VMware vSphere and vCloud Services

We have been providing virtual servers based on VMware ESX for a number of years now, we have found that virtualising Microsoft Windows in particular has lead to a more stable and quicker platform as it benefits from our SAN infrastructure and abstracted hardware driver layer, leading to less physical infrastructure dependency and better overall performance.

We are now moving to a generic Cloud model for our virtual servers, which combines the resource based charging of a cloud model (CPU, RAM, and Disk) with our management services to provide a dynamic virtual platform for all your hosting requirements.

We can supply anything from a single virtual machine up to a dedicated infrastructure, with charging based on actual use of resources. To this end it is possible to set up a proof of concept for as little as a month and then walk away with nothing else to pay - excellent for development and test systems of known lifespan. We also do not charge for CPU and RAM resources when a machine is powered off, and bill on an hourly basis, which can significantly reduce DR service costs as you do not have to replicate a production system in terms of resources until you actually need them (hopefully never).

This service is hosted in our ISO9001:2008 / ISO27001:2005 certified facility for maximum data security.

Our charges run as follows:

Each vCPU is £5 per month, with processing then charged at 0.5 pence per GHz per hour while the VM is powered on
RAM is charged at 4 pence per GB allocated per hour while the VM is powered on*
High performance SAN storage is charged at 50 pence per GB per month
NAS storage is available at £100 per TB per month, minimum 100GB blocks allocated
Windows 2008 R2 License available on a month by month basis
Microsoft Application software available on a monthly basis (SQL Server, Exchange, Office for Remote Desktop environments, etc.)
Optional VM support (AV, patching, monitoring, pro-active fix for Windows system issues) £50 per VM per month

* This price includes all VMware Enterprise Plus features such as High Availability to make sure a VM remains active even when underlying hardware is being maintained. For an extra £20 per month a fully fault tolerant VM can be supplied for maximum uptime (single vCPU VMs only).

This service also includes at no extra charge:

Connection to 100Mbit external network (1 Gbit internal between VMs), unmetered*
1 Public IP per VM - unlimited internal private IPs on private internal VLAN
Full server backups - Servers can be recovered in entirety or on a file by file basis with historical backups available for 14 days
Full remote access via RDP or SSH
Access to DVD media on request to allow you to add software as required
Placement behind our hardware firewall on a NAT'd VLAN - your public IP is not transmitted unless requested, in which case we can set up a firewall NAT policy to do this
Option for external VLAN to be completely private, otherwise external connectivity via our public VLAN
No contract, just pay monthly for what you use - 30 day notice period is required for complete service termination
No setup charges

* Excludes image/video/music streaming servers, for which a separate dedicated system can be set up in our Maidenhead DC.