Friday 03 September 2010
Hosting.com, the leading provider of managed hosting, cloud hosting and colocation solutions and a strategic VMware vCloud(TM) partner, today announced multiple enhancements to the Cloud Enterprise environment driven by significant market demand. Access to high performance SAN (EMC) storage, increased computer resources (8GB of RAM now 32 and 4vCPU now 
and support for seven additional operating systems (including RedHat and Windows Datacenter 2008 R2) highlight the enhancements.
Cloud Enterprise customers can now increase their virtual machine resources to 32 GB of RAM and 8 virtual CPUs via the Hosting.com portal. Companies deploying demanding applications can use Hosting.com’s secure cloud solutions for their test, development and production needs.
In addition, Cloud Enterprise customers pushing upper disk i/o rates have the ability to move data to high performance storage on Hosting.com’s EMC SAN. SAN storage is ideal for customers seeking security, functionality and enterprise-class reliability from the latest storage technologies at mid-market prices.
“Our cloud solutions are frequently used to host robust applications, databases and web servers that require additional resources and storage,” noted Hosting.com Cloud Product Manager Fred Strelzoff. “Increasingly, Hosting.com clients want to migrate their dedicated hosting or colocation solutions into a cloud hosting environment. The support of nine total operating systems eliminates the need to migrate operating systems and makes the migration process less costly and painful.”
Last week, Hosting.com announced VMware Virtual Machine upload availability for customers to migrate their own virtual machines or VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk Format) files to Hosting.com’s Cloud Enterprise and Cloud Dedicated solutions. Customers now have the flexibility and portability to move their virtual machines, either from their own environment or another host, into one of Hosting.com’s Cloud Super Sites.
Hosting.com’s portfolio of Cloud Hosting Solutions include Cloud Enterprise, Cloud Dedicated, Cloud VPS, and vCloud Express - solutions that reduce costs, improve efficiency and provide extreme flexibility to businesses of all sizes. Hosting.com has made significant investments in enterprise-class technologies such as VMware, EMC, Dell, Juniper, F5, and Intel to deliver a robust, standards-based cloud infrastructure to clients demanding unparalleled performance and security.
Operating Systems now supported include Windows 2003 Enterprise 32-Bit and 64-Bit, Windows 2008 Data Center R1 32-Bit, Windows 2008 Data Center R2 64-Bit, Windows 2008 Data Center 64-Bit, Cent OS 32-Bit and 64-Bit, Redhat Enterprise 32-Bit and Redhat Enterprise 64-Bit.
About Hosting.com
Hosting.com provides enterprise colocation, cloud computing, dedicated hosting, managed hosting, disaster recovery, and business continuance services to a global customer base demanding a high level of security, reliability, and responsiveness. Hosting.com monitors, manages, and enhances the Web-based platforms of Web 2.0 companies, software as a service (SaaS) providers, content distribution networks (CDN), and medium to large enterprises whose Web presence is crucial and high availability mandatory.
Hosting.com currently operates SAS 70 Type II certified datacenters in Irvine, CA; Louisville, KY; Newark, DE; San Francisco, CA; and Denver, CO.
All Hosting.com products and services are supported by 24×7x365 live expert technical support through toll-free telephone, email, and online chat.
VMware and VMware vSphere are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. The use of the word “partner” or “partnership” does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.
SOURCE Hosting.com
OpSource, Inc., the leader in Cloud operations, today announced that OpSource CEO Treb Ryan and CTO John Rowell will speak at SIIA OnDemand 2009, which will take place October 28-30, 2009, at the San Jose Marriott in San Jose, California. SIIA OnDemand is produced by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the nation’s leading independent authority on Software as a Service. The conference is focusing this year on identifying new ways for SaaS companies to drive revenue, including by playing in the emerging Cloud marketplace.
