The new hosting services framework supports the Digital Public Services Strategy for Scotland and in particular the Data Hosting and Data Centre Strategy for the Scottish public sector.

All of the service providers have the ability to provide the core services at the Government Security Classification of “Official” - a minimum requirement of the tender, and the framework has the ability to meet “secret” and “top secret” information.

A notice from the Scottish Government said: “Objectives include maximising efficiency and collaboration through aligning with the strategic priorities in Scotland’s Digital Future:  Delivery of Public Services, delivery and demonstration of real cash savings, embedding sustainable procurement and improving access to public sector contracts.”

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The seven appointed suppliers are Atos IT Services, Brightsolid Online Technology, CGI IT UK, Fujitsu Services, Iomart, Onyx Group, and Pulsant. An eighth is expected to be announced at a future date.

The framework covers a range of data hosting services including co-location, private cloud, public cloud and community cloud.

Colin Speirs, public sector bid manager for Iomart, said: “This is an important move by the Scottish Government to help dispel the technical and security concerns the public sector still has around the adoption of cloud services.

“We can help organisations manage the balance between legacy, on-premise IT systems and services delivered via the cloud.”

Neil Stephenson, chief executive of Onyx Group, said: “Being awarded a place on the framework is a testament to the hard work carried out by our team throughout Scotland.”

“The findings of the Report on the Public Sector Data Centre Landscape, published back in 2013, clearly showed that due to the rapid rate that technology is evolving, the Scottish Public Sector needs to prioritise the adoption of cloud and hosting solutions and dispense with their aging in-house technology.