iomart Private and Hybrid Cloud-in-a-Box Powered by OnApp

Managed hosting and cloud services provider iomart Group Plc has partnered with OnApp Ltd. to launch a cloud-in-a-box solution for small businesses and enterprise IT departments.

OnApp cloud-in-a-box solution

This solution combines OnApp Enterprise private cloud software with Intel hardware to create a turnkey appliance that can be deployed on premises, or hosted by the company, with self-managed and fully managed options available for each approach. By combining its experience in hosted cloud and managed services, with OnApp’s  private cloud management software, the company can deliver private and hybrid cloud that is cost-effective and easy to manage.

This cloud-in-a-box solution is available with a ‘try before you buy’ scheme that takes companies from proof-of-concept into production without any additional configuration or migration work. It is designed for companies looking to virtualise and consolidate traditional IT into a more cost-effective integrated appliance; to bring cloud automation and efficiency to their business without requiring a lot of technicians; and to simplify the management of workloads across on-premises and hosted cloud infrastructure, using a single, unified cloud platform.

“OnApp is the perfect cloud solution for businesses that don’t want to hire an army of certified professionals to build and administer their cloud, or invest in the cost and complexity of running a complete VMware or Azure stack,” said Neil Christie, commercial director, iomart. “Our new private cloud solution delivers rock-solid virtualisation, automated cloud management, software-defined storage and the robust security and access controls you need, at a fraction of the cost – and we can manage the whole environment for you, in your data centre or ours.“

United Hosting, a managed hosting brand within the company, already uses OnApp. “OnApp provides our customers with cost-effective hosting that’s 100% available. The self-healing technology means VM uptime is never interrupted by hardware failure,” explained Martin Cole, sales director, United Hosting Ltd. “It allows us to offer highly available and instantly scalable solutions to our customers. It’s the flexibility and ease of use that our customers love.“

The wider offering from the whole of the iomart group of companies will allow many more of its customers to benefit.

“With its OnApp hosting and managed services experience, iomart is perfectly placed to help companies choose the right mix of managed, unmanaged, hosted and on-premises cloud,” said Alistair Wildman, chief revenue officer, OnApp. “OnApp Enterprise is a truly turnkey cloud solution that brings the public cloud experience to the enterprise data centre at a different price point – and working with iomart enables companies to take full advantage of whatever mix of on-premises and hosted private cloud works best for their applications and data.“

This company’s cloud solutions are based on Intel 2U, 4-node servers with OnApp pre-installed and ready to run. They also include OnApp’s global 24×7 support. For hosted private cloud options, the company offers a choice of 8 data centre locations in the UK and a further 19 across Europe, the US, the Middle East and AsiaPac. The firm provides a range of supporting services to help customers migrate workloads to its private cloud solution, and offers dedicated connectivity between on-premises clouds and its hosted clouds, to create low latency, hybrid cloud environments.