SERVICE DEFINITION
G-CLOUD 7
Primary Storage in the Cloud
Classification: Open
Classification: Open
ii
© MDS Technologies Ltd 2015.
Other than for the sole purpose of evaluating this Response, no part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without the
written permission of MDS Technologies Ltd.
MDS Technologies Ltd, 2 Methuen Park, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 0GX
Telephone: 01225 816220, Fax: 01225 816281
CONTENTS
WHY MDS? .............................................................................................................................. 3
SUMMARY OF SERVICE BENEFITS ..................................................................................... 3
MDS AND SKYSCAPE – THE PERFECT PARTNERSHIP .................................................... 4
WHAT IS THE SERVICE? ....................................................................................................... 4
WHAT CAN I DO WITH THIS SERVICE? ............................................................................... 4
WHAT ARE THE KEY FEATURES AND BENEFITS?............................................................ 4
WHY SKYSCAPE? .................................................................................................................. 4
WHAT ARE THE KEY TECHNICAL FEATURES? ................................................................ 6
WHO IS THE SERVICE AIMED AT? ...................................................................................... 6
WHAT ARE THE SERVICE LEVELS? ................................................................................... 6
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES ......................................................................................... 8
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? ................................................................................................ 8
IS THERE A TRIAL SERVICE? ............................................................................................ 10
WHAT ARE THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS? ................................................................... 11
APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................. 12
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WHY MDS?
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Bespoke cloud solutions that fit your business needs
Trusted provider of agile, scalable and assured digital services
Full range of cloud hosting and enablement solutions
Security Cleared (SC) operational support staff
Honest providers of services, support and practical advice
24/7 support through our ITIL-aligned Service Desk
A privately owned, UK sovereign company
We are an SME - agile with minimal bureaucracy
Providing infrastructure services to the Public Sector for over 12 years
Certified against ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO14001 and Cyber Essentials Plus
We listen to our customers, we understand, we deliver
PROFESSIONAL, PERSONALISED SOLUTIONS
SUMMARY OF SERVICE BENEFITS
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Flexible storage solution delivered as a cloud service to meet customers' requirements for
scale, budget and security
Dedicated single-tenant cloud storage solution provides stronger assurance of isolation in line
with CESG Cloud Security Principles
Optimised for access by application servers within the Skyscape cloud platform
UK sovereign — an assured cloud platform delivered from two secure UK data centres by a
UK-based company with UK government security-cleared staff
Disaster tolerant — two Tier 3 UK data centres separated by more than 100km and securely
connected by high-bandwidth, low-latency dedicated connectivity enabling the potential for
synchronous replication
Optimised for OFFICIAL — extensive independent validation (including CESG PGA), the
service fully aligns with the CESG 14 Cloud Security Principles, making it ideal for all data
classified at OFFICIAL (including OFFICIAL SENSITIVE) and legacy IL0–IL4 solutions
Flexible connectivity options — connect via the internet (with DDoS protection provided as
standard), a government community network (PSN Assured service, PSN Protected service,
N3; or legacy networks including PNN) or by HybridConnect — using your own dedicated
circuits such as CPA-encrypted tunnels, leased lines or MPLS
Advanced Cross Domain Security Zone — a secure managed or self-managed area that
enables citizen access over the internet to data which is securely hosted on the Elevated
OFFICIAL domain
Flexible and adaptable — add, remove or change your solution via the Skyscape Portal or
using our fully documented API
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MDS AND SKYSCAPE – THE PERFECT PARTNERSHIP
MDS technologies Limited (MDS) offers a cloud platform provided by the award winning Skyscape
Cloud Services (Skyscape). We have a strong, committed relationship with Skyscape, the market
leader in the Digital Marketplace for G-Cloud Infrastructure as a Service, through a long-standing
relationship underpinned by a formal partnering agreement. We have been a Skyscape Partner since
their creation in 2011, and have resold services since the launch of the G-Cloud framework in
February 2012. MDS is a reseller, at cost, of Skyscape’s cloud services and is currently Skyscape’s
largest partner and second largest consumer of cloud services. This status enables us to provide a
high level of service to our customers and gain enhanced support from Skyscape.
