Hosting services provider
Internap has announced new "cloudy colo" capabilities which enable colocation customers to receive cloud-like benefits. "Cloudy colo" offers colocation customers "cloud-like remote visibility and management benefits" and enables customers to establish hybrid cloud and colocation footprints within the same data center.
Despite the popularity of the cloud, many companies want to own and control their hosting solutions. As a result, colocation remains a key aspect of the hosting industry. Standard colocation approaches do not though offer the level of automation available through the cloud. Alongside this, companies need the flexibility to address issues such as unpredictable workloads which often require a blend of infrastructure options. The on-demand hybridization of colocation and cloud services is facilitated by Internap's Platform Connect service which establishes private network connectivity between services such as colocation, managed hosting and the cloud inside the same data center. The system allows hybridization to take place quickly - within minutes rather than days or weeks.
Internap's "Cloudy colo" offers a universal customer portal which delivers remote colocation visibility and management, reducing the cost of data center visits. The portal also offers a range of management features including Inventory Management with Integrated Support Tracking, which allows customers to review their full colocated footprint. It also provides a power Utilization Monitoring and Management component, which allows customers to view power utilization trends and independently reboot or power down a device without being charged. The portal also offers Environmental and Bandwidth Monitoring that allows customers to monitor the temperature and humidity conditions where their rack is stored. It also offers information on IP traffic and analyses the health of a device and provides usage statistics. The universal customer portal is currently only available to Internap Labs customers. It will soon be fully available to customers at the company's Los Angeles, Santa Clara and Dallas data centers.
"Both cloud and colocation will continue to play critical roles in meeting organizations’ diverse application requirements," explained Internap's Senior Vice President of Technology, Raj Dutt. "Internap’s universal customer portal bridges these typically distinct worlds with ‘cloudy colo’ capabilities, providing remote visibility into the colocation environment – unprecedented in data center offerings – and enabling the on-demand integration of colocation, cloud and other infrastructure with the simplicity of one trusted network, one contract and one support team."
Do you know of any other hybrid offerings similar to Internap's? Let us know the details. Add your comments below.
