On demand, business-critical portfolio – from cloud-based services to hosted applications – available across Europe

12 May, 2009 – COLT, a leading European provider of business communications, has enhanced its capabilities with a dedicated managed services division to provide customers with dynamic yet secure and scalable IT services and solutions.  Announced in September 2008 as part of its strategy to drive growth, the COLT Managed Services team is now actively providing innovative customer solutions based around standardised platforms, supported by COLT’s network, utility computing applications and Data Centres.

COLT's wide range of end-to-end managed services and IT infrastructure solutions caters for the diverse needs of companies in the finance, professional services, media and public sectors.  By leveraging its network and Data Centre assets, COLT offers enterprise cloud-based managed services that deliver faster time to market, lower IT costs, and enhance security and compliance to address the CIO’s business critical IT issues including business transformation, infrastructure flexibility, cost reduction and risk mitigation.

Maggy McClelland, Managing Director of COLT Managed Services is responsible for creating the managed services strategy and implementing the business transformation that is fundamental to delivering sustained, long term, profitable growth. McClelland has a wealth of experience in consulting, delivery and providing high-level strategic guidance to world class organisations gained over 23 years of working in IT services for companies including IBM, CSC and Motorola. She recently joined COLT from BT Global Services where she was President of Global Operations and Professional Services. 

Rakesh Bhasin, CEO, COLT says: “Managed Services sits at the heart of COLT’s business and, with the creation of our dedicated Managed Services division, we are now taking our offering to the next level.  We are delighted that Maggy McClelland has accepted this challenge and are confident that the expertise and leadership she brings will ensure its success.”

As COLT has its own infrastructure, it is uniquely positioned. McClelland says: “Our portfolio of managed solutions and services allows customers to purchase network and compute resources in a more efficient and flexible way. Historically described as ‘On Demand’, we are able to make the promise a reality and we are very excited about the opportunities this creates for our customers to manage their budgets much more effectively.

“COLT’s ongoing investment in its European fibre network combined with our existing 18 Data Centres means we have a unique proposition of technology asset ownership that we aggressively leverage to benefit our customers.” she continued. 
With businesses currently feeling the effects of the global recession, COLT believes that the provision of more robust managed services utilising shared platforms and cost structures is of particular importance.

With the creation of its managed services division, COLT is further strengthening its portfolio of dedicated and shared managed hosted solutions and services, including advising customers on how to take advantage of virtualisation and the shift towards cloud computing. This builds on COLT’s well established track record with customers that include the world's top 25 financial institutions, 67 of the top 100 European banks and 20 European stock exchanges. COLT’s managed services are available through all COLT’s customer segments – Major Enterprise, SME and Wholesale.