FNTS: Custom Managed IT Services and Multi-Cloud Solutions
FNTS provides managed IT services, multi-cloud leadership, and mainframe modernization for highly regulated industries seeking secure, personalized infrastructure.
Overview
FNTS (First National Technology Solutions) is a premier managed IT services provider headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1995 as a subsidiary of First National Nebraska, the company leveraged its roots in the highly regulated banking industry to build a robust portfolio of data center and cloud services. Today, FNTS serves a diverse range of mid-market and enterprise clients across North America, specializing in industries with stringent security and compliance requirements, such as finance, healthcare, and government.
The company’s core offerings include managed public and private cloud, mainframe and mid-range hosting, disaster recovery, and comprehensive cybersecurity services. FNTS operates its own world-class data centers while maintaining strategic partnerships with major hyperscale providers like Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud. This allows them to offer a truly platform-agnostic approach to IT infrastructure.
With over 25 years of experience, FNTS has evolved from a regional provider into a national leader in multi-cloud orchestration. Their market presence is defined by their ability to manage complex, heterogeneous environments where modern cloud applications must coexist with legacy mission-critical systems. FNTS focuses on reducing operational complexity for IT leaders, allowing them to shift their focus from "keeping the lights on" to strategic business innovation. Their history of stability, backed by a large financial institution, provides clients with the long-term assurance required for multi-year infrastructure investments.
Positioning
FNTS positions itself as the "Trusted Advisor" in the multi-cloud and managed services market. Their strategic messaging focuses on the "Power of One"—providing a single point of accountability for complex, multi-platform IT environments. While hyperscalers like AWS and Azure position themselves as infinite toolboxes, FNTS positions itself as the expert craftsman who knows how to use those tools to build a secure, compliant, and cost-effective architecture.
Their competitive positioning strategy targets the "Goldilocks" zone of the market: they are large enough to provide enterprise-grade redundant infrastructure and global cloud reach, yet small enough to offer the personalized attention and agility that global system integrators often lack. In their brand positioning, FNTS emphasizes security and compliance as foundational elements rather than add-on services. This resonates strongly with C-suite executives who are concerned about the escalating risk landscape. By differentiating through specialized legacy support (Mainframe/IBM i) alongside modern cloud capabilities, FNTS captures a unique segment of the market that is often underserved by modern cloud-only boutiques and generalist MSPs.
Differentiation
The product portfolio at FNTS is uniquely positioned at the intersection of legacy infrastructure and modern cloud innovation. A primary differentiator is their Mainframe-as-a-Service (MFaaS) and IBM i (AS/400) managed services. While many managed service providers (MSPs) have abandoned legacy hardware, FNTS has invested heavily in these areas, providing a bridge for enterprises that cannot easily migrate off traditional systems.
Key technical advantages include:
- Hybrid Cloud Orchestration: FNTS offers a unified management layer that spans across private cloud, public cloud (Azure, AWS, Google), and on-premises environments, allowing for seamless workload portability.
- Security-First Private Cloud: Their private cloud infrastructure is built with "compliance by design," featuring built-in controls for PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and SOC Type II, which reduces the audit burden for clients.
- Mainframe Modernization: Beyond just hosting, FNTS provides tools and expertise to modernize legacy applications, enabling API integration and data accessibility without the risk of a "rip and replace" strategy.
- Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS): Their DR solutions are characterized by aggressive Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs), backed by geographically redundant data centers and automated failover testing.
By maintaining expertise in both the "old world" of mainframes and the "new world" of cloud-native technologies, FNTS provides a comprehensive roadmap for digital transformation that few other mid-market providers can match.
Ideal Customer Profile
The ideal FNTS customer is a mid-market to enterprise-level organization (typically $250M - $5B in revenue) that maintains a complex, "messy middle" IT environment. They are often in highly regulated sectors like banking, insurance, or healthcare.
Technically, they are characterized by a reliance on legacy systems (IBM i, AS/400, Mainframe) that are difficult to find talent for, yet they are also under pressure to adopt modern cloud strategies. This customer values a "high-touch" relationship over the "self-service" model of the hyperscalers. They typically have a centralized IT team that is looking to shift from tactical maintenance to strategic initiatives and requires a partner that can provide both the infrastructure and the operational expertise to manage it.
