Interview: @Appcore Leverages Apache CloudStack | @CloudExpo

Appcore aims to simplify private cloud through Apache CloudStack solutions. Nate Gordon serves as the Des Moines, IA-based company's Director of Technology, in its effort to enhance Apache CloudStack and Citrix CloudPlatform for its customers. We had a few questions for him, and this is what he told us: Cloud Computing Journal: What have your customers found to be the advantages of using Apache CloudStack? Nate Gordon: Appcore understands that there are a lot of orchestration platforms in the market to chose from. Before we committed to one platform or the other, we did an extensive analysis comparing architecture features, deployment process and technology roadmap. After this evaluation, Appcore chose to integrate our software solutions with Apache CloudStack and Citrix CloudPlatform. A few of the advantages of the platform include: 1. Apache CloudStack is a complete platform, not a toolkit. It provides service providers all the components, right out of the box, that they need to deploy an Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud. 2. Deploying an Apache CloudStack powered cloud is simple and straightforward compared to other orchestration platforms in the market. With only two components required for management, there are fewer possibilities for communication and configuration errors. Plus service providers don’t have to dedicate a large amount of hardware resources to the deployment. 3. Overall the Apache CloudStack project is organized in a unified direction as new product features are developed. The influence of the project is democratic, which is an important aspect of platform to our service providers customers. This allows them to influence the project, offer feature feedback and contribute to development. These are just a few advantages of implementing Apache CloudStack over other orchestration platforms in the market. Our service provider customers value the simplicity, stability and scalability the Apache CloudStack platform provides. CCJ: What are the key management challenges in using CloudStack that Appcore addresses? Nate: Appcore is solely focused on the service provider market and continues to develop software that is feature rich to enhance IT administrators daily tasks. Appcore is a leading CloudStack solutions company focused on simplifying the complexity of cloud management. Our solutions include software, consulting and support to deliver enterprise-grade clouds tailored to your custom specifications. Admin Centric Environment View Appcore simplifies management by equipping service providers with an admin centric view of customer resources. These features provide several benefits including: Easy access to all account resources Complete view of all resources tied to a single virtual machine Quick access to common troubleshooting actions Metering & Billing Appcore’s software solution, Appcore AMP, also includes integrated metering and billing for a fully productized cloud solution. Adding metering and billing functionality allows service providers the ability to charge for resources consumed by their enterprise customers. Appcore’s software is pre-configured with WHMCS but is designed to integrate with other third-party billing solutions. Usage and metering data can also be imported into the service providers existing billing system to provide customers a single invoice. Multi-cloud Deployments Appcore’s latest software, Appcore Atlas, empowers service providers to deploy clouds in minutes. This multi-cloud solution integrates pre-configured standardized network, hypervisor and storage. It automates the configuration of private, on-premise and public clouds in 15 minutes. Unified Authentication Appcore Atlas also features unified authentication for single system sign-on. This provides a seamless transition between cloud systems for increased user efficiency. It allows the service provider to manage accounts across clouds with synchronized credentials. It also gives the mobility and integration for enhanced visibility into monitoring, orchestration and usage data. CCJ: How have things evolved for Appcore throughout this year, and what do you expect your customers' missions and goals to be in 2015 and beyond? Nate: Appcore has evolved since being founded in 2008, and in this past year, we converted from delivering our product as a 2U cloud appliance to a software-only solution. This development occurred based on feedback from our service provider customers and prospects. Our continuous involvement in the market revealed that most service providers already had hardware investments that they wished to implement as part of their cloud solution. Therefore implementing a software-only solution was just another way to simplify the complexity of cloud. For this reason Appcore released a software-only solution in May, 2014. Heading into 2015 we anticipate that service providers will continue to look for solutions to simplify the management of cloud. The demand to deploy cloud for their enterprise customers will continue to increase and service providers will look for tools to deploy private, on-premise and public cloud environments. Service providers will continue to demand a reduction in the time it takes to deploy a cloud environment; instead of days, they will need to deploy cloud in minutes for the enterprise. Service providers are currently yearning for unified cloud authentication so they no longer have to login to several systems to manage their cloud. Instead, administrators are looking for a tool to integrate all cloud components into a single unified platform. Cloud administrators will continue seeking deeper integration into infrastructure including networking, SAN and hypervisor management. They are also looking for management tools that feature resource and capacity planning. Appcore’s mission heading into 2015 and the years to come is to continuously simplify the management of cloud for service providers. In order to do so, we developed our latest software solution, Appcore Atlas, which automates the deployment of multiple clouds. It simplifies the management for administrators and creates a holistic environment. As we continue listen to the service provider market, we will create new products and services that support them.

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