SoftLayer™ Continues Data Center Expansion

SoftLayer Technologies™, the innovative on-demand data center services provider, today announced the opening of three new data center pods in the company’s Dallas, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., data center facilities. The new pods add capacity for 20,000 additional servers, bringing SoftLayer’s total capacity to more than 45,000 physical machines.

“We continue gaining momentum every year. We broke more projections and records this year than last, and 2010 will bring even more of the same,” said Lance Crosby, CEO of SoftLayer. “These three new pods meet the customer demand increases that we expect in the very near future. And they are only preliminary measures in our growth strategy for 2010. We have some big plans which we can’t wait to share with everyone.”

“We’re extremely excited to introduce Private Cloud services to our customers. Private Cloud gives Softlayer customers yet another dynamic, scalable infrastructure option,” said Nathan Day, CTO, SoftLayer. “This will provide a service with segregated physical computing hardware giving customers security and peace of mind with the benefits of unlimited, on-demand scalability.”

SoftLayer’s milestones in 2009 included:

  • More than 5,700 active customers across 110+ countries
  • More than 23,000 deployed servers
  • Placement in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Web Hosting and Cloud Infrastructure Services
  • Introduction of CloudLayer™ line of cloud services, including CloudLayer Storage, CloudLayer CDN, CloudLayer Computing, and Bare Metal Cloud™
  • Industry’s first deployment of Intel® Nehalem microarchitecture
  • IPv6 support across all data centers
  • Multiple carrier additions across all data centers for a total of 290Gbps

The new pods are part of SoftLayer’s unique approach to data center design. Each of the company’s geographically diverse data centers consists of multiple pods built to identical specifications with the same bestin- class methodologies. This level of standardization across all its geographic locations enables SoftLayer to optimize key data center performance variables, including space, power, network, personnel, and internal infrastructure.

Posted by Admin on December 1st, 2009 | 1 Comment
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The Planet Extends High-Performance SAN to Dedicated Hosting Customers

The Planet, a global leader in IT hosting, today announced the availability of the Dell PowerVault MD3000i, a high-performance storage area network (SAN) disk array. Ideal for multi-server environments such as virtual and private racks, the MD3000i offers a cost-effective and scalable storage solution.

The MD3000i uses iSCSI Ethernet technology to enable shared storage across multiple servers, eliminating the need to build out a costly fiber channel infrastructure. Up to 16 servers can share the MD3000i, which has 15 internal drive slots for a total storage capacity up to 15 terabytes (TB). In the event more capacity is required, companies can add up to two MD1000 storage arrays to the MD3000i for an additional 45TB.
“One of the most critical business challenges customers face today is data storage, and all too often it’s also one of the most costly,” said Rob Walters, director of product management for The Planet. “The MD3000i lowers the barrier to entry for high-performance, consolidated storage, and also provides a clear path for expansion for companies that expect to see their storage requirements grow.”

About the Dell PowerVault MD3000i
The iSCSI SAN array provides a scalable and low-cost storage solution, which continually protects daily operations and enables an easy path for expansion:
Cost-effective: The MD3000i, The Planet’s lowest-priced SAN, can be shared by as many as 16 servers, which eliminates the high cost of buying individual storage devices for each server.

Scalable: In addition to its 15 internal drive slots, customers can add up to two 15-drive MD1000 disk arrays to the MD3000i, for up to 45TB of storage.

Capable: With its large capacity and high availability, the MD3000i is ideal for businesses running performance-intensive applications, databases, and file or archive storage.

The Planet, a global leader in IT hosting, today announced the availability of the Dell PowerVault MD3000i, a high-performance storage area network (SAN) disk array. Ideal for multi-server environments such as virtual and private racks, the MD3000i offers a cost-effective and scalable storage solution.

The MD3000i uses iSCSI Ethernet technology to enable shared storage across multiple servers, eliminating the need to build out a costly fiber channel infrastructure. Up to 16 servers can share the MD3000i, which has 15 internal drive slots for a total storage capacity up to 15 terabytes (TB). In the event more capacity is required, companies can add up to two MD1000 storage arrays to the MD3000i for an additional 45TB.
“One of the most critical business challenges customers face today is data storage, and all too often it’s also one of the most costly,” said Rob Walters, director of product management for The Planet. “The MD3000i lowers the barrier to entry for high-performance, consolidated storage, and also provides a clear path for expansion for companies that expect to see their storage requirements grow.”

About the Dell PowerVault MD3000i
The iSCSI SAN array provides a scalable and low-cost storage solution, which continually protects daily operations and enables an easy path for expansion:
Cost-effective: The MD3000i, The Planet’s lowest-priced SAN, can be shared by as many as 16 servers, which eliminates the high cost of buying individual storage devices for each server.