OpSource executives will focus not only on the promise of Cloud computing for the Enterprise, but its practical implementation. Ryan will speak on “Cloud Platforms and Solutions: Business Models and Architectures for Value Creation in Enterprise” on Tuesday, October 29th from 9:15-10 a.m. From 3:45-4:25 that afternoon, Rowell will discuss “Which Cloud is Right for You?”
Ryan and Rowell will draw on their experience bringing OpSource Cloud™, the first Cloud to bring together the availability, flexibility and community of the public Cloud with the security, performance and control the enterprise requires, to the marketplace. OpSource Cloud is now in public Beta and available for on-line purchase by the hour from www.opsourcecloud.net.
“The promise of Cloud computing has captured the enterprise’s imagination,” said Treb Ryan, CEO, OpSource. “Now, the real work begins. The conversations at SIIA OnDemand will be great catalysts for finding ways to bring the collaborative power of the Cloud to the enterprise without sacrificing security or control. John and I look forward to being a part of this critical dialogue.”
Journalists and analysts who would like to meet with OpSource executives at SIIA OnDemand should contact Eileen Conway at econway@opsource.net.
About OpSource Cloud
OpSource Cloud offers companies the true Cloud, combining the availability, flexibility and community of the public Cloud with the security, performance and control that the enterprise demands. Its features include:
Best of the Public Cloud
– Easy online sign-up with infrastructure provisioning in minutes
– Pay by the hour and only for what you use, with no commitment (unless
so desired)
– Community resources for sharing and collaboration, third party add-ins
and configurations
– Web interface plus complete set of APIs
Enterprise Security & Compliance
– Virtual Private Clouds with user-specified public Internet
connectivity
– Unique customizable security for firewalls
– User-level login/password and access control
– SAS 70 Audited Cloud
– One hundred percent uptime SLA
Enterprise Performance
– Multiple private networks on demand for multi-tier architecture
– Guaranteed sub-millisecond latency between systems
– Industry standard technology including VMware, Cisco, EMC, Microsoft
and Red Hat
– User selectable server configurations
Enterprise Controls
– Centralized control and billing
– Master and departmental management and controls
– Sub-account permissions and budgeting
– Complete reporting
– 24X7 phone support plus online community support and ticketing/status
tracking
About OpSource
OpSource™ provides complete Cloud operations, infrastructure and services for companies of all sizes, from Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ISVs to the enterprise, with hundreds of applications, millions of users and billions of transactions supported daily.
OpSource Cloud™ is the first Cloud to bring together the flexibility, availability and community of the public Cloud with the security, performance and control the enterprise demands. Emphasizing security, OpSource Cloud provides enterprise users with a Virtual Private Cloud within the public Cloud, allowing them to determine their own degree of Internet connectivity. For more information, visit www.opsourcecloud.net.
OpSource On-Demand™ empowers SaaS ISVs to bring the Cloud to the enterprise by quickly and securely delivering their applications and services over the Web. Going far beyond full-featured managed hosting, the comprehensive, award-winning Cloud operations solution includes the application management, compliance and business services that are necessary for on-demand business success.
Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., OpSource has Cloud and Web application delivery centers in Virginia, London and Bangalore. For more information about OpSource, visit www.opsource.net.
OpSource, OpSource Cloud, OpSource On-Demand, and the OpSource logo are trademarks of OpSource, Inc. All other trademarks and company names mentioned are protected by their respective owners.
For additional information, please contact:
Eileen Conway
OpSource, Inc.
650-245-9015
econway@opsource.net
The Cloud Computing World Forum, scheduled to take place on October 22, has reported that it is nearly sold to capacity, with 200 senior professionals scheduled to participate at the 76 Portland Place, London location.
Mark Johnstone, MD of Point Zero Media remarked, ”We are close to selling out on this show which is testament to the level of interest in this subject, at a time when many shows are seeing their numbers fall. The networking opportunities available will contribute to what is already a great agenda, and make this into a first class forum with lots of opportunity.”
