Virtualization.com

News and insights from the vibrant world of virtualization and cloud computing

hosting

PINS Virtualizes Its Data Center With Q-layer and VMWare ESX Server

by 1 Comment

PINS, a Dutch hosting and managed services provider, today announced that it has entered into a partnership with Q-layer, enabling the hosting provider to launch a Virtual Private DataCenter solution, based on Q-layer’s virtualization technology and using VMware’s ESX server technology.

pins.png

q-layer.png

With the Virtual Private DataCenter (VPDC) software from Q-layer, PINS’ customers are now able to build and manage a virtual environment including virtual servers, firewalls, switches, storage and software appliances. The virtual private datacenter comes with a “drag & drop” web interface. The Q-layer datacenter abstraction layer translates this environment into actual resources in the datacenter and executes instant provisioning using customizable workflows.

“PINS is renowned for being the first to launch winning new technology.”, said Jan Willem des Tombe, CEO of PINS, “The Q-layer Virtual Private DataCenter concept allows us to provide a new level of flexibility to our customers and partners, while leveraging the performance and stability of VMware ESX.”

From the press release:

PINS already offers web and application hosting based on VMware ESX. The VPDC offering based on Q-layer is the next step in the evolution and overcomes the complexity of automating the provisioning of the whole hosting stack including servers, network and storage. This is needed to build a real-time infrastructure.

PINS will bring the VPDC model to market in three flavors: one for end-users that require full self-service provisioning of servers and other services, one for resellers enabling them to setup server environments with the click of a button and one for managed customers where PINS engineers will build the environment for the customer.

“We are proud to have been chosen by PINS for its next-generation hosting platform.”, said Niko Nelissen, VP Business Development of Q-layer. “Both companies share a vision on how datacenter services will be operated in the future and how virtualization helps in building a real-time infrastructure with instant availability of all services”.

Parallels And AXIGEN Launch Strategic Partnership

by Leave a Comment

AXIGEN, a Romanian mail server vendor, and Parallels (former SWSoft), virtualization and automation software provider, yesterday announced the launch of a strategic technological partnership in which the companies will offer an integrated AXIGEN Mail Server and Parallels Virtuozzo Containers solution specifically for service providers offering virtualized hosting environments.

virtualization-axigen-parallels.png

virtualization-axigen-parallels-2.png

From the official press release:

The new AXIGEN-Parallels Virtuozzo Containers integration presents a high-end, flexible solution that enables Service Providers the ability to offer customized mail server solutions for customers via an easily deployable, low-maintenance SaaS model. Unlike traditional, generic hosting solutions, in which software must be installed and configured manually, the AXIGEN-Parallels Virtuozzo Containers solution allows Service Providers to offer customers a wide variety of pre-made Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, called templates, that are populated with optimized configurations of the AXIGEN mail server. Customers can choose the template that is right for their business, and have the solution deployed to them with only a few clicks.

“Parallels Virtuozzo Containers’ superior density and manageability, coupled with its ability to rapidly deploy software via pre-configured templates, make it an ideal choice for ISVs to deploy their software via a SaaS model,” said Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Parallels.”The partnership with AXIGEN is an excellent example of a forward-thinking application vendor harnessing the power of SaaS and of Parallels’ continued momentum with Service Providers and SaaS.”

“Given that the AXIGEN Mail server is a service provider oriented solution, we are confident the integrated AXIGEN-Parallels Virtuozzo Containers solution will better address the emerging requirements of this highly competitive environment,” said Oana Bornaz, CEO of AXIGEN. “Moreover, both Parallels and AXIGEN now benefit from an expanded customer base, a fact mutually beneficial to the development of our companies.”

EMC & SAP Heading Into Cloud Computing Together?

by Leave a Comment

According to Reuters, EMC and SAP are about to team up to deliver computer programs over the web. The news company cites a senior executive from German software provider SAP AG, President of SAP Labs North America and member of the SAP Executive Board Doug Merritt, predicting an upcoming partnership whereby the companies will use virtualization technology centralizing computing and storage functions at data centres (‘cloud computing’).

virtualization-sap.png virtualization-emc.jpg

Merritt chose not to discuss specifics, such as the expected launch date for the new venture and the financial details involved. Moreover, EMC, while openly betting hosting software and services will be a key to growth over the coming years, declined to comment on Merritt’s statements. A blog post by Chuck Norris Hollis, an EMC VP, doesn’t shed more light on the potential alliance but hints at the possibility of a partnership.

If EMC eventually enters the web hosting game through its partnership with SAP, it will be entering a market filled with household name competitors like HP, Symantec, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and IBM.

So far EMC has only announced one key services product, namely MozyEnterprise, an upgraded version of automated backup service Mozy that it acquired last year. EMC reportedly said earlier this month it plans to sell Mozy’s services to large corporations, through a recently upgraded EMC infrastructure dubbed ‘Fortress’.

SAP has also been noisy about launching its own flavor of SaaS program BusinessByDesign to combat Salesforce.com. At an announcement in September, SAP said it would look to partner with companies to provide applications and hosting, which it now seems to have found in EMC.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ViUX Automates Hosting With Parallels / SWSoft

by Leave a Comment

virtualization-viux.png

Server virtualization firm, Parallels/SWsoft, has partnered with software-as-a-service and technology solutions firm, ViUX Systems, to provide a complete hosting automation system for all of its clients, including resellers.

The new hosting system is based upon several modules – HSPComplete, Virtuozzo, Plesk and SiteBuilder – to fully automate all four levels of hosting that ViUX offers. Those four levels – Shared Hosting ervers , Virtual Private servers (VPS), Dynamic Dedicated servers (DDS) and Reseller Hosting servers (RHS) – use redundant, multi-homed, high-speed connections, within multiple geographically dispersed data centers.

Joe Murphy, Vice-President of ViUX said:

”Partnering with Parallels/SWSoft gives us a completely automated hosting infrastructure and allows us to offer virtualized hosting to bridge the gap for those customers that have outgrown the shared hosting environment but are not quite ready for a fully dedicated server. In addition, we can now offer automated deployment of hosted applications in a SaaS module, such as: SmarterMail, SmarterStats, DotNetNuke, Miva Merchant, osCommerce.”

To market their new hosting system, ViUX has also undertaken a complete revision of its website, providing an easier-to-use interface that complements the new capabilities and flexibility of its automated, virtualized hosting infrastructure. ViUX has also migrated most of its servers to a new data center in Iowa which allows the company to deploy new servers virtually on demand.

Mr. Murphy continued,

”Our partnership with Parallels/SWSoft also allows us to offer leased licenses for HSPcomplete, Virtuozzo, Plesk and other related products, in a license leasing module to other hosting providers and resellers. We have also formed a similar partnership with SmarterTools, which allows us to likewise offer leased licenses of: SmarterMail, SmarterStats, and SmarterTickets. This will allow smaller hosting providers or resellers to obtain these industry leading products from ViUX at low monthly fees and avoid the upfront cost of purchasing directly from the vendor.”