Cloud automation software provider CloudVelox Inc. is expanding its migration scope into the data center with release 5.0 of its One Hybrid Cloud software.

Announced today, the new release enables three new migration scenarios, including between data centers, racks and cloud to data center. The software now also supports migrations to VMware Inc. virtual environments.

One Hybrid Cloud software lets enterprises map their existing network environments to a new or pre-configured network design in the cloud for rapid migration, reducing the risk of glitches due to incompatibilities. Previously, the company had primarily focused on inter-cloud migrations. It calls its new approach the “boundaryless data center,” which incorporates public, private and traditional on-premises environments.

“One requirement we had heard from customers and partners is need to bring workloads from public cloud to the data center,” said Raj Dhingra, chief executive of CloudVelox. “It could be that the cost of running the workload was unexpectedly high, or it could be for security/compliance purposes or just having more control in the data center.”

Whatever the reason, the trend is evident. A recent survey by market researcher International Data Group sponsored by information technology services provider Datalink Corp., found that nearly 40 percent of organizations that have moved workloads to the public cloud later shifted some workload back on-premises.

In some cases, IT organizations want the flexibility to move workloads around temporarily. “For example, one customer wants to do an upgrade of the operating system, but the cloud doesn’t allow an in-place upgrade, so they want to bring everything back, do the upgrade in the data center and then take it back to the cloud,” Dhingra said.

CloudVelox said it gives IT executives the flexibility to shift any workload in and out of data centers and clouds to maximize cost structure or minimize the risk of vendor lock-in. With estimates that about 30 percent of data center workloads still aren’t virtualized, the company said it expects the new VMware migration feature to be popular. “We expect the volume for data center-to-data center to be greater than cloud-to-data center,” Dhingra said.

List pricing is $750 per server or virtual machine for data center migrations. The list price for data center-to-cloud migrations is $350 per VM. Bundles and volume discounts are available.

Image: Flickr CC