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(The Hosting News) – CyberlinkASP, the leader in outsourced IT and integrated managed hosting solutions, today announced that it will begin offering fully managed virtual desktops utilizing Citrix XenDesktop® technologies on the revolutionary SoftLayer infrastructure- as-a-service platform.
CyberlinkASP currently hosts and manages virtual desktops and back office applications for hundreds of small to medium sized businesses across the United States from its proprietary Dallas InfoMart datacenter using Citrix XenApp™. CyberlinkASP’s engineering staff, help desk and sophisticated technical support capabilities have fueled widespread acceptance of its virtual desktop product. By partnering with SoftLayer, CyberlinkASP is now able to reduce hardware provisioning and cutover times from weeks to literally a few hours. “We utilized this capability to deliver an infrastructure-as-a-service solution for the Citrix Synergy Hands-On Learning Lab and we are pleased to see companies like CyberlinkASP extend this offering,” said Nathan Day, CTO of SoftLayer.
In addition, CyberlinkASP’s proprietary facilities will also be linked via redundant 10 gigabit fiber to SoftLayer’s industry first network-within-a-network topology allowing its client’s wide ranging access to on-demand fully managed infrastructure-as-a-service alongside the virtual desktop offering.
“Desktop virtualization and Citrix XenDesktop is being adopted by enterprises worldwide in order to transform the traditional form of desktop computing” said Sumit Dhawan, vice president of product marketing, XenDesktop product group at Citrix. “Businesses such as CyberlinkASP along with their collaboration with SoftLayer bring the power of desktop virtualization to enterprises who may not have the expertise to build their own virtual desktop infrastructure.”
Citrix XenDesktop drastically improves desktop scalability and flexibility across the entire enterprise IT spectrum. Now, managed by CyberlinkASP, users have the ability to access any data, any application, anytime and anywhere with all files centrally stored, backed up and monitored from one of SoftLayer’s geographically diverse data centers.
“SoftLayer has clearly become the market leader in the dedicated hosting space and offers the best possible infrastructure solution for this extension of our virtual desktop offering,” added Chris M. Lantrip, Managing Partner, CyberlinkASP.
Source: CyberlinkASP Unveils Virtual Desktop on SoftLayer Cloud
(The Hosting News) – CyberlinkASP, the leader in outsourced IT and integrated managed hosting solutions, today announced that it will begin offering fully managed virtual desktops utilizing Citrix XenDesktop® technologies on the revolutionary SoftLayer infrastructure- as-a-service platform.
CyberlinkASP currently hosts and manages virtual desktops and back office applications for hundreds of small to medium sized businesses across the United States from its proprietary Dallas InfoMart datacenter using Citrix XenApp™. CyberlinkASP’s engineering staff, help desk and sophisticated technical support capabilities have fueled widespread acceptance of its virtual desktop product. By partnering with SoftLayer, CyberlinkASP is now able to reduce hardware provisioning and cutover times from weeks to literally a few hours. “We utilized this capability to deliver an infrastructure-as-a-service solution for the Citrix Synergy Hands-On Learning Lab and we are pleased to see companies like CyberlinkASP extend this offering,” said Nathan Day, CTO of SoftLayer.
In addition, CyberlinkASP’s proprietary facilities will also be linked via redundant 10 gigabit fiber to SoftLayer’s industry first network-within-a-network topology allowing its client’s wide ranging access to on-demand fully managed infrastructure-as-a-service alongside the virtual desktop offering.
“Desktop virtualization and Citrix XenDesktop is being adopted by enterprises worldwide in order to transform the traditional form of desktop computing” said Sumit Dhawan, vice president of product marketing, XenDesktop product group at Citrix. “Businesses such as CyberlinkASP along with their collaboration with SoftLayer bring the power of desktop virtualization to enterprises who may not have the expertise to build their own virtual desktop infrastructure.”
Citrix XenDesktop drastically improves desktop scalability and flexibility across the entire enterprise IT spectrum. Now, managed by CyberlinkASP, users have the ability to access any data, any application, anytime and anywhere with all files centrally stored, backed up and monitored from one of SoftLayer’s geographically diverse data centers.
“SoftLayer has clearly become the market leader in the dedicated hosting space and offers the best possible infrastructure solution for this extension of our virtual desktop offering,” added Chris M. Lantrip, Managing Partner, CyberlinkASP.
