Global Knowledge investment in Remote Labs gives enterprises added flexibility in IT training
Multi-million Euro investment enables high quality skills development to be conducted at any location across Europe, the Middle-East and Africa.
Global Knowledge, Europe’s largest and most successful provider of IT training and skills development services, has announced the full opening of its new Remote Labs facility at its headquarters in the UK. The Labs facility has been developed with the full support of Cisco Systems – one of Global Knowledge’s leading vendor partners, and is equipped with all the very latest technologies from the world-leading networking solutions company.
The venture represents a multi-million Euro investment by Global Knowledge. It will enable the company’s advanced curriculum of courses to be delivered anywhere, using up-to-date and fully tested, remotely accessed equipment. The Labs are hosted in a datacenter which is the largest facility of its kind in the EMEA region. It is currently being used to support courses right across Europe and as far as Russia, Singapore, Australia, Brazil and North America.
The purpose-built facility – which is located in the company’s European Headquarters in Wokingham – is capable of supporting over 80 different courses and as many as 1000 delegate students simultaneously, using the very latest Cisco Systems equipment.
“Our Remote Labs infrastructure provides trainers with everything they need to run a full curriculum of Cisco courses”, says EMEA President of Global Knowledge, Richard Pryor-Jones. “The lab environment has the benefits of emulating the real world. In today’s global datacenter, engineers rarely physically touch the equipment – the Remote Labs allows delegates to learn the skills to manage, monitor and configure equipment remotely from their desktop.”
The facility offers Global Knowledge, its partners and its customers a number of advantages, Richard Pryor-Jones notes. “The lab investment is providing fantastic support to our vendors and their channel partners by allowing advanced technology skills to be delivered in countries and regions where it is difficult to provide the right equipment on-site. A standard internet link permits access to the very latest equipment and provides delegates with a very high quality training experience.”
The investment in the Remote Labs is part of Global Knowledge’s on-going commitment to growth and expansion of its business in Europe. With over 40 dedicated training centres in 11 countries offering more than 1000 courses, Global Knowledge is the leading provider of training across the region and is expanding rapidly. It is the leading accredited provider of training and skills development in both Microsoft and Cisco Systems technologies in Europe and also offers a growing range of professional IT skills and project management courses in areas such as ITIL and PRINCE2.
Global Knowledge’s Learning Services proposition provides enterprise organisations with a comprehensive solution to all their IT training and skills development requirements and the company’s iConnect web portal gives customers a very easy way to view, book and manage training programmes on-line.
The company is investing significant amounts in developing both its course schedule and its training facilities and resources right across Europe throughout 2007 with the aim of further growing its business and underlining the company’s position as the leading provider of high quality IT training in the EMEA region. “There is a growing realisation that quality really matters when it comes to IT skills development”, says Pryor-Jones.
“Global Knowledge is an ambitious company and one that is founded on the principles of quality and value. IT plays a vital role in all enterprise organisations and to compete effectively in today’s global markets, they need to derive maximum value from their investment in technology. The training we provide is designed to provide employees and IT workers with the skills they need to get the very best from software and systems and from themselves”, says Pryor-Jones.
The company is working much more closely with many of its customers to develop and adapt courses to suit the specific long-term needs of their organisations. “We know from experience that intelligent investments made in quality development of staff today will drive business growth tomorrow. This is why large enterprises are increasingly making the on-going development of IT skills a key pillar of their strategy going forward.”