Sun Microsystems signs landmark contract with eHosting DataFort to provide remote monitoring and managed technology services

This new service, which Sun estimates may have a return-on-investment of more than 120 percent, represents a major step toward selective technology and managed services sourcing in the region.

This partnership will enable eHosting DataFort to offer customers remote services ranging from monitoring system and business application availability, performance and security to problem-solving, IT infrastructure administration resulting in a marked decrease in operational costs and improved service levels.

"Companies can now deploy their staff to focus on strategic technology initiatives and align their IT competencies with critical business objectives, leaving the administrative tasks to Sun and eHosting DataFort, resulting in a significant reduction in costs and increase in service quality,"

said Chris Cornelius, Managing Director, Sun Microsystems Middle East & North Africa (MENA).

"Furthermore, eHosting DataFort's flexibility gives our vast network of customers across the MENA region the option to choose different levels of monitoring and management based on their specific business needs. This partnership is designed to help customers resolve problems that have already occurred, and also plan ahead and prevent IT challenges from occurring in the first place. Selective sourcing supports companies in improving their internal IT maturity and service capabilities," he added.

As eHosting DataFort is vendor-independent, the tie-up between the two organizations will expand to provide expertise for heterogeneous IT Data Center technologies. Consequently, monitoring and management software such as IBM's Tivoli, HP's OpenView and CA's Unicentre can be integrated into Sun's monitoring and management services for added customer convenience.

"This tie-up with Sun Microsystems is a first in the region, and greatly improves the regional prospect for selective IT sourcing. eHosting DataFort and Sun aim to provide relief for specific customer technology-related 'pain' so organizations can focus on their core competencies," said Dr. Saeed Al Barwani, CEO, eHosting DataFort.

With the assistance of Tech Access, the company's channel development provider (CDP) in the Middle East, and its Dubai Internet City-based authorized iForce Ready Centre, Sun partners like eHosting DataFort have the added advantage of being able to test the performance of their solutions on the Sun platform.