(The Hosting News) – About 6 months ago G.I. Partners approached SoftLayer about doing an investment in the company,” Lance explains. “They have done a lot of investment in this space overall including Digital Realty, Savvis, Telx, The Planet and most recently ViaWest. After they approached us and we started going through due diligence, we began to find there was a lot of common DNA with The Planet and so as we began to close the process over the last 30 days or so, we started exploring the possibility of putting these two companies together.”
That common DNA doesn’t just extend to the family history between the two companies. It also includes many mutual customers. They both also target the dedicated and cloud hosting space. However, if both companies were purely similar, merging them would simply create a larger company, which is technically not a bad thing…, but it would be somewhat boring.
In addition to the similar fields of interest, SoftLayer brings their infrastructure know how. The plans for the merger include moving customers to SoftLayer’s automation layer. This translates to the new company able to take on more customers, keeping staff low, and yet maintaining their high-grade support.
The Planet offers an enterprise level suite of services. Namely, The Planet will bring colocation and managed hosting to the party. Along with these hosting addons, The Planet also brings in enterprise level hosting features and the expertise in handling those services.
SoftLayer, up until recently, has avoided the colocation and managed hosting spaces. They have instead focused on their target niche and have not deviated from that path. And yet, if they do merge with The Planet, adding those services is part and parcel of the new company. So why now? Why would SoftLayer, who have been disciplined in avoiding the watering down of their brand, want to increase their services and in fact, consider adding those services as a definite strength?
“It’s been on the drawing board for a long time and we are going to bring a SoftLayer approach to those two types of services that are not yet seen in the industry. As we talk about it internally we are going to pull out a big stick and poke a lot of our competitors in the eye when they see what we are going to do to colocation and managed services,” says Lance.
On the possibilities of an IPO, Lance says, “I think that [an IPO] is the most logical step for the combined companies, putting them together they are going to be about 300 million in revenues and growing rapidly and you get to a point where the number of potential suitors out their drops dramatically simply because of the size of the company so an IPO becomes the natural choice.”
(“So if you want to sum it up, you could say we are strapping on the gloves, ” says Doug. However, you sum it up, the potential merger between The Planet and SoftLayer could be a hosting juggernaut rivaled by very few especially in the dedicated server market.
Source: SoftLayer and The Planet Shed Light on Merger
(The Hosting News) - In 2005, 10 of The Planet’s management staff departed to form SoftLayer. Five years later, SoftLayer and The Planet are looking at a potential merger. In a move that Doug Erwin, CEO of The Planet, jokingly referred to as, “what goes around comes around; life is an endless circle,” The Planet and SoftLayer’s proposed merger would definitely be a fitting close of the loop. The merger would create one of the largest dedicated hosting companies in the world with more than 25,000 customers and some 78,000+ servers.
Although the merger is not yet a done deal between the two companies, both Lance Crosby, CEO of SoftLayer, and Doug Erwin believe the end is almost in sight. During a phone conversation on Friday, Lance and Doug gave their thoughts on the merger deal brewing between the two companies.
“Is this 100% done deal? Well we can’t say we are 100%, but we are really close to that. And Doug and I are really close to putting these two companies together in the next 90 days,” says Lance.
Doug adds, “Let me put it another way. It’s not over till the fat lady sings.. and she is warming up on the side. There is a lot of work that needs to be done between our two staffs and I think we are going about it the right way, in that we hired an outside consultant… Bain Consultant to come in and work with us.”
As both sides continue to look at the merger, one of the number one concerns has been to ensure the current customers are treated well. Regarding the customers Erwin says, “I think the biggest concern Lance and I have is for a seamless integration that does not affect the customer.” To this end, Bain & Company consulting has been brought in to ensure that the possible merger avoids the many pitfalls that can occur.|
“About 6 months ago G.I. Partners approached SoftLayer about doing an investment in the company,” Lance explains. “They have done a lot of investment in this space overall including Digital Realty, Savvis, Telx, The Planet and most recently ViaWest. After they approached us and we started going through due diligence, we began to find there was a lot of common DNA with The Planet and so as we began to close the process over the last 30 days or so, we started exploring the possibility of putting these two companies together.”
That common DNA doesn’t just extend to the family history between the two companies. It also includes many mutual customers. They both also target the dedicated and cloud hosting space. However, if both companies were purely similar, merging them would simply create a larger company, which is technically not a bad thing…, but it would be somewhat boring.
In addition to the similar fields of interest, SoftLayer brings their infrastructure know how. The plans for the merger include moving customers to SoftLayer’s automation layer. This translates to the new company able to take on more customers, keeping staff low, and yet maintaining their high-grade support.
