HP Upgrades Cloud Automation Software
Hewlett-Packard Co. last week released Cloud Services Automation 2.0, an upgraded version of its toolset aimed at simplifying the transformation of premises-based apps to those that can run in the cloud.
CSA 2.0 not only accelerates the deployment of cloud infrastructure but it expedites the deployment and configuration of the applications, said Paul Muller, VP of strategic marketing for HP Software products.
"Most applications take a considerable amount of manual time and effort to tune and configure," Muller said. "Even if the imaging of that application is being automated, it's often the configuration and tuning of that application to get it ready for production workloads that is the last mile required to make an application run in an optimal fashion in a cloud environment. That's exactly what we've done with Cloud Service Automation 2.0, is package up everything from infrastructure through platform through application deployment."
One of the key capabilities in CSA 2.0 is over 4,000 new or updated workflows and best practices for the deployment of infrastructure and applications and middleware, or Platform as a Service (PaaS), according to Muller. Enabling that capability was the acquisition of Stratavia back in August.
Stratavia offers deployment, configuration and management software for databases, middleware and packaged apps. HP now calls that technology Database Middleware Automation, or DMA.
CSA 2.0 also includes service request catalog capability aimed at minimizing the need to utilize multiple service providers' portals, providing a more simplified consumer-like interface for selecting and requesting services.
"Once the service is requested, the deployment is seamlessly automated behind the scenes," Muller said. CSA 2.0 employs new intelligent resource management and policy enforcement that can address the need for highly available infrastructure, least expensive service or infrastructure that's pinned to a specific geography.
Pricing for the software starts at $35,000.
Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on April 20, 2011