Scalable: In addition to its 15 internal drive slots, customers can add up to two 15-drive MD1000 disk arrays to the MD3000i, for up to 45TB of storage.

Capable: With its large capacity and high availability, the MD3000i is ideal for businesses running performance-intensive applications, databases, and file or archive storage.

Posted by Admin on December 1st, 2009 | No Comments
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New Codero Network Configurations Support High Demand Server Environments

Codero unveils new server networks improving security, performance, backup and ongoing management for any dedicated hosting scenario. Custom network configurations offer complete redundancy and control for high-volume email, websites, databases, application hosting and more. Three custom network configurations are designed to support complex business applications requiring multiple servers. Load-Balanced is fully redundant maintaining network traffic on high-capacity mail and web servers. High Availability is designed for marketing campaigns, high-traffic stores and data-demanding applications. The Cluster network configuration supports social media hosting, large databases and mission-critical infrastructure with optimum privacy.

“These custom configurations are perfect for the medium-to-large enterprise,” says Taylor Giddens, Director, Dedicated Services for Codero. “Whether to secure core data, handle spikes in traffic or support thousands of users at once, each server network delivers a flexible solution with an emphasis on uptime.”

Codero’s network configurations feature high-quality components including dedicated load balancing, Cisco firewall, EVault managed backup, 100MB switch, Gigabit Private VLAN and database (dynamic, replication or cluster). All server setups are available as Linux or Windows and may be further customized to meet any business need.

Posted by Admin on November 1st, 2009 | No Comments
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Windows Server 2008 R2 -The Planet Adds Microsoft’s Newest Operating System to Portfolio

The Planet, the global leader in IT hosting, today expanded its portfolio of products and services with the addition of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2.  Windows Server 2008 R2 helps organizations reduce operating costs, and increase efficiencies.  The new operating system is available to all dedicated hosting customers across the company’s eight SAS 70 Type II-audited data centers.

Windows Server 2008 R2 enables dynamic provisioning and management of virtual workloads with the much-anticipated update to Microsoft’s Hyper-V™. With its Live Migration-enabling technology, moves between physical hosts now happen in milliseconds. As the first Windows Server operating system with a true 64-bit architecture, R2 also offers powerful hardware and scaling features.
“Our customers around the world are always looking for ways to do more with less, and Windows Server 2008 R2 is optimized to meet those demands,” said Todd Mitchell, general manager for dedicated hosting and global services at The Planet. “As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, we stay in lockstep with new technologies from Microsoft to give our customers more ways to reduce operating costs and increase efficiencies.”

About Windows Server 2008 R2
The latest operating system from Microsoft includes a number of updates that enhance server performance and management control:

  • Powerful hardware and scaling features; R2 is the first Windows Server operating system to move solely to a 64-bit architecture, and CPU-specific enhancements enable customers to run up to 256 logical processors.
  • Updated Hyper-V augments virtual workload management; Hyper-V enables Live Migration, a new feature for R2 that moves virtual machines in a matter of milliseconds.
  • Ubiquitous remote access; DirectAccess allows remote users to seamlessly access corporate resources without a VPN connection or client software.
  • Strongest Windows application platform to date; R2 includes the new Internet Information Services 7 (IIS 7.0), which helps applications run faster while using fewer system resources.
Posted by Admin on November 1st, 2009 | No Comments
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Dedicated Servers Company Superb Internet Launches Lease to Own Program

Superb Internet announced today the extension of its existing industry-leading lease-to-own program to all of its dedicated servers. The existing lease-to-own program, until now only offered on the Superb Enterprise high-end/custom dedicated line of servers, allows – as of today, all — dedicated server customers to pay a small lease to own fee for a year and then at the end of one year they own the hardware outright while the monthly fee is reduced to a minimal colocation fee, saving the customers thousands of dollars over the life-time of the server.

This program is particularly well-suited to large partners and resellers who often have hundreds (or thousands) of servers representing huge ongoing monthly costs. Resellers can own all their servers after one year of service, significantly reducing their costs, which they can use to grow their businesses.

“We understand that in tough economic times customers are looking for more and more value, and we believe this is one of the best deals out there,” states William Song, Senior Product Manager. “This represents a paradigm shift in the relationship between customer and web host, offering much more transparency in the billing practices. At other web hosts customers are typically forced to pay outrageous ongoing monthly fees for hardware that is often 3-4 years old. With the Superb lease-to-own program customers always know that they have paid off their hardware after year 1, and the low ongoing fees simply represent, space, power, AC, support, and bandwidth among other costs. If customers wish to upgrade their server they can do so at wholesale rates, and if they decide to leave they can have the server shipped to them, because they own it! Compare that to most companies where customers end up paying thousands of dollars more (many times the cost of the server hardware) and end up with nothing when they cancel.”

