Press Release
“I’ll meet you in the Cloud” say Easynet Telepresence Customers
09 December 2010
For many businesses, 2010 was ‘The Year of the Cloud’. The expression has moved from an industry buzz-word to a form of computing so ubiquitous that thanks to efficient CIOs, many employees are working in the cloud without even realising, using applications such as Webmail. Now Easynet Global Services has identified a trend which looks set to continue throughout 2011: customers are using its telepresence solutions to meet ‘in the cloud’ as more and more CIOs come to Easynet looking for the ability to create private clouds which facilitate on-demand services.
As Easynet’s chief technology and planning officer Justin Fielder explains: “Easynet’s managed telepresence solutions give CIOs two deployment options: firstly, cloud based services where access is granted to managed video bridging infrastructure hosted in a private cloud. And secondly, tailored video and network services where a customer invests in dedicated equipment and management services. There are distinct advantages to both”.
He continues: “The main point to remember when conducting any business across the cloud is that a robust network is essential. Whether it’s the Internet or a private network, a unified communications strategy using the cloud is a strain on the system. Without the right foundations, it will collapse.”
CIOs are looking at new ways of working due to continued pressure on staff, to drive down costs and increase efficiencies, modernise and simplify. The cloud enables CIOs to do all the above: to redefine IT and its value across the business. Easynet is assisting CIOs with this by helping them achieve measureable, accountable IT with agile and integrated systems.
Fielder adds: “We are ‘open standard’ and can connect to any standards-based system. On top of this, we can integrate seamlessly with various unified communications providers. This makes life easy for our customers”.
Analyst house IDC said at a seminar in London in November 2010 that network service providers are well placed to help enterprise customers transition to a cloud environment. Much of their existing business is inherently cloud-like, and they understand the issues surrounding network-based managed services such as supply chain partnerships and end-to-end SLAs. In fact, says James Eibisch, IDC's Research Director, EMEA Business Network Services, “there's little doubt that cloud services will form a significant portion of the IT market over the next few years, and network providers are going to play a central role in this adoption by helping existing customers' transformations as well as providing the underlying network and IT infrastructure."