Warwick man heads new cloud computing venture

Laura Damon
Posted 8/22/13

Peter Briggs of Warwick has been named managing partner of Aegis Technology Services, a joint venture between Data Storage Corporation and ABC Service, Inc. The formation of the company was …

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Warwick man heads new cloud computing venture

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Peter Briggs of Warwick has been named managing partner of Aegis Technology Services, a joint venture between Data Storage Corporation and ABC Service, Inc. The formation of the company was announced last winter.

Based in Garden City, N.Y., Data Storage Corp. is an 11-year veteran in cloud storage and cloud computing solutions that provides such services as data protection, disaster recovery, and business continuity and compliance solutions that assist organizations in protecting their data and minimizing downtime.

Founded in 1994, ABC Service, Inc. offers services like software and hardware installations, state-of-the-art networking solutions, complete computer repair, and warranty service to web design and hosting and Help-Desk services.

Aegis Technology combines ABC’s managed services expertise in IBM iSeries/AIX v7 with technical support and data center operations expertise from Data Storage Corp.

“This new company is a cloud computing venture,” said Briggs.

“We’re offering a specialty cloud service if you will,” he said, because Aegis focuses on companies that use IBM technology.

Cloud computing is the ability to eliminate hazards in a computer system. The cloud-based replication creates a backup for a company’s system. When a blizzard hits for instance, multiple feeds from the cloud ensure data integrity.

“Even Facebook is an application that kind of sits out there in the cloud,” said Briggs.

The Internet is a vehicle that gets the user to a certain site. That system itself, Facebook for example, is a part of a bigger system. If that system fails, there needs to be a back-up system to ensure the continued functioning of the site.

Briggs said many companies offer cloud solutions and services like Aegis. He said Amazon’s biggest piece of business is commercial computing; they sell storage through clouds but the program only supports companies with Windows operative systems.

Three big New England companies that use IBM systems to run their businesses are FGX International Inc., makers of Foster Grant sunglasses and based in Smithfield, Ocean State Job Lot headquartered in North Kingstown, and the A.T. Cross Company, major international manufacturer of pens, pencils and other accessories based in Lincoln. All three are clients, Briggs said.

Customers pay a monthly subscription service, and they only pay for what they use.

“Think of it as electricity for your computing,” said Briggs.

Briggs said the cost-effectiveness appeals to the mid-sized market. 

“IT costs and IT resources are tight, especially in a tight economy,” he said.

He predicts 50 to 60 percent of the market will move into the cloud system within the next five years.

The cloud system is implemented using an on-boarding process, working with clients to put their applications on a cloud. A backup is taken of their data and installed into Aegis’s cloud system.

The primary data center is in Waltham, Mass. This center houses the core systems companies use to run their applications once embedded in the Aegis cloud. Aegis provides cloud services for health care systems, hospital information systems, student information systems, manufacturing companies and financial companies.

Aegis is based in Melville, N.Y., with technical resources in Warwick and other areas of New England. Briggs said there are half a dozen customers in Rhode Island, but clients range across the country.

He cited smaller hospitals, such as South County Hospital as clients. Aegis also has two to three hospitals in New Jersey and Colorado that have moved to the cloud.

A New York native, Briggs moved to Rhode Island almost 20 years ago and has lived in Wakefield, Narragansett and East Greenwich. With a degree in business from Long Island University, he’s been self-employed since 1996. Briggs founded Warwick-based SafeData in 2005. In 2010, it was acquired by Data Storage Corp. He attributes his current title as managing partner of Aegis to his experience in the market.

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