BOSTON, March 5 — Markley Group, one of the most secure and advanced data centers in America, today announced the availability of its new Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering, Markley Cloud Services (MCS). Packaged as a utility-type service and enabled by sophisticated cloud management software, MCS offers companies elastic, on-demand computing and storage resources that are extremely flexible and highly scalable, based on end user needs.

Utilizing VMware's cloud and virtualization software solutions, MCS delivers a dynamic, self-service IaaS platform that seamlessly integrates with resources in dedicated colocation cabinets, cages and suites through private fiber optic connections, via virtual cross connects, helping to enhance a company's hybrid cloud strategy. As a simple and secure extension of a customers' local area network (LAN), MCS enables a fully integrated hybrid computing environment that allows companies to further drive efficiencies and increase security while better managing costs and capacity planning.

"Markley focuses on the customer rather than taking the one-size-fits-all approach so common in most cloud environments," said Andy Shoemaker, principal consultant for JNS, a consulting services firm for IT organizations. "Recently, a client of JNS had an unusual project, and the only cloud provider willing to take on the challenge was the team at Markley. Markley Group's hybrid cloud approach ensured their systems provisioned on-time, performed as expected and did so at a reasonable price."

MCS leverages the availability, reliability, enhanced security and unmatched network densities that Markley Group's mission-critical facilities are known for, ensuring clients will always have access to their critical applications and data – and that they will be protected by an intense focus on security standards. The solution offers the most reliable, low latency, high performance internet connectivity available today via its Non-Stop Network platform, which consists of a powerful, multi-homed blend of more than 10 tier-1 providers, including AboveNet, Cogent, Comcast, Level3, CenturyLink and more.

"Our vision for Markley Cloud Services is built upon the same virtues that framed our company formation in 1992 – custom-design based on customer demand that paves the way for innovation and performance," said Jeffrey D. Markley, CEO of Markley Group. "MCS leverages our broad carrier network to offer customers the very best in connectivity and bandwidth so they worry less about cloud initiatives and more about how IT can impact their overall business goals."

Unlike other cloud offerings that leverage commodity servers and network hardware, MCS is built on best-in-breed, enterprise-class underlying infrastructure for high-availability and performance. The solution includes reserved RAM and enterprise-class SAN-based storage to ensure no oversubscription and allows customers to configure their virtual machines (VMs), including virtual central processing units (vCPUs), memory, storage and network, as they choose and on demand.

Businesses can now develop or run applications in an on-demand cloud environment that accommodates seasonal workloads or development and testing scenarios, without being forced into making additional equipment purchases for such short-term or unpredictable requirements.

MCS enables customers to better manage costs and capacity planning while enjoying the following easy-to-use features:

• Administration and Configuration Capabilities – MCS customers can configure VMware-based virtual appliances in test and development that will automatically power down or delete based on a specified time period.
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) – Administrators can control multi-tenant MCS virtual data centers by defining user roles and permissions that grant control over VM log-ins, specified vApps, or the entire vDC.
• Catalog Development for Rapid Deployment – MCS enables customers to create catalogs of pre-configured and custom templates for rapid and efficient deployment of virtual data centers. It also enables quick VM uploads from local environments via a VMware-based operations center for hybrid cloud environments, as well as the ability to save and build VMs based on customized applications and policies.
• vApp Management – MCS customers can leverage and manage vApps using set specifications, including the number of VMs, available networks and architecture, from a configurable single view dashboard.
• Virtual Firewall Enablement – MCS' state of the art security measures guarantee customers can deploy VMware-based network and cloud security services as an easy-to-manage virtual appliance to provide firewall, virtual private network (VPN), network address translation (NAT) and dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) services.
• Advanced Load Balancing Solution – MCS offers a flexible A10 Networks load balancing solution to provide redundancy and added throughput capacity for increased uptime, content switching and SSL acceleration.

Pricing and Availability

MCS is available immediately and able to be configured and deployed in minutes. The pricing model options include monthly reservations, a subscription model ideal for workloads that require predictable segregation and 100 percent committed resources; or hourly, pay-as-you-go premiums, a metered model ideal for pilot projects, basic dynamic workloads and burstable capacity, whereby customers only pay for resources used. Both models include 1000GB of outbound bandwidth, support for multiple public IP Addresses (IPv4 and IPv6), and 24/7 expert technical support.

Markley Group Data Center Summit 2013

On Thu., March 7, Markley Group will be holding its annual Markley Data Center Summit 2013, a one-day gathering of the leading minds in cloud computing, disaster recovery, hyper-connectivity and emerging data center trends. In addition to keynotes, panels and networking opportunities, there will also be cocktail reception at the close of the Summit.

About Markley Group

Markley Group is the largest and longest operating multi-tenant, mission-critical telecommunications and data center facility in New England. Located at One Summer Street, Markley's highly secured 920,000 square feet of white and mechanical space houses more than 200 tenants, including the Boston Red Sox, Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Boston Internet Peering Exchange and The New York Times. The company's co-location center boasts a 100% uptime record amid a carrier-neutral facility with access to more than 50 independent telephone carriers and eight utility feeds from two substations for uninterrupted, reliable power and service.

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Source: Markley Group