Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

ReliaCloud & enStratus Form Partnership

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Since we’re a sponsor of the upcoming CloudCamp event on March 2nd — and are huge fans of cloud computing and the innovation occurring with companies in this space — we were delighted to get a heads-up on a new partnership in town that will undoubtedly be quite a powerful combination and a great addition to Minnesota and the region.

ReliaCloud, the new service from Visi that offers small-to-medium-sized enterprises cloud computing servers and storage space, has announced a new partnership with enStratus, a national cloud management platform that delivers governance for enterprise applications in the cloud. As they state in their press release about the “2+2=12” aspects of this alliance, “Together ReliaCloud and enStratus offer companies a seamless, manageable cloud computing service. The two organizations are also joining forces to sponsor 2010 CloudCamp events and an April 7, 2010, webinar to educate information technology professionals about the business advantages of using cloud computing.”

Right here in our backyard we have both a strong cloud computing server infrastructure player (and ReliaCloud will also soon be offering storage as well) and a world-class cloud server management offering (enStratus) that offers such powerful tools that they’re used on the Amazon Web Services, Rackspace and Microsoft Azure platforms.

Visi Launches ‘ReliaCloud’ Services to Packed House

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ReliaCloud-logoGot a nickel? Then you have a server for an hour, my friend. Visi.com, Minnesota’s largest Internet services/hosting firm unveiled on Wednesday morning its all-new brand of cloud computing services, dubbed “ReliaCloud,” with pricing starting at 5 cents per hour for its first offering, called “Cloud Server.” The breakfast seminar, “CloudVision,” was held at The Metropolitan in St. Louis Park, and was sold-out, with more than 200 IT and business executives attending. (Tweets are archived at the hashtag #cloudvision, including my own.)

CloudVison-crowd+stageThe seminar featured talks by Mike Sowada, CEO of Visi, shown here on stage. (Photo courtesy of Charles Robinson.) Visi is the state’s largest Internet services and hosting firm, with data centers in both St. Paul and Eden Prairie.  A talk followed entitled “Cloud Computing as a Business Advantage” by Chris Howard, a VP at analyst/research firm Burton Group.  Jason Baker, CTO of Visi, wrapped up the event by presenting the first details of his firm’s new ReliaCloud offering, which included a live, online demo by product manager Johnny Hatch that came off flawlessly. I captured a few of the key slides for you… …  [Read More…]

Our Head In The Cloud: Minnov8 Talks With Chris Howard

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Visi hosted Cloud Vision 2009 at the Metropolitan this past Wednesday and invited Minnov8 along. It was an event tailored to the IT community they serve and was the chance for them to introduce attendees to their soon to launch cloud product called ReliaCloud. Minnov8 colleague Graeme Thickins has posted a complete look at ReliaCloud, so look for that here.

Along with the demo and pitch Visi featured a presentation on Cloud Computing as a Business Advantage by Burton Group VP, Chris Howard. Chris took some time to talk about opportunities, concerns, and even the multiple definitions of “the cloud.”

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ktP0i143B4

The slide deck of the presentation is available now from Visi.