Services – ORION

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As the only high-speed dedicated fibre optic network committed specifically to supporting research, education and innovation in Ontario, ORION equips users with robust digital infrastructure and cloud software. Explore the solutions.

Network

ORION’s network provides connectivity to its community institutions, linking them to each other and to a global grid of research, education and innovation networks.

Internet Services

The convenience of a single source for all connectivity needs: ORION offers Internet service to its connected institutions across the province.

Nebula Cloud Services

Nebula is a curated collection of hosted services, seamlessly accessed over the ORION network by connected institutions. Users benefit from cost-savings, and above all, world-class services.

Contact Us

Contact our account representatives to customize a solution at a preferred rate 416.507.9860 or bizdev@orion.on.ca.

Browse our services, below, to find a partner solution that best suits your needs.

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Collaboration Software & Web Content Management

Services include document management, content management and application workflow.

Cloud Hosting & IaaS

Services include hosting for websites on virtual servers in an on-demand, scalable, pay-per-use model in an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform, which delivers hosted virtual servers, storage and applications through a self-managed portal.

Supra ITS

Supra ITS’ managed cloud services encompass compute, storage, networking and operating systems at both the infrastructure and application layers. Their expertise enables customers the choice between in-house or managed IT functions.

Backed by Supra ITS’ world-class Tier 3 class data centers in the GTA at Q9 Networks, managed cloud services are based on the HP Enterprise Helion Cloud System. The dedicated, private cloud model is designed to reduce costs, administration and maintenance for customers, which include the option to scale public cloud services, such AWS and Microsoft Azure.

Customers also have the flexibility to maintain control over the entire hybrid environment with unparalleled visibility into infrastructure and applications. All services are delivered with redundancy, security and compliance that meet the standards of highly regulated industries.

ThinkOn

ThinkOn has always been focused on data; providing the infrastructure to help organizations collect, manage and leverage their data. ThinkOn offers Canada’s only commercially available Object Store (compatible with Amazon’s Simple Storage Service), in addition to two tiers of block-based data storage services, all of which are tightly coupled to a high-performance compute environment that supports both bare metal and hyper-visor based provisioning options.

The bare metal capabilities are perfectly suited to provide Hadoop and other similar analytics applications. The virtualized services can also support various types of workload that is both steady-state and variable.

Microsoft

Created by Microsoft, Azure is Microsoft’s Cloud Computing Platform for building and managing applications through a global network of Microsoft-managed and Microsoft partner hosted data centres. It provides both Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) services and supports many different programming languages, tools and frameworks.

IBM/SoftLayer

SoftLayer, an IBM Company, provides cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) from a growing number of data centers and network points of presence around the world. Customers range from Web start-ups to global enterprises. Products and services include bare metal and virtual servers, networking, turnkey big data solutions, private cloud solutions, and more.

SoftLayer’s unique advantages include the industry’s first network-within-a-network topology for true out-of-band access, and a customer portal that’s easily to use and robust API for full remote-access of all product and service management options.

Stage2Data

The Stage2Data Cloud Hosting Model eliminates 3-5 year hardware upgrade cycle and related maintenance and capital costs. It is SSAE and CSAE Certified, provides 24/7 support and allows for flexible expansion, which is easily scalable with your growth. There is no need for onsite hardware maintenance staff.

Achieve economies of scale, get more done with less, while minimizing risks with better redundancies. Reduce electricity and air conditioner costs.

Stage2Data Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS) cloud platform enables substantially more reliable web hosting with no more worries about failed servers, dead power supplies, failed hard drives or any other hardware related issues.

DNS Hosting, Resiliency and DDoS Protection

DNS (Domain Name Servers) cloud hosting provides the resilient infrastructure that allows browsers to connect to a site’s IP using its domain name. DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) protection guards against complex attacks that try to overwhelm a connection with traffic, threatening to take the web property offline.

Canadian Internet Registry Authority (CIRA)

CIRA’s D-Zone Anycast service is a resilient Anycast DNS cloud. This Anycast DNS (Domain Name Servers) set-up enhances an organization’s external DNS name resolution, but also adds in a layer of DDoS protection when an organizations DNS Servers are targeted. Built into the D-Zone service is the high reliability of the D-Zone Anycast cloud. These DNS are located in Canada, as well as global internet hubs. Each node is built to be a fully redundant, load-balanced service improving capacity, latency security and 100% up-time SLA.

