June 7, 2010 — 6fusion today announced the launch of UC6 3.0 beta for data center operators and IT service providers. The new release includes a number of important new features, including:
- Building, controlling and maintaining cloud workloads running on 6fusion’s iNode Network or privately within the customer’s own data center
- Integration of the light weight UC6 Profiler agent, released in 2009, into the UC6 Console dashboard, giving service providers the capability to perform deep pre-migration analysis
- Capability for data center operators and customers to launch new 6fusion Infrastructure Nodes anywhere in the world from a centralized NOC
- Instantly ‘unplug’ workloads from the cloud and redirect them elsewhere
- True metered utility powered by 6fusion’s patent-pending Workload Allocation Cube algorithm
- Integrated granular charge back capability for enterprise resource segments
- A rich set of integrationg capabilities to allow external programs to take advantage of the highly modular design of UC6.
UC6 is a software platform that converts virtualized servers, network and storage into a billable utility and makes the utility computing resources accessible to external users. 6fusion federates independent third party data centers, which comprises its iNode Network. The iNode Network is used by IT Service Providers and Independent Software Vendors to deploy cloud based solutions on behalf of their customers, paying only for the compute resources consumed. 6fusion is the only 100% channel-only focused IaaS enabler in the market.
UC6 can also be deployed inside a private enterprise by 6fusion Solution Partners, which 6fusion has been quietly doing for the past several months. “The ability to create a single interface for Enterprise customers to deploy workloads internally or externally onto the iNode Network is in very high demand in the cloud industry,” said 6fusion co-founder and CTO Delano Seymour, the principal architect behind UC6. “Using UC6 3.0, customers can deploy workloads to either their own private data center or one of our multi-tenant data center partners in a matter of minutes,” he added.
UC6 3.0 was also designed to be hypervisor independent, a key feature for the future of IaaS. “There is a lot of debate going on right now over the viability of virtualization vendors offering full cloud management solutions, but our customers don’t want to be locked in to one vendor,” said 6fusion co-founder and CEO John Cowan. “UC6 3.0 architecture will allow the customer to use their choice of hypervisor without compromising the richness and functionality of the cloud or getting locked in,” he said.
The new 6fusion platform also features the UC6 Profiler, which was introduced to the market a year ago. Since launching the free tool, customers and partners have been using it to analyze the potential cost of moving to the cloud before conducting any actual migration. “Profiler allows our partners to gain valuable insight into the cost performance of customer applications they are thinking about migrating to the 6fusion iNode Network,” said 6fusion Director of Partner Development Doug Steele. “With our new release, the Profiler agent can be deployed directly from the UC6 Console,” he added.
Data residency control and self-service provisioning were considered high on 6fusion’s priority list for UC6 3.0. “When we started our company customers gravitated to us because we could assure them control over where their data sits,” Steele explained. “Now, customers in one geography can ensure that some data remain local and other data can be processed in a completely different geography, without ever having to leave 6fusion’s console to accomplish the task,” he added.
UC6 3.0 usage is based on 6fusion’s patent-pending algorithm, called the Workload Allocation Cube (WAC). The WAC algorithm dynamically blends the critical compute resources required to operate practically every x86 based software application, yielding a single unit of measurement. “The Workload Allocation Cube is the most granular unit of measurement for cloud infrastructure on the market,” said Mr. Seymour. “Our customers have been using the WAC for over three years to meter cloud infrastructure because of our unique ability to simplify the cloud consumption experience,” he added.
UC6 3.0 is first being made available for existing partners and customers, followed by a general public release scheduled for later in the year. For more information about 6fusion UC6 3.0 or other 6fusion related technologies, email info(at)6fusion(dot)com or visithttp://www.6fusion.com
3 Universal Truths about Enabling the IaaS Market
There has been quite a bit of chatter on the web lately about cloud service providers, the IaaS market, private vs public cloud, etc etc. With Cisco taking a head first dive into the business of IaaS enablement and the subsequent publishing of the ROI calculator I felt compelled to share some insight from 6fusion beyond my quick blog post the other day.
6fusion has been helping data center providers create utility computing nodes for about 5 years. Not a lot of time in the big picture, but a heck of a lot of time in the cloud service provider industry for sure. We give our technology (yes, give) to data centers and help them (at no cost) get into the cloud service provider business. Over that span of time we have discovered a few universal truths about this market.
Before I elaborate on that, let me give you a quick introduction to part of the process what we go through with new data center partners.
This is an excerpt from a 6fusion process document for new IaaS partners:
4. ROI Calculator
In order to estimate the value of your 6fusion utility computing node, we require certain data inputs, the results of which will identify precisely the amount of revenue a prospective partner can expect to earn. The inputs we require include:
In addition to raw material quantities, UCV Program Partners must complete [a simple input table that characterizes the cost and technical limits of their resource pools]
Every single time we do this process our partners make the same first remark: “That’s it? No forty-sheet excel workbook? No training course to understand all of this? No pain? No charge?”
Yup.
That’s it. Well, I guess I should say that part of this is possible because of our secret sauce, but I won’t get in to that here.
So here are the three universal truths we’ve learned about enabling the IaaS market:
Truth #1: The money-in equation trumps everything else in the decision process.
I can show any data center vendor how much they can make based on the hardware they want to toss into the game. And THAT is the part the service provider cares most about.
Truth #2: All x86 hardware, no matter how many white papers you publish, is a commodity in the IaaS world.
Note to Cisco and others: You are the guys that supply the coal for the furnace. That’s it. That’s all. You do it really well – and without you this whole thing won’t even exist. But when our partners go through this process they honestly don’t give a shit about brands, logos, super bowl ads, flash web sites and twitter feeds. They care about how your revenue run rate yield compares to your biggest competitor.
Truth #3: Agnosticism is a powerful currency.
Cisco releasing an ROI calculator for their own kit is like asking the Pope his honest opinion about how Catholicism stacks up against the other religions. Honestly. Are we really that naïve? Giving the service provider a truly objective view into ROI packs a very powerful punch.
The really interesting thing is that providers like 6fusion can be a tremendous asset to the hardware companies that really truly have stuff customers should buy. What better way to prove your marketing department right than to see how you stack up in an objective, apples to apples comparison? Think you’re the crème that rises to the top? We could actually help you prove it!
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Tagged 6fusion, cisco, cloud, iaas roi, utility computing, x86