Northgate Managed Services to help every school maximise ICT budgets with highly flexible cloud services
12 January 2011
Helping to realise school’s ICT strategies and plans, as budgets continue to tighten, Northgate Managed Services (www.northgate-is.com/managedservices) is launching a range of cloud-based services at BETT 2011 (stand D70). Scalable, with transparent costs and no initial infrastructure investment, schools can choose from a range of services such as MY-SCHOOL, Security as a Service, Archiving as a Service and E-mail & Storage as a Service, all tailored to complement their existing ICT infrastructure and overall ICT strategy. This highly flexible approach enables schools to step into the cloud at their own pace whilst reaping the associated long-term cost savings.
Tried and tested in the business world, the cloud helps remove the reliance on capital expenditure as organisations simply pay their provider for what they use. Importantly, Northgate's predictable, pay-as-you-go pricing and minimal requirement to purchase or maintain hardware or software, helps schools cut costs without comprising on quality of ICT.
Northgate's brand new online learning portal; MY-SCHOOL, a cloud based application which unites a range of systems and applications of a school under one single sign-on, provides simplified, 24/7 access to educational resources from any device connected to the internet.
Schools have an ever growing number of applications and content available to staff and students, which require users to remember multiple usernames and passwords, and log in to different systems individually. This can result in intensive password management and in some services not being accessed regularly or utilised to the full, which is costly to the school. MY-SCHOOL takes the hassle out of this process by providing single sign-on to a multitude of applications including all leading Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), e-mail, calendar, tasks, shared storage and office applications. School resources and applications can also be accessed via a virtualised desktop link. MY-SCHOOL also seamlessly integrates with Microsoft's free e-mail application Live@365, providing easy access to a suite of free tools as well as popular hosted applications such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
Fully customisable to reflect a school's individual preferences and identity, MY-SCHOOL also enables schools, colleges and academies to select from a wide variety of widgets including e-mail, calendar, RSS news feeds, weather, maps, a clock and search functionality.
The new cloud services form part of Northgate's portfolio of services and solutions, designed to help schools make efficient use of their ICT budget. From the latest thin client technology to deliver applications and data to multiple devices over a network, and centrally managed print solutions to make efficient use of printers and paper, to a 24/7 fully managed service, Northgate takes a flexible approach to solutions and personalise service delivery to meet every individual schools' needs.
Chris Wiseman, Sales Director, Education at Northgate Managed Services, comments: "For education to reap the maximum long-term cost savings associated with moving to the cloud, schools need to be well informed and assured of the benefits. Northgate's approach allows schools to utilise cloud services alongside existing ICT solutions and migrate at their own pace, which will help to instil confidence and as a result, will see a much greater uptake of hosted services in 2011."
For further information about Northgate Managed Services, please visit stand D70 at BETT 2011 or contact its Schools and Academies team via email: info@northgate-is.com.