Best Fit
- Legacy Modernization: Companies running critical workloads on IBM i (AS/400) or Mainframe systems that need to bridge the gap between legacy reliability and cloud flexibility.
- Highly Regulated Industries: Organizations in Banking, Finance, and Healthcare that require strict adherence to SOC, PCI-DSS, and HIPAA standards without the overhead of managing compliance internally.
- Hybrid Cloud Transitions: Businesses that aren't ready for a full 'all-in' public cloud move and need a partner to manage a mix of on-premises, private cloud, and public cloud (Azure/AWS) environments.
- Mid-Market IT Teams: IT departments that are lean and need to 'outsource' the heavy lifting of infrastructure management, patching, and 24/7 monitoring to focus on strategic business applications.
Offerings
- Mainframe as a Service (MFaaS): Full management of z/OS environments, including hardware, software licensing, and specialized systems programming.
- IBM i (AS/400) Managed Services: Comprehensive hosting and management for Power Systems, including backup, PTF management, and performance tuning.
- Managed Private Cloud: Dedicated or multi-tenant VMware-based cloud environments designed for high performance and security.
- Public Cloud Management: Governance, security, and cost optimization services for organizations running workloads on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
- Managed Security Services: A suite of tools including Managed Detection and Response (MDR), vulnerability scanning, and firewall management.
- Disaster Recovery (DRaaS): Tailored recovery solutions with guaranteed RTOs, including regular testing and documentation for compliance.
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Introduction
Evaluating a managed services provider (MSP) requires looking beyond basic uptime stats to find a partner that understands the complexity of heterogeneous IT environments. FNTS (First National Technology Solutions) occupies a unique niche in the market, specializing in the management of both modern cloud infrastructures and legacy 'big iron' systems like IBM i and Mainframes.
This guide is designed for IT leaders and procurement professionals who need to move away from the burden of hardware management without sacrificing the security or performance of their mission-critical applications. In the following sections, we will break down the FNTS service portfolio, their specific strengths in compliance-heavy industries, and the technical prerequisites needed to ensure a successful partnership. By the end of this guide, you will have a clear framework for determining if FNTS is the right strategic fit for your organization’s digital transformation journey.
Key Features
- Managed Mainframe & IBM i Services: FNTS is a leader in managing legacy environments, providing specialized talent and hardware that is increasingly difficult to maintain in-house.
- Hybrid Cloud Strategy: Seamless orchestration between private cloud environments and public cloud giants (Azure, AWS), allowing for a 'best-fit' workload placement.
- Security-First Managed Services: Includes managed firewall, IDS/IPS, endpoint protection, and SIEM/Log management as integrated components rather than afterthoughts.
- Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS): Customizable RTO/RPO targets with automated failover testing to ensure business continuity for critical systems.
- Compliance-as-a-Service: Pre-configured environments that meet SOC 1, SOC 2, PCI-DSS, and HIPAA requirements, including regular audit support.
- 24/7/365 Operations Center: US-based technical support and proactive monitoring that acts as an extension of the client's internal IT team.
Use Cases
- Financial Services Core Banking: A mid-sized bank moves its IBM i core banking system to FNTS to gain 24/7 monitoring and professional management, reducing the risk associated with retiring in-house mainframe experts.
- Healthcare Provider Data Consolidation: A hospital system uses FNTS Private Cloud to host legacy EMR data that must remain highly secure and HIPAA compliant, while using FNTS-managed Azure for their modern patient portal.
- Retail E-commerce Scaling: A retailer hosts its steady-state database on FNTS infrastructure but 'bursts' its web front-end to AWS during peak holiday seasons, managed through a single FNTS interface.
- Manufacturing Disaster Recovery: A global manufacturer utilizes FNTS for a secondary DR site, ensuring that if their primary on-premises data center fails, their ERP system can failover to FNTS with minimal downtime.
Pricing Models
- Resource-Based Pricing: Typical for Private Cloud and Legacy (IBM i/Mainframe) services, based on CPU, Memory, and Storage consumption.
- Management Fees: A flat monthly fee per device or per OS instance for managed services (patching, monitoring, backup).
- Public Cloud Resale/Management: Often structured as a percentage of the total public cloud spend (AWS/Azure) or a fixed fee for governance and optimization services.
- Project-Based Fees: One-time costs for initial migration, architectural design, and onboarding.
