boxxe/TCN Azure Storage - Files
Fully managed file shares that use the standard SMB 3.0 protocol. Available in the UK Datacentre region. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/storage/
Features
- Share data across on-premises and cloud servers
- Migrate fileshare-based applications to the cloud with no code changes.
- Integrate modern applications with File Storage
- Simplify hosting for high-availability workload data
Benefits
- Simplify the provision of shared storage to applications and storage
- Reduce operational overhead and match costs to load
- Enables migration of existing apps to Azure without code change
Pricing
£10 a user
Service documents
Request an accessible format
Framework
G-Cloud 14
Service ID
9 6 6 4 7 7 3 7 5 6 4 2 2 0 2
Contact
BOXXE LIMITED
Gemma Franklin
Telephone: 07704551950
Email: tenders@boxxe.com
Service scope
- Service constraints
- See 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
- See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/support/plans/
- 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
- See https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/
- Web chat accessibility testing
- See https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/
- Onsite support
- Yes, at extra cost
- Support levels
- See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/support/plans/
- Support available to third parties
- No
Onboarding and offboarding
- Getting started
- 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
- Other
- Other documentation formats
- Online videos and 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
- WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
- Web interface accessibility testing
- See https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/
- API
- Yes
- What users can and can't do using the API
- Users are able to utilise the Azure API Management 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
- 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
- SMS
Analytics
- Infrastructure or application metrics
- Yes
- Metrics types
-
- CPU
- Disk
- HTTP request and response status
- Memory
- Network
- Number of active instances
- 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
- 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
- User control over data storage and processing locations
- No
- 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
-
Availability Set: A small, relatively local group of redundancy and reliability that protects you from things like power loss to a server rack or updates that you might encounter in a single fault domain. You get a 99.95% SLA when you have an availability set with 2 or more VMs.
Availability Zone: A physically separate location (like a datacenter) within an Azure Region that provides redundancy and reliability that protects you from a disaster like a flood that might impact the whole datacenter. You get a 99.99% SLA when you have 2 VMs in two separate Availability Zones within the same region. - 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
- Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
- Username or password
- Other
- Other user authentication
- 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 restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
- Azure-AD can designate separate administrators to serve different functions. These administrators will have access to features in the Azure portal and, depending on their role, will be able to create or edit users, assign administrative roles to others, reset user passwords, manage user-licenses, and manage domains, among other things. A user who is assigned an admin role will have the same permissions across all of the cloud services that your organization has subscribed to, regardless of whether you assign the role in the Office365 portal, or in the Azure classic-portal, or by using the Azure-AD module for Windows PowerShell. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/active-directory-assign-admin-roles
- Access restriction testing frequency
- At least once a year
- Management access authentication
-
- 2-factor authentication
- Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
- Username or password
- 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
- Aprio, LLP
- ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
- 24/08/2020
- What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
- Out of the controls within ISO 27001 only two items were not applicable and those are: A8.3.3 – Media Handling; BeyondTrust does not transfer physical media A14.2.7 – Outsourced Development; BeyondTrust does not outsource software development.
- ISO 28000:2007 certification
- No
- CSA STAR certification
- Yes
- CSA STAR accreditation date
- 17/03/2017
- CSA STAR certification level
- Level 1: CSA STAR Self-Assessment
- What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover
- N/A
- PCI certification
- Yes
- Who accredited the PCI DSS certification
- Self-certified, Level 4
- PCI DSS accreditation date
- 07/07/2021
- What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover
- BeyondTrust's solutions/development practices.
- Cyber essentials
- Yes
- Cyber essentials plus
- Yes
- Other security certifications
- Yes
- Any other security certifications
- https://www.beyondtrust.com/security/industry-certifications
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/environment/energy
Social Value
- Social Value
-
Social Value
- Fighting climate change
- Covid-19 recovery
- Tackling economic inequality
- Equal opportunity
- Wellbeing
Fighting climate change
boxxe is committed to supporting environmental protection and improvement and to delivering and influencing environmentally conscious solutions to address the critical issue of climate change, focusing on achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions and influencing all stakeholders towards environmental protection and improvement.
