Guidance

The Crown Hosting Data Centres framework on Digital Marketplace

How the Crown Hosting Data Centres framework provides physical datacentre space for public sector organisations.

The Crown Hosting Data Centres framework is available to all central government departments, arm鈥檚 length bodies and the wider public sector.

贰尘补颈濒听[email protected]聽to talk about your datacentre hosting needs.

Digital Marketplace overview

罢丑别听聽helps you find cloud technology and specialist services for digital projects.

It uses 3 frameworks (agreements between government and suppliers). You can find:

  • digital outcomes, digital specialists and user research services through the Digital Outcomes and Specialists framework
  • cloud services (for example, cloud hosting, software and support) through the G-Cloud framework
  • physical data centre space through the Crown Hosting framework

All public sector organisations, including agencies and arm鈥檚 length bodies, can use the Digital Marketplace.

The Crown Hosting framework

The Crown Hosting Data Centres framework is an agreement between the government and a supplier called Crown Hosting Data Centres Limited. Crown Hosting Data Centres Limited is a joint venture between the government and Ark Data Centres Limited. The framework provides public sector organisations with access to physical data centre space.

The Crown Hosting Data Centres framework supplements the government鈥檚 Cloud First policy. Although Cloud First has helped the government move many applications to the cloud, some applications either can鈥檛 make the transition in the short term or are too expensive to switch. This cross-government framework ensures that these applications can continue to be hosted for as long as is necessary, cheaply and securely. ##Features

Crown Hosting offers:

  • mission-critical data centres
  • a secure environment for transition to the cloud
  • a flexible, 鈥榩ay-for-what-you-use鈥� model
  • power uptime availability that exceeds Tier III
  • leading environmental performance

Benefits

The framework offers:

  • easy access to co-located, secure data centres with no minimum volume commitment
  • cost savings (because government demand for data centre space is aggregated)
  • time savings (because there鈥檚 no need to manage multiple supplier tenders)
  • simple, transparent 鈥榩ay-for-what-you-use鈥� pricing so usage can be scaled as required
  • choice of duration commitments that can be ended early without charge
  • financial volume rebates linked to the aggregate consumption
  • robust performance service-level agreements, including power uptime
  • strong step-in rights for government to ensure continuity of service if required

Security

The data centres are:

  • assured by the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to OFFICIAL
  • capable of delivering services with increased security levels
  • compliant with Security Policy Framework 2014, which covers mandatory policies for:
    • protective marking
    • personnel security
    • physical security
    • information security
  • compliant with the ISO 27001 standard for security management

Connectivity

The data centres have robust multiple(?) connections聽 to the:

  • Public Services Network (PSN)
  • NHS Network (N3)
  • Secret LAN Interconnect (SLI) networks
  • Restricted LAN Interconnect (RLI) networks
  • internet

Service-level agreements

The service contract covers:

  • power uptime
  • power outages
  • environmental performance
  • incident management
  • change management
  • capacity management
  • backup and disaster recovery through multiple data centre campuses

Specific government requirements (for example, those relating to latency or service levels) can be agreed with the supplier and framework authority.

Quality and environmental standards

All data centres are compliant with industry standards, including:

  • ISO 9001 standard for quality management
  • ISO 14001 standard for environmental management
  • EU Code of Conduct, which is aligned with industry-recognised energy efficiency practices
  • ISO 27001, 22301, HMG ITHC and Cyber Essentials Plus
  • ISO 50001
  • Investors in People Platinum

Further information

Contact the Crown Hosting team if you want to learn more about the framework.

Crown Hosting

[email protected]

If you鈥檇 like to buy technology services from another framework you can:

  • email Crown Commercial Service for help and advice

Crown Commercial Service

[email protected]

Updates to this page

Published 1 December 2013
Last updated 1 April 2025 show all updates
  1. Content updated for accuracy

  2. Updated guidance page with latest information

  3. The Digital Marketplace support email has changed to [email protected]

  4. The Pan-Government Accreditation (PGA) has been replaced by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Changes have also been made to the 'Service-level agreements' section.

  5. Updated Crown Hosting email address.

  6. First published.

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