The chief strategy officer at Citrix, Wes Wasson, said that VMLogix will be the foundation of the cross-platform, self-service cloud management tools provided by Citirix to support a wide variety of hypervisors. Some of the LabManager and StageManager features relating to self-service are going to be bundled into the free edition XenServer Express hypervisor. The XenServer Enterprise and Platinum Editions, with the greater depth of features, will also be part of the OpenCloud platform.

The managing director of a Hessle-based ‘cloud computing’ company has been invited to speak at a national conference alongside Dragons’ Den stars Richard Farleigh and Rachel Elnaugh.

Matt Nunns, the managing director of GoCloud, will talk at Business Startup, the UK’s biggest business event for anyone starting or expanding a business.

Mr Nunns will be explaining exactly how “cloud computing” can save companies time and money.

He said: “‘Cloud computing’ is a real buzz word at the moment, but very few people really know what it is. So I’m going to be explaining to new businesses what ‘cloud computing’ is all about.”

GoCloud provide fully-virtualised hosted desktops, designed to replace the traditional in-house IT networks.

Business Startup is being held at ExCel London tomorrow and Friday.

Kingston Communications has partnered up with East Yorkshire cloud computing experts GoCloud to offer a brand new service which will allow local businesses to tap into 21st century ways of working.

KC Cloud is a 24/7 hosted IT and desktop service that enables firms to access their desktop, data and applications from anywhere in the world. Delivered in partnership with Hessle-based GoCloud, all a customer requires is a simple internet connection, removing the need for expensive on-site IT equipment and servers.

As a result, organisations can reduce the amount of capital expenditure required to maintain their IT systems and enjoy the flexibility and productivity benefits of remote access. The hosted desktop service can be scaled up or down as and when required, so firms only pay for what they need, when they need it.

Mark Conway, Director of Business Services at KC, said: “We are proud to support local businesses and are constantly looking for new partnerships that can help local firms to prosper.

“KC Cloud enables companies in the region to compete with the bigger players on a level playing field.

“By hosting their IT infrastructure in our data centres, firms can reduce capital that can often be wasted on unused hardware or licenses. It also means that the risks and costs associated with software crashes and virus attacks are minimised.”

The service is built upon a secure infrastructure, so there are no concerns about data confidentiality and round-the-clock service and support is also available. The flexibility that comes with a hosted service has also been seen to help firms attract and retain the very best staff, as they are no longer tied to one location.

Matt Nunns, GoCloud’s Managing Director said: “Cloud computing is the future for all businesses and so we are delighted that Kingston Communications has joined our Partner Programme.

“When you are focused on your own business, it’s hard to keep track of the latest releases of software and applications. All Microsoft updates and new application rollouts will be handled by our team of experts, which vastly reduces the time it takes to implement changes.

“It also allows firms to break free from the traditional office environment, by removing the barriers normally associated with managing and funding a remote workforce, or expanding into new territory.”

As all the IT equipment is housed in state-of-the-art data centres rather than on customers’ premises, businesses can also reduce their carbon emissions and adopt a more sustainable way of working.

Matt Nunns said: “It’s a really exciting time to be taking over the reins here at GoCloud. More and more people want to have flexible working hours and want to have the ability to work from home or, indeed, wherever they are in the world.

“Having a hosted desktop and working “in the cloud” is the future for all businesses – and our new Partner Programme is helping to roll that technology out to benefit companies of all sizes.”

GoCloud’s Partner Programme offers companies the opportunity to resell their technology or earn a return for referrals. Anyone who becomes a partner receives a percentage of the revenue from the contract for the lifetime of the contract. IT companies also benefit because they don’t have to worry about the capital outlay of the infrastructure which costs hundreds of thousands of pounds.

GoCloud specialise in providing fully virtualised hosted desktops, which are designed to replace the traditional in-house IT infrastructure. Data security and client confidentiality are guaranteed and businesses will benefit by being able to dramatically cut ongoing IT costs and energy bills.

GoCloud’s Partner Programme is open for any company wishing to apply. For more information on becoming a Partner call 0844 745 3822 or visit www.gocloud.co.uk.

GoCloud specialise in providing fully virtualised hosted desktops, which are designed to replace the traditional in-house IT infrastructure. Data security and client confidentiality are guaranteed and businesses will benefit by being able to dramatically cut ongoing IT costs and energy bills.

Techincal Director, Matt Nunns, said:
“This is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to refer business to us or for an IT company to resell the GoCloud solution under their own name. Either way, anyone partnering up with us will receive a percentage of the revenue from the contract for the lifetime of the contract. IT companies will also benefit because they won’t have to worry about the capital outlay of the infrastructure which costs hundreds of thousands of pounds.”

There are no requirements for specific hardware or software when using the GoCloud Hosted Desktop solution and no need for companies to have a dedicated server room.