Our latest Carbon Reduction Plan, available on our website confirms we are carbon neutral across all sources of emissions through investing in the Carbon Exchange-Traded Commodity. We aim to reach Net Zero by 2050 at the latest through emissions reduction initiatives e.g. renewable electricity procurement and supplier engagement.
Environmental protection is embedded in everything boxxe does and offers and we are proud to have been named as a finalist in the Best Value Chain Initiative category at the CRN Sustainability in Tech Awards 2024.
We maintain an accredited ISO 14001 Environmental Management System covering the entire scope of our business, and our goal is to be recognized as the UK’s most sustainable IT reseller and service provider.
boxxe is committed to adopting, promoting, and implementing the principles of a Circular Economy and have developed a Circular Management Plan which articulates our strategy for waste minimisation and the enhancement of material reuse and recycling in our operations and the products we supply. This underscores our dedication to environmental stewardship, resource efficiency, and sustainable growth, driven by innovative and accountable resource and waste management practices.
We ensure that our supply chain is aware of and understand our environmental policies and we work with them to manage and continuously improve their environmental performance. We prioritise the purchase of recycled, recyclable, or re-furbished products and materials where these alternatives are available, economical, and suitable.
We conform to WEEE regulations and seek to sustainably reduce, reuse, and recycle, to ensure we and our customers minimise the impact of IT waste on the environment.Covid-19 recovery
The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed boxxe’s ways of working, leading us to implement a fully remote workforce to maintain customer service and operational functionality during the crisis. This transition enabled us to develop and implement a "Work from Anywhere in the UK" policy. By allowing our employees to work from any location, we have broadened our recruitment reach, enabling us to attract the best talent regardless of their geographic location. This approach has reduced barriers to inclusion, enhanced employee retention, and supported a healthier work-life balance. Additionally, remote recruitment strategies have allowed us to target candidates from areas particularly impacted by Covid-19, thereby positively contributing to their local economic recovery.
Recognising the significant skills shortages highlighted by the pandemic within the IT industry, we have taken proactive steps to retain and enhance our workforce's capabilities. We encourage continuous training and development in our employees' respective fields of expertise. Experienced staff and external specialists provide mentoring, offering a hands-on learning experience that ensures the effective application of newly acquired skills. Moreover, we are committed to inspiring the next generation by inviting local youth to experience the day-to-day life of our tech teams and organising regular hackathons and think tanks for soon-to-be graduates, providing them with career guidance.
Building on our pandemic experiences, we have developed a robust business continuity plan, ensuring that we are well-prepared to maintain uninterrupted service in the event of a similar crisis. It is worth noting that during the height of COVID-19, our strategies allowed us to maintain seamless business operations, underscoring our resilience and adaptability in challenging times. This foundation not only prepares us for future challenges but also reinforces our commitment to innovation and excellence in a post-pandemic world.Tackling economic inequality
boxxe is committed to addressing disparities in employment, skills, and pay within our workforce and across our supply chain. Our ‘Work from Anywhere in the UK’ policy allows us to recruit the best talent regardless of their geographic location, removing barriers to inclusion, improving retention, and promoting a healthier work-life balance. By enabling staff to work remotely, we foster collaboration and create more equitable opportunities for all potential and current boxxe employees.
To address the skills shortages in tech industry, we invest in our staff’s continuous in-work skills development, facilitating career progression and helping retain talent. All staff have access to on-demand learning opportunities, available irrespective of role or seniority. We provide funding for a variety of training programs: specialist vendor/industry accreditations and professional qualifications. Experienced staff provide mentoring, ensuring that newly acquired skills are applied effectively.