As a Skyscape partner, MDS offers true National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cloud
services, which are offered as part of a community cloud service only available to the UK Public
Sector and secured and managed in line with UK government security classifications.
Skyscape and MDS both utilise pricing models based on transparent charges and “pay for what you
use” on an hourly and/or monthly basis.
WHAT IS THE SERVICE?
Primary Storage in the Cloud is a single-tenant (private cloud) storage infrastructure. This service is
available on a CAPEX or OPEX-optimised pricing model, to match individual organisations' budgetary
requirements.
WHAT CAN I DO WITH THIS SERVICE?
Primary Storage in the Cloud enables organisations to gain the benefits of the Skyscape Assured
cloud platform for a single-tenant (private cloud) storage infrastructure. This service offers an increase
in both performance consistency and data security over traditional public cloud storage options.
WHAT ARE THE KEY FEATURES AND BENEFITS?
Skyscape Primary Storage in the Cloud provides a high-assurance, PSN/N3-connected, cost-effective
alternative to hosting and managing your storage infrastructure.
Feature
Benefit
Dedicated storage
Designed for the exclusive use of each customer to provide the highest
levels of separation and isolation from other customers (like a private
cloud), while also helping to ensure consistent performance
Automated
Delivered as a cloud service through high levels of automation,
enabling self-service via the Skyscape Portal, reducing resource and
expertise cost in managing your storage solution
Cost-effective
Purchasing options to suit all budgets, including upfront capital
expenditure (CAPEX) and ongoing operational expenditure (OPEX)
Geographic diversity
The platform can be designed to span two UK data centres separated
by over 100km, for increased data resilience
WHY SKYSCAPE?
Skyscape is a UK company founded in 2011, it is unique among cloud providers as it maintains an
exclusive focus on the UK public sector. Skyscape were one of the first G-Cloud providers to
successfully achieve CESG Pan Government Accreditation.
Skyscape’s range of on-demand, pay-for-what-you-use and cloud services with no minimum
commitment, are suitable for OFFICIAL and OFFICIAL SENSITIVE (formerly IL0 through IL4) data.
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They are delivered from two secure Tier 3 UK data centres separated by more than 100km and
securely connected by dedicated high-bandwidth, low-latency CESG-assured circuits, enabling
synchronous replication.
Skyscape helps public sector organisations lower CO2 emissions through reduced energy
consumption, sustainable procurement and better hardware utilisation. Skyscape is a CarbonNeutral®
Company whose data centres have a low carbon footprint and low PUE rating, and comply with the
EU Data Centre Code of Conduct.
Skyscape has unparalleled capability in:
Security assurance
Skyscape offers its cloud services from UK data centres, operated by UK government securitycleared staff. Customers’ data is therefore not subject to foreign legislation or the risk of international
surveillance or disclosure.
Services are designed and built with clear alignment to the 14 CESG Cloud Security Principles that all
UK public sector organisations use when assessing cloud hosted solutions. The Skyscape cloud
benefits from extensive independent validation via certifications ranging from international standards
(for example, ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 20000) to UK public-sector specific standards (for example,
PSN, N3/HSCIC).
The cloud platforms are subject to regular, extensive IT Security Health Check (ITSHC) CHECK Tests
by independent, CESG-approved assessors to provide customers with confidence in the physical and
technical security controls which have been implemented to protect their valuable data assets.
Connectivity
Both UK data centres have resilient connections to secure UK government networks such as PSN
Assured, PSN Protected and N3, as well as large-scale, DDoS-protected internet connectivity. This
makes it possible for you to present your own connections (such as direct connectivity into your
MPLS, or inexpensive point-to-point connections via leased lines); and offer a Secure Remote Access
solution that allows assured VPN access to the Elevated OFFICIAL domain.
