Adapt eVDC hosts business critical software for Castle Trust, with data replicated across two sites to ensure business continuity

LONDON - March 12, 2013 - Castle Trust, the mortgage and investment company with awards for innovation, has selected Adapt, the independent IT managed services provider, to host, support and secure its business-critical software. The agreement will see Adapt host the software on its award-winning enterprise Virtual Data Centre (eVDC) platform and provide built-in back-up and disaster recovery capabilities, while also applying rigorous security policies to meet industry regulations.

Launched in October 2012, Castle Trust is a new type of financial institution that provides a safer way to invest in the housing market or to buy a home. As the largest asset class in the UK, the housing market is worth over £4,000bn but has traditionally been inaccessible to investors, while homeowners are increasingly aware of the risks involved in buying their home. Castle Trust offers investments that provide returns based on the performance of the housing market, as well as Partnership Mortgages, a new type of shared equity mortgage for homeowners.

As a financial services company, security and data protection are critical considerations for Castle Trust. Following a thorough selection process, the organisation selected Adapt due to its highly secure, available and robust infrastructure that is fully compliant with FSA regulations and its roster of existing customer references, including Moneycorp and LCH.Clearnet. Adapt's offering was further strengthened by the provision of physical hardware underpinning the eVDC. This layer provides additional security for Castle Trust's software and allows the isolation of sensitive data, to ensure any information stored is subject to the highest possible levels of protection.

"We needed to be incredibly careful when choosing a service provider and, due to the nature of our business, we had to be 100 percent certain that the partner afforded the same level of security and protection to the data as we would have applied if we stored it internally," said Tony Pauley, Managing Director at Castle Trust. "With Adapt's eVDC we get complete assurance that strict security protocols are followed, both at the infrastructure layer and the data layer itself. As a start-up, hosting onsite was out of the question financially, but we wouldn't consider a public cloud solution. With Adapt we get the best of both worlds, with the added benefit of a flexible solution that will scale with our business."

The eVDC provides Castle Trust with synchronously replicated storage that transfers data in real time between two data centre sites, ensuring maximum availability and resilience. As with the data itself, each data centre facility is subject to stringent physical security processes, with multi-factor access controls, video surveillance and full audit trails.

"We are delighted that Castle Trust selected Adapt as a technology partner for such a sensitive and critical element of its business," said Simon Fisk, Sales and Marketing Director at Adapt. "It is testament to Adapt's dedication to providing a reliable and secure environment that an organisation performing rigorous due diligence has selected our eVDC to host its software. We are looking forward to further developing the partnership with Castle Trust as its business grows."

Adapt media contacts
Aislinn Collins / Richard Scarlett
Johnson King
020 7401 7968
AdaptTeam@johnsonking.co.uk

About Adapt
Adapt's mission is to help customers navigate the evolutionary stages of their computing environment towards affordable, efficient, sustainable virtual and cloud-based solutions that grow in line with business. Adapt's integrated services offering spans the entire IT infrastructure, including network connectivity, resilient data centre services, shared services, virtual server provisioning, virtual desktop services and Software as a Service, underpinned by flexible, OPEX-based commercial models. http://www.adaptplc.com/

About Castle Trust
Castle Trust is the trading name of Castle Trust Capital plc, Castle Trust Capital Management Limited and Castle Trust Income HouSA plc. Castle Trust Capital plc and Castle Trust Capital Management Limited are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in relation to HouSAs. Castle Trust Capital plc is licensed by the Office of Fair Trading to provide Partnership Mortgages.

Castle Trust is a new type of financial institution, which has been created to address some of the key challenges faced by investors and homeowners in the housing market. Our products enable investors and homeowners to share the costs and returns of housing in a way which has not previously been possible.

Castle Trust provides access for investors seeking exposure to housing by offering investments with returns in excess of the performance of national house prices (as measured by the Halifax House Price Index) for as little as £1,000 (with the option to invest in a tax-efficient manner via SIPPs and ISAs). We use these funds to provide an important new source of funding for the mortgage market, in the form of Partnership Mortgages.

Partnership Mortgages can provide responsible homeowners with a new choice and flexibility in how they buy or remortgage their home. Unlike a traditional mortgage, there are no monthly commitments and the amount to repay on a Partnership Mortgage depends on the change in the value of their home - so the cost of the Partnership Mortgage is linked to the homeowner's ability to pay. The more the property value increases, the more the Partnership Mortgage will cost, but if the customer's home hasn't increased in value, a Partnership Mortgage will typically cost nothing when they sell their home. If the customer bought their home using a Partnership Mortgage and the home has fallen in value when they sell it, Castle Trust will share their loss.

Castle Trust benefits from a highly experienced board, members of which have particular experience in areas such as consumer protection, financial services and the housing market. The business has significant financial backing from one of the world's largest institutional investors specialising in the financial services sector.

For further information, please go to www.castletrust.co.uk

The investments

• HouSAs are fixed term investments with better returns than UK house prices, as measured by the Halifax House Price Index ("HHPI"), whether house prices rise or fall.
• Income HouSAs provide a fixed quarterly income as well as giving you full access to house price returns.
• Growth HouSAs outperform the HHPI in a rising or falling market, providing you with a multiple of any rise in the index and a reduced exposure if it falls.
• You can invest in a HouSA from just £1,000.
• HouSAs qualify for inclusion in an ISA, Junior ISA or SIPP. There is no upper age limit for investing in a HouSA and parents or grandparents may use it to help their children or grandchildren save for a deposit on their first home.
• Housing is the UK's largest asset class (at approximately £4,000bn) and has also historically delivered higher risk-adjusted returns than any other major asset class, including equities and commercial property.
• Your capital is not guaranteed and you may get back less than you invested.
• Castle Trust Capital plc and Castle Trust Capital Management Limited are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in relation to HouSAs.
• For further information on HouSAs please go to http://www.castletrust.co.uk/investments

The mortgages

• A Partnership Mortgage is a new type of mortgage that can provide new choices and flexibility in how to buy or remortgage a home.
• Partnership Mortgages are available to responsible home buyers and existing homeowners up to the age of 55.
• A Partnership Mortgage is for 20% of the value of a home, available to homeowners with at least a 20% deposit and who also have a repayment mortgage for the balance; the amount you repay on the Partnership Mortgage is linked to the change in the value of the home.
• Castle Trust will share any gains or losses made between buying a home with a Partnership Mortgage and selling it again or the end of the mortgage term.
• If the value of your home increases significantly, a Partnership Mortgage will cost you more in total than a traditional mortgage.
• Castle Trust Capital plc is licensed by the Office of Fair Trading to provide Partnership Mortgages.
• For further information on Partnership Mortgages, please go to http://www.castletrust.co.uk/mortgages