blueAPACHE emPOWER service comparison
Summary
This page is a side-by-side comparison of the eight emPOWER pillars and the twenty-one individual services listed on blueAPACHE's site: what each is for, how it is delivered, the support window blueAPACHE publishes for it, the published service level if any, and the services it is most often combined with. It exists because the published figures are not uniform across the portfolio: emPOWER Cloud publishes 99.999 per cent uptime, emPOWER Connectivity publishes a conditional 99.99 per cent, Managed Services advertises unlimited 24/7 support while the Connectivity service desk runs 7am to 7pm, and most other services publish no figure at all. Where a cell says "not published", that is the finding, not an omission: the value is set per customer in the Schedule or Service Order. Pillar hubs and services are linked so an agent can move from the comparison to the detail.
Key facts
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Pillars on the site | Managed Services, Security, Cloud, Connectivity, Collaboration, Procurement, Microsoft Practice, Consulting and Advisory |
| Individual service pages | 21 |
| Contractual service categories | 11 Schedules |
| Highest published uptime | 99.999 per cent cloud services, 100 per cent storage (emPOWER Cloud) |
| Conditional published uptime | Minimum 99.99 per cent site uptime under dual-firewall, dual-carriage, multi-carrier design (emPOWER Connectivity) |
| Widest published support window | Unlimited 24/7 support (emPOWER Managed Services) |
| Narrowest published service desk window | 7am to 7pm on business days (emPOWER Connectivity), with 24x7 monitoring |
| Response and resolution targets | Not published for any service; set per customer |
| Default term | 36 months, all services except Professional Services |
The eight pillars
| Pillar | What it is for | Delivery model | Published support and service level | Services in the pillar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Managed Services | Proactive, automated and accountable IT operations: service desk, monitoring, patching, security-first operations, governance | Fully outsourced or co-managed; fixed-price IT-as-a-Service; account team of Account Executive, Service Delivery Manager, Engineers, Technical Account Manager | Unlimited 24/7 support; Australian service desk in business hours, global follow-the-sun after hours; help desk not outsourced. No response or resolution targets published | Managed Service Bundles, Advanced Infrastructure Managed Services, Field Services and Staff Augmentation |
| Security | Detection and response, exposure visibility, governance and compliance, human risk, in one security operating model | Managed security services with monthly reporting; security also embedded in every other pillar | MDR: 24/7 alert notification, triage and remediation. No MTTD or MTTR published | emPOWER Security, Exposure Management, Governance Risk and Compliance, Human Risk Management, Managed Detection and Response |
| Cloud | Private, public and hybrid cloud, backup, storage and disaster recovery | blueAPACHE-owned private cloud on HPE, consumption-based pay-as-you-grow; Azure planning, migration and management; managed backup services | emPOWER Cloud: 99.999 per cent cloud services, 100 per cent storage, 24x7 support. Backup and DR figures set per Schedule | emPOWER Cloud, Public Cloud Microsoft Azure, Azure Local, Disaster Recovery as a Service, Offsite Backup as a Service, Private and Public SaaS Backup, Storage as a Service (Private S3) |
| Connectivity | Resilient business networks, secure access, cloud and data centre interconnect | Managed WAN over blueAPACHE's own MPLS core; Cisco carrier-grade routing; tier 1 carrier-agnostic | Service desk 7am to 7pm business days; 24x7 priority monitoring and NOC; minimum 99.99 per cent site uptime under redundant design | emPOWER SASE, emPOWER Core Network and Data Centre Interconnect |
| Collaboration | Cloud voice, meetings, messaging and unified communications | Planning, deployment, migration from legacy telephony and ongoing support on vendor platforms; fixed monthly fee model | Not published; voice carriage and unified communications sit under Schedules 6 and 7 | Microsoft Teams, Zoom, RingCentral |
| Procurement | Hardware, software and licensing sourcing tied to lifecycle planning | Consolidated supplier relationships, standardised purchasing, blueapache.store portal | Not published; Schedules 10 and 11 govern licensing and hardware | blueapache.store |
| Microsoft Practice | Modern Work, Azure infrastructure, Microsoft Security, Data and AI | Microsoft Solutions Partner across four solution areas; Tier 1 CSP, SPLA hoster and QMTH | Not published as a pillar; inherits emPOWER Cloud figures where workloads run there | Delivered through the Cloud, Collaboration and Security services |
