Print this page (printer friendly)
Paradise Found - S3 Consulting wins Eden Project Contract
03/06/2009
A Corby-based firm that specialises in helping businesses to increase productivity and save money through efficient use of their IT, has secured a contract with a world icon – the Eden Project in Cornwal
S3 Consulting has been working with Connect Midlands, a not-for-profit network backed by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and part-funded by the ERDF on their business plan as they seek to maximise their market opportunity and raise funding.
S3 Consulting was back on site at the famous biomes last week (8th May) to wrap up the project which will not only see the Eden Project make significant cost savings (circa £60k) but also help it reduce the carbon footprint of its IT infrastructure and achieve power savings of 35%.
The secret is in the efficient use of their IT infrastructure, as Robert Galt, CTO of S3 Consulting explains;
“S3 specialises in IT virtualisation technologies. Essentially, server virtualisation divides the traditional physical server into multiple machines, which can run their own isolated operating environment and applications.
“The result is less hardware, power and cooling costs, and extended data centre life. The IT department can conjure up a new server simply by loading a virtualised image onto existing hardware saving IT management budget and time.
“Whilst these savings are great for any business the green solution provided by virtualisation is absolutely crucial for the Eden Project. We are proud members of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative so we are able to pass on our best practice advice and put businesses on a roadmap to meeting the strict Carbon saving guidelines and legislations that the government are putting in place.
“The Eden Project strives hard to be as sustainable as possible, so being selected to be their partner in this vitally important facet of their IT infrastructure is a great testimony to the work of the team.”
S3 Consulting add to their green credentials through partnering with a clean tech energy company, enabling them to provide power efficiency solutions for the whole datacentre and even the whole site, not just through virtualising the IT platform.
Jon Curry, head of ICT at The Eden Project said; “We chose to work with S3 due to their experience and professionalism, but also because they were the only company with sufficient confidence in their solution to provide us with up front, hard guarantees for the success of the project. Whilst the green agenda is not top of every CIO’s list it is or should be not far from it and working with a company who knows how to make the most of that is essential.”
“The focus throughout was on the solution as a whole and how it fitted into our structure. They worked hard to ensure that they were delivering not only a solution but also the knowledge and tools for us to be self sufficient in taking it forward, which is not always the case with a third party supplier.”
In the months leading up to the Eden contract win, S3 has benefited from Connect Midlands’ support and analysis as it seeks to develop the strategy for the business going forward.
The Connect Midlands programme has been identified by the Department For Business and Regulatory Reform (BERR) as delivering a best practice model for investment readiness and access to finance.
Paul Jenkinson, regional manager for Connect Midlands said;
“"S3's contract with the Eden Project adds a significant weight to their green credentials. They have attended a Connect Midlands Right Funds for You event and a two day Amber investment readiness event. We congratulate them and wish them well with fund raising."
Connect Midlands is actively seeking other companies who are looking to develop their business through investment and run a range of events and workshops across the region geared to understanding finance. For details visit www.connectmidlands.org or email c.rockey@lboro.ac.uk
Submitted by Sarah Crennell