Cloud solution provider of the year: Eze Castle Integration

Financial institutions are constantly fighting to gain the upper hand on rising costs and competition while having to deal with protecting the privacy and security of their data, applications, and devices. 

On top of that, firms have to deal with aging hardware too. Dean Hill, executive director at Eze Castle Integration, says in 2020, support for products such as Windows Server 2008 and Exchange 2010 is coming to an end. 

“Naturally, this will trigger non-cloud businesses to make time for an IT refresh and consider investing in a virtual infrastructure through deploying complete cloud services,” Hill says. These factors, among others, continue to drive cloud migration and adoption among investment firms.

Putting new technology in place of legacy hardware enables firms to have up-to-date security and threat awareness capabilities that come with new IT platforms, through enhancing logging and event reporting mechanisms. 

Eze won this category due to its managed cloud solution, which provides applications, connections, and performance that investment firms require. Also, the solution is supported 24x7x365 by Eze’s IT team. 

The company first built and deployed its cloud-hosted platform for a hedge fund in 2005, at a time when cloud technology was still nascent. Since then, cloud technology has evolved, though concerns around data and cyber security have become more of a priority.

Eze’s partnership with Microsoft at the end of 2016 resulted in the launch of Eze Hybrid Cloud, allowing firms to combine the security and resiliency delivered through the Eze Private Cloud with the flexibility of Microsoft’s Cloud. It went through a program with Microsoft to become accredited as a tier one cloud solution provider. 

Its managed cloud solution allows firms to operate within the public cloud while ensuring their data is safe and secure by combining Microsoft’s public cloud tools with data protection and security technology. These include anti-virus software and host-based and network intrusion detection systems, among others.

Eze launched the evolved Eze Manage Cloud last year, providing firms with access to a full-service platform that supports daily operations including key business applications, file services, built-in disaster recovery, among others. “Eze Castle Integration can act as a virtual CTO, providing consulting and complementary services to enhance an investment firm’s back office,” says Hill. 

David Mulvenna, chief operating officer at Metrica Partners, a Singapore-based hedge fund using Eze’s Managed Suite, says any downtime can jeopardise revenue and reputation. Therefore, it was vital for the fund to find a managed service provider that ensures uptime and operational efficiency. 

The Eze Managed Suite consists of private cloud, cyber security and business continuity services. 

“As a start-up fund of less than 10 users, it made sense for us to partner with an IT provider who understands the hedge fund space and technology requirements right from the start. So, instead of employing and maintaining an in-house IT team, we decided it would be best to partner with Eze Castle Integration – they live and breathe IT. Eze Castle Integration is also our trusted partner when it comes to any due diligence around our technology and infrastructure, helping us to continue to win the trust of investors,” says Mulvenna. 

Eze Castle Integration can act as a virtual CTO, providing consulting and complementary services to enhance an investment firm’s back office

Dean Hill, Eze Castle Integration

Metrica is an event-driven fund focused on Asia-Pacific. Investors of its fund include foundations, family offices, funds of funds, accredited individuals and Metrica’s employees.

Having continued IT support has enabled Metrica to build and maintain a risk-averse industry profile, he adds. “In fact, in a recent power grid failure, which affected the business district of Central Singapore, we were able to see Eze Castle Integration’s business continuity plan in action, and were proud to be one of the few firms in the area to remain connected and continue trading,” Mulvenna says. 

Eze’s private cloud solution also gives the firm’s users access to key business applications, as well as secure files, emails and data.

Looking ahead, Eze will continue delivering bespoke security and cloud solutions to satisfy risk requirements of investment management firms.

It rolled out Eze Dark Web Monitoring in April, enabling cyber security intelligence analysts to monitor the dark web constantly to help clients reduce the risk of account takeovers and deep after breach scrutiny avoidance. 

In July, it launched a security information and event management service – Eze Managed SIEM – providing real-time security analysis of data to identify potential security risks. Hill says this service was designed to ensure all information is filtered through a security operations centre (SOC) to eliminate “the noise”, resulting in the reports and recommendations that clients need to address cyber security challenges.

The company aims to continue delivering bespoke security and cloud solutions required by the investment management sector to maintain a risk-averse industry profile.

It will continue rolling out new cyber security solutions and enhance its existing solutions to ensure threats are minimised.

The judges agreed that Eze provides a comprehensive range of cloud and IT services. One judge said: “Eze embraces cloud services and rich functions and opportunities as part of their central ethos rather than as an add-on or afterthought.”