Fortrust Managed Data Services

Based in Denver, FORTRUST, Colorado’s lhigh-availability data center services provider and colocation facility, has added a comprehensive array of data storage and protection services to its managed services portfolio. Marketed as FORTRUST Managed Data Services, the services provide companies the opportunity to engage FORTRUST for the management, storage and protection of their data, allowing those companies to refocus on strategic IT initiatives and potentially reduce capital and operating costs.

FORTRUST Managed Data Services are immediately available to both new and existing data center customers.

"FORTRUST Managed Data Services allows our customers to focus on strategic business activities as opposed to day-to-day IT chores," said Rob McClary, general manager of FORTRUST. "Data storage and protection are perhaps the most critical activities an IT organization is tasked with, yet the work itself is time consuming, tedious and complex. For some organizations, the result is that data is inefficiently stored and inadequately protected, potentially leaving those companies with the inability to recover lost data. Our services specifically address those issues."

The demand for data management continues to grow as regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA continue to drive requirements for increased data storage and retention. FORTRUST Managed Data storage allows customers to buy capacity in a ‘by the slice’ capacity, virtually eliminating capital expenses and limiting operating expenses to only those elements required to provide the service. By partnering with FORTRUST, companies gain access to expert assistance and best-in-class infrastructure, combined with SLAs around storage management and data restoration.

FORTRUST Managed Data Services complements existing managed services already being provided by FORTRUST, including IT monitoring, management and reporting services such as network device monitoring and management, server/OS management, server monitoring, and applications monitoring and management.

Managed Data Services will allow FORTRUST to offer a more comprehensive set of solutions to meet the needs of future and existing customers. Further, as with other managed services offered by FORTRUST, companies choosing to outsource their data storage and protection services can take advantage of economies of scale to enhance the value of their IT investment, without incurring the significant capital expenditures necessary to provide a similar level of service. The result is improved operational efficiency, service levels and reduced capital and operating costs.

"Our focus is on maintaining uptime and reliability," added McClary. "Our laser focus on high availability and reliability in our managed services environment is every bit as important to us as it is in our space, power and access practices. We will continue to maintain our promise to deliver the reliability and superior level of service that our customers have come to expect from FORTRUST."

FORTRUST will work with Incentra Solutions, Inc. to support and manage data storage and protection platforms, and assist in provisioning additional capacity to those platforms as needed. Incentra was selected as a FORTRUST partner because of the company’s long track record in providing technical expertise in the managed storage field, its ability to support and scale to larger environments as needed, and its commitment to reliability and quality service. Just as FORTRUST is dedicated to providing superior space, power, and access as its core offering, Incentra is focused on managed storage services as a core competency.

To support FORTRUST Managed Data Services, Incentra will locate a substantial infrastructure within the FORTRUST data center, for the purpose of providing a dedicated platform for use by FORTRUST.

"FORTRUST is a premier service provider in the mid-market and we are thrilled and committed to delivering complete managed storage solutions to its customers," said Incentra’s President and COO Shawn O’Grady. "Our ability, through our proprietary GridWorks technology, to help managed service providers such as FORTRUST successfully monitor, manage and safeguard the security of its customers’ IT infrastructures and data assets translates into a high level of customer satisfaction, which ultimately helps them continue to draw and retain customers."