits

• No customer capital expenditure on backup software or hardware
• Reduced operational overhead through a fully managed service
• Consistent backup and recovery approach across cloud environments
• Supports data protection, privacy, and information governance requirements
• Designed to support high availability and service resilience
• Clear service scope and contractual boundaries
• Access to dedicated account management

• Free trial 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 sds.contracts@aro.tech. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

910992061117852

Contact

John Loftus
07545 929225
sds.contracts@aro.tech

About your service

• Service categories:

  Systems Infrastructure Software

  Physical and virtual computing

  • Virtual client computing
• Multi cloud support: Yes

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model:
  • Public cloud
  • Private cloud
  • Community cloud
• Service constraints: None
• System requirements:
  • Microsoft Licencing will be via SPLA
  • Clients are required to install Anti-Virus on virtual servers

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: Priority 1 Issue — 1 elapsed hour;; Priority 2 Issue — 2 elapsed hours;; Priority 3 Issue — 8 elapsed hours;; ; Outside Business hours:; ; Priority 1 Issue — 2 elapsed hours;; Priority 2 Issue — 4 elapsed hours;; Priority 3 Issue — 12 elapsed 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: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: We provide two levels of support, Standard and Premium: Standard business hours are 8 - 6pm, Monday-Friday. Standard support guarantees a response within 4 working hours to a fault properly reported to Arrow’s support team. The contract also includes 1 dial in per calendar month for any non-fault related moves, adds and changes with a maximum time of 15 minutes. Outside these parameters moves and changes will become chargeable as follows; Remote dial in, £50 for up to 15 minutes or £90 per hour. Onsite call outs, £95 for the first 30 minutes and £27 for every 15 minutes thereafter. Premium support provides a maintenance service 24/7/365. The maximum response time for a Standard Fault will be 8 operational hours and the maximum response time to a System Crash will be 4 operational hours. The contract includes up to 10 dials-in per month with a maximum total time limit of 2 hours. Outside these parameters moves and changes will become chargeable as follows; Remote dial in, £50 for up to 15 minutes or £90 per hour. Onsite call outs, £95 for the first 30 minutes and £27 for every 15 minutes thereafter. Premium support is an additional £5.00 per user.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Migration of existing Infrastructure to the Arrow cloud environment can range from simple manual migration to a full assessment, plan and project implementation. Clients are able to sign up for an account and order a service through our online client portal. Once an account has been created, Virtual Servers can be provisioned and access granted to customers via a secure log in facility
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • ODF
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: Arrow's cloud platform allows easy migration between environments and Arrow commits to providing the same level of support and management to assist the client in the off-boarding process at contract end.
• End-of-contract process: There is a decommissioning / migration charge, which is determined at contract start, depending on client requirements.
• Documentation accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the documentation is accessible: Online, offline or via email

Using the service

• Web browser interface: No
• Application to install: Yes
• Compatible operating systems:
  • Linux or Unix
  • Windows
• Designed for use on mobile devices: No
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• API: No
• Customisation available: No

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Capacity management is operated in accordance with ARO’s Information Security Management System (ISMS). The service uses monitoring, forecasting, and controlled resource management to support availability and performance.; ; Service capacity is reviewed to ensure sufficient compute, storage, and network resources are available within the agreed service scope. Where capacity changes are required, scaling activities are planned and implemented in a controlled manner to support service continuity.; ; Resource planning supports customer requirements while maintaining logical separation of customer environments and secure platform operation.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: The following metrics are available for monitoring and operational purposes:; ; CPU utilisation; ; Disk usage and capacity; ; Memory utilisation; ; Network usage; ; Number of active instances; ; Metrics are provided to support service monitoring, capacity planning, and operational management and are made available through the platform’s standard monitoring and reporting mechanisms.
• Reporting types: Reports on request
• Resource tagging: No
• FOCUS resource tagging: No

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

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: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Supplier-defined controls
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
• Protecting data at rest: Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Equipment disposal approach: In-house destruction process
• Data sanitisation type: Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation / Secure Erase

