Verizon builds new enterprise cloud for speed and performance
Connecting state and local government leaders
Company seeks beta users for Verizon Cloud Compute and Cloud Storage, two new cloud offerings for infrastructure and object-based storage services.
Verizon has unveiled a cloud infrastructure called Verizon Cloud that the company says gives IT managers more control over the performance of every virtual machine in the cloud in near real-time. With this service, large enterprises, mid-size organizations and small development shops will get the agility and economic benefit of a generic public cloud along with the reliability, control and scale of an enterprise-level service, according to the company.
The new cloud architecture consists of an infrastructure as a service platform called Verizon Cloud Compute and Verizon Cloud Storage, an object-based storage service.
Verizon Cloud will let organizations deploy virtual machines in seconds and monitor performance of every virtual machine across the architecture, Norm Laudermilch, Verizon Terremark Public Sector’s chief operation officer, told GCN. With Verizon Cloud Compute, users can determine and set virtual machine and network performance, providing predictable performance for mission-critical applications -- even during peak times, he said.
Moreover, users can move development and test workloads across Verizon Cloud’s global cloud infrastructure without any reconfiguration, company officials said.
Verizon Cloud also offers discrete configuration of the number of processors and amount of memory associated with each virtual machine. With the Verizon Cloud, users can scale up and down on demand, using a consumption-based pricing model where they pay for what they need, when they need it, Laudermilch said.
Verizon Cloud Storage is an object-based storage solution for non-transactional data that requires global access. The service offers tiered storage for applications, available with high-bandwidth interconnections to Verizon Cloud Compute, according to the company. Verizon Cloud Storage’s multitenant storage platform lets users securely access data from anywhere on the Web. Object storage is robust and reliable, which makes it well-suited for cloud-based applications, Verizon officials said.
Verizon has invested heavily in cloud computing, in 2011 acquiring both Terremark and CloudSwitch, which makes software that lets organizations move applications from the data center to the cloud without modifying the application. Verizon Enterprise Solutions offers a mix of public, private and hybrid cloud services as well as industry-specific cloud solutions for healthcare, public sector and financial services. All of these cloud services will continue to be available to users.
However, Verizon will offer a migration strategy to the Verizon Cloud for existing users, who can enroll in a beta testing program slated to begin at the end of the year, Laudermilch said. The Verizon Cloud will conform to all of the required government regulations, including the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program for cloud security and the Defense Department’s Information Assurance Certification, he said.