LUSH Cosmetics Selects Q9 for High Availability Co-location Services

Scalability key for fast-growing consumer company

TORONTO, Oct. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Q9 Networks is pleased to announce that it has been selected by Vancouver-based LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics to provide high availability co-location services for its critical company-wide business systems, including its manufacturing, retail and accounting systems.

LUSH Cosmetics produces and sells a variety of handmade cosmetic products including soaps, creams, bath bubbles, and shampoos. The company has 183 stores across North America with its head office based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Globally, the company has more than 800 stores in 51 countries.

Q9 is providing LUSH Cosmetics with secure physical space, highly reliable power, bandwidth and 7x24 monitoring to ensure the highest levels of performance and reliability for all of its business systems.

"We chose Q9 for a number of reasons," says Paul Jackson, IT Director, North America, LUSH Cosmetics. "LUSH is a fast growing company that is highly dependent on IT systems which enable growth. High availability and scalability are key requirements for our business. Q9's physical security is top notch and their hands and eyes service ensures that if anything does go wrong, there are resources available on immediate notice to take corrective action."

Q9 designs, builds and operates its data centres to meet the most demanding IT infrastructure requirements, including the increased power and cooling demands of today's high density computing devices. LUSH shops, staff, and customers are protected by Q9's 100 percent, SLA-backed uptime guarantees on both power and network availability. Customer equipment and data centre environmental parameters are monitored 7x24 by Q9's Control Centre, staffed by experts versed in all aspects of IT and facilities management.

"We are very pleased to be providing LUSH Cosmetics with the data centre infrastructure it needs to continue on its high-growth trajectory," says Q9 Chief Executive Officer, Osama Arafat. "LUSH Cosmetics is an example of a leading company that has achieved success by focusing on its core competencies. By outsourcing its data centre and network requirements to Q9, LUSH Cosmetics is ensuring a robust and secure environment for its critical systems."

About Q9 Networks:

Q9 Networks Inc. is Canada's leading provider of outsourced data centre infrastructure for organizations with mission-critical IT operations. Q9's data centres and network are backed by an industry leading SLA that guarantees 100 per cent network and power availability. Q9 services, including: co-location, bandwidth, dedicated servers, firewalls, load balancing, virtual private networking (VPN) and back-up/restore, enable the rapid provisioning and scalability of client infrastructure. Q9 Networks is owned by an investor group comprising Canada's largest communication company, BCE Inc., and some of the largest and most experienced North American pension and private equity funds, including: Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners LLC.

SOURCE Q9 Networks Inc.