Virtual Offis

Pyrmont, New South Wales

We’ve built a reputation on exceeding expectations. As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), we are relied upon to provide enterprise grade infrastructure, instantly. For a flat monthly fee and no capital outlay for our customers, we provide IBM servers, Cisco networking infrastructure and the latest security, monitoring and management technologies. Our customers leverage this technology to gain a competitive edge and improve business efficiencies without investing in specialised infrastructure or the overheads associated with operations and technical expertise.

The seed for our company was planted in the early 1990s, when Craig Allen conceived a vision of accessing all the resources of an office from a virtual infrastructure. He wanted you to be able to click on filing cabinets to access files or click on an icon of a telephone for making a call, just like starting any application. This led to building rock solid IT Infrastructure and finding a secure facility to host it. But the real differentiator had to be service. You want to use your applications, not spend your time maintaining it and making it work.

So from the beginning, we have placed an emphasis on service. As you would expect, we provide 99.9% availability but we go much further. Our engineers help you design, size, configure and install your infrastructure. We continue working with you, as your “Virtual Operations Department”, managing and maintaining your network connections, security, backups, monitoring your systems and performing all the day-to-day operations required to run your mission critical systems, allowing you to allocate more resources to your core business.

We started trading as a Bulletin Board Service and ISP called SydWeb in 1992 and later registered as Offis Pty Ltd (ACN 077 283 811) in 1997. In 1999, we secured tenancy at the City West Building in Pyrmont and now operate within one of the most advanced and secure data centres in Australia. In 2006, a second data centre was brought online to deliver our customers automated failover for disaster recovery and geographical load balancing.

In 2008, we launched the Virtual Server range VMware technology with high availability and fault tolerance.
Our goal is to exceed your expectations in providing a complete range of managed infrastructure services.

We provide services to Small Medium Business, the Enterprise, Web Application Developers and Software Vendors. We offer this expertise across dedicated and virtualised server environments, from a single server to complex hosting with load balancing and auto failover to a secondary data centre. The focus is on customer service, security, disaster recovery for a fixed month fee.

We work alongside and in collaboration with businesses of every scale, from individual developers to some of Australia’s largest organisations. We have previously hosted and currently host applications in various industries including telecommunication giants Optus and Vodafone, software vendors Hewlett Packard and Jobpac, financial servicers companies OxForex and Van Eyk Research, and security companies RSA and Symantec.

We have been awarded VISA Best Practice Champion.
We help Hamilton Island migrate their site from another provider to our infrastructure after it crashed because of all the inquiries for “The worlds bet job” promotion. We host the VodaFone store doing the iPhone launches. We have help Secure Parking achieve PCI compliance.
We help Carmichael Fisher migrate their Exchange, Oracle Database application and Terminal Servers for 60 users from a data center that was being closed down to our infrastructure over a weekend.
We have migrated around 100 servers from Physical servers to Virtual Servers.
We have previously hosted and currently host applications in various industries including telecommunication giants Optus and Vodafone, software vendors Hewlett Packard and Jobpac, financial servicers companies OxForex and Van Eyk Research, and security companies RSA and Symantec.

We work with application developers, software vendors and systems integrators to provide you the best solution. There is a clear delineation of roles and responsibilities – partners manage the functional aspects of the application while we work cooperatively on major upgrades and patches to operating systems and services like the .NET framework and database engines.

Our partners are our sales channel. We support them by providing development servers, the Try B4U Buy program and fanatical service. We help them win new business and in turn we win business. Some of our application developers, software vendors and systems integrators are: AlphaSalmon, Novera, Integrum, 3MSP, Lateral Systems, Tribal DDB.

We have in place strong relationships with the “best in breed” suppliers of hardware and software services like; IBM, Microsoft, VMware and Cisco Systems.

Infrastructure and Operations is our pure play. Our team has amassed specific experience relating to IBM System I and System X hosting and operations, project planning, network operations and connectivity. We offer this expertise across dedicated and virtualised server environments, from a single server to complex hosting with load balancing and auto failover to a secondary data centre.