Speakers scheduled to participate include:
Evangelos Kotsovinos, VP of Hosting, Morgan Stanley
Kostas Tsatsaris, CTO and Director, Strategy and Architecture, HM Revenue and Customs
Keith Misson, Business Director, Group IT, Aviva
Andy McLoughlin, Co-founder and Strategy Director, Huddle
Euan Semple, Freelance Consultant/Former Director of Knowledge Management, BBC
Tony Ryan, CEO, Asite
Laurent Lachal, Senior Analyst, Ovum
David Terrar, CEO, D2C
Mike Spink, Research Director, Gartner
Matt Johns, EMEA Product Marketing, Rackspace
Robin Daniels, Sr Manager,Product Marketing, Salesforce.com
VMware, Cisco and EMC will also provide an overview and discussion of their ”private cloud” vision. In what promises to be a truly insightful presentation, the leading trio will discuss their joint vision for the cloud, outlining which immediate actions and sequential steps need to be taken by IT professionals, in order to ensure that their infrastructure are truly ready and enabled for the Journey to The Cloud. The supporting exhibition and networking area will play host to some of the industry’s leading companies including Netapp, Netsuite, SunGard, CRYPTOCard and Mimecast. The cost of attending the full conference is 200 pounds and includes both access to the conference and all of the presentations and to the networking area.
To learn more about the conference, please call +44 (0) 845 519 1230 or book online at: www.cloudwf.com.
OpSource, Inc., the leader in Cloud operations, today announced a strategic partnership with Bplats, a leading Japanese technology consulting company, to bring OpSource Cloud(TM), the first Cloud to bring together the flexibility, availability and community of the public Cloud with the security, performance and control the enterprise requires, to the Japanese marketplace. The Japanese launch of OpSource Cloud is scheduled for November 4, 2009.
“Currently there are no Cloud solutions available in Japan,” said Huzita Kenzi, president, Bplats. “To introduce the highly acclaimed OpSource Cloud to the Japanese market so quickly after its public availability in the Unites States is a major milestone for our marketplace. OpSource Cloud will not only meet enterprises’ growing demand for Cloud computing but will bring Japanese companies the most powerful solution available today.”
Bplats will offer a unique, localized transaction system that will enable Japanese companies to make all financial transactions locally, including bank transfers, payments and invoices. In addition, Japanese customers will be able to get in-person, native language support by working with locally based Bplats. Bplats is also offering a specialized and localized website that will offer a deep level of information and service about OpSource Cloud, building a Japanese community around this key Cloud offering. For more information please visit http://www.bplats.co.jp/cloud/.
OpSource Cloud is designed to allow IT departments to manage their security as they would within their internal IT infrastructure. Upon sign-up, each customer receives a Virtual Private Network and sets the degree of public Internet connectivity they wish to grant, from totally private to fully available. OpSource Cloud also provides user customizable security with a compliant, high-performance multi-tier Cloud architecture and full user control over firewall settings. In addition, other enterprise quality controls include user level login and passwords, operational permissions and departmental and sub-department reporting, all backed by a 100% SLA. OpSource Cloud is built on the same standard technology already being employed by enterprise IT. This ensures out-of-the-box trust, compatibility and productivity. With virtualization playing such a key role in Cloud computing, OpSource has selected VMware for virtualization and application portability between the Cloud and Enterprise.
For users weaned on the public Cloud experience, OpSource Cloud offers online sign-up, pay by the hour usage, and rich online communities. And immediate availability and flexibility ensure that developers and enterprise IT alike have access to enterprise quality computing capability when they need it, paying for it only when it is being used. This is the promise of Cloud computing and OpSource Cloud delivers it.
“Whereas Cloud business in the United States is mainly direct, system integrators are essential to the Cloud’s success in Japan,” said Treb Ryan, CEO, OpSource. “We are pleased to team with Bplats, the leading technology consultants in Japan, to bring OpSource Cloud to this crucial marketplace. We look forward to helping leading Japanese enterprises experience the collaborative, community-based power of the Cloud.”
