Network Research Belgium (NRB) SA

NECS Hybrid Cloud Additional Services

NECS is a Belgian based hybrid cloud solution delivering housing/hosting from its Belgian based datacenters with integration of main public clouds into one central portal.
We offer value added services like managed OS, managed databases, managed middleware and generic architecture/consulting services.

Features

• Georesilient datacenters
• Private cloud with integration of public clouds
• IaaS, PaaS, SaaS with or without DC resiliency
• Managed services
• Managed network services
• Oracle Exadata as a Service
• Mainframe services

Benefits

• 2 main datacenters, additional on roadmap
• One portal for access to private and public cloud services
• Managed OS, Storage, Archiving, Backup
• Oracle Exadata avoids physical servers for licensing purpose

£1.26 a virtual machine a day

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 presales@nrb.be. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

974923160515524

Contact

Nicolas Prevost
+32 4 249 7211
presales@nrb.be

Service scope

• Service constraints: Disaster recovery testing on mutualized environment can only be done together with other customers. It is possible on dedicated POD.; Maintenance windows need to be agreed upon.; Selfservice machine deployment limited to 14 vcpu, More possible through Service Request.
• System requirements:
  • Internet access or dedicated connections (MPLS, Leased line, ...)
  • Licensing must follow vendor rules (Microsoft, RedHat, ...)
  • Oracle Exadata as a Service with Bring Your Own Licenses

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Typically we include a number of tickets in the contract, handling of additional tickets will be charged (Service Requests).; Acknowledgements of new tickets will be given within 30 minutes. Handling depends on contractual SLA and urgency.
• 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: No
• Support levels: - Basic support level is Business Hours (Central European Time, Weekdays 8AM-5PM).; - Extended Business Hours (Central European Time, Weekdays 7AM-7PM, Pricing BH +10% ).; - 24x7 Support (Central European Time, 7-days 24hr/day, Pricing BH +15% ).; Service Delivery Manager can be provided
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: Online training, online user documentation. Eventually on-line training through Teams meeting is schedulable.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: Data can be given back to customer as ISO file, backup file or any other format that can be agreed upon .
• End-of-contract process: The contract is modular, the customer can decide to continue the service (if possible depending on Request for Proposal conditions) or end it.; When the customer decides to exit he can either retrieve his data through the network connection (Internet, MPLS, ...) or agree with NRB how the data needs to be handed over (to customer or eventually new service provider).

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: For managing your Hybrid Cloud Services you use a Webinterface (Cloud Management Platform). End users access depends on application, typically we connect the customers virtual network to their internal network.
• Web interface accessibility standard: None or don’t know
• How the web interface is accessible: Web interface is accessible through Internet or dedicated network connection.
• Web interface accessibility testing: None
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: All visible features in the Cloud Management Portal are available as an API.
• API automation tools: Ansible
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats:
  • PDF
  • Other
• Command line interface: Yes
• Command line interface compatibility:
  • Linux or Unix
  • Windows
  • MacOS
• Using the command line interface: As NECS is based on VMware’s vRealize solution, our NECS portal equally benefits from the VMware CloudClient Command-Line Utility. This is a command-line utility that provides verb-based access with a unified interface across vRealize/NECS Automation APIs.

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type: Manual
• Independence of resources: Each customer has one or more "Tenants", these tenants have separated VRFs and can have several VNETs. All tenants are protected by a dedicated firewall.
• Usage notifications: Yes
• Usage reporting: Other

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
• Metrics types:
  • CPU
  • Disk
  • Memory
  • Number of active instances
• Reporting types:
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: European Economic Area (EEA)
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Supplier-defined controls
• 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 SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Backup and recovery

• Backup and recovery: Yes
• Backup controls: We offer daily full backups of the complete environment.
• Datacentre setup:
  • Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery
  • Multiple datacentres
  • Single datacentre with multiple copies
  • Single datacentre
• Scheduling backups: Users contact the support team to schedule backups
• Backup recovery: Users contact the support team

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
  • 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: SLAs and penalties are agreed upon on contract signing.; SLOs are published and range from 99,99% to 93% depending on the level of redundancy of the service.; Penalties are typically based upon the downtime suffered against the Service Level Target and will represent a percentage of the monthly RUN fee. Depending on the contract this is typically capped to a set percentage of the monthly fee.
• Approach to resilience: The main georesilient datacenter is build upon two geographically distant datacenters (availability zones) about 22 miles apart. These datacenters are interconnected using two double pairs of dark fibres. Each datacenter has a complete set of infrastructure that can be replicated to the secondary site. Backups are typically made in the secondary datacenter and replicated to the primary. As such even if the resource is not replicated it can be reconstructed from a restore. This even in case of loss of a complete datacenter.; A complete description can be transmitted on request.
• Outage reporting: Outages are reported through email to notify the customer of upcoming maintenance of the portal.; The service status and eventual outage is published from a tile on the Cloud Management Portal .