Virtual.Offis’ primary data centre is a utility grade facility with dual phase un-interruptible power supply, redundant mains, battery backup and diesel generators, electrical fault, ionisation, fire and smoke detection.
Our primary data centre is conveniently located only minutes from Sydney’s CBD in the City West building in Pyrmont. Purposely built in 1990 as a digital data and satellite broadcast centre for Galaxy Television, the building has been designed with the necessary physical infrastructure, environmental and power systems to support utility grade data centre operations.
The City West building is now owned and occupied by UBI World TV and remains the centre for Satellite TV broadcasting in Australia. UBI World TV is also a major shareholder in Virtual.Offis.

Virtual.Offis’ primary Network Operations Centre is a 24 hour, 365 day, lights on and lights out secure facilitiy with the following features:

A redundant Multistack environmental control system ensures the rack room is kept at a constant 19ºC (+/- 2º) and regulates room temperature and humidity providing a cool, static free operating environment.

The entire building is protected by a redundant TYHCON uninterruptible power supply which includes:

• Dual phase mains into the building
• Filtered and UPS on two circuits to every rack (2×200KVa)
• Redundant diesel generators on the roof with 20,000L of diesel
• 24 hour VESDA Fire and smoke detection system
• 19” Rack mounting in secure Glass House environment
• Tiled raised steel and concrete access flooring

Physical security measures include;

• 24×7 security guards on site
• CCTV surveillance throughout the building
• Proximity readers and electronic passes restrict access to sensitive areas.
• Virtual.Offis personnel escort all visitors to the facility.

Our second data centre located in St. Leonards also has interruptible power supply, redundant mains, battery backup and diesel generators, electrical fault, ionisation, fire and smoke detection.

We can provide you with dedicated IBM servers and full administrative access to run any applications you choose. Typically, a 2-tier architecture system consists of a Web front-end and an SQL back-end protected by custom firewalls. We can help you with project management, sizing the servers, allocating partitions and tuning configurations for optimal performance. We manage the server hardware and operating system up to the application level.

IBM System X Servers

• A range of models configured to meet your requirements.
• Intel Xeon multi Core based servers running Windows or Linux.
• Remote console access and secure file transfer via IT Director and SFTP.
• Incorporate Predictive Failure Analysis technology which pro-actively notifies our engineers of issues with memory, processors, hard drives, fans and power so they can be fixed before they affect performance or interrupt service.
• All servers use dual power supplies and all hard drives use RAID1 (mirror) or RAID5 (stripe) with one hot spare.
• Replacement parts are kept on site in case of hardware failure.
• IBM Blade Centre technology is used to provide high availability, flexibility, scalability and manageability.

IBM I Servers

• The IBM I (formally System I) is the most complete and secure integrated business system designed to run thousands of the world’s most popular business applications.
• IBM i5/OS.
• Linux.

Virtual Server Hosting
Virtual.Offis implements VMware technology to provide you with Virtual Servers, also know as Virtual Private Servers (VPS). Virtual servers can provide you with higher performance, higher availability and more secure servers.

VMware solutions virtualise four key hardware resources: processing, memory, storage and network, using a best-of-breed hypervisor to allocate these resources dynamically to balance changing application needs.

Using VMware’s Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS), we are able to continuously monitor utilization across resource pools and intelligently align resource against the highest priority applications, in accordance with the needs of your business. Your business gains dedicated IT infrastructure and we achieve higher hardware utilization through resource pooling. VMware DRS can automatically migrate all virtual machines off physical servers to enable scheduled server maintenance with zero downtime for your applications.

VMware solutions help to improve I/O performance through the VMware vStorage VMFS, which provides virtual machines with simultaneous access to shared data stores. Centralised storage helps reduce latency and increase throughput, and provides the foundation for unique capabilities such as live migration and consolidated backup.