About OpSource Cloud
OpSource Cloud offers companies the true Cloud, combining the availability, flexibility and community of the public Cloud with the security, performance and control that the enterprise demands. Its features include:
Best of the Public Cloud
– Easy online sign-up with infrastructure provisioning in minutes
– Pay by the hour and only for what you use, with no commitment (unless
so desired)
– Community resources for sharing and collaboration, third party add-ins
and configurations
– Web interface plus complete set of APIs
Enterprise Security & Compliance
– Virtual Private Clouds with user-specified public Internet
connectivity
– Unique customizable security for firewalls
– User-level login/password and access control
– SAS 70 Audited Cloud
– One hundred percent uptime SLA
Enterprise Performance
– Multiple private networks on demand for multi-tier architecture
– Guaranteed sub-millisecond latency between systems
– Industry standard technology including VMware, Cisco, EMC, Microsoft
and Red Hat
– User selectable server configurations
Enterprise Controls
– Centralized control and billing
– Master and departmental management and controls
– Sub-account permissions and budgeting
– Complete reporting
– 24X7 phone support plus online community support and ticketing/status
tracking
About OpSource
OpSource(TM) provides complete Cloud operations, infrastructure and services for companies of all sizes, from Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ISVs to the enterprise, with hundreds of applications, millions of users and billions of transactions supported daily.
OpSource Cloud(TM) is the first Cloud to bring together the flexibility, availability and community of the public Cloud with the security, performance and control the enterprise demands. Emphasizing security, OpSource Cloud provides enterprise users with a Virtual Private Cloud within the public Cloud, allowing them to determine their own degree of Internet connectivity. For more information, visit www.opsourcecloud.net.
OpSource On-Demand(TM) empowers SaaS ISVs to bring the Cloud to the enterprise by quickly and securely delivering their applications and services over the Web. Going far beyond full-featured managed hosting, the comprehensive, award-winning Cloud operations solution includes the application management, compliance and business services that are necessary for on-demand business success.
Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., OpSource has Cloud and Web application delivery centers in Virginia, London and Bangalore. For more information about OpSource, visit www.opsource.net.
OpSource, OpSource Cloud, OpSource On-Demand, and the OpSource logo are trademarks of OpSource, Inc. All other trademarks and company names mentioned are protected by their respective owners.
For additional information, please contact:
Eileen Conway
OpSource, Inc.
650-245-9015
econway@opsource.net
Eucalyptus Systems, Inc., creator of the leading open source private cloud platform, today announced the company’s first commercial offering: the Eucalyptus Enterprise Edition (EEE). EEE enables customers to implement an on-premise Eucalyptus cloud with VMware®’s industry-leading virtualization technologies, including vSphere®, ESX™ and ESXi™.
EEE is the only on-premise cloud computing solution available today for vSphere customers, providing a robust, affordable cloud computing solution that leverages their investment in VMware technologies. EEE also supports other hypervisors typically found in a data center, such as Xen and KVM, providing customers the flexibility to configure cloud solutions that best meet their infrastructure needs.
Eucalyptus Systems’ mission has been to support the open source Eucalyptus on-premise cloud platform while also delivering solutions for large-scale enterprise deployments, and we are proud to launch the Eucalyptus Enterprise Edition as our first commercial offering for the enterprise
EEE represents the first step toward broader Eucalyptus-enabled cloud interoperability that leverages multiple virtualization environments and technologies.
As enterprises and governments increasingly seek to leverage the benefits of cloud computing in on premise infrastructure, existing datacenters are poised for transformation
With the release of its Enterprise Edition, Eucalyptus is providing customers with the ability to blend their VMware, KVM and Xen assets into a single cloud fabric while ensuring compatibility with existing public cloud options.