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: Customers can request the export of their data at any time, including during service operation or at contract end, in accordance with the agreed service scope and exit arrangements.; ; Data exports are provided in standard, industry-recognised formats and transferred using secure, encrypted mechanisms. Exported data may include customer files, application data, and relevant configuration information to support migration to an alternative supplier or customer-managed environment.; ; Data export activities are delivered through a controlled process, with access limited to authorised personnel. All export actions are logged and managed in line with ARO’s information security and data-management policies.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • ODF
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • ODF

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

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Service Availability; ; The service is designed to be available for 99.9% of the available time in each calendar month, excluding planned maintenance and agreed exclusions, as defined in the service schedule.; ; Where service availability falls below this level, eligible customers may be entitled to a service credit in accordance with the agreed service credit mechanism and contract terms. Service credits are calculated as a proportion of the applicable monthly recurring charges for the affected service period.; ; Support Response Times; ; ARO offers two levels of support cover: Standard Support and Total Care Support.; ; Standard Support: During ARO’s normal working hours on business days, a response will be provided within 8 working hours of a fault being correctly logged with the technical service desk.; ; Total Care Support: During ARO’s normal working hours on business days, a response will be provided within 4 working hours of a fault being correctly logged.; ; Where response time targets are not met, eligible customers may be entitled to service credits in line with the agreed service credit terms.
• Approach to resilience: The service is delivered from UK data centre facilities designed to support resilience and service continuity. The infrastructure is designed to allow planned maintenance activities to be carried out without material impact on hosted workloads.; ; The data centre environment incorporates resilient power and cooling infrastructure, with redundancy designed to reduce single points of failure. Dual power feeds are available to supported racks, with redundancy across critical components to support fault tolerance.; ; Network connectivity is provided through resilient internet connections configured with automatic failover, using diverse network routes and multiple providers to reduce the risk of connectivity disruption.
• Outage reporting: We have a process to communicate with customers in the event of a major service outage and provide a Reason for Outage report. This is based through emails from the support team. Once an outage is noted then regular hourly emails are sent detailing progress to resolution.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Administrative and management networks are physically separate from other staff networks, within our secure NOC. Technical Staff access is strictly controlled.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least once a year
• Management access authentication: Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)

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: ARO follows a comprehensive Information Security Management System (ISMS) certified to ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus standards. Our policies cover data protection, access control, incident management, change control, and business continuity.; ; Information security is overseen by the Information Security Manager, who reports directly to the Board of Directors. All staff receive regular security awareness training and must adhere to documented security policies and procedures.; ; Compliance is ensured through internal audits, monitoring, and management reviews. Security incidents are logged, investigated, and reported through formal escalation procedures, ensuring continual improvement and accountability across the organisation.
• 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 components are recorded on a asset register and asset tagged where necessary. Should changes be needed a formal request is submitted to the change management board and risks would be assessed against the current safeguards in place against that component. Based on this assessment that change management board would recommend the correct and safest course of action.
• Vulnerability management type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: Potential threats are identified through risk assessments. Our response to identified threats is measured on severity and impact. This also defines the level to which the issue is escalated. Regular software patches to our service are released by the manufacturer . We implement these patches onto our platform in a timely manner.
• Protective monitoring type: Complies with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0 or SSAE-18 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: Arrow's Data Protection Policy details the extensive controls, measures and methods used to protect personal data, uphold the rights of data subjects, mitigate risks, minimise breaches and comply with the data protection laws and associated laws and codes of conduct. We also carry out regular audits and compliance monitoring processes, to ensure that the measures and controls in place are adequate, effective and compliant at all times. All data breaches are reported immediately to the direct line manager and the reporting officer. Measures must be taken immediately to contain the breach and to stop any further risks or breaches.
• 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: Arrow’s Data Breach Policy states that all staff must report a data breach immediately to the direct line manager.; ; The Supervisory Authority is to be notified within 72 hours of any breach where it is likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals.; ; A full investigation is conducted and recorded on the incident form, the outcome of which is communicated to all staff involved in the breach, in addition to upper management. A copy of the completed incident form is filed for audit and record purposes.
• Post-quantum cryptography secure: No

Secure development

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

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: Yes
• Connected networks:
  • Joint Academic Network (JANET)
  • Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)

Pricing

• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: Trial periods can be arranged as part of PoC analysis. These periods are usually incorporated into a longer contract

