Cloud Workspace Suite has been enhanced for the benefit of the IT service provider with the availability of version 4.2. Advancements give administrators greater infrastructure alternatives with new support for Microsoft Azure. New features improve controls over how the platform is aligned with compute, memory and capacity resources under management to accelerate performance in unique customer environments. Now, customers with more demanding workloads or who require more customized delivery of applications and data have the industry’s most responsive platform for catering to their computing demands.
Cloud Workspace Suite 4.2 offers several new features, including:
• Enhanced Virtual Data Center Automation: Automate the building, deployment, and management of applications and services using Cloud Workspace Suite in virtual data center environments, including Microsoft Azure.
• Virtual machine storage allocation based on client profile: Define storage resources with custom attributes to increase flexibility for partners and sub-partners concerning storage layer management from within Cloud Workspace Suite.
• Compute/memory auto-scaling by client profile: RAM/CPU allocation was previously set automatically by hard code rules per virtual data center. This advancement allows the administrator to align resource requirements to meet system demands on a per client basis. Automated resource scaling is tunable on a client by client basis to ensure maximum operational performance. Resource auto-scaling is the first feature set based on the new client profile framework – in future releases the client profile will support schedule- or utilization-driven virtual machine activations, which will allow administrators to “turn down” client servers during off hours in order to save on public cloud usage fees (Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Engine, Amazon Web Services, etc.).
• Customizable application catalogs: Application catalog fine tuning on a partner by partner basis allows the IndependenceIT Elite Partner or enterprise IT manager to display a limited subset of available applications in the “Add Application” workflow.
• More granular partner billing: Improved data tagging and analytics enables partners to produce more granular reports and data for use by partner billing systems.
• Enhanced application entitlement: Improvements allow integration of Microsoft Windows 2012 App Locker functionality to enforce even tighter control over end user application and data access.
• Automation Engine Status and Log Dashboard View: Displays the current state of the automation engine and its active tasks, and provides access to task level logs for activities like server builds and client creation from either the CWS web application or the CWS API.
“As a global provider of business re-engineering, digital transformation, and information technology services for leading organizations, we view the cloud workspace as a significant area of opportunity,” said Uday Ayyagari, Associate Vice President, Google Cloud Alliance, Tech Mahindra. “Cloud Workspace Suite by IndependenceIT provides a leap forward in workspace automation, minimizing the mundane tasks of orchestrating an enterprise-class workspace-as-a-service while providing the scalability and control needed to ensure success.”
“The ability to more tightly sync Cloud Workspace Suite with the infrastructure behind it elevates our confidence in the solution’s ability to deliver against high availability SLAs,” said Joshua Dinneen, Executive Vice President, Corporate IT Solutions. “This becomes a critical requirement for maintaining performance and overall uptime, especially when system usage is higher than anticipated, requiring the ability to scale on demand.”
“Organizations that choose a modern WaaS offering over traditional VDI or alternative cloud-enablement solutions are doing so because the approach removes the need to purchase, manage and maintain complex infrastructure,” said Karin Kelley, Analyst, Structure Research. "With the latest release of CWS, IndependenceIT has added more automation and customization features that will enable its service provider partners to meet the demands of the fast growing WaaS market."
Cloud Workspace Suite is software that allows IT administrators to orchestrate, manage and provision all elements necessary for automated, multi-platform, hypervisor/device agnostic workspaces, applications and desktops as a service. The solution has been designed for infrastructure and hypervisor independence and features industry-leading automation and interoperability for ease-of-use. The solution also offers a robust API for ease of integration with existing customer infrastructure and business support tools. With this platform, IT service providers and administrators select their preferred cloud infrastructure for globally accessible workspaces across single or multiple clouds matched to business requirements.
“Our partners realize that the ability to customize their solutions on Cloud Workspace Suite software platform is an important competitive advantage, helping them to remove the barriers to gaining the full value WaaS,” said Seth Bostock, CEO, IndependenceIT. “Version 4.2 is another leap forward and addresses key limitations that are found in legacy alternatives. Our partners have validated these most recent enhancements and understand the value they provide.”