News Image
“Eucalyptus Systems’ mission has been to support the open source Eucalyptus on-premise cloud platform while also delivering solutions for large-scale enterprise deployments, and we are proud to launch the Eucalyptus Enterprise Edition as our first commercial offering for the enterprise,” said Dr. Rich Wolski, Eucalyptus Systems co-founder, CTO and former director of the Eucalyptus research project at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). “EEE represents the first step toward broader Eucalyptus-enabled cloud interoperability that leverages multiple virtualization environments and technologies.”
EEE is built on Eucalyptus — an open source software infrastructure for implementing on-premise cloud computing using an organization’s own information technology (IT) infrastructure, without modification, special-purpose hardware or reconfiguration. Eucalyptus turns data center resources such as machines, networks, and storage systems into a cloud that is controlled and customized by local IT. Eucalyptus is the only cloud architecture to support the same application programming interfaces (APIs) as public clouds, and today Eucalyptus is fully compatible with the Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure.
For EEE, Eucalyptus leverages vSphere, ESXi, and ESX virtualization technologies to provide an on-premise cloud in the data center. EEE also includes an image converter that helps users develop VMware-enabled Eucalyptus applications that are compatible with Amazon EC2. Moreover, Eucalyptus supports popular open source hypervisors such as KVM and Xen, enabling EEE customers to choose the most appropriate software stack for each cloud application while maintaining a single cloud API that is Amazon compatible.
“As enterprises and governments increasingly seek to leverage the benefits of cloud computing in on premise infrastructure, existing datacenters are poised for transformation,” said Stephen O’Grady, Principal Analyst with RedMonk. “With the release of its Enterprise Edition, Eucalyptus is providing customers with the ability to blend their VMware, KVM and Xen assets into a single cloud fabric while ensuring compatibility with existing public cloud options.”
Licensing and Availability
Eucalyptus Enterprise Edition is available today and is licensed based on the number of processor cores on the physical host. For more information, including detailed pricing, please visit http://www.eucalyptus.com or call 805-845-8000.
About Eucalyptus Systems, Inc.
Eucalyptus Systems develops enterprise-grade technology solutions built on the open source Eucalyptus software for private and hybrid cloud computing. Originally developed as part of an academic research project, Eucalyptus technology is quickly becoming the standard for on-premise cloud computing, delivering the cost efficiencies and scalability of cloud architecture with the security and control of deploying on an organization’s own IT infrastructure. Today, Organizations such as Eli Lilly are using Eucalyptus to extend the power of their internal IT resources. Eucalyptus Systems’ mission is to support the open source Eucalyptus platform and to deliver private and hybrid cloud computing solutions for large-scale enterprise deployments. For more information about Eucalyptus, please visit http://www.eucalyptus.com.
Eucalyptus and Eucalyptus Systems are pending trademarks in the U.S. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Other product or company names mentioned may be trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.
Point Zero Media have announced that VMware are to be the platinum sponsors of their up-and-coming Cloud Computing World Forum event (www.cloudwf.com) – taking place on the 22nd of October at 76 Portland Place, London.
The 1 day conference hopes to address the state of the cloud computing market, the business value of the cloud, development strategies and integration techniques. It promises to deliver a cutting edge insight in to the future and development of Cloud Computing.
Mark Johnstone, Director of Point Zero Media said “cloud computing isn’t a new service, but until recently its potential has been limited and under-utilised. The economics behind it are compelling; not only is it faster and more flexible, it can also prove to be radically cheaper”.
Key speakers confirmed for the conference, Include –
•Jean-Louis Fuccellaro, Chief Technical Officer, Orange
•Evangelos Kotsovinos, VP of Hosting, Morgan Stanley
•Pamal Sharma, CIO - UK and Ireland, General Motors
•Kostas Tsatsaris, CTO and Director, Strategy and Architecture, HM Revenue and Customs
•Keith Misson, Business Director, Group IT, Aviva
•Simon Abrahams, EMEA Head of Product Marketing, Rackspace
The event is looking to offer delegates the opportunity to gain an understanding and extend their cloud computing knowledge, whilst learning from real case studies on the integration of cloud, and the effect it could have on their organization.
