John Pozadzides, VP and CMO of Layered Tech
Layered Tech bills itself as "the leading provider of next generation, on-demand utility computing and hosting solutions" and offers services that include both managed and self-managed dedicated server hosting. Catering for entry to enterprise-level customers, the company also provides utility-based grid computing solutions. Always at the forefront, the company lays claim to the first worldwide release of Windows 2008 with Microsoft Hyper-V on dedicated or virtual servers. Given the buzz Hyper-V has created, we ask John Pozadzides, the company's VP and CMO, about this new technology's benefits for hosts and hosting customers.
- HOSTSEARCH: John, thanks very much for meeting us today. Why don't we start by you introducing yourself and telling us about your role within Layered Tech?JOHN POZADZIDES: Hello. Yes, I'm responsible for both sales and marketing at Layered Tech, as well as product management and client services.
- HOSTSEARCH: How long has the company been in business? Have you been with the company since the start?JOHN POZADZIDES: Layered Tech has been offering hosting solutions since 2004, and I joined the company in 2007.
- HOSTSEARCH: What is, for want of a better word, Layered Tech's corporate 'ethos'? And what makes the company stand out the way it does?JOHN POZADZIDES: Our mission at Layered Tech remains constant: to be a great company for our customers, stockholders and employees by creating exceptional long-term value through worldwide leadership in our chosen markets and strong operational execution in our business. We approach this commitment through a set of values which we take very seriously:
• Integrity in everything we do
• Treat everyone equally and keep our commitments
• Flexible and innovative culture
• Relentless customer focus
• Focus on differentiated services and technology leadership. - HOSTSEARCH: What would you say is Layered Tech's biggest achievement to date?JOHN POZADZIDES: Growing the business aggressively the first four years put us in a position to acquire and integrate FastServers with Layered Tech. In turn, this merger allowed us to leapfrog our managed server offerings and provide our customers with new, best-in-class hosting solutions.
- HOSTSEARCH: It's clear Layered Tech has its main focus on self-managed dedicated hosting with some managed services. Why have you chosen this route when most hosts seem to be involved in most aspects of hosting?JOHN POZADZIDES: Actually, our portfolio of offerings is quite comprehensive: on-demand managed dedicated hosting, virtualization and grid computing, Web services. In fact, we are considered one of the leaders in virtualization solutions with our GridLayer product, which was one of the first commercially available virtualization computing solutions.
- HOSTSEARCH: You have been one of the first to offer Hyper-V. Just in case there are one or two visitors that haven't heard about it, what is Hyper-V?JOHN POZADZIDES: Hyper-V is a hypervisor-based technology that is a key feature of Windows Server 2008, and allows virtualization of multiple operating systems (including Windows and Linux) all on the same server. It provides a scalable, reliable, and highly available virtualization platform.
- HOSTSEARCH: Is this simply virtualization for Windows rather than Linux, or is there more to it than that?JOHN POZADZIDES: As a key feature of Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V allows virtualization of multiple operating systems, including Windows and Linux, all on the same server. The technology provides a scalable, reliable and highly available virtualization platform along with a single set of integrated management tools to manage both physical and virtual resources. Windows Hyper-V also offers large memory support and provides backup/restore, snapshotting and easy transition of virtual servers from one physical server to another.
- HOSTSEARCH: And possibly more importantly, what benefits do end users get from Hyper-V?JOHN POZADZIDES: With our specially configured Hyper-V platforms, Layered Tech outperforms traditional VPS offerings generally available in the marketplace. We offer full virtual machines with complete control over everything, right down to the operating system. Customers now have a greater range of control than ever before, combined with a much higher degree of security and reliability.