- Variable Costs: Data egress fees (though often minimized via FNTS's network backbone) and additional 'burst' capacity for seasonal workloads.
- Contract Terms: Typically 12 to 36-month commitments, with discounts available for longer-term partnerships.
Technical Requirements
- Hypervisor Compatibility: Support for VMware-based workloads; migrations from Hyper-V or Nutanix may require conversion tools.
- Legacy OS Versions: For IBM i and Mainframe, clients should be on supported or 'extended support' versions of OS/400 or z/OS to ensure stability.
- Bandwidth Requirements: Minimum 100Mbps dedicated connection recommended for initial data migration and ongoing replication.
- Hardware Compatibility: While FNTS provides the hardware, any specific proprietary hardware appliances (e.g., specialized security modules) must be vetted for data center hosting.
- Agent Installation: Managed services require the installation of monitoring and backup agents on all guest operating systems.
Business Requirements
- Internal Alignment: Stakeholders must define which workloads are 'core' (to keep in-house) versus 'context' (to move to FNTS management).
- Change Management: Transitioning to a managed service requires a shift in IT culture from 'hardware maintenance' to 'service level management.'
- Documentation Readiness: Success depends on the buyer providing accurate current-state documentation, including network diagrams, software versions, and dependency maps.
- Executive Sponsorship: Given that FNTS often handles mission-critical legacy systems, buy-in from the CTO/CFO is essential to validate the long-term ROI of managed services versus capital expenditure cycles.
- Skill Shift: Your internal team will need to transition from 'doers' to 'orchestrators' who manage the relationship and oversee SLA performance.
Implementation Timeline
- Phase 1: Discovery & Assessment (2–4 Weeks): Deep dive into current infrastructure, application dependencies, and compliance requirements.
- Phase 2: Architecture & Design (3–5 Weeks): Designing the landing zone, network connectivity (VPN/Direct Connect), and backup/DR schemas.
- Phase 3: Environment Build (4–6 Weeks): Provisioning of hardware (IBM i, Mainframe, or x86) and configuring security layers.
- Phase 4: Migration & Testing (Variable 4–12 Weeks): Moving data and applications. This timeline depends heavily on data volume and the complexity of legacy integrations.
- Phase 5: Go-Live & Handover (1–2 Weeks): Final cutover, stabilization period, and transition to the FNTS 24/7 support desk.
- Note: Total timeline typically ranges from 3 to 6 months depending on the scale of the migration.
Support Options
- Dedicated Account Management: Each client is assigned a Technical Account Manager (TAM) and a Customer Success Manager.
- Service Level Agreements (SLAs): Tiered SLAs ranging from 99.9% to 99.999% availability depending on the architecture.
- US-Based Support: 24/7/365 access to Level 2 and Level 3 engineers located in the United States.
- Technical Documentation: Access to a client portal for real-time performance monitoring, ticket tracking, and inventory management.
- Professional Services: On-demand access to cloud architects and security consultants for roadmap planning and special projects.
Integration Requirements
- Multi-Cloud Connectivity: FNTS provides low-latency on-ramps to AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, allowing legacy workloads to interact with modern cloud-native apps.
- API & Tooling: Support for standard ITSM integrations (e.g., ServiceNow) for ticket syncing and lifecycle management.
- Network Integration: Support for MPLS, SD-WAN, and site-to-site VPNs to ensure seamless extension of the corporate network to FNTS data centers.
- Data Synchronization: Tools for real-time data replication (especially for IBM i and Mainframe environments) to support High Availability and Disaster Recovery.
- Identity Management: Integration with Active Directory/LDAP for centralized user access control across managed environments.
Security & Compliance
- Certifications: SOC 1 Type II, SOC 2 Type II, and PCI-DSS compliant data centers.
- Healthcare Ready: Fully HIPAA and HITRUST-aligned processes for managing Protected Health Information (PHI).
- Network Security: Multi-tenant and dedicated firewall options, DDoS protection, and encrypted data-at-rest/in-transit.
- Identity Governance: Multi-factor authentication (MFA) requirements for all administrative access to client environments.
- Physical Security: Tier IV data center standards with biometric access, 24/7 onsite security personnel, and full environmental redundancies.
- Audit Support: FNTS provides clients with the necessary documentation and 'right to audit' to satisfy internal and external regulatory bodies.
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