Most myths about Open Source have gone down in flames over the past few years as more and more serious enterprises, financial institutions, Governments and technology startups have moved to it. Perhaps the last remaining, and most persistent, is that "you can't get support for it"...
Britain's most-respected and best-established Open Source business, Sirius, is celebrating six months uninterrupted 24/7 support operation by opening it's doors and making the service available to all. Plus, until the end of August, the company is giving away round-the-clock support for the cost of business hours to the first twenty organisations taking it up.
Custom-built on the second floor of their Rivermead House head office, the support centre provides genuine 24/7 monitoring, support and managed services for the entire range of enterprise-class Open Source technologies. All operatives are trained Open Source engineers with English as their first language.
In it's recent study on Open Source advantages commissioned by the UK Government Cabinet Office, the London School of Economics highlighted cost of acquisition and cost of upgrade as the most significant features driving Open Source uptake. Cost of support comes next, and demonstrates the availability of high-quality, low-cost expert support is critical for the next stage of Open Souce uptake.
Sirius' latest move is entirely customer-driven. The company has provided support, managed services and a manned helpdesk for several years, and over the past year receiving increasingly frequent requests for twenty-four hour coverage. The final catalyst for the move came from the round-the-clock support requirements of one of the UK's top 20 fastest growing tech companies, joining Sirius' established customers such as Specsavers, Yell, Markit and Médecins Sans Frontières. After six months successful and continuous running, round-the-clock Open Source support is now Open for all.
The new service is on-shore, populated with real people answering the phone, and has no automated menus or sudden disconnects.
Mark Taylor, CEO of Sirius Corporation said: “The most commonly voiced complaint about Open Source is that there is no support available for it. Sirius' fully managed 24/7 support service eradicates this myth once and for all.”
Jeremy Vickers, Financial Director of Killby & Gayford said: "We have been a Sirius customer for ten years now, and they have been running our helpdesk and support for the last three. We welcome this latest extension of their first-class support and customer service capabilities"
About Sirius
Sirius is a leading IT services group specialising in enterprise-ready Open Source software. Clients include Government and Public Sector organisations, start-ups, SMEs and blue-chip multi-nationals. For more information visit: www.siriusit.co.uk For interviews contact Kelly Taylor +44 (0)870 608 0063