| Consulting and Advisory | Technology strategy, architecture, project management, business analysis, specialist resourcing | Professional Services under Schedule 1; time and materials or fixed scope | Not applicable; Professional Services are excluded from the 36 month default term | No individual service pages |
The twenty-one services
| Service | Pillar | What it is for | Delivery model | Published support window | Published service level | Related services |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Managed Service Bundles | Managed Services | Integrated bundles combining core operational capabilities under clearer ownership and predictable delivery | Fully managed; ControlUp digital employee experience embedded per origin partners page | Unlimited 24/7 (pillar) | Not published | Advanced Infrastructure Managed Services, MDR, emPOWER Cloud |
| Advanced Infrastructure Managed Services | Managed Services | Management of critical servers, storage, virtualisation and data centre infrastructure | Fully managed under the emPOWER Managed Services framework; full lifecycle from provisioning to reporting | Unlimited 24/7 (pillar) | Not published | emPOWER Cloud, Offsite Backup, DRaaS |
| Field Services and Staff Augmentation | Managed Services | On-site work, project delivery and extra technical capacity | Distributed field services network; personnel must be qualified and comply with site rules; customer may require removal at blueAPACHE's cost | Per engagement | Not published; Professional Services terms | Consulting and Advisory, Managed Service Bundles |
| emPOWER Security | Security | The integrated security portfolio: detection, exposure, governance and human risk | Managed services with reporting | 24/7 for MDR component | Not published | MDR, Exposure Management, GRC, HRM |
| Managed Detection and Response | Security | Continuous monitoring, threat investigation and coordinated response using EDR, ITDR, SIEM and threat intelligence | Managed SOC-style service; ITIL-aligned incident management; integrates Microsoft Security, Sentinel, CrowdStrike | 24/7 alert notification, triage and remediation | Not published (no MTTD or MTTR) | HRM, Exposure Management, Backup for Entra ID |
| Exposure Management | Security | Continuous visibility of assets, vulnerabilities and exposure to prioritise remediation | Managed service | Not published | Not published | MDR, GRC |
| Governance, Risk and Compliance | Security | Risk assessment, control improvement, policy alignment, compliance support | Advisory and framework-led | Not published | Not applicable | Exposure Management, ISO/IEC 27001 alignment work |
| Human Risk Management | Security | Awareness and phishing simulation, email threat detection, user-reported phishing response, insider risk protection | Fully managed; platform vendor not named in brochure | Not published | Not published (no baseline or target metrics) | MDR, DMARC |
| emPOWER Cloud | Cloud | Private and hybrid IaaS for business workloads | blueAPACHE-owned HPE Synergy and Primera platform; pay-as-you-grow monthly billing; self-service portal; QMTH member | 24x7 support | 99.999 per cent cloud services; 100 per cent storage (published, conditions unpublished) | DRaaS, STaaS, Core Network, Azure |
| Public Cloud Microsoft Azure | Cloud | Plan, migrate and manage Azure workloads | Advisory plus managed operations; ExpressRoute from the emPOWER Network | Not published | Not published; Azure platform SLAs are Microsoft's | Microsoft Practice, emPOWER Connectivity, Azure Local |
| Azure Local | Cloud | Azure management and services extended to on-premise infrastructure | Hybrid deployment and management | Not published | Not published | Public Cloud Azure, Advanced Infrastructure Managed Services |
| Disaster Recovery as a Service | Cloud | Contracted restoration of Customer Data and Software after a disaster (emPOWER IT Continuity Services, Schedule 4) | Managed; obligation limited to the agreed RTO and RPO in the Schedule | Not published | RPO and RTO set per customer, not published | emPOWER Cloud, Offsite Backup, Business continuity Action Plan |
| Offsite Backup as a Service | Cloud | Managed offsite copy of critical data away from primary infrastructure | Managed; backup obligation is to run software at agreed intervals and re-run reported failures | Not published | Intervals and retention set per Schedule | DRaaS, SaaS Backup, STaaS |
| Private and Public SaaS Backup | Cloud | Independent backup of SaaS application data beyond platform retention | Fully managed on blueAPACHE private cloud in Australia (Entra ID backup is Veeam-powered) | Not published | No retention, RPO or RTO published | Backup for Entra ID, Microsoft Practice |