Flexibility
Skyscape offer simple products for delivering complex solutions, all designed to reduce security risks
without decreasing the flexibility of a cloud platform. Differentiated, commoditised products provide a
choice of IaaS, PaaS and SaaS; service levels; virtual machine sizes; and security levels.
Innovative solutions further increase cloud flexibility, such as the Cross Domain Security Zone which
enables internet-facing Assured OFFICIAL applications to connect to data stored within the Elevated
OFFICIAL platform. This allows you to keep your data safe, while letting citizens interface with the
information they need.
Public sector partnerships
Skyscape have a committed team focused on identifying partners who understand the UK public
sector and have expertise in enabling and accelerating digital transformational projects.
 Managed Service Providers (MSPs). Specialists in services relating to the design, management
and support of environments built within Skyscape’s cloud platform, helping to reduce the
complexities of platform management.
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 Systems Integrators (SIs). Organisations that fully understand Skyscape’s cloud portfolio are
experts at bringing together individual cloud components to deliver entire cloud-based
solutions.
 Developers and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). Able to provide fully packaged
applications or SaaS solutions which leverage Skyscape’s secure cloud capabilities.
 Strategic Advisors/Consultants. For customers who require additional advice around delivering
solutions in the cloud, consultancy partners and subject specialists can help define strategy,
develop action plans and create solutions
WHAT ARE THE KEY TECHNICAL FEATURES?
Primary Storage in the Cloud provides the following features:
 Integration with existing, native and virtualised enterprise applications with no change to the
application or stack
 Native support for a wide variety of network protocols including SMB/CIFS, NFS, HTTP and,
optionally, HDFS
 Custom hardware sizing from 100TB to 20PB+ with support for a single, large file system if
required
 Automated systems management via the Skyscape Portal and API (for example, show-back of
utilisation, health, availability)
 Option to implement a multi-site replicated Primary Storage in the Cloud solution
 Compatible with WAN acceleration solutions (for example, Riverbed) and cloud storage
gateways (for example, EMC TwinStrata)
 Availability of advanced software features such as auto-tiering, deduplication, retention,
replication, quotas and snapshots
WHO IS THE SERVICE AIMED AT?
This service is designed for organisations whose particular requirements will be met by a dedicated
storage infrastructure rather than a multi-tenant storage solution. Examples include:
 Scale — organisations that require petabyte-scale storage
 Security — organisations that require additional isolation
 Budget — organisations that prefer capital expenditure (CAPEX)
WHAT ARE THE SERVICE LEVELS?
There are two service options to choose from:
STANDARD
ENHANCED
Service level agreement
99.99%
99.99%
Protection level
Local protection (single site)
Remote protection (dual site)
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Skyscape provides both an availability SLA and a response time SLA for Primary Storage in the
Cloud:
STANDARD
ENHANCED
Availability (monthly*)
99.99%
99.99%
Incident response
P1 —
P2 —
P3 —
P4 —
Service Credits
10% of monthly spend
within 15 minutes
within 4 hours
within 24 hours
within 72 hours
10% of monthly spend
* Availability indication is based on an average 730 hours per month. Excludes planned and
emergency maintenance.
Unavailability applies to existing data where the data becomes inaccessible due to a fault recognised
at the IaaS layer or lower, for example:
 The fault is not within the customer's control (such as applications and user networks)
 The fault is within Skyscape-controlled components such as the storage infrastructure, power
and physical firewalls and routers
 External connectivity providers (for example, internet, PSN and N3) and components colocated at Skyscape are also not included in the availability calculation
Skyscape also provides an availability service level target for the Skyscape Portal, covering the ability
to log into the portal to create support tickets and use other functions.
Target availability (monthly*)
Customer Portal availability (monthly)
99.90%
* Availability indication is based on an average 730 hours per month. Excludes planned and
emergency maintenance.