The Planet offers an enterprise level suite of services. Namely, The Planet will bring colocation and managed hosting to the party. Along with these hosting addons, The Planet also brings in enterprise level hosting features and the expertise in handling those services.
SoftLayer, up until recently, has avoided the colocation and managed hosting spaces. They have instead focused on their target niche and have not deviated from that path. And yet, if they do merge with The Planet, adding those services is part and parcel of the new company. So why now? Why would SoftLayer, who have been disciplined in avoiding the watering down of their brand, want to increase their services and in fact, consider adding those services as a definite strength?|
“It’s been on the drawing board for a long time and we are going to bring a SoftLayer approach to those two types of services that are not yet seen in the industry. As we talk about it internally we are going to pull out a big stick and poke a lot of our competitors in the eye when they see what we are going to do to colocation and managed services,” says Lance.
On the possibilities of an IPO, Lance says, “I think that [an IPO] is the most logical step for the combined companies, putting them together they are going to be about 300 million in revenues and growing rapidly and you get to a point where the number of potential suitors out their drops dramatically simply because of the size of the company so an IPO becomes the natural choice.
“So if you want to sum it up, you could say we are strapping on the gloves, ” says Doug. However, you sum it up, the potential merger between The Planet and SoftLayer could be a hosting juggernaut rivaled by very few especially in the dedicated server market.
(The Hosting News) – HostDime, Softlayer, Ping! Zine, Web Host Magazine, and OpenSRS are the latest exhibitors at cPanel Conference 2010 — Automation Bootcamp.
cPanel Conference 2010 will provide participants with great insight into cPanel operations, access to networking opportunities, and content-driven sessions focused on advancing the knowledge of all attendees. These five additions are sure to add to that vision.
cPanel’s Vice President of Operations, Aaron Phillips, said that attendees will receive high-impact, technical material.
“We are focused on delivering technical training, case studies, and strong knowledge that will allow attendees to leave the conference with information that can improve their experience in the web hosting industry,” Phillips said.
HostDime is a leading hosting provider offering reliable, secure-managed hosting services that cater to a range of clients. With more than 700,000 hosted domains on 3,000 servers, HostDime presently ranks among the top 50 biggest hosting companies in the world. For more information about HostDime, please visit http://www.hostdime.org/.
SoftLayer provides global, on-demand data center and hosting services for facilities across the U.S. SoftLayer leverages best-in-class connectivity and technology to innovate industry-leading, fully-automated solutions that empower enterprises with complete access, control, security and scalability. For more information about SoftLayer, please visit http://www.softlayer.com.
Ping! Zine is in its eighth year of publication. Ping! Zine features a diverse range of technical and practical articles in an exciting and entertaining format. Ping! Zine maintains a commitment to providing information to keep you competitive in the industry. For more information about Ping! Zine, please visit http://www.pingzine.com.
Founded in 1999, Web Host Magazine & Buyer’s Guide seeks to provide the information that readers need to help them find the very best web hosting services to meet their needs. For more information about Web Host Magazine, please visit http://www.webhostmagazine.com.
OpenSRS was the first wholesale-focused domain name registrar and that focus remains today. The company manages over 10 million domain names on behalf of 10,000 resellers. Currently, OpenSRS is the third largest domain name registrar in the world. For more information about OpenSRS, please visit http://www.opensrs.com.
Source: cPanel Announces New Exhibitors for Automation Bootcamp 2010
(The Hosting News) – HostDime, Softlayer, Ping! Zine, Web Host Magazine, and OpenSRS are the latest exhibitors at cPanel Conference 2010 — Automation Bootcamp.
cPanel Conference 2010 will provide participants with great insight into cPanel operations, access to networking opportunities, and content-driven sessions focused on advancing the knowledge of all attendees. These five additions are sure to add to that vision.
cPanel’s Vice President of Operations, Aaron Phillips, said that attendees will receive high-impact, technical material.
“We are focused on delivering technical training, case studies, and strong knowledge that will allow attendees to leave the conference with information that can improve their experience in the web hosting industry,” Phillips said.
HostDime is a leading hosting provider offering reliable, secure-managed hosting services that cater to a range of clients. With more than 700,000 hosted domains on 3,000 servers, HostDime presently ranks among the top 50 biggest hosting companies in the world. For more information about HostDime, please visit http://www.hostdime.org/.
