Leveraging more than 10 years of custom development and a heritage of exceptional network performance, SAVVIS Communications, a leading global IT Util...

Leveraging more than 10 years of custom development and a heritage of exceptional network performance, SAVVIS Communications, a leading global IT Utility, today announced the launch of their virtualized IT services delivery platform. Employing a utility model, the new platform eliminates expensive hardware and gives companies a secure, private and completely “virtual” network and hosting infrastructure that cuts internal IT costs by as much as 50 percent while offering an integrated set of previously unavailable services.

The virtualized utility services delivery platform is based on advanced, automated software management and provisioning systems, developed by SAVVIS, that provide customers with a simple, yet comprehensive end-to-end view of their IT infrastructure. This visibility across network, hosting, compute and storage platforms creates efficiencies enabling SAVVIS to be much more responsive to customers’ needs and to reduce customer dependence on redundant hardware.

Unlike the traditional service provider model, in which companies must pay for excess and unused capacity, SAVVIS’ virtualized delivery platform routinely and automatically optimizes resource allocation for each client. This allows customers to pay for only what they use. Additionally, it lessens the burden of capital expenditures and legacy systems. As a result, the platform increases a company’s flexibility and agility, making it possible to add new applications, increase server and storage, and expand the network in less time than conventional alternatives.

“Virtualized utility services represent the next evolutionary step forward in IT,” said IDC hosting services analyst Melanie Posey. “SAVVIS is a leading managed services provider and its virtualized delivery platform provides the company with a powerful competitive differentiator. SAVVIS’ scale, automated management system, and global infrastructure make it a formidable player in the marketplace.”

IDC forecasts that the market for utility-based virtualized services is growing rapidly and will increase from $800 million in 2003 to $3.6 billion in 2007. One reason for this growth is that virtualized services deliver a rapid payback on new investments, while protecting previous ones. Virtualized services complement and enhance existing hardware and network infrastructure without forcing companies to make additional capital expenditures.

SAVVIS has partnered with leading-edge technology providers Egenera, Inkra Networks, 3PAR, and Nortel Networks* to build the virtualized services delivery platform as an end-to-end solution that offers companies the most complete set of managed services available to date.

The unique architecture of the Egenera^TM BladeFrame® system virtualizes data center infrastructure by creating a pool of server resources from which private, secured configurations can be dynamically allocated to support an application and then disbanded if necessary. With this approach, server capacity no longer must be dedicated to individual applications, and services are not tied to specific hardware or network paths. As a result, SAVVIS clients pay only for the resources they utilize and have access to powerful features such as high availability, disaster recovery and real-time scalability without the expensive over-provisioning required by legacy systems.

“With a totally virtualized services-delivery platform, SAVVIS is at the forefront of true, real-world utility computing for the enterprise,” said Vern Brownell, Egenera’s founder and chief technology officer. “We’re pleased that SAVVIS selected the Egenera BladeFrame system, further validating our leadership role in data center virtualization.”

As part of SAVVIS’ virtualized services delivery platform, Inkra Networks’ Virtual Service Switch centralizes network, security, and performance services onto a single platform that simplifies the management and improves the operation of the network. By consolidating and virtualizing multiple security functions including firewall, intrusion detection, VPN, SSL acceleration, and load balancing, the Inkra Virtual Service Switch enables SAVVIS to deploy and adapt network and security services in real time for its customers. This further boosts cost-effectiveness and efficiency of the SAVVIS platform by allowing SAVVIS to become more responsive to its customers’ needs.

“SAVVIS has embraced the virtual data center model and is delivering the benefits of increased operational efficiencies and reduced complexity to its customers today,” added Dave Roberts, vice president of strategy and co-founder of Inkra Networks. “By bringing automation and dynamism to the data center network, Inkra’s Virtual Service Switches enable SAVVIS to quickly and efficiently deliver managed hosting services to its customers at a fraction of the cost of the traditional model.”

The 3PAR InServ’s advanced storage architecture underpins its highly functional, virtualized Utility Storage solution. 3PAR Utility Storage reduces the cost of storage, restores agility to the storage environment, and enables easy information sharing. With a storage utility built on 3PAR, SAVVIS customers receive storage capacity as application data is written, saving them money and eliminating the costly upfront over-provisioning and poor capacity utilization typical of traditional storage solutions. SAVVIS customers also benefit from 3PAR’s ability to quickly repurpose capacity or adapt it to new or unexpected demands.

“SAVVIS’ combination of virtualized data center resources and the utility computing model offers the strongest set of IT infrastructure services available today,” noted David Scott, 3PAR president and CEO. “3PAR Utility Storage is storage virtualization made simple. SAVVIS’ selection of 3PAR is further proof that Utility Storage is the ideal storage cornerstone for virtualized Utility Computing data centers.”

SAVVIS’ new end-to-end virtualized services delivery platform builds on its existing service delivery infrastructure, which is enabled by Nortel Networks Shasta* 5000 BSN. Shasta was first deployed in SAVVIS’ network in 2000, enabling SAVVIS to be an innovator in offering network-based IP VPN services to its enterprise customers.

“SAVVIS continues to provide leading-edge IT infrastructure services to its customers,” said Roy MacLean, general manager, Shasta, Nortel Networks. “We are excited that Shasta provides key usage-based functionality that enables SAVVIS to be a leader in delivering virtualized utility services.”

SAVVIS is the first company to integrate networking, hosting, server, and storage into one virtualized services platform. Other providers offer combinations of these services, but not all four together. Other providers are also shifting to a utility model, however their approach emphasizes capital expenditures, consulting services, and one-off solutions that do not take full advantage of the benefits of virtualization and the broad access of a utility.

SAVVIS’ recent acquisition of the assets of Cable & Wireless America gives them the robust customer base – 2,000 additional enterprise customers and 1,000 additional hosting customers – and expanded global infrastructure needed to effectively challenge the current model of providing managed services.

“SAVVIS’ virtualized services delivery platform provides superior network and infrastructure performance that reduces internal IT costs by as much as 50 percent,” said Rob McCormick, chairman and chief executive officer of SAVVIS. “It lets companies make better use of their internal IT resources and focus on building applications that grow the business not maintaining IT infrastructure.”

About SAVVIS
SAVVIS Communications is a global IT Utility that leads the industry in delivering secure, reliable, and scalable hosting, network, and application services. SAVVIS’ strategic approach combines the use of virtualization technology, a utility services model, and automated software management and provisioning systems. This allows customers to focus on their core business while SAVVIS ensures the quality of their IT infrastructure. With its recent acquisition of the assets of Cable & Wireless America, SAVVIS becomes one of the worlds’ largest providers of IP computing services and the world’s third largest provider of hosting services.

For more information on SAVVIS, please visit: www.savvis.net