Options
Backup/recovery and disaster recovery
Organisations can choose from two protection levels.
 STANDARD — data is stored in a single UK-sovereign data centre with data protection using
Erasure Coding, which provides a degree of fault tolerance and so improves data durability
(survives node failures and disk failures).
 ENHANCED — data is stored in two UK-sovereign data centres, with a copy maintained in a
primary named UK data centre and copied to a geographically remote UK data centre. This
provides the highest degree of fault tolerance (including site failure) and corresponding data
durability.
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ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Skyscape Primary Storage in the Cloud is available in two packages: All Inclusive and Platform Only.
Roles and responsibilities
All Inclusive
Platform Only
Procurement of storage hardware and related
infrastructure (such as network)
Skyscape
Customer
Hardware design and deployment
Skyscape
Skyscape
Capacity management
Skyscape
Customer or MDS
Availability management
Skyscape
Skyscape
Health management
Skyscape
Skyscape
Performance management
Customer or MDS
Customer or MDS
Support and maintenance
Skyscape
Skyscape
Assurance and compliance
Skyscape
Skyscape
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
All Inclusive
The All Inclusive package provides a turnkey solution including the dedicated storage hardware and
underlying Skyscape Assured cloud platform.
Upgrade options
Usable storage
Price per GB per month†
0-99TB
From 10p
100-249TB
From 7p
250-499TB
From 5p
Automated site replication and failover*
From 10p per GB per month
1PB and above
From 3p
† Based on a 24-month contract. The price will vary depending on specific hardware, functionality and
performance requirements.
* Assuming a 24-month contract; however upgrades will be coterminous with the original contract, so
the price will increase on a pro-rata basis. The price will vary depending on specific hardware and
performance requirements.
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The All Inclusive package is available as follows:
CAPEX-optimised
OPEX-optimised
Upfront payment — design and deploy
From 10% of asset cost
From £10,000
Annual payment — asset pre-payment
Asset cost / 2
£0
Monthly charge — asset finance
£0
Asset cost + 20% / 24
months
Monthly charge — platform fee
From £1,000 per KW
From £1,000 per KW
Minimum term
24 months
24 months
Early exit charge
Remainder of asset cost
Remainder of asset Finance
Premium for Elevated OFFICIAL
From 20%
From 20%
Unit of billing
Usable storage up-front
Platform fee per month
Usable storage per month
(includes platform fee per
month)
Worked example
A Skyscape Primary Storage in the Cloud platform sized at 100TB and consuming 3.5KW:
Storage and network hardware costs 100,000GB x 7p x 24 months = £168,000
CAPEX-optimised
OPEX-optimised
Upfront payment — design and deploy
£16,800
£10,000
Annual payment — asset pre-payment
£84,000 per year
£0
Monthly charge — asset finance
£0
£8,400 per month
Monthly charge — platform fee
£3,500 per month
£3,500 per month
Minimum term
24 months
24 months
Early exit charge
£84,000 in year 1
£0 in year 2
£8,400 x no. months
remaining
Premium for Elevated OFFICIAL
£700 per month
£700 per month
Unit of billing
Usable storage up-front
Platform fee per month
Usable storage per
month
(includes platform fee
per month)
Platform Only
The Platform Only package provides customers with the underlying Assured Cloud platform to host
and manage the dedicated storage hardware.
