SoftLayer Introduces New Auto Scale Service

SoftLayer, an IBM Company, today announced the immediate availability of Auto Scale across its global network of data centers. The new service enables customers to seamlessly and automatically scale SoftLayer’s virtual servers up or down, which ensures optimal performance, efficient operations, and reduced costs.

“When developing Auto Scale, we were to extend and build on SoftLayer’s existing automation features,” said Marc Jones, CTO for SoftLayer. “The new service makes maintaining peak performance easier, whether scaling up to meet performance demands or scaling down during slow times to reduce costs.”

Auto Scale automates the process of deploying additional or cancelling unneeded virtual servers. Users define groups, policies, and triggers according to their demands, and Auto Scale executes scaling SoftLayer’s virtual infrastructure by sending real-time status updates of activity. Virtual servers deployed via Auto Scale can also be integrated with the customers’ existing VLANs and load balancers.

“Customers today face a number of infrastructure challenges. The resource needs of a business can fluctuate on an ongoing basis. By intelligently managing these demands, customers can strategically position themselves for success,” said Philbert Shih, managing director for Structure Research. “Auto scaling capabilities help reduce the need for manual provision and cancellation, mitigate CPU load and bottlenecking during traffic spikes, serve as a performance safeguard against unexpected load increases, and contribute to predictability of costs.”

The service is offered at no charge to customers; customers only pay for the resources deployed. Auto Scale is available immediately in SoftLayer data centers in Dallas, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Amsterdam, Washington D.C., Seattle, and San Jose.

VMware has officially launched the vCloud Hybrid Service

VMware has finally unveiled the, long-anticipated, vCloud Hybrid Service (vCloud Hybrid Service Datasheet). Because the solution is built on the foundation of VMware vSphere,  it will provide an VMware customers a seamlessly platform for extending its data center to the cloud. More than 3,700 applications certified today on VMware’s platform, will work on vCloud Hybrid Service without any changes.

VMware’s vCloud Hybrid Service benefits:

• Broadest OS and Application Support: No change for OS or Application needed.
• Seamless Network Integration: Extend beyond the physical limits without changes.
• Reliability and Manageability: Continue to rely on the VMware vSphere platform.

Customers have two subscription options:

• The first is a dedicated service with physically isolated and reserved compute resources and a private cloud instance.
• The second is a virtual private cloud with a multi-tenant compute resource model and dedicated allocations for customers.  

Bill Fathers, VMware Senior Vice President and General Manager, Hybrid Cloud BU, presents the benefits of the vCloud Hybrid Service.

Hybrid Application Deployment Demo: