Johannesburg, 21 Aug 2013
NetIQ South Africa has introduced Cloud Manager 2.2, a solution that provides users with unique, flexible services that enable them to deliver business value in crowded markets.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is an increasingly commoditised service dominated by vendors, most notably Amazon and Rackspace, which have the size and scale to compete on price.
"For other competing cloud service providers to survive against these large players, they need to offer more customised, unique and comprehensive business services to enterprises looking for flexible IT options," says Connie Grobler, technical specialist for identity and security management at NetIQ South Africa.
"If they are to build and operate differentiated solution sets that are modular, flexible and cost-efficient, providers need more than just IaaS. What is required is an extensible platform that can enable the provision of a range of services."
Differentiation factors include the ability to build clouds that use VMware, Xen, Hyper-V and KVM hypervisors that will meet the requirements of customers for platform capabilities and costs. Grobler adds that there are three critical capabilities for companies.
"They need to be able to migrate existing workloads and services, or entire virtual hosts and their VMs, into the cloud. Multi-factor and granular service level management capabilities, service layering via the addition of SaaS services such as identity management, privileged user management, disaster recovery as a service and others, in order to complement IaaS through a single common cloud service delivery platform."
NetIQ Cloud Manager offers these aspects of differentiation and more, giving service providers such as Tieto and others the ability to set up multiple levels of service to meet specific customer criteria and budget requirements.
"With this maximum range of choice and flexibility, providers can refine and differentiate their service offerings, while delivering greater business value to their customers. The latest iteration of this platform, NetIQ Cloud Manager 2.2, includes a Could Mobile application that enables end-users to manage the cloud and new services, including add-ons and service levels, at any time, anywhere."
Grobler adds that the solution includes the new Cloud Marketplace iPad application. As it is created with local and regional cloud providers in mind, the application enables sales people calling on customers and prospects to provide quotes on the fly, making delivery of services fast, easy and flexible.
"Cloud service providers are realising that they have a two-fold challenge. Firstly, they must understand the fluid needs and demands of their customers, and secondly, deploy the right combination of technology that can deliver value at the speed of business.
"NetIQ offers these providers the cloud platform and complementary solutions with the service creation and personalisation they need to fully differentiate their services from one-size-fits-all competitors as well as expand their brand footprint in a very competitive market."