NEW YORK – Verizon is rolling out the Verizon Cloud Infrastructure as a Service platform and cloud-based object storage targeting large enterprises, mid-size companies and small development shops. The public beta for Verizon Cloud will launch in the fourth quarter of this year.
“We took feedback from our enterprise clients across the globe and built a new cloud platform from the bottom up to deliver the attributes they require,” said John Stratton, president of Verizon Enterprise Solutions.
Verizon Cloud has two main components: Verizon Cloud Compute and Verizon Cloud Storage. Verizon Cloud Compute is the IaaS platform. Verizon Cloud Storage is an object-based storage service.
Verizon Cloud Compute can be used for creating virtual machines and “deploying them in just seconds,” Verizon said. Users can define virtual machine and network performance as well as configure storage attached to multiple virtual machines, rather than jut use pre-sets. They build and pay for what they use.
Verizon rolled out Bryson Koehler, chief information officer at The Weather Co., to hawk its cloud.
“Weather is the most dynamic dataset in the world, and we also use big data to help consumers better plan their day and help businesses make intelligent decisions as it relates to weather,” he said. “As a big data leader, a major part of The Weather Co.’s go-forward strategy is based on the cloud, and we are linking a large part of our technical future to these services from Verizon.”
Verizon Cloud Storage is described as an “object-addressable, multitenant storage platform providing safe, durable, reliable and cost-effective storage accessible from anywhere on the Web” that “overcomes latency issues that have plagued many traditional storage offerings, providing improved performance.”
The services initially will be limited to a few hundred new users per month. Customers awaiting their turn will be welcomed into the Verizon Cloud Insider program, which will enable them to be kept up-to-date on feature availability and other improvements as they occur.
Verizon Cloud Compute and Verizon Cloud Storage are installed in Verizon cloud data centers in Culpeper, Va., Englewood, Colo.; Miami; Santa Clara, Calif.; and in Amsterdam, London, and Sao Paolo. Initially, clients will be served out of the Culpeper data center, with other centers around the globe expected to be added through mid-2014.
