October 1 2008

A year after its opening, North East business solutions provider Knowledge I.T’s Data and Business Recovery Centre is proving to be a success with many clients signing up to take  advantage of the unique facilities it offers.

The new centre started an exciting chapter in Knowledge’s success story – a story that spans nearly 20 years of steady growth and expansion.

The Washington-based firm has grown from humble beginnings – just nine employees at the beginning of the 1990s - to become one of the leading regional providers of added value communications technology and solutions including IP (internet protocol) telephony, ICT, data storage, internet services and disaster recovery.

Now employing more than 80engineers, technical and customer support staff, Knowledge works for 250 of the biggest firms and organisations in the North of England.

These include the Springfield Motor Group, Cardinal Hume School, Gateshead contact centre and fulfilment services provider Spark Response, the UK's top designer nursery retailer Mamas and Papas, the RVI Hospital, North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, Formica and BAe Systems.

It was the first North East service provider to unite all business communications into one package, allowing companies to replace multiple suppliers with just one provider and one bill. In 2006 the company’s success was recognised when it won the regional technology award at Sunderland’s Portfolio Business Awards.

Located in North Tyneside, the state-of-the-art Tier Three Data and Business Recovery Centre is the second of three such facilities to come on stream in the region, representing a £5 million investment by Knowledge as part of an ongoing strategy to provide customers with the best available data protection technology and quality service levels.

The 10,000 sq ft facility has a dedicated electricity sub-station, a powerful back-up diesel generator and sophisticated fire detection, suppression and advanced environmental systems to cope with any emergency situation including a National Grid power failure. Customer facilities include personal access suites, office accommodation, business services and on-site free parking.

Security has been an overriding consideration with physical, electronic and biometric systems - conforming to ISO27001 for information security - an integral and vital part of a host of advanced features designed to provide maximum protection. Each centre will in turn be connected to the others via a high speed fibre optic network to give optimum security, efficiency and reliability. All will have multiple connections, linking to national voice and data networks.

And to mark it’s first anniversary, Knowledge I.T. is offering a  free disaster audit  to new customers.

This includes access to Knowledge I.T’s Business Recovery Planning Tool, enabling them to quickly and easily construct a robust business continuity plan and help towards achieving BS25999 accreditation.

This standard is rapidly becoming the benchmark for business recovery and is likely to apply to all businesses. Non-compliance could result in higher insurance premiums and, more importantly, could prevent an organisation from tendering for certain types of business.

Regional Development Agency One NorthEast endorsed the New Facility and provided funding towards the centre’s development.

Margaret Fay, One NorthEast chairman, who opened the site, said at the time that Knowledge’s use of cutting edge technology provides clients with invaluable disaster recovery services.

George Sanger, sales and marketing director for Knowledge I.T, said: “I’m sure Margaret Fay will delighted at the success of the centre and the invaluable support it provides to companies in times of need - it is comforting to know that such an invaluable facility is on the region’s doorstep.”

“The North Tyneside facility has been a major investment and is  a huge step forward for us in terms of being able to meet client expectations and add value to our range of services.

“It is a fact that over 80% of businesses never recover from a disaster-level event. And unfortunately, these natural and non-natural events are becoming more common.

“It is therefore prudent for businesses to have plans in place to protect their assets and ensure they will continue to function.

“The North East Data and Business Recovery Centre provides this and is an integral part of our ability to offer Data and Business Recovery Triangulation.

“Simply put, in the event of a disaster you can choose any of our centres to re-locate your business to and if necessary, use all of them.”

For more information please call us on 0845 142 0020 or CLICK HERE to complete our online information request form.