Posted by Admin on October 21st, 2009 | No Comments
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SoftLayer™ Success Continues Growing

SoftLayer Technologies™, the innovative on-demand data center services provider, has continued to solidify its financial strength throughout 2009 and is on track to report more than $80 million in revenue for 2009. SoftLayer provides highly automated, on-demand data center and IT services that allow businesses to more efficiently utilize their resources and decrease their capital expenditures. The company has experienced 12 months of GAAP profitability and sequential growth.

“We’re extremely proud that our record of success has continued. Our momentum just keeps building,” said Mike Jones, CFO, SoftLayer™. “It’s not a coincidence that, in this economic climate, more customers are turning to us for services designed to help them optimize their operations and focus on their own business objectives. SoftLayer’s results to date can be attributed to the use of cutting-edge technology deployments that did not exist 3-5 years ago.”

Key milestones for SoftLayer through the beginning of October of this year have included:

  • $90 million annualized run rate
  • +40% EBITDA margins
  • 12 consecutive months of sequential increases in GAAP profitability
  • Strong financial position, including $35 million of capital to fund future expansion
  • On track for setting a record in 2009 of over 80 million in annual revenue
  • Growth to more than 5,700 active customers across 110+ countries
  • More than 21,000 deployed servers
  • Received TechTitans award as the fastest growing company in Dallas for second consecutive year
  • Placed in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Web Hosting and Cloud Infrastructure Services
  • Certified compliance with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s U.S.-European Union Safe Harbor framework

SoftLayer has continued leading the market with significant new and updated services including:

  • CloudLayer™ line of cloud services, including CloudLayer Storage, CloudLayer CDN, CloudLayer Computing, and Bare Metal Cloud™
  • Industry’s first deployment of Intel® Nehalem microarchitecture
  • IPv6 support across all data centers
  • Additional operating systems including SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server and Microsoft® Windows Server Core
  • Expanded environmental sustainability efforts
  • SoftLayer Outlet, a value server sales channel
  • Multiple carrier additions across all data centers for a total of 290Gbps
  • New virtualization solutions including VMware® ESX hypervisor and Citrix® NetScaler® VPX
  • Participation in Microsoft Hosting BizSpark™ and Microsoft WebsiteSpark™ programs
Posted by Admin on October 16th, 2009 | 1 Comment
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The Planet Engages CAPSTAR Commercial for Data Center

The Planet, the global leader in IT hosting, today announced the appointment of CAPSTAR Commercial Real Estate Services to lease its fifth data center in the Dallas Metroplex. The first of four 12,000-square-foot pods has been completed, providing environmentally friendly white-floor space that is complete and ready for leasing. CAPSTAR principals Trey Smith and Chris Taylor will manage leasing for the facility, which is located on Plano Parkway in the 190 Business Center.

The new data center – the company’s eighth – uses the latest modular cooling technology from Turbine Air Systems (TAS), with high-efficiency, water-cooled chillers that eliminate the possibility of an interior water leak. Colocation, private racks and managed hosting services will be offered in the new facility. Space is also available for a business continuity center, which provides office space for customers requiring a disaster recovery base of operations during an outage.

“We’ve received significant interest from North Texas companies looking to expand or outsource their data center facilities,” said The Planet’s Vice President of Global Sales Tom Blair.  “Customers select The Planet based on the quality of our data centers and network, and this new space enables us to accommodate the rapid colocation market growth we’ve seen in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.”

“There is a shortage of large footprint colocation space in North Texas that offers robust power,” said CAPSTAR principal Trey Smith. “The facility provides colocation and IT infrastructure solutions for both local and national companies that are seeking to expand their core infrastructure or supplement their existing operations. The state-of-the-art facility and its central U.S. location will be attractive to many companies looking for colocation and turnkey data center solutions.”

Posted by Admin on September 21st, 2009 | No Comments
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SoftLayer, Garners 2009 One-Year Fast Tech Award

On-demand data center services provider, SoftLayer Technologies, has received the 2009 One-Year Fast Tech Award at the 9th Annual Tech Titans Awards and Fast Tech, presented by the Metroplex Technology Business Council (MTBC).

The award recognizes the company with the highest percentage of revenue growth in 2008 over 2007 in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area. Both private and public companies from any technology industry segment are eligible for the award, as long as they own proprietary technology. SoftLayer received the same award in 2008 for its growth in 2007 over 2006.

George Karidis, Chief Strategy Officer noted, ”We are very proud to win this prestigious award two years in a row. It is an honor being recognized among DFW’s technology leaders – there are many innovative companies doing great things here. Our continuing growth can be directly attributed to our unique approach to hosting and data center services. We’re bringing new ideas and practical advantages to our customers and the market.”