The conference also promises to deliver the lowdown on the latest products, whilst giving people the chance to network with some of the best known professionals in the business.
An early booking scheme for the event ends on September 25th.
For additional information, visit www.cloudwf.com or www.pointzeromedia.com - otherwise call a member of their team on +44 (0) 7773 398 108.
VMware vSphere 4 Training
Recognizing that the vast majority of corporations have adopted VMware virtualization technologies to optimize performance while reducing costs, Batky-Howell has introduced a vendor-neutral, four-day VMware vSphere 4 course as a private training delivery, available immediately. The all-inclusive training event includes training at the client’s site, all the necessary course and lab materials, and individual access to an ESX server - providing an intense, hands-on learning experience.
VMware vSphere 4 encompasses a new suite of products that provides enhanced scalability, flexibility and reliability for server virtualization and opens the door to cloud computing. With VMware vSphere 4, data centers can deliver computing resources in an agile and cost-effective way.
The vendor-neutral aspect of this course ensures that students are exposed to both VMware and third-party tools, eliminating bias towards VMware-specific or endorsed products. The classroom lab will share a cluster of ESX Servers, a variety of different storage solutions (SAN, NAS, ISCI, local) as needed, a variety of third-party tools, and access to many pre-configured Virtual Machines, including Microsoft, Novell, Red Hat, and Ubuntu. Each student will perform lab exercises using their own ESX Server and a Windows Server Workstation.
“This course is an extremely affordable and intense learning option compared to authorized VMware vSphere training. Over 70% of class time is devoted to live-lab exercises, ensuring students leave the course with a comprehensive, real-world knowledge of ESX Server, vCenter, and Virtual Machine Architecture, as well as advanced management techniques,” said, Bruce Batky, CEO.
A four-day Advanced vSphere training course and a three-day course specific to VMware View Manager 3 will be announced as available for private delivery shortly. In addition, Batky-Howell will continue to offer their VMware Infrastructure 3 Install, Configure, and Advanced Management course as a private training event for those organizations who have yet to migrate to the VMware vSphere platform.
About Batky-Howell, LLC
Since 1989, Batky-Howell has specialized in providing education and skill development of IT professionals, including software developers, programmers, system administrators and database administrators. Over 43,000 students have been trained by Batky-Howell in 3,200 courses - ranging from introductory HTML to advanced topics in UNIX, Java, Oracle, VMware, .NET, and more. Flexible training delivery options allow Batky-Howell to offer customers a cost-effective solution in a private or virtual classroom setting.
VMware
Virtualization software company VMware has opened a new development centre in Pune, India’s emerging IT city. Mr. Carl Eschenbach, Executive Vice President, of VMware, inaugurated this centre.
In the beginning of this month VMware has appointed T Srinivasan as MD of VMware India with responsibility for markets under India and the SAARC region.
VMware, Inc. is a US-based company specializing in virtualization software. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Palo Alto, California. The Company is majority owned by EMC Corporation. The name “VMware” comes from the acronym “VM”, meaning “virtual machine”, combined with ware from the second part of “software”.
VMware’s desktop software runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. VMware’s enterprise software, VMware ESX Server, runs directly on server hardware without requiring an additional underlying operating system.
VMware vSphereTM 4 in Move to Cloud Computing
Washington State University has over 25,000 students at campuses across the state. The university’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) selected VMware vSphere 4 as it searched for the best platform to support a move to cloud computing. Facing budget cuts related to current economic conditions, as well as continual pressure to do more with less, the EECS IT staff recognized that a virtualization platform such as VMware vSphere 4 could help EECS improve the efficiency, control and choice in IT operations. VMware vSphere 4 aggregates and manages IT resources as a seamless, flexible and dynamic service that offers nearly limitless scalability with greater reliability and better performance than a traditional IT environment in which resources must be dedicated to individual applications and systems.
