Harrods takes on web hosting technology from Navisite

Harrods is also evaluating NaviSite as a potential hosting partner for a much wider cloud-enabled solution

London department store Harrods has selected cloud-enabled enterprise hosting and application management services provider NaviSite to implement a web hosting solution.

The department store needed an enterprise hosting solution to hold customer cardholder data and maintain Harrods' adherence to the requirements of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

PCI DSS is a worldwide information security standard defined by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. It was created to help organisations that process card payments prevent credit card fraud through increased controls around data.

NaviSite implemented an enterprise hosting service featuring leading-edge VMware virtualisation technology, and the solution is described as "flexible and scalable".

Security is enforced by a combination of best-in-breed firewalls at the network edge, as well as intrusion detection systems, application firewalling to protect internet-facing traffic, VLAN segregation and two-factor authentication for all administrative users.

"NaviSite's adherence to best business processes made it easy to develop and implement a hosting solution which maintains our existing PCI compliance at an acceptable cost," said David Llamas, CTO at Harrods.

Harrods also revealed that it is evaluating NaviSite as a potential hosting partner for a much wider cloud-enabled solution as part of Harrods' next technology infrastructure refresh cycle.