MTBC is the largest technology trade organization in Texas. Its annual Tech Titans Awards and Fast Tech rankings showcase the industry’s most talented individuals and the companies with the most advanced technologies in North Texas. The region is a leading center for technology and innovation in the U.S. and globally. The American Electronics Association Cybercities 2008 report ranked DFW fifth among U.S. cities in high-tech employment, with approximately 176,000 high-tech workers. DFW ranked second nationwide for employment in both the telecommunications services and Internet services sectors.

Headquartered in Plano, Texas, SoftLayer delivers world-class, on-demand virtual data center services on a global basis from facilities located in Dallas, TX; Seattle, WA; and Washington, DC. SoftLayer integrates all facets of IT to innovate industry-leading solutions that are fully automated. This empowers customers with complete control, security, scalability, and ease-of-management for their IT environment.

Posted by Admin on September 10th, 2009 | No Comments
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Web Hosting Data Center Services Provider, SoftLayer, Premieres EVault Backup.

Web hosting virtual data center services provider, SoftLayer, has begun offering EVault Bare Metal Restores (BMR), as an advanced disaster recovery capability.

Designed to enable customers to completely restore servers to a bare metal state after an operating system or hardware failure, servers are restored to the latest system image safely stored in a secure SoftLayer repository.

Andrew Maten, Director of IT Systems at SoftLayer remarked, ”Everything we offer is about giving our customers more flexibility, confidence, and control. EVault BMR is a powerful, no-nonsense tool for getting systems back up quickly without losing data or functionality.”

EVault BMR is available for Microsoft Windows systems with SoftLayer’s standard EVault offering. For only $20/month it provides a wide range of benefits, including the capability to:

  • Restore systems to a select point-in-time
  • Restore systems from image or file-based backups
  • Restore systems from EVault backups
  • Launch recovery transactions to restore data without a bootable system

The solution provides a more efficient and more reliable alternative to manual restores, and can be used in conjunction with regular backups as well as for data migration. System administrators can choose to execute full system restores or to restore individual files. As with all SoftLayer services, EVault BMR can be ordered and setup through the SoftLayer Customer Portal.

Headquartered in Plano, Texas, SoftLayer delivers on-demand virtual data center services on a global basis from facilities located in Dallas, TX; Seattle, WA; and Washington, DC. SoftLayer integrates all facets of IT to innovate industry-leading solutions that are fully automated. This empowers customers with complete control, security, scalability, and ease-of-management for their IT environment.

Posted by Admin on August 26th, 2009 | No Comments
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Softlayer, Launches CloudLayer Services.

SoftLayer Technologies has launched its CloudLayer Computing, as part of its new CloudLayer line of services, built on the Citrix XenServer virtualization platform from Citrix Systems.

The solution is designed to bring enterprises greatly increased scalability and unique opportunities for their IT environments. In as few as five minutes, customers can have cloud-based computing instances running enterprise-grade and open source operating systems.

Lance Crosby, CEO of SoftLayer explained, ”From day one, SoftLayer was created to bring customers IT power when, how, and where they need it. CloudLayer Computing is the next step in our evolution. It leverages all of our advantages and expertise in on-demand data center services to provide cloud computing that delivers as promised. There isn’t any other cloud computing service truly like it.”

Unlike other cloud computing services, CloudLayer Computing instances can be seamlessly integrated with dedicated servers, automated services, and other CloudLayer services (including CloudLayer Storage and CloudLayer CDN) to create a fully unified computing solution. Monthly billing is based on hourly usage or a monthly rate with no long-term commitment, providing an exceptional degree of flexibility. Other advantages include:

  • Image Library – Capture, template, and store images for accelerated provisioning and management
  • Ease of Use – Full access and control via Customer Portal and API
  • Full Virtualization – Virtualized networking, security, storage, and management optimizes ”beyond the box”

 

Simon Crosby, CTO, Virtualization and Management Division, Citrix added, ”SoftLayer’s CloudLayer service will offer customers an enterprise-class, secure cloud infrastructure that is also dynamic, manageable, and cost effective. The cloud-proven scalability, performance, and support for secure isolation and multi-tenancy featured in XenServer provides a powerful virtual infrastructure upon which SoftLayer can deliver a rich set of enterprise services. We are excited to partner with SoftLayer to help transform cloud economics for the enterprise.”

In addition to offering on-demand computing instances, CloudLayer Computing lets SoftLayer customers build their own cloud computing environments from the ground up. SoftLayer dedicated servers can be paired with leading cloud solutions such as the Citrix Cloud Center (Citrix C3) to customize and manage environments ideal for providing online applications and other web-based services.

Headquartered in Plano, Texas, SoftLayer delivers world-class, on-demand virtual data center services on a global basis from facilities located in Dallas, TX; Seattle, WA; and Washington, DC. SoftLayer integrates all facets of IT to innovate industry-leading solutions that are fully automated. This empowers customers with complete control, security, scalability, and ease-of-management for their IT environment.

Posted by Admin on May 12th, 2009 | No Comments
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