Cloud8 Technologies, Inc., a Vancouver-based cloud managed hosting provider has launched cloud services, in the form of Windows Azure Pack (WAP), on infrastructure owned and operated by Cloud8. By placing substantial investment into a Canadian Azure infrastructure, Cloud8 will enable reseller partners with the ability to better support their customer's journey to the cloud, while complying with provincial and federal data-residency legislations. Cloud8 is among the first Microsoft partners to provide cloud computing services in Canada, and the only partner in Western Canada as part of their Cloud Operating Systems Network (COSN) Program. The announcement marks Microsoft's cloud alliance with an established hosting provider in the region — one that makes sense for Canadian businesses.
Most IT resellers have relationships with mid-market and SMB businesses ready to move to a more economical and agile cloud infrastructure. "Now, they can support their customers to move their workload to any cloud that best meets their budget, security, compliance, and performance objectives," says Sarah Morton, CEO and Founder of Cloud8 Technologies Inc. Customers can keep their mission-critical data on premises or with Cloud8's Canadian Azure servers, while harnessing the limitless computing power and storage of cloud on a pay-as-you-use basis. COSN customers can access the Azure public cloud, as well as run Microsoft applications on Cloud8's cloud environment where data will be hosted in Cloud8's Canadian data centre.
"Cloud8's Azure offering as an IaaS will enable us to offer customers and channel partners more value and choice from the cloud, without them having to invest in or maintain complex infrastructure themselves," says Morton. She continues, "as cloud becomes more diversified with new cloud-enabled applications and tools, it is critical to be able to provide customers with options as to where they can and/or would like to have their data reside".
Although cloud adoption is growing, many organizations still struggle with their cloud roadmap and understanding how their business can take advantage of the cloud. Cloud8 is enabling companies with a more tangible way to expand their IT, leverage cloud for backup and redundancy, or launch new products with a lot of the same tools, interface, and licensing models they are already familiar with today. "We are thrilled to be in the position to offer this to Canadian businesses", says Morton.
