The Hindu Business Line : Red Hat rolls out integrated ‘cloud computing’ solutions

New application
Cloud Computing is on demand, hosted solution where users pay per usage.
To make managed computing resources more efficient, flexible, cheaper.
Telecom, financial services, Govt finding it attractive biz option.

V. Rishi Kumar

Hyderabad, Dec. 9

Bringing about flexibility in the way software resources are used in a distributed or multi-locational business environment, open source software provider Red Hat reaches out with utility computing solutions.

The US-based software company in league with Amazon Web Services has rolled out what they refer to as ‘Cloud Computing’. Simply put, Cloud Computing is on demand, hosted solution where users pay per usage. This makes managed computing resources a lot more efficient, flexible and cheaper.

The Managing Director and President of Red Hat India, Mr Nandu Pradhan, said that when services are run through cloud computing they help change the company economy of computing. Those who take to this, pay for infrastructure and software services as they use. This helps bring down overall capital expenditure from both the hardware and software perspective.

Bundled offer

Speaking to Business Line recently, Mr Pradhan cited the example of a fixed telephone line, a mobile phone, cable TV provided as a bundled offer with a combined one-year rental where one can use any of these in a flexible manner. The business model for cloud computing is similar, where one can use infrastructure, both software and hardware, on demand.

Verticals such as telecom, financial services, and Government have begun to find this an attractive business proposition. Most companies, which are forced to change their existing infrastructure, may consider this option, he felt.

Even from India’s standpoint, where increasingly build-own-transfer (BOT) projects were gaining ground, such technology solutions would be very useful, he explained.

Automation strategy

The new Linux automation strategy is designed to address concerns of Chief Information Officers, to handle technology challenges in a rapidly changing business environment. Through cloud computing, this enables them to automate their business, simplify their infrastructure and allows applications to run on any server, at any time.

The Red Hat Linux 5.1 features integrated virtualisation that allows live migration, enabling seamless movement of applications from one server to another. Through a host of alliances, including hardware, the entire software environment is simplified, he said.

As a part of this strategy, Red Hat appliance operating system allows applications to be deployed across a range of servers and also helps Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to distribute their applications as pre-packaged solutions.

The Red Hat Appliance Operating System, slated for release in 2008, comes with virtual appliance developer kit, allowing software vendors to leverage this new development model.