| Storage as a Service (Private S3) | Cloud | Private S3-compatible object storage with immutability, replicated across three data centres | Consumption-based, fixed pricing, no egress or ingress charges; built with HPE | Not published | Not published | emPOWER Cloud, Core Network, Offsite Backup |
| emPOWER SASE | Connectivity | Secure access for distributed users and applications, combining networking and security controls | Bundled into emPOWER Connectivity over the emPOWER Network | Service desk 7am to 7pm business days; 24x7 monitoring and UTP support | 99.99 per cent site uptime only under redundant design | Core Network, MDR, Microsoft Practice |
| emPOWER Core Network and Data Centre Interconnect | Connectivity | Resilient MPLS core connecting offices, data centres and clouds; 165+ data centre interconnection; PoPs in Australia, US, London, Singapore | blueAPACHE-owned Cisco ASR core; tier 1 carrier-agnostic; customers get the same monitoring tools | 24/7 monitoring, 365 days | Not published for the core; Connectivity site figure applies to site designs | emPOWER SASE, emPOWER Cloud, Azure ExpressRoute, AWS Direct Connect |
| Microsoft Teams | Collaboration | Chat, meetings, collaboration and telephony on Teams; Direct Routing available through emPOWER Connectivity | Planning, integration, telephony migration and support | Not published | Not published; Schedules 6 and 7 | RingCentral, Zoom, Microsoft Practice |
| Zoom | Collaboration | Video meetings and hybrid collaboration; Zoom also runs blueAPACHE's own service desk and contact centre per the Zoom case study | Planned, deployed and supported by blueAPACHE | Not published | Not published | Microsoft Teams, RingCentral, emPOWER Connectivity (IX peering) |
| RingCentral | Collaboration | Cloud communications, contact centre and unified communications (RingEX) as part of emPOWER Voice | Certified Delivery Partner; deployment, migration and ongoing support | Not published | Not published | Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Lovisa case study |
| blueapache.store | Procurement | Simplified technology procurement portal for hardware, software and licensing | Login portal at blueapache.store; Schedules 10 and 11 apply | Not published | Not applicable | Microsoft Practice, Field Services |
Reading the support and service level columns
Three published figures dominate and each belongs to one service only. emPOWER Cloud's brochure states "an uptime guarantee of 99.999 per cent on cloud services" and "100 per cent uptime for storage" on HPE Primera arrays; no service credit regime, measurement window or exclusions are published, so this site describes it as a published service level rather than a contractual guarantee. emPOWER Connectivity's brochure states it "ensures a minimum 99.99 per cent uptime", tied to a design with multiple carriers, multiple media, multiple CPE devices and firewalls in high-availability configuration, and dual firewalls and dual carriage at each site; no figure is given for single-carrier sites. emPOWER Managed Services advertises "Unlimited 24/7 support", while emPOWER Connectivity's service desk is "from 7am until 7pm on all business days" with 24x7 monitoring. The support-window difference is a conflict to be confirmed for a customer holding both services.
Contractually, only a commitment written under the heading "Service Level" in a Service Description is a Service Level (clause 1). Service Levels are measured with blueAPACHE's tools, whose results are "final and binding on Customer" (clause 3.8), do not apply to the extent a Reasonable Excuse contributes to a failure (clause 3.7), and are switched off during a holdover period (clause 2.9). Any service credit sits in the unpublished Schedules. Response and resolution targets, MTTD, MTTR, RPO, RTO and retention are all set per customer and are not published anywhere in blueAPACHE's public material.
Reading the delivery model column
Every service except Professional Services carries a default 36 month Minimum Service Period. Fixed fee services bill monthly in advance; usage-based services (emPOWER Cloud, STaaS) bill monthly in arrears subject to any Minimum Spend, with usage rounded up to the nearest whole unit. Services delivered on shared infrastructure are subject to clause 5.1, under which blueAPACHE may update software and replace components without consent. Services that embed third party platforms (Teams, Zoom, RingCentral, Azure, Veeam, Mimecast) flow the vendor's terms down to the customer under clause 3.23 and allow third party price changes to be passed through under clause 12.5.
