If the lockdown has got you thinking about moving your onsite IBM Power infrastructure into the cloud, you’re not alone. For companies who rely on remote working for business continuity,  cloud computing can be a valuable asset.

Using a managed service provider’s IBM Power cloud service means you can store your company’s data and applications on their remote cloud infrastructure, enhancing accessibility by allowing you and your team to access it anywhere in the world.

Of course, managed service providers themselves rely on physical data centres; secure locations where your server is kept along with others’ – much like a traditional storage facility for people’s furniture and other physical items.

With this in mind, if you’re thinking about moving to the cloud or changing cloud providers, make sure you choose a vendor that’s in complete control of their infrastructure.

After all, you’re only as strong as your weakest supply link.

Blue Chip has complete control

“We own the leasehold on our data centres,” explains Chris Smith, Director of Sales & Marketing at Blue Chip. “The main reason we’ve been able to stay operational throughout the lockdown is because we’ve invested in them.”

Two years ago Blue Chip built a software-defined data centre, investing in the networking, storage, and automation and orchestration software that enables its team of engineers to operate systems remotely from home. Delivering a mix of IBM i. AIX, zOS, Linux and Microsoft platforms

In fact, Blue Chip is one of the only managed service providers with skills in IBM Power infrastructure and operating systems to own its data centres. Those who rent a data centre as opposed to owning it can’t be 100% in control.

Ultimately, the control lies with the landlord.

So why is ownership so important? Essentially, managed service providers who don’t own their data centres have to rely on the people that do own it to keep it maintained, secure and up-to-date, and when something happens, such as flooding, it’s out of their control.

Managing data centres remotely

Blue Chip is one of the only vendors in the UK with ISO22301 for business continuity. As such, the team already had a plan in place prior to the lockdown and were prepared for almost every eventuality, resulting in a smooth transition.

“When we were delivering systems for our customers over the Easter weekend, none of our engineers or the customers themselves needed to be on site,” continues Chris. “Everything, from the data migration and the transition into our cloud infrastructure was done remotely from home on behalf of the customer.”

Blue Chip’s software defined data centres locations are far enough apart for resilience yet close enough for low latency communications.

Blue Chip also connects to other data centres around the world, and although most of its customers are UK-based, it works with customers in 150 different countries.

Other aspects of control

As well as data centres, Blue Chip is in control when it comes to the recruitment process. Many IT companies outsource to third parties nowadays, but Blue Chip prefers to attract and retain its own talent to run, maintain, recover and sell its systems.

The company doesn’t rely on one sector for income, either.

“Our customer base also covers every vertical,” says Chris. “Because we focus specifically as experts in IBM technology alongside Linux and Microsoft based solutions, we’ve been able to deliver our services to every kind of business you can imagine, from large financial service providers to specialist logistics companies.”

To find out more about how we can transition, manage and maintain your IT systems in the Blue Chip Cloud, get in touch with our team today.