OpSource Cloud Under the hood

In business since 2002, OpSource sells hosting services, infrastructure services for Software as a Service (SaaS) companies, and now VMware-based cloud services in a bid to compete with Amazon Web Services. But how does it stack up?

The OpSource Cloud is made up of these components:

• Cloud Servers, or the virtual machines (VMs) or instances running in the OpSource cloud.
• Cloud Networks, or the private, cloud-based networks used for communication in the OpSource cloud. These private networks can be accessed via a Cisco VPN connection that OpSource offers for free (and in a very intuitive manner).

The OpSource cloud is fairly intuitive to use...and overall the performance is acceptable. Jason Langone, Contributor

Making assumptions from this graphic, one can assume that OpSource uses Dell servers running a VMware hypervisor, Cisco networking gear and both EMC and HP back-end storage for Cloud Files and the storage of the actual VMs.
OpSource also offers a 100% availability guarantee (which I'm not sure is even possible). After signing up for the OpSource cloud (a very straightforward process), the first step is to deploy a network.
OpSource Network

A network in the OpSource cloud is essentially a cloud-based LAN dedicated to a customer's environment. This cloud-based LAN is not accessible from the naked Internet; it requires the customer to establish a VPN connection into the cloud-based LAN. This network is the default network for VMs and allows the configuration of components such as firewalls, load balancing parameters, NAT rules and multicast networks.
For customers looking to host solutions with a publicly accessible address, a simple change to map a public IP address to an OpSource VM will allow anyone to hit the resource without requiring the VPN connection first.

OpSource Server
Once at least one network has been defined, it's now time to provision a VM or two. The list of available images is as follows:

• Red Hat 5 Standard
• 64-bit 1 vCPU
• 64-bit 2 vCPU
• 64-bit 4 vCPU
• Windows 2008 Server Standard
• 32bit 1 vCPU

At this time, there are no partner images available, although with OpSource allowing you to import your own VM, an argument could be made that the VMware Appliance Marketplace is a potential source of available images as well.

For this example, I deployed a Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition 32-bit with 1 vCPU, 2 GB of RAM and a 32 GB OS drive. The VM takes 10-15 minutes to fully build and customize. Once it is ready for use, it shows up in the "Servers" section of the user interface (UI).

More from Jason Langone: Reviewing bluelock vCloud ExpressWorking with Hosting.com, Logica and Melbourne IT Analyzing Terremark as a VMware vCloud Express provider

On first login to the VM, my first impression is that the "Preparing Desktop" phase of my Windows VM goes very quick. In other providers, I've seen this last approximately 60 seconds, but I was on my desktop in less than 10 seconds.

I also deployed a few other VM, including a 2 vCPU instance. A few basic tests were run; overall, the performance within the OpSource cloud is good but could also be characterized as "unpredictable." For example, a 2 vCPU server had low CPU utilization but high CPU % ready times and overall felt sluggish, while another VM ran effortlessly.

The OpSource Cloud experience: What's good
The OpSource cloud is fairly intuitive to use, OpSource users can import their own images, and overall the performance is acceptable. Establishing a VPN connection (via the Cisco-based solution) is very simple and worked flawlessly every time it was tested.

The OpSource Cloud experience: What's bad
The UI could use a "Tasks" area that shows pending, queued, active and completed tasks. When a user creates a VM, for example, they are clueless as to the level of progress. After 10-15 minutes, the VM shows up under "Servers," but I wasn't sure that it took properly the first time so I unnecessarily created a second. After that, I checked the logs to make sure my "create" task was working properly.
The user (if they had access) could certainly check the log to verify that the "create" task was executed, but right now there is no way to check and see how much longer it will take to complete. Finally, I occasionally received several "there has been a problem communicating with the OpSource cloud" messages when performing random tasks from within the UI.

How OpSource can improve its cloud experience
Other than what's noted in "the bad" section above, a few other changes would be nice.
First off, having the ability to hide the "VMware Tools" icon so that the underlying platform is less obvious to the end user. Along the same lines, the option to make it less obvious as to which version of the VMware hypervisor the OpSource cloud is using. Savvy customers will note the dated version of VMware tools.
It would also be beneficial to have a dashboard, similar to Vizioncore's vFoglight, to monitor all of a customer's VM in the OpSource cloud. This could certainly be a cost-based option, but if I was to move a large portion of my environment to the OpSource cloud, I would want a dashboard to monitor the health of my environment without having to tap into application programming interfaces (APIs) or other measures.
The argument could be made that an admin would monitor his OpSource virtual machines just like any other server in the environment; however, if this environment was on-premise in my own data center, I'd have vCenter or System Center to monitor my environment at a bird's eye level.