How services combine
The case studies show the typical stacks. Archers took fixed-price emPOWER Managed Services with emPOWER Cloud IaaS, a managed private MPLS WAN with Fortinet security, Microsoft Teams calling and Intune. Honan Insurance took Managed Services, emPOWER Cloud, WAN, IaaS and DRaaS. The pathology provider combined STaaS with emPOWER Cloud and emPOWER Network connectivity. Lovisa took RingCentral through emPOWER Voice advisory only. Sealy took international voice and data network design and management. See Industries and services matrix and Case study index.
Related
- Support and service levels
- Glossary
- How to engage blueAPACHE
- Industries and services matrix
- Services hub
- Vendor partners
Frequently asked questions
Which blueAPACHE service has the highest published uptime?
emPOWER Cloud: 99.999 per cent for cloud services and 100 per cent for storage, per the emPOWER Cloud brochure. The brochure does not publish the measurement window, exclusions or service credits, so treat it as a published service level and confirm the contractual definition in the Schedule.
Does the 99.99 per cent connectivity figure apply to every site?
No. The emPOWER Connectivity brochure ties the minimum 99.99 per cent uptime to a design with multiple carriers, multiple media, multiple CPE devices and firewalls in high-availability configuration, and dual firewalls and dual carriage at each site. No figure is published for single-carrier or single-CPE sites.
Is support 24/7 for all services?
No. emPOWER Managed Services advertises unlimited 24/7 support and emPOWER Cloud states 24x7 support, but the emPOWER Connectivity service desk runs 7am to 7pm on business days with separate 24x7 monitoring. MDR is 24/7 for alerting, triage and remediation. Other services publish no window.
Where are response and resolution times?
Not published. The Managed Services brochure describes a bespoke priority and escalation matrix agreed with each customer, and the service catalogue that holds the tiers and targets is not public. blueAPACHE does not publish a default response-time target; it is set per customer in the service agreement.
What is the difference between Offsite Backup, SaaS Backup and DRaaS?
Offsite Backup keeps an independent copy of data away from primary infrastructure. SaaS Backup protects cloud application data beyond the platform's own retention. DRaaS (emPOWER IT Continuity Services) is a contracted restoration of Customer Data and Software to an agreed RTO and RPO. Only DRaaS carries recovery-time obligations.
Which services are delivered on blueAPACHE-owned infrastructure?
emPOWER Cloud, the emPOWER Core Network, STaaS and the private cloud that hosts SaaS and Entra ID backups are described as owned and operated by blueAPACHE. Azure, Teams, Zoom and RingCentral services are delivered on the vendor's platform with blueAPACHE providing planning, migration, integration and support.
Which pillar does SASE belong to?
Connectivity. emPOWER SASE is bundled into emPOWER Connectivity with SD-WAN, next-generation firewalls and the Cisco core, delivered over blueAPACHE's own MPLS network. It inherits the Connectivity support window and the conditional 99.99 per cent site figure.
Are the Microsoft Practice and Consulting pillars services or capabilities?
Both are pillars without individual service pages. Microsoft Practice is the certified Microsoft expertise applied through the Cloud, Collaboration and Security services; Consulting and Advisory is Professional Services under Schedule 1, excluded from the 36 month default term.
What contract term applies?
36 months from the Service Commencement Date for every service except Professional Services, unless the Service Description or Service Order states otherwise. Renewal periods are also 36 months unless blueAPACHE advises otherwise.
How do I know which Schedule governs a service?
Map the service to the eleven categories: Managed Services (2), Cloud IaaS (3), DRaaS (4), Network (5), Voice Carriage (6), Unified Communications (7), Mobile (8), Co-location (9), Software Licensing and Subscriptions (10), Hardware and Ancillary (11), Professional Services (1). The Schedules are not published; request the relevant one.
Source
blueAPACHE's published emPOWER service brochures, its General Terms and Conditions, its published case studies, and the service, pillar and partner pages on blueapache.com.