Artisan Adds Object-Based Cloud Storage to vPDC Platform
New opportunities related to object-based cloud storage are likely on their way to the channel via Artisan Infrastructure, which markets itself as "the wholesale IaaS provider." The channel-focused company, which made the Talkin' Cloud Top 100 Cloud Services Providers (CSPs) List this year, has added object-based cloud storage to its Cornerstone virtual private data center (vPDC) platform.
New opportunities related to object-based cloud storage are likely on their way to the channel via Artisan Infrastructure, which markets itself as “the wholesale IaaS provider.” The channel-focused company, which made the Talkin’ Cloud Top 100 Cloud Services Providers (CSPs) List this year, has added object-based cloud storage to its Cornerstone virtual private data center (vPDC) platform.
The company’s focus is on providing wholesale IaaS and working with its channel to deliver such services. The company caters only to CSPs, systems integrators, VARs, SaaS and PaaS providers, telcos and managed services providers (MSPs).
“We are not channel only. Channel implies that you can provide a service at retail and sell through agents. We are not channel. We are wholesale,” Brian Hierholzer, Artisan’s CEO, told Talkin’ Cloud while discussing the launch of the object-based cloud storage offering on Cornerstone.
According to Hierholzer, for its service provider partners to have success, the company needed to build out its ecosystem of partners and technology. Now, it has several software toolsets that are compatible with its storage solution; and the crux of the announcement is it enabling its service provider partners to build their own file, sync and share services.
The space formed originally by the likes of Dropbox and Box has been gaining significant momentum as businesses and consumers increasingly see the value in backing up to the cloud and the collaborative nature of file, sync and share cloud services. At times it seems as though there’s a new one emerging every few weeks, but apparently the market has as yet become saturated.
That’s good news for the service providers Artisan sells to. Using its vPDC platform, those service providers can now build and maintain their own file, sync and share cloud service to compete with the bigger boys on the block. Additionally, it strikes me as a good way to add value for existing end customers, keeping all of the technology and maintenance in a single location as service providers continue to fulfill the needs of their customer segments.
Hierholzer also noted that the object-based cloud storage element of the platform is fully compatible with Amazon (AMZN) S3. But what’s critical to this launch is the pricing, which comes in at 2.9 cents per GB. That’s a price point well below competing offerings, Hierholzer said.
The file, sync and share solution isn’t quite ready for prime time, though. The offering is now in beta, and the company is accepting up to 1,500 service providers into the beta program.