Finally, it would be great if, during a "delete" action on a VM, it was obvious that the underlying storage was zeroed out. Just because the VM's disk(s) have been deleted, it doesn't mean that the data is completely removed from the (assumedly) EMC or HP storage array(s). While the OpSource cloud meets a handful of industry compliance guidelines, it would still be nice to see and know that the underlying disks on the storage array(s) were overwritten with zeroes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jason Langone heads virtualization, cloud computing and storage for MicroTech, a service-disabled, veteran-owned and 8(a) small business. Langone won the VMware Vanguard Award in 2007 and has architected some of the largest virtualization and cloud computing implementations to date.

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OpSource Named Top Cloud and Infrastructure Company

OpSource, Inc., the leader in enterprise cloud and managed hosting, today announced that OpSource has been named the top cloud and infrastructure company on the AlwaysOn Global 250 list.

The companies selected for the AlwaysOn Global 250 represent the top private companies that are demonstrating significant market traction and pursuing game-changing technology. The list is selected by AlwaysOn editors in collaboration with partners at Manatt, Morgan Stanley, the Blackstone Group, KPMG, Silicon Valley Bank, Sonnenschein, and Bridge Bank, as well as industry experts across the globe. Judges recognize honorees based on market opportunity, nature of innovation, media buzz and awareness, commercialization and ability to create stakeholder value.

"After examining the companies that are on the AlwaysOn Global 250 list, it's obvious that innovation is not only alive and well in the Global Silicon Valley, it's accelerating in economic power and scope," said Tony Perkins, founder and editor of AlwaysOn. "The winners certainly represent some of the highest-growth opportunities around, and we're pleased to recognize OpSource for the great strides it has made in pioneering and developing the cloud infrastructure marketplace."

OpSource CEO Treb Ryan will be a featured speaker at the 8th Annual AlwaysOn & Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) Summit at Stanford 2010, which is being held from July 27-29, 2010, at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Ryan will speak on a panel entitled "The Anatomy of a Successful Startup in 2010" on Tuesday, July 27, at 5:45 p.m., and on a panel covering "How are Hot Private SaaS/Cloud Companies Moving From Cloud 1.0 to Cloud 2.0" on Wednesday, July 28, at 12:45 p.m.

"OpSource is driving innovation in the cloud computing industry by bringing truly enterprise-class cloud hosting services to the market. We've gone beyond the commodity cloud value proposition to offer the strongest service level guarantees, game-changing security and control, and innovative channel programs," said Treb Ryan, CEO, OpSource. "We thank AlwaysOn for this great recognition, and look forward to accelerating our industry by helping enterprises and service providers to migrate mission-critical applications to the cloud."

Offering more than traditional hosting services, OpSource provides Application Operations, which includes database management, compliance management, change management, performance management and application optimization. In 2009, the company introduced OpSource Cloud Hosting, a cloud service offering pay-as-you-go flexibility, 100% availability as well as high security, control and support of multi-tenancy.
OpSource this week also announced the OpSource Partner Ecosystem, a comprehensive new program designed to enable integrators, developers, ISVs, cloud platform companies and telecom providers to offer integrated solutions for their joint customers. OpSource's unique offerings address the needs for high security, control, performance and ease of integration. OpSource believes that more than 50% of its revenue will come from the channel, and has redefined its strategy to better support the needs of enterprises and the channel. The OpSource Partner Ecosystem will speed enterprise adoption of the cloud by reducing the burden of integration, shortening time to market for new services, and lowering the total cost of implementation and ownership for both partners and customers.

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OpSource Takes On New Cloud Strategy

After officially launching its cloud computing channel program earlier this year, OpSource is altering its course slightly to bring more partners into the fold and offer more tailored cloud solutions and services

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based cloud provider is shifting its strategy and product portfolio to go beyond Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and is refining its focus by adding support for new customized solutions for high-growth segments and channels.

OpSource CEO Treb Ryan said the company has changed up its product portfolio and developed customized solutions that let customers use both cloud and managed hosting services together to support more complex IT requirements. Ryan said currently 30 percent of OpSource's customers have adopted cloud computing on top of managed hosting services, so it was a next logical step to offer cloud and services without managed hosting. In the past, managed hosting offerings and cloud offerings were sold only in bundles.

"No matter who you are you can buy cloud infrastructure," he said. "You don't have to be one or the other."
OpSource's new services offerings include OpSource Managed Hosting, a bundled managed service that includes collocation, network connectivity, dedicated or virtual servers, operating system management, storage, firewalls, load balancers, and backup infrastructure; OpSource Cloud Hosting, a pay-as-you-go service that includes a virtual server, Linux or Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) Windows operating system, CPU, RAM, storage and customer-configurable VLAN, firewall, and load balancer; OpSource Application Operations, application management services including database management, change management, performance management, application optimization and compliance; and OpSource Business operations, business tools for billing, analytics and customer support.

