Sun gives Computacenter's managed services the seal of approval

In a third significant milestone for Computacenter's enterprise services, Sun Microsystems has awarded the company the prestigious SunTone Certification for its co-location, managed hosting, monitoring and security services.

Computacenter was also awarded Sun's Breakthrough Partner of the Year for 2000 and was the first winner of the Sun Services Manager award for the excellence of its support and service levels.

SunTone is an industry-wide, ITIL-based initiative specifically designed to improve the quality of Internet services and make it easier for customers to evaluate different vendors and their offerings - a key benefit in such a crowded sector.

In choosing a SunTone certified solution, businesses can be sure of the service provider's technical expertise and that the solution itself is built upon recognised best practice. This includes customer service agreements, performance metrics, resilient components and security policy for firewalls, as well as network design and operational practices that promote high-performance delivery.

"Meeting Sun's rigorous criteria for the certification is a terrific achievement and underlines our capability in the area of enterprise managed services, where we have been providing solutions for customers for over two years. Since the accreditation is based on industry best practice, SunTone serves to demonstrate that Computacenter can deliver managed services which that not only conform to vendor guidelines and , but which additionally meet the highest industry standards", comments Neil Meddick, Computacenter's Enterprise Services Director.

The SunTone criteria is continually updated and developed by the SunTone Architectural Council, a group of experts including service providers, integrators and developers, with all certified companies having to renew their accreditation annually.

John Holt , Enterprise Managed Services Manager for Computacenter, comments, "Providing quality systems and services is not just about the equipment, it also includes the people, process and methodology behind it. SunTone is designed to find out whether these factors are up to scratch and assesses whether service providers can meet recognised standards for reliability, availability, scalability and security."

Before being audited for SunTone, Computacenter staff completed a rigorous self-assessment programme, which included operational practices, hardware, software and overall service delivery. "We were already meeting many of the requirements and delivering best practice, but the SunTone certification enabled us to hone this even further. With the SunTone stamp of approval, customers will know that Computacenter comes with a guaranteed level of quality, which is a real plus in the managed services market," added John .

Sun Microsystems' Steve Raby , Partner Sales Director UK & Ireland, comments, "We are delighted that Computacenter has gained the SunTone accreditation, which acts as an independent guide for end users and enterprise customers who want to select providers who that meet industry best practice requirements and who can deliver consistently high standards of service, reliability and availability."