Payments can be made monthly, and the service itself is cheaper to run when compared to a hardware infrastructure because businesses use less electricity – so it’s also eco-friendly and will significantly reduce a company’s carbon footprint.

Matt Nunns said:
“We’ve covered all the major considerations – security, privacy, reliability and compliance. It’s a fully managed and fully hosted service, and includes 24/7 IT support, Disaster Recovery and High Availability, which means GoCloud is extremely reliable.”

GoCloud’s Partner Programme is open for any company wishing to apply. For more information on becoming a Partner call 0844 745 3822 or visit http://www.gocloud.co.uk/hosted-desktop-partner.php

Meanwhile, the Forum of Private Business (FPB) have warned this week that severe weather conditions could cost businesses £230 million per day if they don’t take steps to enable staff to work from home. That figure is based on one employee per company being off for one day and not working.

Matt Nunns, Technical Director for GoCloud, said:
“It’s at times like this that cloud computing shows its strength. When the country grinds to a halt because of bad weather, it doesn’t mean that businesses have to stop functioning. In fact, they can’t afford to stop functioning. So all they’ve had to do is log on to our system at home, and they see their office desktop as if they’re actually in the office, with all applications, files and databases in front of them. No lost days of work and no disappointed customers.”

GoCloud and Intrasource are part of the Intragroup family of companies based in Hessle, East Yorkshire. They say they have full confidence in their service and have themselves only been able to continue supporting their clients throughout the snowy weather because of cloud technology.

Richard Hudson, a server analyst for Intrasource lives in Scunthorpe, hasn’t been able to get into the office. He said:
“Without my hosted desktop I simply wouldn’t be able to work. If I can’t connect to clients’ computers then I can’t function in my job. I have quite literally been able to do 100% of the things I could do in the office at home.”

Shane Beardsley, Managing Director of Kirk Ella Investments in East Yorkshire, says having a hosted desktop means clients never suffer.
“Using the GoCloud technology is just like sitting in the office anyway, so there’s no loss of work time, you don’t have to go out onto icy roads and clients don’t suffer, so it’s a win-win situation!”

Lisa Jones, Director of Leeds-based IT strategy company Barclay Jones, said:
“It’s been great. GoCloud allows my business to be continuous, regardless of the weather. We do all our work “in the cloud” because it allows us to work anywhere and at any time. It makes life a lot easier and I am able to fulfill my clients’ needs even if I can’t get to their premises. If my laptop gets stolen or broken, so what? If I can’t leave the house, then so what?! All my information is safely stored and easily accessible in the GoCloud data centre.”

GoCloud offer tailored cloud computing services for any size of business, which are designed to replace the traditional in –house IT infrastructure. It dramatically cuts IT costs and energy bills for business owners. It’s cheaper to run because you use less electricity – so it’s also eco-friendly and will reduce a company’s carbon footprint.

We’ve included a map below to the Hull Premier Inn, please click on the link for directions to the Premier Inn:-

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We’ve included a map below to the Hull Premier Inn, please click on the link for directions to the Premier Inn:-

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Use our Hosted Desktop Infrastructure to access a Windows 7 desktop without having to invest in upgrading RAM and Hard Disk capacities!

GoCloud chose the 2009 local Expo at Beverley Racecourse to launch both its web site and its new hosted desktop service for UK businesses of all sizes. Naturally it attracted the attention of local journalists and the Hull Daily Mail ran a piece about GoCloud in its business section the day before the Expo.

At the Expo Chris was interviewed early in the day by local radio station KCFM about GoCloud, cloud computing and what exactly was a hosted desktop. The interview ran throughout the news bulletins on the following Sunday afternoon.

The morning after the Expo Chris was invited along to the BBC Radio Humberside studios for a ten minute slot where the topics covered included cloud computing and green computing matters. Obviously, hosted desktops involve a huge saving in energy bills for firms and the GoCloud servers are far greener than the older heavyweight servers often found in companies’ offices.

And so to this week and back to rolling out hosted desktops for clients, or so we thought. But when the news broke about tens of thousands of passwords being obtained through phishing methods Chris arranged for anti-phishing advice to be posted on our blog as a service to our clients and web visitors.

The next thing we know, on Wednesday, Chris is back on KCFM offering advice to the citizens of HUll and East Yorkshire on how to avoid falling for the phishing scams. Not to be outdone, this morning Chris was invited back to the BBC Radio Humberside morning show to dispense the same invaluable anti-phishing advice to their listeners.

The denizens of East Yorkshire and their confidential information should now be protected from the activities of the cyber criminals but what’s next for our very own media star? When asked Chris said, “No comment! Speak to my agent!” It’s good to see fame hasn’t gone to his head. More from “Hull-ywood” next week.