Tag Archives: Services

Rackspace Wins Joint Server Farm Tender To Support Ministry of Defence (MoD) Websites

Rackspace Hosting, the world’s leader in hosting, has announced it has won a three year, competitive deal to provide fully managed support to the Joint Server Farm (JSF), a secure hosting environment for Ministry of Defence (MoD) websites. The partnership will see MoD, Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force websites consolidated onto a single, virtualised infrastructure to enable easier management, greater efficiencies and scalability.

Rackspace beat 18 other companies to win the contract to support the JSF following a European Journal Competition and tender for contract. Through the deal Rackspace will provide MoD partners with the flexibility to manage and change websites quickly to meet user demand. It will also provide enhanced security from firewalls and intrusion detection devices, which constantly monitor for threats, round-the-clock access to certified engineers and a 100% network uptime guarantee, backed by its service level agreement.

Rackspace’s EMEA managing director Brian Thomson said: “We are delighted to have extended our relationship with the MoD by winning this tender in what was a hard fought pitch by lots of companies. At a time when costs and efficiencies are being brought to the forefront, we know we can truly help simplify the MoD infrastructure to meet these challenges.”

The JSF is a single infrastructure for all services, websites and applications. It currently supports a number of well-known MoD campaigns, such as the recruiting website for the Army, Start Thinking Soldier as well as the Army Pathfinder programme. It also supports Navy and Air Force recruitment campaigns, all of the cadets’ sites, a number of admin sites and facilitates small short-term public information campaign sites.

The MoD created the JSF because it had lots of disparate sites on different infrastructures, which were hard to maintain, inefficient and unscalable. With the growing influence of the internet it was also decided that a central hosting UK resource that departments could tap into for their web requirements was needed. In addition to this, the MoD was bound to meet the Transformational Government Agenda (TGA), which requires rationalisation of websites across all government departments. The MoD also moved to virtual servers for its consolidated infrastructure to provide greater flexibility when managing the sites.

Around 70% of MoD websites are currently hosted on Rackspace infrastructure and this deal extends the company’s partnership with ArmyNET, the award-winning portal which allows soldiers to keep in touch with their families.

Rackspace consolidated 67 servers to 12 physical hypervisors and 72 virtual servers by implementing virtualisation across the MoD infrastructure. This solution when combined with a raft of changes to the contract cost model, including a reduction in SAN spindle storage costs, resulted in a reduction of overall costs. It also provides greater efficiencies for power and space, with a lower number of overall servers.

Via EPR Network
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Pioneer Services announces grand prize winner of the “Sensory Overload Military Sweepstakes”, thanking service members for their sacrifice and awarding a U.S. marine a $5,000 home entertainment system

Pioneer Services, the military banking division of MidCountry Bank, announced today the grand prize winner of the “Sensory Overload Military Sweepstakes.” Lance Corporal Brandon Unis of the United States Marine Corps, currently stationed in Georgia, has won a brand new home entertainment system, including a 52-inch Bravia® LCD Flat Panel HDTV, a Blu-Ray player, home theatre receiver, PlayStation® 3, and $200 in gift cards for games or movies.

Pioneer Services launched the Sensory Overload Military Sweepstakes in June 2008, for active-duty and career-retired service members, and military spouses. There were also three monthly winners during the sweepstakes period, each of whom received a 16-gigabyte Apple iPod Touch, valued at $399 each.

The Sensory Overload Military Sweepstakes is one way that Pioneer Services, which exclusively serves the military community, is thanking service members and military families for their sacrifice and efforts on behalf of the country.

Pioneer Services, the military banking division of MidCountry Bank, provides financial services, personal loans, and award-winning financial education to members of the Armed Forces. For more than 20 years, Pioneer Services has been a leader in military lending, and supports military families and communities through a variety of partnerships, programs, and sponsorships.

(c) 2008 Pioneer Services. No purchase necessary to enter or win. For a complete list of rules and details, visit SOsweepstakes.com. Sweepstakes ended on September 2, 2008. “iPod” is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. “Bravia” and “PlayStation” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. This Promotion has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. or Sony Corporation.

For more information, visit PioneerServices.com. For loan information, visit PioneerMilitaryLoans.com.


Via EPR Network
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