“Despite the challenging economic climate, cloud computing is actually allowing us to expand the services we offer to faculty and students rather than cut back,” said Ryan Makamson, systems engineer at Washington State University’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “We determined that VMware vSphere 4 would be the right platform for our cloud as we move forward. VMware vSphere 4 has performed exceptionally well. Everything, literally everything, seems to run faster on VMware vSphere 4. And it gives us so much control. We can manage everything centrally, or we can delegate control. We have greater access to management information than we’ve ever had. The HA features allow us to ‘cluster’ critical applications without having to build a physical cluster. And VMware Fault Tolerance now takes high availability to a whole new level — which makes all the difference to the students and professors when we can add the extra degree of protection to their critical applications.”
Makamson explained that VMware vStorage Thin Provisioning reduces storage requirements by roughly 50 percent, which allows EECS’s existing shared storage to support many more virtual machines, including desktops. He also noted that VMware vSphere 4 is the most refined virtualization platform he’s ever seen. This manifests itself in many ways, including greater efficiency. Makamson believes that a production deployment of VMware vSphere 4 would allow EECS to defer significant server and storage purchases indefinitely.
“VMware vSphere 4 could help our university change its entire approach to IT,” said Makamson. “We’re now looking at the possibility of delivering IT as a cloud-based service to other departments in the College of Engineering and Architecture. VMware vSphere 4 could help us position IT strategically as the application service provider of the future. By implementing our cloud on the VMware vSphere 4 platform, our plan is to help the university community do more, be more flexible, and stretch its budget much further. Unlike other solutions that are still based on first-generation hypervisors, VMware vSphere 4 will enable all applications — existing as well as next-generation apps — to be provisioned on-demand and with guaranteed service levels.”
VMware vSphere 4 offers organizations such as Washington State an evolutionary, non-disruptive path to cloud computing. That type of pragmatic approach can help decrease both capital and operating expenses related to IT, and free up budget to focus on delivering new capabilities.
About VMware
VMware (NYSE: VMW) is the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter — bringing cloud computing to businesses of all sizes. Customers rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2008 revenues of $1.9 billion, more than 150,000 customers and more than 22,000 partners, VMware is one of the fastest growing public software companies. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, VMware is majority-owned by EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC). For more information, visit www.vmware.com.
In high tech as elsewhere, it’s often a matter of historical accident and political maneuvering that determines which approach wins out in a particular area of technology. And it can be a high-stakes game for the companies involved, with big players often seeking to position their approach as a “standard” even if it’s only standard in the sense of being ubiquitous (think Microsoft Windows) while the smaller guys tend to favor approaches blessed by standards bodies or at least industry corsortia. In cloud computing, we’re seeing almost all the forms of standards-making coming into play with the primary goal of promoting interoperability among different cloud service providers and between private and public clouds. On the de jure side, the most significant standards-making effort is taking place under the auspices of the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), an established organization in the management standards space. AMD, Cisco, Citrix, EMC, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Novell, Red Hat, Savvis, Sun Microsystems, and VMware announced in April 2009 (PDF) that they would comprise the board for an Open Cloud Standards Incubator within the DMTF.
And it’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) that has clearly emerged as the de facto standard for IaaS. The fact that Amazon is one of the first vendors that comes to mind in just about any discussion of public clouds is one indication. Another is the growing ecosystem of companies like RightScale that add additional features to AWS–not uniquely, but first and foremost. We now even have an open-source project and company, Eucalyptus, that lets organizations implement their own clouds that are compatible with many AWS services. This announcement doesn’t fundamentally change the landscape. However, it does give an already well-established IaaS vendor a point of clear differentiation from its biggest competitor.