The package is available as follows:
Platform Only
Upfront payment — design and deploy
From £10,000
Monthly charge — platform fee
From £1,000 per KW
Minimum term
24 months
Early exit charge
Remainder of platform fee
Premium for Elevated OFFICIAL
From 20%
Unit of billing
Platform fee per month
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Service Definition: Primary Storage in the Cloud, Issue: 6.0
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Classification: Open
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Worked example
A Skyscape Primary Storage in the Cloud platform consuming 5KW:
Platform Only
Upfront payment — design and deploy
£10,000
Monthly charge — platform fee
£5,000 per month
Minimum term
24 months
Early exit charge
£5,000 x no. months remaining
Premium for Elevated OFFICIAL
£1,000 per month
Unit of billing
Platform fee per month
Ancillary Options
The Skyscape Pricing Guide is a comprehensive catalogue of pricing. It shows all ancillary service
options available for use with Skyscape’s Primary Storage in the Cloud. Ancillary options include:
 Offline facilities to support data ingestion and extraction
 Connectivity options including HybridConnect, PSN, N3, internet and data centre interconnect
Other ancillary options are available — see the Skyscape Pricing Guide.
Cloud Credits
The Cloud Credits option allows organisations to purchase Cloud Credits upfront and redeem them
against Skyscape cloud services over a maximum two-year period. This allows organisations to
effectively commit their CAPEX or budget spend in advance, with monthly usage deducted from the
balance until depleted.
 Every £1 spent on Cloud Credits equals £1 to be spent on Skyscape cloud services
 The purchase of Cloud Credits can be made against any G7 Service Description, and Cloud
Credits are transferable between services
 Cloud Credits can be used for a single service or a combination of services or orders
 Any unused Cloud Credits at the end of the two-year period are non-refundable
Worked example
If you know you will consume at least £550,000 of Skyscape cloud services over a two year period
based on previous or projected usage, you may choose to pre-pay this amount. You will receive a
value of £550,000 worth of Cloud Credits to be used against any Skyscape service over a maximum
two-year period.
You will receive a monthly invoice, with payment automatically taken from your Skyscape Cloud
Credits, if available. You will need to inform our finance department if you wish to make any
amendments to how your invoices are paid.
IS THERE A TRIAL SERVICE?
Owing to the dedicated, single-tenant nature of this service, no trials are available. Skyscape offers a
trial of Cloud Storage which enables customers to test the viability of cloud storage.
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Classification: Open
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WHAT ARE THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS?
Please refer to the terms and conditions document for full details.
The appendix at the end of this service description provides a service summary.
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APPENDIX
On-boarding and off-boarding
On-boarding
Given the nature of this service, on
acceptance of an order, Skyscape will work
with the customer to create a detailed design
for the Primary Storage in the Cloud service.
This design will formalise the dedicated
components required for the solution, including
storage hardware, storage software, network
hardware and cables.
The dedicated components will be procured by
Skyscape or by the customer, depending on
the package requested.
Skyscape will also create the customer’s
Primary Administrator account and send a
Welcome Pack which includes the URL for the
Skyscape Portal for access to the knowledge
centre and service management function.
As Skyscape has two UK data centres, a
customer can request to be deployed into a
specific data centre at the time of the order.
Although it's unlikely a request would ever be
rejected, this remains at Skyscape discretion.
Off-boarding
All Inclusive package: prior to terminating the
contract, the customer can transfer all their
data out of the solution or opt to make the final
payment and take ownership of the storage
hardware.
Platform Only package: as the storage
hardware is owned by the customer, the
customer must make arrangements to collect it
within 14 days of contract termination.
For clarity, when the customer terminates their
agreement with Skyscape, Skyscape ensures
all of the organisation’s data is deleted unless
the customer owns the storage hardware.
Service management
As a cloud service aligned to the NIST
definition of IaaS, the service is designed to be
self-managed via the secure online Skyscape
Portal which provides common service
management functionality and addresses
standard requirements.
For organisations that require a more
managed service, Skyscape works with a
number of Partners who can provide a
managed service wrapper around the
Skyscape IaaS. Skyscape will be pleased to
make an introduction where appropriate.
Skyscape may use EMC as a subcontractor.
