Search through our UKHotViews and UKHotViewExtra articles plus complete research reports
At the beginning of November 2022, we wrote about the awarding of the Crown Hosting II framework to Crown Hosting Data Centres (CHDC) (see Crown Hosting II awarded to CHDC | TechMarketView). At the time, we saw it purely as an extension of the arrangements that have been in place since 2015. However, there have been some important changes. And those changes might herald a step-change for Crown Hosting.
For those readers unfamiliar with the Crown Hosting framework, it is a Government agreement, managed by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), for the provision of data centre colocation facilities for the ICT of public sector customers. The sole provider under the framework – CHDC – is a joint venture between Ark Data Centres (75%) and the Cabinet Office (25%). Ark constructs, operates, and owns hyperscale data centres for rent, providing the colocation facilities and the associated specialist facilities management and electricity. CHDC is a tenant of Ark and provides public sector customers with access to the highly secure premises “across at least three locations separated by no less than 15km”.
According to the Cabinet Office, over the last seven years, Crown Hosting has “significantly overdelivered in terms of savings”: approximately £2bn of taxpayer’s money, a 75% reduction in electricity costs, and a 99% reduction in CO2 emissions.
In this latest research from TechMarketView’s PublicSectorViews team, we analyse the use of the Crown Hosting framework over the last seven years, the main factors – including the Government’s Cloud First Policy - that have influenced how public sector organisations tackle their technical debt, and how the changes evident within the latest iteration of the framework – alongside an evolving political and economic backdrop - could result in Crown Hosting being viewed by public sector bodies as a more viable option than previously.
The most notable changes to the framework are its extended scope to include migration support; a new shared hybrid infrastructure offering; and access to the framework for system integrator (SI) partners of public sector organisations. To delve deeper into our analysis, TechMarketView PublicSectorViews subscribers can download the report – Crown Hosting II: A game changer? – now. If you would like to find out how to gain access to this research and more besides, please contact Deb Seth or info@techmarketview.com and we would be pleased to help.
Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '12:55' - Tagged: contract cloud colocation hosting legacy framework public+sector