Racemi Launches Dynacenter 4.0 – More Help With Moving Cloud Workloads

Racemi Dynacenter 4.0 Highlights

• Allows server images to be provisioned from physical to virtual and from on premise to Cloud supplier
• Adds Amazon EC2, Rackspace and Terremark movements
• Protects users from Cloud outages, such Amazon’s this month
• Can play a part in assuring users and vendors from lock-in problems

Racemi’s Image Based Provisioning Approach

We wrote about Racemi last year. It is a small software company working in the area of image based provisioning, which has massive advantages over more traditional scripting approaches and important for customers moving server workloads from physical in-house data centres to Cloud (P2C), from Cloud to Cloud (C2C) and – if necessary – back on premise again (C2P).
We recently had an interesting discussion with the company’s CEO Lawrence Guillory about the company’s direction and offerings. Today his company announced the availability of its Dynacenter 4.0 package, which adds some important new features, including the ability to move workloads between Amazon EC2, Rackspace and Terremark – the three largest public Cloud suppliers in the US.

Some Conclusions – Transferability Protects Users From Vendor Lock-In

Racemi’s image-based provisioning provides a useful way of transferring workloads. Anyone whose business suffered from the recent Amazon EC2 outages should welcome its clear methodology for shifting to alternative suppliers. Its use can become part of a new way for users to future-proof offloaded applications, accommodating the ones which shift from ‘non-core’ to ‘mission critical’ in time.
In the longer term Racemi’s approach should help users guard against lock-in as vendors become increasingly vertically integrated. We predict big problems down the line if Cloud service contracts don’t address how to off-board at the end of the contract. Vendors should also beware, as Anti-Trust cases may follow lock-in.
Racemi’s software is already used in larger systems management offerings, such as CA’s Spectrum Automation. We expect it will win a number of new OEM customers among the systems and data centre management vendors as it addresses this essential area of Cloud Computing.
Let us know if you have other ways of ensuring the transferability of user workloads or want to know more about Racemi.