Energy Plus Deploys SunGard's Enterprise Cloud Services to Provide Secure, Scalable Platform for Customer Growth

WAYNE, Pa., Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- For most organizations, a successful cloud computing implementation requires connecting the cloud to existing computing environments.  Energy Plus Holdings LLC, one of the nation's fastest-growing energy companies, is adopting a hybrid cloud model for running production applications that utilizes both SunGard's Enterprise Cloud Services and existing managed services the company employs from SunGard. This model allows Energy Plus to move applications to the cloud at its own pace and easily scale its infrastructure on demand with the cloud as customer growth requires. 

"My biggest IT challenges are to build infrastructure to run our business today without breaking the bank and gaining the ability to scale three to four times larger in size without starting over," said Hugh Scott, CIO at Energy Plus, which supplies electricity service in seven states and natural gas service to customers in three competitive energy states. "SunGard's Enterprise Cloud Services allow us to address both challenges by integrating the cloud into our existing production environment, while providing the on-demand infrastructure we need to grow in a cost-effective way."

Energy Plus will move its web applications to the cloud.  About 60 percent of all prospective customers first engage with Energy Plus through its web site and a number of customers pay their bill online – making availability and security priorities for the company.  SunGard's Enterprise Cloud Services will also provide Energy Plus a platform to support continued customer growth as well as the addition of new products and services.

Additionally, Energy Plus is using SunGard Managed Security Services to provide managed firewall and managed intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS) services.  These capabilities are particularly important to support Energy Plus' unique customer rewards program that the company offers through 100 industry-leading partners and associations. 

Another factor that contributed to Energy Plus' selection of SunGard was the SunGard Workforce Continuity offering. This feature provides Energy Plus employees with a workspace in the event that their facility is unavailable due to business disruption, such as power outage or natural disaster.

"SunGard is allowing our IT team to focus on the core business of Energy Plus, instead of building out data center infrastructure.  We moved quickly from startup to more than 180,000 customers.  Having an enterprise-grade cloud platform from a company skilled in supporting large organizations gives us confidence that we have the infrastructure available for continued rapid growth in coming years," said Mr. Scott.

"The cloud strategy of Energy Plus reflects a major trend we are regularly seeing in the market – taking a hybrid approach to cloud adoption," said Rob Walters, vice president, product management, managed services, SunGard Availability Services.  "This path allows companies to move to the cloud in well-planned increments, and blend cloud and managed services resources in ways that best serve their business needs."

SunGard's Enterprise Cloud Services help organizations tap into the efficiency and cost advantages of a fully managed cloud environment with enterprise-grade application availability and security.  Built on Vblock technology from VMware, Cisco and EMC, SunGard's Enterprise Cloud Services deliver managed compute, network, storage and security services that support customer production applications.

About SunGard Availability Services 

SunGard Availability Services provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software to over 9,000 customers globally.  With approximately five million square feet of datacenter and operations space, SunGard Availability Services helps customers improve the resilience of their mission critical systems by designing, implementing and managing cost-effective solutions using people, process and technology to address enterprise IT availability needs. Through direct sales and channel partners, we help organizations ensure their people and customers have uninterrupted access to the information systems they need in order to do business. To learn more, visit www.sungardas.com or call 1-800-468-7483.  Connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

About SunGard

SunGard is one of the world's leading software and technology services companies. SunGard has more than 20,000 employees and serves over 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries. SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software. With annual revenue of about $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 434 on the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately held business software and IT services company. Look for us wherever the mission is critical. For more information, visit www.sungard.com.

About Energy Plus Holdings   

Energy Plus®, an NRG Energy company (NYSE: NRG), is one of the nation's fastest-growing energy companies, serving more than 180,000 customers and offering electricity service in seven states and natural gas service in three states through its affiliate Energy Plus Natural Gas LP.  As the only company to offer energy choice, superior service, green energy options and an ongoing rewards program to every customer, Energy Plus is becoming the preferred energy company for an increasing number of homes and small businesses. Energy Plus enables consumers to benefit from the money they already spend each month on energy through a unique rewards program featuring cash-back, airline miles, hotel and retail points, and college savings from 100 industry-leading partners and associations. Energy Plus is committed to supporting the environment and offers customers a certified green power option. With a focus on the customer, Energy Plus' reliable services are supported by an in-house call center and customer-friendly policies.  Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, Energy Plus serves Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. For more information, visit www.energypluscompany.com.

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SOURCE SunGard Availability Services