Telefonica makes cloud more accessible

Telefónica Digital is bolstering its global public cloud service with a toolkit that offers users greater control and provisioning of virtual servers.

Dubbed ‘Instant Servers’, which sounds like something created by adding a spoonful of granules to a mug of hot water, the service is based on technology from Joyent, which allows customers to configure the size of their virtual server in terms of RAM memory, CPU and hard drive as well as choose the Operating System (SmartOS, Ubuntu, CentOS, Windows Server, Fedora and Debian) the virtual server runs on.

All the hardware resides in Telefónica’s enterprise-grade data centres, connected to Telefónica’s fibre optic network, coupled with an SLA of 99.996 per cent per year and a turbo-charge boost of computing power by up to 400 per cent in real time to handle spikes in demand.

Carlos Morales, Telefónica Digital’s Cloud and M2M Director, said: “With the launch of Instant Servers Telefónica Digital seeks to meet the needs of thousands of  businesses that require a cloud services platform that is easily scalable, with low latency and totally trustworthy,  enabling them not only to rapidly respond to their own needs, but also to the expectations of their customers. This can all be done with significant cost savings as customers only pay for the type of cloud services they require and the time they use them for”.

In related news, backbone network and datacentre operator Interoute has announced plans to further build out its European datacentres to meet demand, with top line revenues jumping 15 per cent year on year, to €296.7m, in the first three quarters of 2012.

The company recently extended its Virtual Data Centre platform into its Berlin facility and prepared its Paris Data Centre for the launch of the same. The company was also selected by the UK Government as an IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) provider for that nation’s G-Cloud programme.

On Tuesday, cloud services firm Skyscape also won a contract with the Ministry of Defence in the UK for the hosting of the GEMS Online system, which will enable MoD and Armed Forces personnel to make suggestions to help the MoD transform.