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

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

Non-mandatory Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: DNV Business Assurance UK Limited
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Friday 1 December 2023
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: All ARO's services submitted to G-Cloud are covered, within the full scope included below. Nothing outside of the scope is covered:; ; Provision of IT and Telecommunications Services (AV and Video Conferencing, Business Mobile, Cloud Telephony, Contact Centre, Cyber Security, Data Centre Services, Data services, IT, Software Development, Mobile Data) in accordance with the Statement of Applicability, version 1.0, plus Code of Practice ISO 27017:2015 on information security controls for cloud services and Code of Practice ISO 27018:2019 for protection of personally identifiable information (PII) in public clouds.
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO 9001 certification: DNV Business Assurance UK Limited
• ISO 9001 accreditation date: Friday 1 December 2023
• What the ISO 9001 doesn’t cover: All ARO's services submitted to G-Cloud are covered, within the full scope included below. Nothing outside of the scope is covered:; ; Provision of IT and Telecommunications Services (AV and Video Conferencing, Business Mobile, Cloud Telephony, Contact Centre, Cyber Security, Data Centre Services, Data services, IT, Software Development, Mobile Data).
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Certificate Number: Bfeb01f3-8386-4dfa-b3a9-078b0111c144
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Plus Certificate Number: 1b2adc2c-4104-4659-93b5-35908194c9b4
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: NHS DSP Toolkit

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

    • New or retained jobs on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b, 1c and 1d
    • 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
    • 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
    • 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
    • Entitlement to sick pay for the contract workforce, with provision in place for any staff who do not meet the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, payment of sick pay from day one of absence and payment of staff on the contract workforce who are off sick a replacement income of 100% of their usual earnings for as long as possible
    • 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 educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Volunteering opportunities for staff
    • Understanding of the modern slavery risks and issues affecting the market, industry, sector or country (of origin or of source) relevant to the contract, and the workforce in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key subcontractors
    • Outline policies and practices to be applied to or put in place for the contract to mitigate and manage modern slavery risks, including: Pre-employment checks, recruitment practices. Workplace conditions, safeguarding plans and processes in place and regular monitoring with relevant groups considered, which may include sampling

  • 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 2: Skills for growth: Supporting growth sectors and addressing skills gaps.

    • Understanding of employment and relevant skills issues, and of the education and training issues relating to the contract. Illustrative examples: demographics, skills shortages, new opportunities in high growth sectors, geographic/local community and skills/employment challenges
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications

  • 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 3: Resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains: Support economic growth through enabling resilient businesses, opportunities for small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises

    • Understanding of local demographics, needs and opportunities for the co-design of the goods, services and works to be delivered under the contract

  • Mission: Make Britain a clean energy superpower: To cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero

    Policy Outcome 4: Sustainable procurement practices: Reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste, and promoting the use of clean energy and green technologies.

    • Understanding of opportunities for additional environmental benefits delivery in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Delivery of additional environmental benefits through the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Understanding of how to influence staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders through the delivery of the contract to support climate and nature protection and improvement

  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 6: Employment and training: For those who face barriers to employment

    • Understanding of the issues affecting the representation of disabled people in the workforce in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • Collection of the views and expertise of disabled people and their representative organisations on successfully supporting disabled employees or applicants
    • Working conditions which promote an inclusive working environment and promote retention and progression
    • Understanding of the issues affecting inequality in employment, skills and pay in 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 tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce
    • Inclusive and accessible development practices, including guidance for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition

  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 7: Creating a pipeline of opportunities: For the contract workforce, reducing barriers to entry for under-represented groups.

    • Understanding of issues relating to entering the contract workforce
    • Creation of outreach activities to create a pipeline of employees for the future contract delivery
    • Content of the outreach activity is designed to suit the target cohort

  • Mission: Build an NHS fit for the future: That is there when people need it; with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.

    Policy Outcome 8: Increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing: In the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.

    • Understanding of issues relating to health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce
    • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, development practices and retention policies that support-focused activities including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing which support people with a disability or health condition
    • Actions to invest in the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the contract workforce

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 sds.contracts@aro.tech. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.