ThinkGrid Launches Business IT on Demand
Small and Medium-sized Businesses can now benefit from Enterprise-class IT infrastructure
London - 17th November 2008 - Businesses struggling to keep pace with technology innovation and challenged with spiralling costs today received a lifeline from ThinkGrid, a provider of business IT on demand. Disrupting the way that organisations currently purchase, use and manage IT, ThinkGrid has launched a range of innovative services including Hosted desktop, Exchange, VoIP, Blackberry Enterprise Server and Dynamic Server. With ThinkGrid there is no longer a need to make huge capital investments in or face the burden of maintaining and replacing PCs, servers, software and telephony systems. ThinkGrid customers only pay for what they use, and based on the needs of their business can scale up and down at the click of a mouse - from anywhere in the world.
"Thanks to advances in virtualisation, automation and Internet Protocol (IP) technologies, the current model for IT infrastructure is undergoing significant transformation. Recognising this change, we set about weaving these key technologies together into a unique system that gives enterprise-class IT without having to make enterprise-class investments," said David Pratt, Chairman at ThinkGrid. "There are advantages for all types of organisations, even IT departments with more complex environments can benefit by removing the pain of managing desktop infrastructure, freeing-up time and budget for other critical services. Ultimately, ThinkGrid challenges the idea that IT value can only be measured on a quarterly, half-year or as you see in most instances, annual basis. Customers receive a monthly bill so can make important decisions much more quickly."
ThinkGrid has been established by a highly experienced management team with a solid background in building successful IT and Internet services businesses. With over 500 Beta users having successfully trialled the company’s services, ThinkGrid is launching into the UK with proven technology available to a customer base of thousands of organisations, including start-ups and long-established companies looking to update existing infrastructure. Managing and maintaining IT for these organisations can become time consuming; PCs need to be patched and maintained, email and file servers must be managed, applications need to be updated and software licences kept up-to-date. With Business IT on demand these pains are taken away and the IT infrastructure grows and contracts in line with the business, with customers only paying for what they use.
Robert McCarthy, co-founder and partner of Parcel Country, a new company that was amongst the first to adopt ThinkGrid explains: "When starting and growing a new business in today’s climate, the main risks are either under-investing in growth or overspending on something that becomes quickly obsolete." He continued: "ThinkGrid gives us big business support at small company costs. There’s a change in mindset needed, but then you quickly see how using IT as a service takes away the management headache and instead brings a great deal of flexibility and agility to your operations. Our long-term growth strategy is based on maintaining this IT on demand model."
"Parcel Country’s challenges reflect many of the problems faced by businesses that want to get the benefit of outsourcing what are effectively business-critical services. It needs to be a consistent experience or there’s just no value," added David Pratt. "The ultimate benefit of ThinkGrid is that everything from your desktop software and applications to mobile email and even databases is hosted externally, yet can be accessed anywhere. You don't have to be tied to the office, home or Virtual Private Network (VPN) to use these resources, as you can access them securely from an Internet connection anywhere in the world - what we're calling your ‘third office’."
ThinkGrid charges on a per-user basis and includes the following services:
Hosted desktop: Looks and works exactly like a traditional PC, but users connect over the Internet to their desktop which is hosted on a secure ThinkGrid infrastructure. Moving to a hosted desktop model can save over 20% on desktop computing spend and creates additional benefits such as mobile working, reduced management, and full disaster recovery protection .
Hosted Exchange: Enterprise email and collaboration both in the office and on the move. The service grows alongside a business, with user accounts added as the business grows but without the pain of management and provisioning.
Hosted Blackberry Enterprise Service: Offers all the benefits of Blackberry whilst only paying for it on a monthly per user basis.
Hosted Phone (VoIP): Both reduces call costs and removes the need for capital investments in expensive telephony systems and handsets. Each user is given their own local number that follows them around the world.
Dynamic Server Infrastructure: Utilising ‘Grid’ and virtualisation technology, this server resource acts just like a dedicated or managed server, but without any of the scalability limitations.
ThinkGrid offers true utility grid computing where customers turn resources on and off on as they need them and only pay for what they are actually using.
About ThinkGrid
ThinkGrid provides business IT on demand. Launched in 2008 with the aim of disrupting the way that businesses currently purchase, use and manage IT, ThinkGrid provides enterprise class IT to small and medium businesses. ThinkGrid removes the management and cost burden of owning IT by offering it to customers as an on demand service. Its current services include Hosted desktop, Exchange, VoIP, Hosted Blackberry Enterprise Service and Dynamic Server Infrastructure. With ThinkGrid, each employee is given their own personalised hosted virtual desktop that can be accessed from anywhere in the world through an Internet connection. ThinkGrid customers only pay for what they use, based on the needs of the business and can scale up and down at the click of a mouse. For more information visit: http://www.thinkgrid.co.uk/
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