SoftLayer provides global, on-demand data center and hosting services for facilities across the U.S. SoftLayer leverages best-in-class connectivity and technology to innovate industry-leading, fully-automated solutions that empower enterprises with complete access, control, security and scalability. For more information about SoftLayer, please visit http://www.softlayer.com.
Ping! Zine is in its eighth year of publication. Ping! Zine features a diverse range of technical and practical articles in an exciting and entertaining format. Ping! Zine maintains a commitment to providing information to keep you competitive in the industry. For more information about Ping! Zine, please visit http://www.pingzine.com.
Founded in 1999, Web Host Magazine & Buyer’s Guide seeks to provide the information that readers need to help them find the very best web hosting services to meet their needs. For more information about Web Host Magazine, please visit http://www.webhostmagazine.com.
OpenSRS was the first wholesale-focused domain name registrar and that focus remains today. The company manages over 10 million domain names on behalf of 10,000 resellers. Currently, OpenSRS is the third largest domain name registrar in the world. For more information about OpenSRS, please visit http://www.opensrs.com.
cPanel Announces New Exhibitors for Automation Bootcamp 2010
(The Hosting News) – HostDime, Softlayer, Ping! Zine, Web Host Magazine, and OpenSRS are the latest exhibitors at cPanel Conference 2010 — Automation Bootcamp.
cPanel Conference 2010 will provide participants with great insight into cPanel operations, access to networking opportunities, and content-driven sessions focused on advancing the knowledge of all attendees. These five additions are sure to add to that vision.
cPanel’s Vice President of Operations, Aaron Phillips, said that attendees will receive high-impact, technical material.
“We are focused on delivering technical training, case studies, and strong knowledge that will allow attendees to leave the conference with information that can improve their experience in the web hosting industry,” Phillips said.
HostDime is a leading hosting provider offering reliable, secure-managed hosting services that cater to a range of clients. With more than 700,000 hosted domains on 3,000 servers, HostDime presently ranks among the top 50 biggest hosting companies in the world. For more information about HostDime, please visit http://www.hostdime.org/.
SoftLayer provides global, on-demand data center and hosting services for facilities across the U.S. SoftLayer leverages best-in-class connectivity and technology to innovate industry-leading, fully-automated solutions that empower enterprises with complete access, control, security and scalability. For more information about SoftLayer, please visit http://www.softlayer.com.
Ping! Zine is in its eighth year of publication. Ping! Zine features a diverse range of technical and practical articles in an exciting and entertaining format. Ping! Zine maintains a commitment to providing information to keep you competitive in the industry. For more information about Ping! Zine, please visit http://www.pingzine.com.
Founded in 1999, Web Host Magazine & Buyer’s Guide seeks to provide the information that readers need to help them find the very best web hosting services to meet their needs. For more information about Web Host Magazine, please visit http://www.webhostmagazine.com.
OpenSRS was the first wholesale-focused domain name registrar and that focus remains today. The company manages over 10 million domain names on behalf of 10,000 resellers. Currently, OpenSRS is the third largest domain name registrar in the world. For more information about OpenSRS, please visit http://www.opensrs.com.
cPanel Announces New Exhibitors for Automation Bootcamp 2010
(The Hosting News) – It was recently reported that investors are now considering moving The Planet back to Dallas as part of a merger with Dallas-based Softlayer. Four years ago, The Planet was moved to Houston, Texas.
Softlayer recently sold a 70 percent equity stake to the same investors who brought The Planet to Houston, officials for both companies said Thursday.
“There’s a tremendous amount of consolidation going on in the hosting business,” said The Planet CEO Doug Erwin. “We happen to both be owned by a company that’s high on what’s going on in the hosting business.”
GI Partners, a California-based private equity firm, bought Houston’s EV1 Servers and sold off its sister dial-up business, Everyone’s Internet. The firm then bought Dallas-based The Planet separately. It joined the two in 2006, eventually making Houston the company’s headquarters.
The newly combined company would have more than 25,000 customers and about 78,000 servers under management. It would be the second-largest Web hosting company in the U.S. based on revenue, behind only San Antonio-based Rackspace, Erwin said.
If the firm’s latest deal goes through, the combined Web hosting company would be headquartered in Dallas, take SoftLayer’s name and be led by its CEO, Lance Crosby.
The companies expect their integration teams to meet Tuesday and complete the merger by the end of the fourth quarter, Crosby said.
They have no plans to cut operations in Houston and have not determined possible job losses resulting from the consolidation.
