Verizon Business offers storage in the cloud

Stuart Corner
Monday, 21 June 2010 08:58

Verizon Business has introduced Verizon Cloud Storage and a complementary suite of data-retention IT consulting services.

According to Verizon these are "designed to address the unique complexities of secure data storage'¦[by] managing and retrieving data over the Internet'¦.It is a 'pay-as-you-go service' that scales on demand and can either augment traditional storage options, such as storage area networking and network-attached storage, or be used as a stand-alone solution."

The service will be available in the US and 16 countries around the globe beginning in July. The new service supports multiple methods for accessing stored data, including software, application programming interfaces and third-party applications, and offers enterprises the option to select where data is stored.

Verizon Business will initially leverage the Storage Delivery Network from Nirvanix, a US based enterprise cloud storage service provider. Later this year, Verizon is planning deployment of additional Nirvanix managed storage nodes in its US and European data centres, and in the Asia-Pacific region in 2011. It says this will enable better integration with other Verizon cloud-based services and further enhance performance.

One of the consulting services in the new suite - Data Discovery and Retention Policy Assessment - provides discovery of the customer's data and an assessment of existing policies for the flow, storage and handling of data. Another service, Data Retention Policy Development, helps enterprises develop a formal data storage and backup policy, as well as a roadmap for implementation of the recommendations.

'¢ Verizon's cloud service SAP-certified
SAP has certified Verizon Business' cloud-based on-demand Computing as a Service, or CaaS, platform for the delivery of SAP business applications. Verizon Business says it is the first global provider to receive SAP certification of its cloud services.