Managed service and cloud computing provider NaviSite this morning has announced NaviCloud Director, an advanced IaaS service built around VMware’s vCloud Director and designed to support advanced applications and hybrid computing environments. It gives customers access to VMware’s APIs and development environment and supports customer customization of their networking architecture to map specifically to their technology philosophy. It also provides users with access to the native vCloud Director user interface for further flexibility.

The new offering was developed in cooperation with VMware and features:

• Easy access through AppCenter, vCloud Director, and APIs;

• Mix-&-match billing models for fixed cost or pay-as-you-go;

• Flexible network architectures allowing for optimal configuration and regulatory compliance; and,

• The ability to access & integrate with other NaviCloud and NaviSite Managed Services to accommodate complex applications & business needs.

NaviSite CTO David Grimes was quick to say that this new service does not replace NaviSite’s three-year-old established IaaS offering. Rather they are intended for different classes of application. The older platform is designed to support “legacy applications that are not architected to operate efficiently in a cloud environment.” It is successful in that role and provides customers with benefits including greater flexibility and reduction of CapEx.

However, he said, NaviSite recognizes that a new generation of applications is appearing that are written for hybrid cloud environments, and that this more traditional IaaS platform is not ideal for those. It designed NaviCloud Director specifically to support those applications in a VMware environment. NaviSite’s customers, who are primarily enterprise-to-midmarket organizations, have complex, evolving environments that include both cloud and bare metal infrastructures. He can easily envision the same customers using both the NaviCloud IaaS and Director platforms and its more traditional managed services and colocation for different parts of their infrastructures, something that the pure cloud services may not be able to do.

“Ultimately I think that the opportunity for NaviSite is to recognize that cloud isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation. We’re not trying to compete with Amazon. we are trying to compete for the business that may look to Amazon for some of their needs but get to a point where they look at a strategic question around partnership with service providers. Ultimately we differentiate by providing more than just cloud.”

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