Service constraints
The Skyscape Assured Cloud platform is
designed and optimised to operate under
specific conditions. Skyscape therefore
imposes a number of service constraints,
including:
 Support for specific hardware
configuration (for example certain EMC
Isilon configurations, certain Cisco +
EMC + VMware configurations and
certain Super Micro configurations)
 Skyscape must be named agents for all
support and maintenance contracts
 Data centre access is available only to
Skyscape staff — customers will not be
allowed access to the data centres
except in exceptional circumstances
 Primary Storage in the Cloud must
include specified top-of-rack/end-of-rack
network switches which will be
designed, implemented and managed
by Skyscape
 Primary Storage in the Cloud must
include specific software features to
enable Skyscape to provide automation,
orchestration and instrumentation
 Skyscape provides no SLA or warranty
related to performance
Skyscape will adhere to the following in terms
of maintenance windows:
“Planned Maintenance” means any preplanned maintenance of any infrastructure
relating to the Services. Skyscape shall
provide the customer with at least twenty four
(24) hours’ advance notice of any such
planned maintenance.
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Planned Maintenance of Skyscape’s
infrastructure relating to the services shall
happen between the hours of 00:00 and 06:00
(UK local time) Monday to Sunday and/or
between the hours of 08:00 and 12:00 (UK
local time) on a Saturday and/or Sunday. No
Planned Maintenance will take place on a
Saturday unless agreed in advance by both
parties.
Planned Maintenance shall be excluded from
any availability calculation in regard to Service
Credits but shall be included in the monthly
service reporting.
“Emergency Maintenance” means any
emergency maintenance of any of the
infrastructure relating to the services.
Whenever possible, Skyscape shall provide
the customer with at least six (6) hours’
advance notice.
Whenever possible Emergency Maintenance
of Skyscape’s infrastructure will happen
between the hours of 00:00 and 06:00 (UK
local time) Monday to Sunday and/or between
the hours of 08:00 and 12:00 (UK local time)
on Saturday and/or Sunday, unless there is an
identified and demonstrable immediate risk to
a customer's environment.
Emergency Maintenance shall be excluded
from any availability calculation in regard to
Service Credits but shall be included in the
monthly service reporting.
Training
Skyscape has created a number of videos,
help guides, manuals and FAQs to help train
and instruct users so that they are up and
running quickly and easily.
Skyscape also has a number of Partners who
can deliver additional services such as
training, support and managed services.
Skyscape would be pleased to introduce you
to such partners where appropriate.
Ordering and invoicing
This service is offered subject to availability.
Billing for the service is:
 Annually in advance for prepayment
fees
 Monthly in arrears for monthly fees
Payment can be made by direct bank transfer
(BACS/CHAPS).
Service lead time
Setting up a new customer on the Skyscape
Portal will typically be completed within 48
hours of order acceptance.
Resources to begin the design and
deployment activity will be assigned within 10
days of order acceptance.
Owing to the variable nature of this service,
dedicated hardware will need to be specified,
ordered and delivered which will take an
indeterminate amount of time.
Shorter deployment times are typically
achieved with our multi-tenant cloud storage
solution, Skyscape Cloud Storage.
Termination
Terms
An early exit charge will be payable if the
contract is terminated before the end of its
original term.
At the point of termination, the customer will
have the option to make a final payment in
order to take ownership of the storage
hardware.
If the customer owns the storage hardware, it
must be collected from Skyscape with 14 days.
If the customer does not own the storage
hardware, Skyscape will ensure all customer
data, accounts and access are permanently
deleted, and will not be able to be
subsequently recover or restore them.
Costs
An early exit charge will be payable if the
contract is terminated before the end of its
original term.
 Via purchase order
Customers are responsible for extracting their
own data from the platform if required.
 At point of order for upfront fees
Skyscape may make an additional charge for
transferring data out of the service.
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Data restoration / service migration
For service migration, Skyscape allows
existing data to be migrated to and from the
Primary Storage in the Cloud service.
In many circumstances, Skyscape can help
facilitate a bulk migration to the platform using
offline data ingest and extraction — please ask
Skyscape for details.