In an Anycast DNS cloud, when one DNS name server goes down, it is automatically removed from the routing tables. DNS resolution remains fully available as the CIRA D-Zone leverages two separate Anycast clouds. An Anycast cloud is more resilient to a DDoS attack than a standard unicast DNS server, as it uses geo-location to specify which name server answers a query, as well as levering the combined bandwidth of all the servers.

Fibre & Network Connectivity

Services include private line and Ethernet LAN extension dedicated with more than 400 buildings on-net in Toronto with POPs in New York and Montreal, as well as delivery of end-to-end services with in-house construction and fibre maintenance teams.

ACI Accelerated Connections Inc.

With one of the most geographically diverse footprints in Canada, ACI’s network has been designed with reliability and redundancy at the forefront. Direct connections to the biggest Canadian telecoms as well as a multitude of independent providers allows ACI to provide their customers with a single network solution.

ACI specializes in multi-point WAN solutions which are national in scope and can integrate voice, data and financial transactions. Services range from DSL to fibre networks.

Vianet

Vianet provides a number of IT services over a growing fibre optic network. Originally an ISP, Vianet provides Internet services to business customers through all transport technologies – copper, wireless, and fibre-optics. Services range from small business bundles, which include Internet, phone and on-site service to dedicated enterprise services of up to 1Gbps. Vianet’s service area is large and incorporates most of southern Ontario and a significant footprint within Northern Ontario.

Hosted Applications & Productivity Tools

Services include hosted applications such as email, forms and document management, spreadsheets, calendaring, file storage and classroom collaboration.

Microsoft

Microsoft launched Office365, and online version of Microsoft Office, which has become a market-leading platform with applications for business and education. Office365 is cloud-based, which allows access to Word, Excel, Outlook, and other Microsoft Office tools from anywhere with an internet connection, and from virtually any device.
With Office 365, Microsoft handles all licensing, updates, patches, and upgrades without the background with no need for customer intervention.

Google

Google Apps can be accessed over the web and deliver powerful and scalable office, business and educational software applications. Google Apps are easy to use, simple to administer and are complemented by Google Drive which provides secure, online storage for customer data, photos, videos and documents. In addition, Google Apps for Education is free for schools.

Hosted Video & Web Conferencing

Services include managed, hosted videoconferencing, webcasting and web conferencing, and supports web clients and bring your own devices (BYOD). Video concierge services are also available for special events.

Resolve Collaboration Services

Resolve Collaboration Services offers an extensive suite of collaboration services including videoconferencing, hardware, multipoint bridging, videoconference room rentals, web broadcasting and collaboration, audio conferencing and special event production. Resolve is a customer-focused company and their experts are dedicated to your success. With Resolve, you get reliable, environmentally friendly technology solutions, available globally 24 hours a day.

Learning Management Systems

A learning management system (LMS) is a web-based software application for administering the delivery of online learning and training materials.

Edsby

Edsby is a cloud‐based LMS software platform that enables schools to transform how their teachers, students, parents and administrators engage. Edsby integrates with the existing school/district IT infrastructure, such as student information systems to provide teachers with a highly integrated suite of class management features. Edsby enables students and parents to engage through the web, smartphone and tablet interfaces that provides them with comprehensive, timely school and class information.

D2L

Desire2Learn is an industry leader and innovator in educational software technologies based in Waterloo, Ontario. Brightspace, the flagship learning management system (LMS) product created by D2L, goes beyond the “one-size-fits-all” LMS with a simple, flexible and smart learning platform which delivers successful learning outcomes.

Managed IT Services

Managed Information Technology (IT) Services are delivered by Managed Service Providers who assume responsibility for the application of business and technical expertise. This enables organizations in the management and optimization of information systems and business processes.

Supra ITS

Supra ITS has cutting-edge expertise to manage and maintain mission-critical IT infrastructure, service desk support and delivers upon the best managed IT service standards. These services provide flexibility, allowing customers the choice of options that provide the best value for critical technology management services. Their team takes charge of activities, including proactive monitoring, systems administration, ongoing patching and server/application log administration, and other services.