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: At service onboarding a list of authorised persons is agreed upon that will have the right to open tickets or request incident priority changes.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password
• Devices users manage the service through: 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 contact the support team to get audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• How long system logs are stored for: User-defined

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: BSI
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 30/3/2016 renewed 25/2/2022
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: None
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications:
  • ISO/IEC 9001
  • ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018
  • SAP-certified provider of Hosting Operations

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: ISO/IEC 9001; ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018; SAP-certified provider of Hosting Operations
• Information security policies and processes: NRB is fully ISO 27K compliant and as such has a well-structured and documented ISMS (Information Security Management System) in place. ; ; The overall approach of the Information Security management System is to ensure the continued security of all the processes included in the scope via a PDCA approach. ; ; This approach takes the following restrictions into account: ; ; • The legal requirements in effect in Belgium ; • Regulatory requirements ; • Contractual requirements ; ; • The information security management system covers: ;  The design and analysis of, and consultancy and support for IT projects, ;  The design and development of the maintenance and hosting of IT solutions,;  The management of system, ;  The telecommunication network, and mass-printing infrastructure, ;  The delivery and configuration of hardware and software, ;  IT consulting. ;  NRB’s Information System, which enables the performance of the tasks involved.; ; The scope of our security management includes all of the services provided to its customers by NRB via the aforementioned processes, and therefore the infrastructure hardware owned by NRB, which enables NRB to carry out its business activities, namely: ; • The server and storage bays ; • The computer servers ; • The hosting facilities ; • The telecommunications connections

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: NRB’s Change Management Process aims at authorizing all Requests for Changes (RFCs), controlling change management flows through standard framework and discipline, lessening risks of disruption to business services and determining costs and benefits associated with a Change;; ; The quality of the Change Management Process put in place at NRB is very high as great attention is given to assessment and approval activities i.e. Change Advisory Board (CAB) but also pre-CAB meetings are reviewing and deciding upon the execution of Changes.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: There are three versions of the “Vulnerability Management Service” (Basic / Standard / Full). ; In summary,; “Basic” supports the scanning and classsifcation of vulnerabilities ;; “Standard” adds project management for the remediation of vulnerabilities to the Standard version ;; “Full” adds patch deployment to Full version (Only if the assets are managed by NRB and with new projects).
• Protective monitoring type: Supplier-defined controls
• Protective monitoring approach: NRB’s Event Monitoring Services consists of tracking key indicators within the infrastructure and related services. To provide such services, NRB has a state of the art monitoring and event management system that is able to correlate events. ; This results in a much faster and easier incident and problem resolution as well as reporting and trending, and allows NRB to measure the agreed service levels and proactively manage the service in terms of availability, capacity and performance.; The alerting is triggered by the monitoring platform and enriched by CMDB information (criticality and service windows of the impacted configuration items).
• 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: Our Service Desk ensures proper registration of user information received, high level monitoring of the subsequent activities and user feedback. As such, it is our prime operational body that ensures that the IT Service Management processes (ITIL v3 driven) are properly applied.; A standard report showing SLA performances is provided once a month. It presents key data about the Service. The Service Delivery Manager, as contact person for Customer during delivery period, uses the report as a support for further discussion about service improvement.

Secure development

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

Separation between users

• Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart: Yes
• Who implements virtualisation: Supplier
• Virtualisation technologies used: VMware
• How shared infrastructure is kept separate: Each organization is implemented on a separate VFR that can contain multiple VLANs. Each tenant has a dedicated firewall.; Connection to local network uses Natting technology .

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: Yes
• Description of energy efficient datacentres: Using free chilling on the cooling plant, optimizing the hours/year of activation;; Using modular UPS with maximum efficiency curve per load, activating modules as needed;; Using cold corridors and blanking panels to avoid cold/hot air mixture;; Replacing water pumps with IE3 versions; Recovering energy through the use of air exchangers to reheat sanitary air;; Maximizing the insulation (K 26) of the building in order to avoid external heating;; Maximizing the insulation of cold and hot pipes ; Using economical/ecological lighting, with motion based activation, centralized lights out, and time-delay lighting

Social Value

• Fighting climate change:

  Fighting climate change

  NRB has developed, since 2010, a substantial set of ecological initiatives grouped in NRB’s GreeNRB program, supported by their EcoTeam. ; NRB have recently signed an agreement with the Wallonia region, with a commitment to improve the energy efficiency of the Herstal plant by 2020. Amongst the agreed action plan, one will find specifically for the Data Centers:; ;  Using free chilling on the cooling plant, optimizing the hours/year of activation;;  Using modular UPS with maximum efficiency curve per load, activating modules as needed;;  Using cold corridors and blanking panels to avoid cold/hot air mixture;;  Replacing water pumps with IE3 versions;  Recovering energy through the use of air exchangers to reheat sanitary air;;  Maximizing the insulation (K 26) of the building in order to avoid external heating;;  Maximizing the insulation of cold and hot pipes ;  Using economical/ecological lighting, with motion based activation, centralized lights out, and time-delay lighting;;  Selecting IT equipment with optimized power consumption, by the use of efficient power modules, environmental control drivers (fan speed adjustment), CPU speed adaptation to the load of servers and stopping idle hard drives spindles.;  Using variable fan speed CRAH;  Selecting IT equipment with optimized power consumption, by the use of efficient power modules, environmental control drivers (fan speed adjustment), CPU speed adaptation to the load of servers and stopping idle hard drives spindles.;  Using variable fan speed CRAH; Since January 2009, NRB is committed to use electricity made of green sources. This is reflected in NRB contractual agreement with NRB electricity provider, to deliver 100% green electricity. Recently a new windturbine was installed on the site of Herstal to reduce thefootprint.; NRB's recycling policy is pretty comprehensive. NRB hired specialized firms to process their main waste, paper, cardboard and wooden pallets.
• Covid-19 recovery:

  Covid-19 recovery

  Safe environment–NRB implements flexible workspace design to suit variable conditions, such as social distancing requirements. Design additions (transparent office table separators), C02 monitoring devices or dividing team in different time slots to minimize exposure are also used.; Safe interactions-Pandemics underscores the need for a zero to low-contamination workplace favouring safe interactions. We have reduced contact-rich activities such as meetings, brainstorming workshops, training classes and virtualised them as much as possible, using Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, extended use of online training platforms. At the same time, we have made teleworking the default position, doubling up our VPN capacity, and reduced professional travel to what is business essential.; Prophylaxis–A string of prophylactic measures have also been adopted; use of virucide/bactericide surface cleansing product, once a day overall and twice a day for heavily frequented areas (e.g. coffee corners, toilets), hand cleaner, distribution of personal protection equipment (masks) and floor markers in crowded place respecting distancing norms. Instructions on how to protect oneself (and others) have been communicated to all collaborators and are posted in crowded (e.g. coffee room) and key places (floor entry/exit doors, open space areas). Masks and sanitizing products are also made available for visitors and collaborators alike.; A special page on the NRB intranet is maintained to inform all collaborators about:; • Teleworking: organization, ergonomic tips; • Measures to ensure safety at the office: masks, workplace partitions, hand hygiene, ventilation, CO² monitors; • Contact Persons to support the physical and mental health of people affected by COVID-19: the HR Business Partner, the Prevention Advisor, the psychosocial counsellor from Cohezio, the external occupational health service, in respect of GDPR.; Teleworking and hybrid work have become normal ways of working, favouring the return to work for collaborators who are affected or who are in confinement, and reducing the home-to-office travelling.
• Equal opportunity:

  Equal opportunity

  Those from disadvantaged or minority groups; Belgian legislation lays down a general principle prohibiting direct and indirect discrimination of persons on the basis of, among other things, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, religious or philosophical belief, sexual orientation, disability, etc.; At NRB, we are committed to ensure, in terms of human resources, a fair treatment of our employees in the countries where our staff is employed. Our policy is to consider only the skills and suitability of the individual for the requirements of the position, both at engagement and during the course of his·her career with NRB and at feedback meetings and People Reviews which are elements of the annual performance and development management cycle.
• Wellbeing:

  Wellbeing

  We address our staff’s needs through measures based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, translated in the professional context. ; Addressing health concerns includes providing a safe environment, especially in pandemic times.; Stability on the job and in the mission: ; • NRB offers attractive fees or salaries regularly benchmarked against market standards.; • NRB provides candidates with sufficient details related to the mission to ensure that their decision to join is correctly informed.; • Organisation guaranteeing regular meetings for feedback.; Social needs and interpersonal relations:; • Understanding Customer’s objectives and target ahead of time make consultants part of the broader context, improving commitment. ; • Meet-ups and info sharing sessions to help the consultants gain insights in their fields. ; • Quarterly gatherings of consultants to provide an opportunity for informal talks between consultants and their peers.; • Collaboration platform allowing consultants to interact with their peers and managers from anywhere.; Self-esteem and recognition; • Recognition and reward to acknowledge the achievements of the consultants.; • Performance appraisal to help consultants to reach their future goals and assess the willingness of the consultant to continue on the project.; • Communities of practice – Consultants can rely on communities of practice to obtain special advice when necessary.; • Career map, providing mid- and long-term vision for the consultants to make them confident to develop their career within NRB.; Realising one’s full potential:; • Personal learning and development through (a) trainings, participation to conferences and seminars, etc. (b) career opportunities offered to consultants on basis of their aspirations and of new needs expressed by the Buyer; (c) extended responsibilities.; • Certifications are important for the sustainable growth of NRB, but also for the personal accomplishment and evolution of consultants.; • Career opportunities giving consultants a chance to grow in the context of the framework contract.

Pricing

• Price: £1.26 a virtual machine a day
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

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 presales@nrb.be. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.