Out of the `skunk works’ comes uCloud

Being in `stealth mode’ in a `skunk works’ is a turn of phrase that is often used to raise the drama levels of a new product announcement and sometimes it may even be warranted. Take, for example, the emergence from stealth mode of Dallas-based Connectloud and its first product, uCloud.

This, the company claims, is the industry’s first all-in-one self-service cloud and software-defined networking platform for private and public cloud orchestration that lowers costs, increases security and speeds innovation.

 “It is a new breed of intelligent software that delivers an all-in-one, self-service cloud orchestration solution together with a Layer2 and Layer3 capable encrypted virtual network to help businesses launch a private or public cloud in a fraction of the time and cost compared to other solutions.”

uCloud is the industry’s first platform that provides enterprises with quickly scalable, secure, multi-tenant automation across clouds of any type, for clients from any segment, and across geographically dispersed datacentres, all delivered as a service.

It has been designed and built, from the ground-up, as intelligent software that delivers an all-in-one, self-service cloud orchestration solution. This comes with a Layer2 and Layer3 capable encrypted virtual network to help businesses launch a private or public cloud in a fraction of the time and cost compared to other solutions, according to Connectloud’s CEO, ex-Cisco cloud chief, Zeeshan Naseh.

“With the uCloud platform, any company exploring a private cloud deployment can be up and running with a small pilot environment with as few as twenty VMs in an afternoon, and scale that to millions of VMs seamlessly,” said Naseh. “This is the fundamental shift in the deployment and management of secure cloud technology that customers struggling with complex integration work or expensive, locked-in solutions have been asking for.”

It is claimed to cut deployment time for private clouds from months to weeks or even days. It provisions and deploys software-based switches, firewalls and routers quickly on existing hardware, orchestrating them as virtual machines to make the private cloud strong and secure.

Its interface is claimed to be capable of provisioning and deploying clouds in a matter of minutes. The software automates and controls cloud provisioning, and its role-based administration lets organisations determine who gets access to various areas of the cloud.

Business executives can gain a clear view of all IT infrastructure costs, along with data on how much infrastructure is in use at a given time for any department. Built on Linux and utilising standard Network Function Virtualization (NFV) components, uCloud cuts both operating and capital expenses by automating manual processes and lower costs. Connectloud’s subscription pricing is based on the number of virtual machines used, providing elastic capacity driven by need.

When it comes to security, Connectloud never touches the user’s data, and is natively compliant with regulations from HIPAA to Sarbanes-Oxley. Access to clouds and data is encrypted at all points to further increase security.

uCloud can provide seamless scalability by orchestrating clouds of any type – public, private or hybrid – and allowing customers to serve themselves based on current need. It also allows creation of customised clouds to support any number of sub-tenants, enabling enterprises to segregate clients within their pools while ensuring security of each dataset.