One of the potential side advantages of the growth in an industry-wide platform infrastructure standard such as OpenStack is the fact that users can readily move their operations to a different service provider should the need arise. Most commonly, that possible need is seen as a small business moving from one cloud servce provider to another. In practice however, it applies equally well to enterprises running private clouds on a quasi-on premise basis.
It will certainly allow them to cloud-burst applications and services without concerns about any major incompatibilities between the service providers used, and could also give them a more permanent growth path to a hybrid cloud solution for their business.
And this is a marketplace Metacloud, already something of an expert business in deploying and operating OpenStack as a service for large enterprises, has decided to target. The company has launched Metacloud Hosted Private Cloud, a turn-key solution that bundles the company’s OpenStack-based cloud platform and support with global hosting, hardware, and networking technology to deliver the security, performance, and economic benefits of a private cloud with the on-demand provisioning of the public cloud.
The solution features secure, hosted infrastructure, a multi-tenant cloud platform, dedicated high-performance hardware, redundant block storage, on-demand provisioning, and 24x7 cloud operations, with five hosting locations to choose from--including international sites. It was designed for the growing number of companies that are showing enthusiasm for dedicated private cloud solutions but are not interested in either building or managing their own on-premises private cloud.
"Metacloud’s Hosted Private Cloud is a natural extension of our current on-premises offering. It leverages the same enhanced version of OpenStack that we’ve deployed for our on-prem clients, and it is supported by the same team of accomplished cloud engineers,” said Steve Curry, co-founder and President of Metacloud. “The difference is that Hosted Private Cloud allows you to access the versatility and power of OpenStack without having to own a single server--or maintain your own datacentre. Everything you need is included. Just pick a location, then grow when you need to. And here’s the best part: you get white glove service, SLAs with teeth, and better performance, delivered on hardware dedicated to you--at a significant discount compared to existing public cloud options.”
The solution is available immediately through the company's Hosted Private Cloud Early Access Program. Starter packages and custom solutions are available. More information is available here, where it is also possible to enroll in the program.