BT Boosts Cloud Cover Across Four Continents

IRVING, Texas, April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- BT is accelerating its push into cloud computing all round the world by launching BT Cloud Compute, an enhanced service that allows CIOs far greater control in terms of designing, building, buying and operating a cloud solution that is tailored to their specific needs.

CIOs can keep pace with the changing demands of their customers and confidently build powerful 'pay as you go' cloud solutions that they can use from anywhere in the world with consistent levels of quality, security and service from BT.

From the boom economies of Latin America and the financial hubs of Europe to the huge developing markets of Asia and the fast-moving retail sectors of the US, BT's smartest, fastest customers are transforming their businesses by creating or changing their service in response to new demands. BT research has shown that customers using BT Cloud Compute make an average saving of 40 per cent against traditional ways of working. By using BT's advanced Cloud orchestration of infrastructure, network, applications and services, customers can align costs directly to their business needs.

With services hosted in more than 45 datacenters around the globe and managed by customers through a self-service dashboard, BT Cloud Compute is designed to help CIOs meet their stringent compliance requirements and local law and regulatory obligations by letting them decide exactly where they want their sensitive data to be hosted. Its cloud infrastructure uses industry standard secure data centers located in Brazil, Colombia, US, UK, Spain, Benelux, France, Italy, Singapore and Hong Kong and will soon be in Germany, China, India, Argentina and Mexico. 

Amy DeCarlo, Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services at Current Analysis, said: "In the cloud services marketplace, BT is very strong in comparison to other global enterprise IT services providers, because the company has made good on its promise to offer services out of Europe, the Americas and APAC. BT has also constructed a pragmatic 'build it and they come' approach for investment in data center and cloud services that complements its strong and growing global network infrastructure."

BT Cloud Compute is already allowing life sciences companies to collaborate globally on crucial research and development projects to improve their speed to market.  A leading international law firm is using BT Cloud Compute with web-based information sharing tools to provide clients with fast access to legal and market know-how across Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. One of BT's most creative not-for-profit customers is using BT Cloud Compute to raise money across Spain and Latin America via web, mobile and social media apps. Those customers are safe in the knowledge that they are using the same solutions that underpinned London 2012, the most connected Games ever.

BT Cloud Compute was developed at BT's research center in Adastral Park, England in collaboration with some of our key world-leading industry partners. It differentiates itself from run-of-the-mill cloud offerings by being self-healing and resilient, bringing customers an expected service level of 99.95%. It also gives customers the ability to combine their own data centers and private clouds with BT's global cloud capabilities, providing real flexibility – the best choice of solutions to suit customers changing IT needs. Automated delivery lets customers launch new services quickly and efficiently, with high levels of choice, flexibility and control.

Neil Sutton, Vice President, Global Portfolio, BT Global Services, said: "As a company, we are serious about Cloud. We invest millions every year to regularly refresh, update and evolve our datacenter infrastructure and our service to our customers. Cloud is about more than technology; it's about the service and the possibilities it can enable locally and globally in a reliable, trusted and assured way, helping CIOs find answers to the unique questions their market and regulations demand.

"BT Cloud Compute's flexibility can be crucial as many companies expand into new regions and markets, or find that their needs change quickly – a local service but in a globally consistent manner. BT Cloud Compute's self-service dashboard gives them the power to constantly monitor and manage their usage and spending, in a similar way to household smart meters that give residential customers better visibility and control over their energy usage."

About BT
BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in more than 170 countries.  Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services.  BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach.

In the year ended 31 March 2012, BT Group's revenue was £18,897m with profit before taxation of £2,445m.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group.  BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York. 

For more information, visit www.btplc.com

BT Cloud Compute - Notes to Editors

Awards won by BT for its Cloud offering:

• 2011 GlobalTelecoms Business Innovation Award for Cloud Services;
• Winner of the Best Project in Iaas category at Computerwoche's Best in Cloud 2011
• BT was ranked the third largest provider of cloud infrastructure services in the world by industry analyst Synergy Research Group.
• BT was recognized as a leading cloud supplier in Germany in multiple categories by the analysts of Experton Group in their latest "Cloud Vendor Benchmark 2012" report.

Cloud Compute key features

Service availability: 99.95 per cent, dynamic provisioning, 24/7 with local service desks
Delivered from Tier 3 or better data centers
Access options: Portal, multi-lingual and multi-currency, open API, role-based access
Architecture: Multi-availability zones across public and private resources
Security: Role-based access, virtual security appliance, port forwarding
Integration: Active directory and LDAP supported
Network: Load balanced, multi VLAN, WAN connectivity available, virtual routing
Commercial: Flexible pricing per hour, per month, or per annum
OS supported: Microsoft, Linux, customer generated templates, ISO images
Hypervisors supported: VMware, Citrix

SOURCE BT