VMware Fault Tolerance, based on vLockstep technology, provides zero downtime, zero data loss continuous availability for your applications, without the cost and complexity of traditional hardware or software clustering solutions.

VMware snapshot is a point in time image of the server. A snapshot preserves the virtual machine just as it was when you took the snapshot including the state of the data on all the virtual machine’s disks. We can take a snapshot for you before you have to make major application upgrades.

We provide you with IBM SAN storage utilising Cisco Fibre Channel (FC) switches. The FC host-based external storage system is specifically designed for high performance requirements. The system uses the most advanced front-end 4 Gbps FC technology with time-proven designs for enterprise-class RAID storage. It utilises multi-ported and hot-swappable SAS disks at 15,000 rpm speeds.

Complex Hosting Solutions
Our team has expertise in complex hosting solutions that require hardware load balancing or clustering for web servers that run very popular web sites. Cisco Global Site Selectors (GSS) are available for you if you wish to have seamless automated failover to a secondary data centre or for geographical load balancing. This is also called multi-homed web sites. It allows traffic to be distributed to a data centre that is geographically closer to your users and provide them with a better response time. Database mirroring and file synchronisations may also be required by these systems.

Load Balancing and Clustering
To design, install and manage these complex solutions requires an in-depth knowledge:

• Application programming Database design and management
• Web session management Web and network security
• Operating systems Networking and Internetworking
• Disaster recovery procedures Staging and test facilities

All these systems require extensive testing and specific process development. We have the specific experience needed for each system.
Operations
We can provide you with IBM I and System X servers, Operating System installation and maintenance, backup routine with retention cycles, premium service, 24×7 system real-time monitoring and alert response support.

Our hosting solutions include the following Managed Services as standard for a flat monthly hosting fee:

• Operating system maintenance, service pack updates and scheduled patching. Database engines, .NET and apache are maintained in cooperation with our partner developers.
• 24×7 system monitoring (CPU, HDD, RAM & NIC) and alert response. Our operations team are alerted to a problem, respond accordingly and can have it fixed before the customer is even aware of it.

Standard alerts are activated for:

• CPU usage at 90% for 5 Min.
• Memory usage at 90% for 5 Min.
• Disk space at 80%, 90% and 95%
• Server On-line / Off-line
• Web site up / down with ServersAlive
• IIS service Stop / Start
• Monitored SQL Stop / Start
• Event log tracking and analysis
• Daily differential & full weekly backups to the central tape library with offsite storage.
• Remote control and secure file transfer
• Basic protection behind Cisco firewalls prevent common attacks such as denial of service (DoS) and synch attacks.
• The firewalls are in stateful failover mode for high availability.
• Disaster recovery and system replication for automated failover.
• Server clustering, server load balancing and geographical load balancing.
• IBM hardware with redundant power supplies, hard drives and standby hardware
• Real time virus scanning with Symantec and Sophos.
• Vulnerability management and reporting with links to remediation databases. Change management is managed via written authorisation. Customer requested changes may be made by email or over the phone and we will request a confirmation by email.
• Network Configuration changes management.
• File-integrity monitoring software to alert our staff to unauthorized modification of critical system files, configuration files, or content files; and configure the software to perform critical file comparisons.
• Syslog management with trend analysis graphs & syslog traffic statistics. Messages are logged or forwarded based on priority or time of day with alarm notifications.

We provide Managed Exchange email services, offer a number of domain name services and SSL certificate encryption keys are sourced from VeriSign. Installation and testing of the certification can be undertaken for you by our team.

Bandwidth
Are you sometimes shocked by your high Internet traffic bills? At Virtual.Offis, we were one of the first ISPs in Australia to offer a truly un-metered or “all you can eat” bandwidth plan at a fixed price. You can select from a range bandwidth speeds at a fixed price and can upgrade to as much as 100Mbps. This offering has allowed our customers to move their hosting from America to Australia, where our price is now competitive and the response time is about 15 times faster because their servers are geographically closer.
We manage bandwidth allocation to guarantee you a minimum level of bandwidth and ensure you take advantage of any spare capacity by allowing data bursting up to 100Mbps.

