CBTS Introduces Virtual Data Center

CBTS, a provider of data center and managed services, has teamed with Virtual Blocks Inc., to introduce a new utility computing service helping customers provision and manage virtual Windows and Linux servers in a cloud computing environment. The service has been coined as the CBTS “Virtual Data Center.” CBTS is a division of Cincinnati Bell (News - Alert), Inc.

 

Leveraging the utility computing service, CBTS customers will be able to provision virtual servers through a standard Web portal, specifying CPU, disk, memory, and operating system requirements. Servers are available for use within minutes, allocated from within a large resource pool comprising Sun AMD (News - Alert) Servers, Nortel and Cisco Network Switches, and NetApp SAN Disk that are securely housed in one of the CBTS Tier 3 data centers. Network access is available via Internet, VPN or MPLS service.

 

“More and more customers are requesting cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS (News - Alert)) capabilities,” said John Burns, president of CBTS. “As a trusted technology adviser to our customers, CBTS is dedicated to bringing new and innovative solutions to market. The Virtual Data Center unifies our resource pool of secure data centers, scalable computing and networking equipment, and advanced solution development to provide cost savings and competitive advantage to CBTS clients.”

 

CBTS has selected Virtual Blocks, a division of Commerx Computer Systems Inc., as its partner for the initiative. Commerx has developed a business “wrapper” around VMware Virtual Center that enables a standard virtualization environment to function without the usual IT operator intervention and management.

 

“Processor (News - Alert) speed continues to double each year while in-house server utilization rates continue to fall; the average Windows server is running at less than 10 percent capacity,” said Virtual Blocks President Stuart Levinsky.