BT today announced the launch of a new virtual datacentre service, designed to give organisations low-cost access to cloud-based virtual server, storage, security and networking capabilities.

The service was showcased at the Handelsblatt Telecommunications Market Europe conference in Dusseldorf, and will allow firms to purchase the virtualised components and access them over a pre-provisioned infrastructure, according to BT.

BT will roll out the service across several datacentres in Europe, and all components will be available through an online portal where customers can change their infrastructure at any time during their contract.

"In today's turbulent global economy, companies need flexible, efficient and secure networked IT services to sharpen their competitive edge, innovate how they do business and get to market first," said Hanif Lalani, chief executive of BT Global Services.

"Having the click-to-build and buy facility will give them flexibility and ease of provisioning. Deployment times will also be reduced from months to weeks, resulting in further cost savings and efficiencies."

BT also announced further enhancements to its Global Services offerings which will be released later in the year. These include a new global Manager Security Services platform, extensions to its global consultancy services for flexible working and mobile security, and greater geographic resilience for its contact centres.