LightBound's key benefits of a Storage Area Network offer: Scalability, Expert Management, Performance, and Availabiity.
Scalablity allows any size business to purchase only the amount of storage needed and allows for rapid growth, should a need arise.
LightBound's expert management team sets up, monitors and maintains your Storage Area Network. In the event of a problem, our team will take care of the issue and make sure you are kept informed during the entire process.
LightBound's storage area network solutions offers high-performance storage fit for applications and processing databases. LightBound also offers low-performance, dedicated Storage Area Network, you get special-purpose hardware designed for serving data. Your application will experience higher I/O, less latency and provide a better end-user experience.
LightBound's Storage Area Networks is configured with redundancy at every layer; from network switches, through the storage array itself, which ensures your application is always up and running.
LightBound's storage as a service is fit for any size business and service need.
Scalability
The NetApp range is extremely scalable – from the entry-level 2000 series, right up to the enterprise class 6000 series -- which can hold 1176TB of data on a single array.
Expert Management
Our certified storage experts setup, monitor and maintain your Storage Area Network. In the event of a problem, our team will take care of the issue and make sure you are kept informed during the entire process
Performance
High-performance applications, such as transaction processing databases, require I/O that is simply not available through local disks. With a dedicated Storage Area Network, you get special-purpose hardware designed for serving data. Your application will experience higher I/O, less latency and provide a better end-user experience.
Availability
Storage Area Networks can be configured with redundancy at every layer – from the HBAs and network switches, through the storage array itself – which ensures your application is always up and running
LightBound is an Indiana VoIP provider that is now offering a complete hosted VoIP service service. If you are looking for VoIP PBX Solutions and don't want to invest a lot of up front capital this is the service that you have been looking for. A hosted VoIP service is a great part of a Business Continuity solution that can help keep your business up and running in the event of business disruption at your office. The LightBound hosted voice fits directly inthe Cloud Services model that many customers are looking for today. If you have been looking at outsourcing management of services to a provider of virtualization services, replication of critical data to a off-site virtual storage or off site data backup service, why not consider moving your phone system to a provider of hosted VoIP PBX solutions like LightBound. The service starts at 5 users and will scale up to 100 users. The hosted service uses Fonality trixBox Enterprise Edition which provides an award winning user interface, HUD, to help improve productivity. See
HUD for Employees or
HUD for Executives for all the productivity enhancement the your business can benefit from. If your organization outgrows the hosted application and you need an on premise VoIP PBX Solutions its an easy transition to a dedicated Fonality VoIP server for your business. LightBound can simplify the operations of your business by being a single source for Internet Service Indiana
The answer to why we need and want Cloud Services and Storage Area Network Solutions is simple - money. Ok, there are a few more reasons, but I'll start with cost savings. Businesses don't generate their own electricity to produce their products and services (except the electric companies). Why? Because due to economies of scale it's much more cost effective to buy the electricity we need from the electric company. This same economies of scale applies to shared storage and server services. Cloud Services allow businesses of all sizes to buy only the services that they need at that time they need them for a small monthly recurring fee. No longer do companies have to dole out hundreds of thousands of capital to own and maintain their storage and server hardware. There are a few more advantages to Cloud Services and Virtualization Services which I will address in my next blog.
Go Cloud!
Sam Newberry
Infrastructure as a Service is definitely going to become a commodity offering and with economies of scale, virtual network services will be a high volume, low margin product. Cloud Services providers are already offering Hosted Virtual Server, Storage Area Network Solutions, Off Site Data Backup Services, and even Storage as a Service combined with Server Collocation for pennies on the dollar compared to legacy physical network and server infrastructures. That being said, the leading contributor to competitive advantage in the Virtualization Services and Cloud Services market is going to be how the service is differentiated from the "commodities". What are those differentiators? Depends on the customers your targeting, including their size and type of business, their vertical, and other numerous variables. In my next blog I'll talk more about how LightBound is setting itself apart with added value beyond the base Infrastructure offering.
Go Cloud!
Sam Newberry
Listed below are the answers to the questions I posed in Part 5 as applicable to LightBound's Shared Storage Server (s) and Hosted Virtual Server.
1. Where is the data?
All shared storage server (s) are managed within LightBound's secure datacenters in central Indiana.
2. Who owns the data?
The customer owns the data. LightBound has no rights to in any way modify, share, disseminate, or otherwise manipulate the data without the express permission of the customer.
3. Is the data backed up?
All LightBound Storage Area Network Solutions incorporate a thorough analysis with the customer to ensure that critical data is protected through backup and replication processes, aligned with the customer’s needs.
4. Can the data be extracted?
Yes, the customer is provided the means to extract their data upon request.
5. Are the data and servers volatile?
No, servers can be inactive or restarted at any time without loss of data or virtualization services.
6. Who has access to the data and servers?
Access is restrictive to only the customer and their affiliates. Unless providing managed cloud services, LightBound does not nor have access to the customers critical data.
LightBound's goal in offering Cloud Services to its customers is simple. Maintain the same level of useability and security, while adding the benefits associated with virtualization services such as high availability, scalability and flexibility with strong disaster recovery and business continuity mechanisms. LightBound is able to offer cloud services including storage as a service, network shared storage, and server virtualization services. For migration and hybrid solutions we can also bridge our existing server collocation services with all cloud services.
Go Cloud!