We are dedicated to maintaining a robust and diverse supply chain by actively supporting SMEs, startups, and specialist suppliers. We invite these partners to collaborate with us, providing them with a route to market and guidance on best practices in industry and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards. Moreover, we have created the boxxe Community, where every employee can contribute 11½ days each year to support community and social value activities. We prioritise a local-first approach to giving, ensuring that support reaches grassroots charities and local causes where it is needed most. This includes our involvement in the 'Graduation to Employment' programme where experienced personnel volunteer to provide career coaching to university graduates.
Through the boxxe Academy, we offer apprenticeships and seasonal internships to encourage the next generation into IT. We welcome interns and apprentices to our customer service, HR, service delivery, and service delivery teams, providing them with all-round experience to kick-start a career in tech.Equal opportunity
Equal opportunities, and our dedication to DEI are rooted in our mission to Making Tech Human.
boxxe is committed to a workforce that reflects diverse populations with the skills to drive a compassionate and inclusive culture and a genuine sense of belonging. We embed inclusivity, celebrate uniqueness, and foster collaboration to eradicate inequalities in employment, skills, and pay in our workforce and our supply chain.
Recruitment is focused on inclusivity and fairness, encouraging diversity in ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and socio-economic backgrounds by anonymising our candidates, concentrating on the alignment of their skills and experience, reducing conscious or unconscious bias. Our Competency Framework gives employees clear guidance on progression and developing the necessary competencies for higher level roles, integrating both technical and behavioural aspects in a Skills Matrix, and mapping out potential career paths. We offer online training and invest in our staff’s professional qualifications. Our annual pay review maintains market-aligned salaries, and we are a certified Real Living Wage employer. We offer enhanced, inclusive family policies including maternity, parental, and fertility-treatment paid leave.
We hold Flexa accreditation and operate a ‘Work from Anywhere in the UK’ policy which enhances accessibility for candidates facing barriers to inclusion, bolsters retention and facilitates a healthier work-life balance. We are a Level 1 Disability Confident Committed employer, aiming to achieve Level 2 by 2025. We actively address underrepresentation, particularly women in tech, and racial inequality as a founding member of Technology, Community for Racial Equality. We are proud of our advancement of female leadership, recognised at the CRN Women & Diversity in Channel Awards 2023. Our involvement with the Stonewall Diversity Champions reflects our dedication to LGBTQ+ allyship.
As a silver accredited Armed Forces Covenant member, we work to help create employment opportunities for ex-service personnel and support staff who are military reservists.Wellbeing
boxxe’s Wellbeing Strategy, built on direct feedback from our employees, reflects our dedication to prioritising our workforce’s mental, physical, social, and financial wellbeing. This holistic approach recognises the importance of a comprehensive support system for overall health, satisfaction, and effectiveness of the workforce. We adhere to the Mental Health at Work Commitment and incorporate elements from the Thriving at Work guidance, despite being an organisation of less than 500 employees. This includes tailored mental health support, financial advice and low interest support loans, an EPA, occupational health support, and counselling services provided in-house by Mental Health First Aiders.
We champion a healthy workplace environment through the Mindful Business Charter, which emphasises removing unnecessary stress and promoting mental wellbeing with strategies including smart meetings, respecting rest periods, and mindful delegation. This charter serves as a guideline for all employees on small, practical changes to safeguard personal and colleague health.
To encourage open discussions about health, we foster a supportive culture where physical and mental health issues can be openly discussed, creating a safe space for employees to express concerns. We encourage our staff to participate in the boxxe Community programme, which has been shown to positively impact physical and mental wellbeing.
Our proactive engagement with the workforce includes regular wellbeing surveys, specialised training for managing stress at work, and comprehensive health benefits that cover physical and mental resources. We promote active lifestyles through incentivised physical activities, and we maintain health and safety standards in line with our ISO 45001 accreditation. We ensure wellbeing extends to our supply chain through our Supplier Code of Conduct, emphasising the importance of ethical standards and worker health and wellbeing, demonstrating our dedication to fostering a culture of health and wellbeing across all facets of our operations.
Pricing
- Price
- £10 a user
- Discount for educational organisations
- No
- Free trial available
- Yes
- Description of free trial
- Please see https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free
- Link to free trial
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free