One of the fundamental effects that cloud computing is having is the abstraction of technology provision away from in-house IT and onto third parties. While many would argue that this is merely a continuation of the outsourcing trend, the sheer breadth of services that are being moved to third party cloud providers make this a real step change for the marketplace. One result of all this is the emergency of a new breed of managed service provider (MSP) that are now offering a plethora of services to organizations.
Given this trend, it is unsurprising that MSPs are looking for tools that enable the rapid provision of the many different services they’re providing their customers, as a reaction to this demand, a new product from a company that itself is an MSP is to be launched this week. OS33 is a product that has been spun off from External IT, an MSP that provides turnkey cloud computing services. I was given a pre-briefing by Jacob Kazakevich, President and CTO of OS33 last week.
So what does it do?
From their description – “OS33 enables MSPs to mix and match resources from any public or private cloud and convert storage, CPU and RAM into business-ready web and Windows-based applications. More than just infrastructure however, with OS33 MSPs can publish applications, select from a catalog of pre-integrated business software, activate third-party SaaS offerings and manage permissions.”
The component parts of OS33 re:
- Cloud Connector – MSPs can tap into data center and cloud resources to create ultimate hybrid configurations, or turn existing infrastructure investments into a custom platform optimized for cloud-based IT delivery. The OS33 Cloud Connector permits a mix-and-match approach to public and private cloud resources.
- Cloud Control Panel – MSPs can harness true multi-tenant hosting management and provision and deploy servers, storage, file systems, Active Directory, Exchange, SharePoint, databases, back-end applications, security and access control, mobile support, and more. The OS33 Cloud Control Panel also delivers built in collaboration, utilization, reporting, service and billing functions.
- Application Delivery – Securely deliver, support and manage business applications, including almost any Windows or web-based application, and enable access from almost any mobile device including smart phones and iPads.
- Webtop GUI – End users get a uniform web-based interface that is customizable, brand-able, and accessible anywhere, anytime. The webtop provides application access, personal information management, self-service administration tools, company intranet and more.
The idea here is that providers can mix and match services, public and private, infrastructural and software, and deliver cohesive offerings to their customers. From a single interface, MSPs can provision servers, publish applications, select from a catalog of pre-integrated business software, activate third-party SaaS offerings and manage permissions. It’s all tied up with integrated tracking and billing and therefore gives MSPs a readily deployable fully packaged offering that allows them to offer customers the ability to abstract their own IT requirements.
All part of the move to free up IT to concentrate on strategic objectives of the business – always a good thing…