If you have a Compellent or Scale SAN and desire to replicate for business continuity or data disaster recover LightBound offers Storage as a Service to meet your needs. LightBound can be the one stop shop to accommodate as we have Indiana WAN services with multiple carriers to provide a large circuit directly from your office to our data center to provide backup needs. A large circuit is generally needed as 100 GB takes 2.2 hours to replicate your SAN. If you have a SAN with another manufacturer and would like off site data backup service you can use a backup application to a NFS or CIFS share to back up remotely. If you need to also need a server platform to recoer we also offer hosted virtual server platform that can be paired with replicated SAN or can be used to restore backup data. If you would like some more information plan on attending our lunch and learn in April or contact one of our account managers.
In part one I identified the three types of cloud services: public, private, and hybrid. So what are the differences? Well, again all three offer virtual network services such as storage as a service, server virtualization services, and off site data backup service, among many other services. So before I can talk about the differences, I have to talk about their similar roots. Referred to as "Cloud Computing", this commonality between the different types of cloud services is the underlying deployment and delivery model, enabling Internet based real-time delivery of products, services and solutions. Thus "Cloud Computing" is the enabling of "Cloud Services", of which public, private, and hybrid are all a part.
Coming up will be the definition of cloud services as a whole, followed by the dissection of the three types of cloud services.
Go Cloud!
Today we met with one our sport teams clients in Indy and we are implementing our LightBound Storage as a Service product. We are going take advantage of our dark fiber resources and partnership with Scale Computing and Double Take to backup their physical and virtual servers to our data center in Indy and then replicate their data to our out of state data center. This will give them multiple levels of backup - first they will use Double Take to backup to the Scale Computing local SAN and then the Scale will replicate that LightBound local Scale shared storage server at our Indy data center and then we will then replicate their data again to our Scale shared storage server in our data center out state. This will give our client multiple backups of their data using our LightBound Storage as a Service products and using our LightBound Cloud Services to transport their data to our out of state data center.
Storage Area Network solutions come in many shapes and sizes, and with the advent of virtual storage, brings about a host of new capabilities which cater well to server virtualization. LightBound offers a shared storage server platform that sets it apart from its competition. Our storage as a service provides all the high performance, scalability, and dependability of the enterprise SAN at a low monthly cost. Bundled with LightBound's virtualization services, medium and small business server hosting has never been easier and more cost effective.
Go Cloud!
Not all Cloud Services are the same. There are some stark differences between one provider's virtual network services and another. At a high level, there are three commonly accepted cloud service types: Public Cloud, Private Cloud, and Hybrid Cloud. All three offer virtual network services such as storage as a service, server virtualization services, and off site data backup service. In part two I will discuss this commonality and what Cloud Computing is and how it is different than Cloud Services.
Go Cloud!
Defining cloud services:
- Private Cloud: Cloud services operated solely for one organization. These may be managed by the organization directly or by a virtual service provider and may exist off-premise or on-premise. Considerations for private cloud are while this type of service yields minimal risk, it may not provide the scalability and agility of public cloud services.
- Public Cloud: Cloud services made available to the general public. Virtual storage and hosted virtual server(s) are owned by the virtual service provider. Considerations of this type of cloud services will be discussed in a my next blog, after which I will talk about hybrid cloud services.
Go Cloud!
Cloud services offer the latest in virtual network services. LightBound offers Storage Area Network solutions with a secure facility and redundant backups.
Come hear about one of the most exciting stories in the technology industry in Indiana on February 10, 2010 @ 11:30 by attending LightBound's lunch and learn. Go to www.lightbound.net to register. Scale Computing has been recognized as one of the top 20 technology companies to watch in 2010. Scale is headquartered out of Indianapolis. LightBound is a Scale Computing partner having deployed their solution for managed storage services for use with managed servers hosting or server collocation. The Scale solution is a very cost effective solution for local storage (3 TB for $14K). LightBound managed storage services can facilitate a data disaster recovery plan through a high speed WAN connection to provide off site data back service to yield a very effective business continuity plan in event of a disaster. Come learn about what we have to offer!
LightBound, an Indiana Managed Server Host can now offer virtual managed servers and storage. This adds to the many service options for off site data backup. Business continuity is a vital component in today's business.
LightBound, an Indiana managed server host, has expanded its service offereings to include virtual servers, backups, and storgae via its new SAN.
A storage area network (SAN) is an architecture to attach remote computer storage devices (such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes) to servers in such a way that the devices appear as locally attached to the operating system. Although the cost and complexity of SANs are dropping, they are still uncommon outside larger enterprises. A System Area Network (SAN) is a high-performance, connection-oriented network that can link a cluster of computers.
LightBound can use this new technology to better serve its customers using a wide variety of data recovery, disaster recovery, business continuity, and sever collocation needs
Lunch and Learn – November 18, 2009 11:30 am till 1:00 pm: Managed Storage Services: Finally, fast and inexpensive in the same conversation: Learn about LightBound’s cost-effective and highly efficient Managed Storage Service offering. LightBound’s unique storage architecture will provide to its customers the flexibility to pay for what is used, not what is provisioned. Learn also how this same storage architecture will ensure that highly active data will have secure and consistent access to the fastest array of disk. Sign up to attend on our website or call (317)777-7165.
I just met with a customer this week who was moving offices and in the move decided to outsource their support of servers and phones. Unaware that LightBound offers managed servers hosting through our new VM and shared server platform they looked to a competitor. We let them know that we are going to be offering this platform in Q1 2010 and possibly before the end of the year. They currently have Indiana VoIP service with us but were using their own phone system. We let them know that we offer VoIP PBX Solutions through Fonality's trixbox solution. By provider management of both their phones and server infrastructure the customer now has more cycles to support and develop their application to make money for their company.
Attend our Lunch and Learn at the Lightbound Data Center on
November 4th to hear about Lightbound's Managed Storage Services-finally, fast and inexpensive in the same conversation. Please RSVP to
jshinkle@lightbound.net.
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