“Our goal is to not cut any,” Crosby said. “Because of the growth rate we feel we may be a little fat in the near term, but given our growth goals, we want to retain everybody.”
In Houston, The Planet has 350 employees, two data centers, a call center and a network operations center, as well as a marketing, customer service and sales operations.
The announcement follows weeks of speculation by employees and others that a merger was imminent.
Crosby said he hopes to double the combined company’s revenue in a few years and didn’t rule out future mergers or acquisitions.
The combination makes sense for G1 Partners, which is likely preparing to take the combined company public, said Philbert Shih, an analyst with Tier 1 Research.
Until then, The Planet likely will transfer its dedicated server business to SoftLayer’s system, which is more automated, he said, adding that the Dallas company is known for having a superior customer portal.
Other products, such as storage and managed services, could be discarded.
The newly combined SoftLayer will also aggressively work to catch up with Rackspace in cloud services — delivery of computing services over the Internet, Shih said.
The companies negotiating to merge, however, have targeted different markets than Rackspace.
SoftLayer focused on small to mid-size businesses while Rackspace has moved on to larger customers.
Softlayer, and to an extent The Planet, also focus more on automated and do-it-yourself type customer service, attracting more tech savvy customers. Rackspace has focused on hands-on customer service.
“The market is big enough, and both will continue to grow, but you’ll see them collide in the cloud,” Shih said.
Source: The Planet and Softlayer Likely to Merge
(The Hosting News) – Rumors and speculation were the hot topic during HostingCon 2010 and WebhostingTalk.com about the possible merger of Houston-based The Planet (www.theplanet.com) and Dallas-based SoftLayer (www.softlayer.com) and brought to a high possibility by the purchase of 70% equity in SoftLayer by GI Partners.
GI Partners is well known for the 2006 purchase of The Planet and EV1 Servers which eventually led to a merger and subsquent brand change to The Planet as a global hosting leader.
With the purchase of SoftLayer by GI Partners, talking are building about the unity of the two companies, with Dallas being the location of the new company.
Lance Crosby is slated to be the CEO of the new company that will host more than 25,000 customers in 110 countries and over 78,000 servers under their direct management.
A direct one on one interview is in the works and will be released soon.
(The Hosting News) – AYKsolutions announced today it has begun offering custom dedicated servers in Dallas, Seattle, and Washington DC, as part of a unique partnership with SoftLayer.
The custom dedicated servers combine key features from both companies, including SoftLayer’s robust national network and AYKsolutions’ semi-managed hosting plans. Semi-managed dedicated servers allow clients to save money when compared to fully-managed dedicated servers, while still receiving a core of important services, including DoS monitoring, hack recovery and dissection, configuration assistance, and full control panel support.
SoftLayer’s network boasts more than 1,000 Gbps of connectivity between 3 data centers and 7 points of presence (PoPs) across the United States. It consists of a variety of top-tier transit providers, including Global Crossing, Internap, Level3, NTT America, Qwest, Comcast, Time Warner, Equinix and Telefonica.
All AYKsolutions dedicated servers include at least 100TB of monthly data transfer on a dedicated 1Gbps port – a service not offered directly by SoftLayer. Clients also receive access to a dedicated server management portal, from which they can perform remote reboots, automatic operating system reloads, rDNS configuration.
“As we continue to expand nationally, it is important to diversify the range of services we offer so we can offer complete, well-rounded solutions for our clients. SoftLayer is an ideal upstream provider, and by leveraging our existing strengths with SoftLayer’s multi-million dollar network infrastructure, we have created a high-quality, affordable dedicated hosting solution. This move is clearly strategic in nature for our company,” said Artyom Khmelnitsky, president of AYKsolutions.
Dedicated servers offered through the partnership are fully customizable. AYKsolutions has also created four standard plans, starting at $202/monthly for a server powered by an Intel Dual Core 3060 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 2x 500GB hard drives.
With today’s announcement, AYKsolutions currently offers dedicated servers in seven American cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Miami, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
In May, AYKsolutions introduced a variety of new features in its Denver data center facility, including no-charge KVM over IP, which allows clients to use a keyboard, video monitor, and mouse to control their servers remotely. The company also introduced a private backend network, enabling clients with 2 or more servers to utilize unlimited, unmetered data transfer between servers on the network. Clients can also use a VPN to access the network and securely manage their servers.
To learn more about custom dedicated servers, please visit http://www.ayksolutions.com/softlayer.htm.
To learn more about AYKsolutions, please visit http://www.AYKsolutions.com.
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