You have browser access to live bandwidth and traffic usage reports. Historical information is also available and can be downloaded to Excel for further analysis and capability planning.

Service: We’ve built a reputation on exceeding expectations.

Complex hosting: Our team has expertise in complex hosting solutions that require hardware load balancing or clustering for web servers that run very popular web sites. Cisco Global Site Selectors (GSS) are available for you if you wish to have seamless automated failover to a secondary data centre or for geographical load balancing. This is also called multi-homed web sites. It allows traffic to be distributed to a data centre that is geographically closer to your users and provide them with a better response time. Database mirroring and file synchronisations may also be required by these systems.
Fixed monthly fee: For a flat monthly fee and no capital outlay for our customers, we provide IBM servers, Cisco networking infrastructure and the latest security, monitoring and management technologies. Our customers leverage this technology to gain a competitive edge and improve business efficiencies without investing in specialised infrastructure or the overheads associated with operations and technical expertise
PCI Compliance: Virtual.Offis can assist you to comply with Payment Card Industry (PCI) audit requirements. Many of our customers are application developers who are required to be PCI compliant. We provide “ready made” compliance to many of the requirements including restricted physical access with 24×7 on site security.
System I: We are one of a few Managed Services Providers who can support IBM I. The IBM I (formally System I) is the most complete and secure integrated business system designed to run thousands of the world’s most popular business applications.

We are Microsoft certified, VMware certified, CISCO certified and IBM Partners. We will have PCI Compliance certified by the end of 2009.

Portal access for Server Monitoring
Access to Web mail
VPN Software downloads
Case Studies

Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance
Virtual.Offis can assist you to comply with Payment Card Industry (PCI) audit requirements. Many of our customers are application developers who are required to be PCI compliant. We provide “ready made” compliance to many of the requirements including restricted physical access with 24×7 on site security, video surveillance, secure server builds, redundant networks, stateful failover firewalls, continuous security monitoring, scanning and alerts with managed vulnerability scanning, anti virus, anti spyware, log analysis, file integrity, patch management, intrusion detection and prevention. Policies and procedures include formal reviews, change management, incident management and compliance reporting.

*Incubation Program (Try B4U Buy) *
Support for the development community is part of our company DNA. Some time ago we realised many projects are derailed because developers and businesses were being gouged by expensive hosting providers before any applications are in production. They charge monthly fees while the developers are still working on the application and the business has not completed acceptance testing. Too often this resulted in developers and businesses being seriously out of pocket and locked in to contracts before it is realised that the hosting provider is a mismatch for their needs.

With this in mind, we launched a service that ensures our customers have every opportunity to trial our services before any monthly payment is required. Selected customers are offered the advantage of up to 60 days free hosting with our Incubation Program.

This gives you the opportunity to test our services, provide proof of concept, demonstration and development environments at minimal cost. Choose from any of the managed System X servers, pay only a set up fee, the bandwidth you use and take advantage of up to 60 days free hosting.

If at any stage during the 60 days you want to move the server into a live production or a revenue-generating environment, to continue with the service you will need to sign our Service Order and accept the standard Terms and Conditions.

Should you decide to cancel the hosting service at any stage during the 60 days free hosting period, there are no cancellation fees or obligations to continue, however the set up fee is non-refundable.

We are proud of our commitment to the development community and know from feedback how often this unique offering has ensured projects are delivered on time and on budget.

eClub
The eCLUB was initiated in the early days of Virtual.Offis and continues to run as a non-profit organisation that stages three distinct events every year. It consistently attracts 85–120 highly qualified ICT professionals, who come together as a mutually interested community that enjoy connecting in a relaxed, informal and entertaining environment.
Every event centres on themes about the development of technology. From the role of the IT industry in reducing energy consumption, to the potential of ever reaching a ‘technology singularity’ the eClub provides a fantastic forum for you to network, build contacts and find complementary solutions.