Telarus launches virtualised hosting service

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 23 June 2009 07:16

Business IT - Technology

Infrastructure based telecoms service provider, Telarus, launched a virtualised cloud computing platform based on VMware virtualisation software, EMC storage and IBM servers billing tight integration with its MPLS network as a key customer benefit.

Telarus' plans to launch the service were reported by iTWire in March with CEO, Jules Rumsey, saying that, while the company had previous offered colocation services, it expected to be able to add value to its virtualisation offerings by integrating these with its communications services. "We can provision a private cloud for the client where we can guarantee performance and we can guarantee security," Rumsey said.

Telarus is also offering a managed firewall, based on the FortiGate unified threat management platform. This enables clients to securely connect their virtual servers to the Internet and private networks on Telarus' trans-Tasman MPLS network. It also enables secure remote access using either PPTP or IPSec, a feature the company said was proving very popular with partners.

"The inclusion of Telarus Managed Firewall and the ability to deliver direct connectivity to the Telarus MPLS network means that clients can expect better security and performance that they would receive by accessing an Internet based hosting service. We are able to eliminate many of the security threats, can deliver dedicated network capacity and offer IP QoS to enable clients to provide bandwidth to the applications that need it most," said Rumsey.

He added: "In the current economic climate, businesses need to generate the best possible results from their IT budgets. The Virtual Server platform that Telarus has built is rock solid and able to cater to anything from entry level to very demanding hosting requirements. It is based on VMware ESX coupled with IBM BladeCenter and EMC SAN technology and offers excellent performance and reliability with no capital expenditure and low operating costs."

Rumsey said customers would be able to purchase the capacity they need and to progressively scale up their virtual servers over time based on the needs of their applications. "As the demand on a particular virtual server grows, it is a simple matter to dial up the memory, processor and storage capacity, without having to worry about the time and money that would otherwise need to be invested in hardware upgrades. Most importantly, it eliminates the need for 'forklift upgrades' where the limits of the hardware platform have been reached and it needs to be changed."

The service will be offered through Telarus channel partners in Australia and in New Zealand following its recent expansion into that market. Rumsey told iTWire in March that, in preparation for launch of the service Telarus was expanding its channel programme. Rumsey said that about 50 percent of sales came from about 50 channel partners and the remainder from a large in-house sales force.

"We are restructuring the sales force to give the channel more attention and will introduce one or two new programmes that will allow us to better segment the partners and there will some changes to the commission structure," he said.