Customer responsibilities
Customers of the Primary Storage in the Cloud
service are responsible for the following:
 The control and management of access
and responsibilities for end users
including appropriate connectivity,
security and accreditation if required. If
access is required over legacy networks
such as N3, legacy networks or PSN,
the customer is responsible for adhering
to the Code of Connection.
 Management and administration of
layers above the IaaS (for example the
systems that use the Primary Storage in
the Cloud platform).
 As a core benefit of the cloud platform,
customers are expected to self-manage
the environment including creating and
deleting data.
 Customers must be aware of the
variable nature of the billing based on
usage.
 The customer is also responsible for
ensuring only appropriate data (such as
OFFICIAL or OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE) is
stored and processed by applications on
this environment, and that they comply
with the Skyscape Security Operating
Procedures (SyOps) and other
information assurance requirements as
specified in Skyscape System
Interconnect and Security Policy (SISP)
and associated accreditation
documentation sets
Financial recompense model
If the service level falls below the stated
availability percentage (excluding Planned and
Emergency Maintenance periods), customers
will be eligible for Service Credits on affected
storage only. Service Credits will be calculated
as a percentage of the fees for the affected
services for the monthly billing period during
which the failure occurred (to be applied at the
end of the billing cycle).
Service Credit
STANDARD
service level
10% of monthly spend
ENHANCED
service level
15% of monthly spend
Customer Portal
1% of monthly spend
per 1% below service
level target or part
thereof
Technical requirements
The customer is responsible for the
procurement or development of the application
and the correct implementation of support for
the storage solution.
Customers can choose from a number of
options with Skyscape to access their
environment, depending on their requirements.
The list below provides a guide to what is
possible, but engagement with Skyscape may
be required to explain and validate further:
Assured OFFICAL (lower-security domain)
 Standard internet connectivity over
common protocols (HTTP, HTTPS and
SSH)
 N3 — for access to the Health and
Social Care community. You will need to
complete the N3 Information
Governance Statement of Compliance
process
 PSN Assured service — you need to be
a PSN Service Provider or an HMG
customer that has PSN certification
 HybridConnect — private circuit
solutions including:
 CAS(T)-compliant connections
(such as leased line and MPLS)
 Non-CAS(T)-compliant connections
(such as leased line and MPLS)
Lot 1 - Infrastructure as a Service
Service Definition: Primary Storage in the Cloud, Issue: 6.0
Copyright: MDS Technologies Ltd 2015
using additional CPA/PEPAS
overlay encryption
 Site-to-site VPN using standardsbased IPSEC solutions
 Dedicated fibre connectivity within
the Skyscape data centre
 Site-to-site VPN using CAPSapproved solutions (Ultra AEP
X-Kryptor)
 CPA assured solution where
Foundation Grade assurance is
appropriate (Cisco ISR/ASR)
Elevated OFFICIAL (higher-security
domain)
 Preferred connectivity is over a
Government Secure Network such as
N3 or PSN
 N3 — for access to the Health and
Social Care community. You will need to
complete the N3 Information
Governance Statement of Compliance
process (additional controls may need to
be implemented to enable N3 access to
the higher security Elevated OFFICIAL
domain)
 PSN Protected service — you need to
be a PSN Service Provider or an HMG
customer that has PSN certification
 Legacy networks such as PNN via the
PSN Protected service
 Skyscape Secure Remote Access
service
 HybridConnect — private circuit
solutions including:
 CAS(T)-compliant connections
(leased line and MPLS) using
additional CPA/PEPAS overlay
encryption
 Non-CAS(T)-compliant connections
(leased line and MPLS) using
additional CPA/PEPAS overlay
encryption
 Site-to-site VPN using standardsbased CPA approved solutions
 Dedicated bonded fibre
connectivity within the Skyscape
data centre
Lot 1 - Infrastructure as a Service
Service Definition: Primary Storage in the Cloud, Issue: 6.0
Copyright: MDS Technologies Ltd 2015