Technology giant HP announced the launch of CloudStart, designed as an
all-in-one solution for deploying an open and private cloud environment within
30 days. Built on an HP Converged Infrastructure, CloudStart helps simplify and
speed private cloud deployments. Consisting of hardware, software and services,
CloudStart aims to help businesses deliver pay-per-use services from a common
portal, as well as scale and deploy new services automatically.
Real-time access to consumption and chargeback reports allows clients to
operate their private clouds in the same fashion as a public cloud, while HP’s
open architecture approach means clients can integrate their private clouds
with third-party enterprise portals, public cloud services, usage billing
packages and multiplatform resource management.
Other benefits include a 75 percent reduction in compliance-management time
through advanced automation and governance functionality; improved business
response time to changing market demands by delivering technology services on
an as-needed basis rather than through a dedicated system; simplified addition
and management of pools of network, storage and server resources, including
enhanced data services such as unified provisioning and disaster recovery on HP
storage; and best-practice guidance from HP Services, which provides expertise
in deploying, customizing and executing on a private cloud that is tuned for
the client’s environment.
"To better serve the needs of their enterprises, clients are asking us to
help them become internal service providers with the ability to deliver
applications through a highly flexible private cloud environment," said
Gary M. Budzinski, senior vice president and general manager of HP’s technology
services group. "With CloudStart, HP is enabling clients to optimize
applications for private cloud computing today, while providing a platform for
a comprehensive, open and hybrid environment in the future."
HP also announced Cloud Maps for use with solutions from VMware, SAP
AG, Oracle and Microsoft to speed application deployment and reduce risk by
providing engineered, tested and proven configurations. Cloud Maps are imported
directly into client cloud environments, a company release said. In addition,
the company announced it has teamed with Intel, Samsung, VMware and research
university Carnegie Mellon to implement a private cloud environment based on HP
Converged Infrastructure. Carnegie Mellon’s private cloud will serve as a test
bed for research on cloud computing.
"When CIOs have a simplified way to map their path to the private cloud,
including all the necessary components from infrastructure and applications to
services, they are more likely to identify a comprehensive and realistic
deployment scenario for their organization," said Matt Eastwood, group
vice president of IT research firm IDC’s
enterprise platform group. "With the HP CloudStart solution, clients now
have a way to accelerate the adoption of service-oriented environments for a
private cloud that matches the speed, flexibility and economies of public cloud
without the risk or loss of control."