Managed Service Desk

In addition, customers can choose among three levels of Supra ITS’ managed service desk support. This ranges from basic, over-the-phone end user support for hardware and applications, to advanced operating and networking services that require highly skilled and certified engineering systems professionals. Supra ITS’ SLAs are tailored to help exceed business needs and service expectations.

Key features of the Managed Service Desk include:

Service packages tailored for public and education sector
Around-the-clock IT helpdesk
Dedicated dialing and online status updates
Compliance with in-house and third-party service providers
Managed remote control assistance

Managed Storage, Backup & Disaster Recovery

Services include cloud-based data backup, recovery and retention, remote disaster recovery, business continuity and data protection, off-site storage and archiving.

Supra ITS

Supra ITS’ backup, disaster recovery and business continuity planning removes the eﬀort and anxiety from a complex but essential business requirement. Their expertise eliminates business risk with a streamlined process and strategy that reduces technology costs, helping to ensure that business operations will never be interrupted. Service offerings span all major industry sectors, from online cloud backup, recovery and electronic archiving, to eDiscovery and storage encryption.

Whether an onsite or cloud solution, the data will always be safe and available, backed by Supra ITS’ Tier 3 data centres in the GTA, with accessible reports and audit logs via centralized administrative control.

ThinkOn

ThinkOn helps organizations protect their critical data assets and optimize their application infrastructure costs by providing a secure, fast, and scalable way to host enterprise applications, big data analytics, and disaster recovery-as-a-service solutions.

Instead of deploying point solutions for different infrastructure, customers can now protect all their data regardless of source. ThinkOn provides its own self-service portal, which enables customers to configure and manage their own backup policies, data restoration and schedule management. All customer data is stored on one archive with expandable storage space.

Stage2Data

Stage2Data offers a robust Cloud Disaster Recovery that is a hosted service protecting your key servers, along with your data. In the event of a site disaster, a team of DR experts will manage the recovery process and guide you through the process of gaining virtual access to our mission-critical servers. 24/7 support is included in the service.

Stage2Data Remote Disaster Recovery (RDR) provides professionals to handle your recovery when disaster strikes, and hassle-free installation that is easy to implement. It is also compatible with existing infrastructure, so no new investments in stand-by servers are needed. Stage2Data RDR is also tested – the onboarding service includes one recovery test. Stage2Data also minimizes, reduces or eliminates IT support costs, all at affordable, low monthly price.

Server Co-Location & Data Centres

Services involve housing your servers in a secure, professional data centre environment, in order to access space, generate greater Internet bandwidth, offer constant security, specialist services and systems, while lowering latency.

Vianet

Vianet has it own data centre and its main office is located in Sudbury. Server co-location services includes cabinets and caged space, locked cabinets with customer code for entry, generator back-up, dual air conditioning, redundant fiber connectivity, scalability and private network connection into facility (via the ORION Network), and remote hands service.

ACI Accelerated Connections Inc.

ACI’s Tier III Certified Data Centre located at 35 John St. in downtown Toronto sits on the edge of a resilient network backbone, offering customers unprecedented MPLS and public access up to 10 Gbps. This secure facility is Uptime Institute Tier III certified for power and cooling redundancy. Redundant UPS and generators are equipped to provide a fully certified A+B power grid.

VoIP, Hosted PBX, SIP Trunking

Voice over IP (VoIP) services include hosted, managed PBX that is an outsourced, IP-based phone service that replaces installed analog or digital PBX systems.

SIP trunking is a VoIP and media-streaming service based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) by which Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) deliver telephone services and unified communications.

ACI Accelerated Connections Inc.

ACI’s hosted IP-PBX platform, combines savings and service, offering businesses leading technologies without the upfront capitol cost of a conventional PBX.

ACI’s SIP Trunking Service allows customers to effectively save local, long distance and broadband Internet service costs up to 60% monthly when compared to analog circuits – all while maintaining the same service quality with the simplicity of managing a single network connection, receiving one bill, and engaging one point of contact for all communications needs.

Vianet

Vianet provides high-speed SIP Trunking, Internet, Television, and Telephone service; increasingly over a growing fibre optic network. Vianet SIP Trunking Services offer cost savings over traditional PRI trunk lines, including a private network, the ability to retain existing phone numbers, clear call quality, optimal bandwidth usage, interoperable ability with existing phone systems, and a pay-per-use system.