Along with the new services offerings, OpSource launched a trio of customized solutions: SaaS ISV Solutions, which are cloud and managed hosting services paired with Application Operations and Business Operations to scale operations and shorten time to market; Telecom Solutions, white label resale of the OpSource Cloud with Business Operations billing integration; and Cloud Platform Solutions, integration of the OpSource Cloud into PaaS solutions.

And to support the new offerings OpSource also launched a new partner ecosystem to give integrators, developers, ISVs, development platform companies and service providers the ability to sell integrated solutions to their customers. The new partner ecosystem builds upon the channel program that OpSource launched in January.

Ryan said OpSource foresees more than 50 percent of its revenue coming from the channel by next year and the new ecosystem will speed the adoption of cloud computing in enterprises and fuel sales for partners.
"The channel will be the prime deliverer [for OpSource cloud] as it is for other infrastructure solutions," Ryan said.

The new program, Ryan said, has distinct programs for five different categories of partners, including consulting and development, cloud platform, infrastructure, telecom and distribution. Partners can participate in three tiers: OpSource General Partner, OpSource Gold Certified Partner and OpSource Platinum Partner.
"The margin on cloud is so strong," Ryan said, adding that OpSource's new program will offer more aggressive discounts and incentives for partners. Ryan said depending on partner level benefits include co-marketing activities, tech support, referral compensation, training and certification.

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NTT Sets Up US Public Cloud

NTT America, a subsidiary of NTT Communications Corporation, is moving into the U.S. public cloud market expecting to cross swords with all the usual suspects in the fight to woo the enterprise, particularly with fellow carriers AT&T and Verizon.

NTT is behaving remarkably spry for a Japanese monolith. Other mighty foreign carriers haven't washed up on American shores yet looking for a piece of the cloud action whereas NTT's attitude is: "How can anybody not be in this space?" NTT is also leveraging its $5 million equity investment in OpSource last year, pairing the start-up's cloud with its own carrier-grade infrastructure.

read more

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OpSource Introduces OpSource Cloud Files, the First Enterprise ...

OpSource(TM), the leader in enterprise cloud and Software-as-a-Service hosting, today announced the public beta of OpSource Cloud Files, the first cloud storage solution to offer enterprise-class security and control.

By using OpSource Cloud Files, companies can eliminate the high costs associated with maintaining back-up and archival information, which can take up great amounts of space, run high energy bills and require regular IT supervision. In addition to an attractive "pay as you go" subscription model, OpSource Cloud Files offers the features that enterprises need to feel comfortable putting their historic data in the cloud, including SAS 70 audit, unique in-flight and at-rest encryption, and 24x7 live customer support.

"Companies are asked to maintain years and years of data, information which is never even accessed but yet consumes enough energy and space to make a dent in IT departments' already stretched budgets," said Agatha Poon, Research Manager, Global Cloud Computing, Tier1 Research. "The cloud is an economically viable alternative to enterprises' storage needs but until recently cloud offerings lacked the enterprise-class security needed for companies to feel comfortable storing sensitive information on the cloud. Solutions such as OpSource Cloud Files, which provides in-flight and at-rest data encryption with rule-based security access control, are poised to finally simplify storage for IT." OpSource Cloud Files offers the same enterprise-class controls that distinguish OpSource Cloud from its competitors. Only OpSource Cloud Files lets system administrators give usage quotas with role-based permissions, meaning that IT can control how much space any department gets to access based on their needs. OpSource Cloud Files is also the only offering that allows companies to create unlimited storage accounts, which are clearly defined with account names and descriptions, making it easy to manage files and grow storage with a company's needs. The product is also built with back-end software and front-end APIs from Mezeo, the leading provider of a deployable platform for cloud storage.

OpSource Cloud Files pricing starts at $.15 per gigabyte per month for the first 50 TB/month, with volume discounts beyond this amount.

OpSource offers free bandwidth in, only charging for bandwidth when files are retrieved. There is a tiered discount program available to customers with extremely high bandwidth usage. In addition, OpSource Cloud Files enables IT departments to move storage from a capital expense to an operational expense, saving further money. IT departments can also save on disaster recovery costs and planning since storing data in the clouds means that no remote physical storage locations are needed and that the data is protected from any local disaster scenarios.

"The power and flexibility of the cloud are limitless, and so is its storage capacity," said Treb Ryan, CEO, OpSource. "Cloud storage is the perfect way for companies to offload IT headaches, streamline their operational processes, and save money. We've listened to our customers' needs and, with OpSource Cloud Files, we are delivering the features that enterprises have been waiting for to move their archival data to the cloud." OpSource Cloud Files is available today. For more information or to get started with OpSource Cloud Files, please visit http://opsourcecloud.net/products/cloudfiles/

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