CA AppLogic Attracts 60 MSPs and Cloud Services Providers

CA Technologies‘ strategy for AppLogic is coming into focus. Roughly 60 managed services providers and cloud services providers now leverage AppLogic as a platform for standing up cloud services and SaaS offerings — across public clouds and private clouds.

But what exactly is the AppLogic strategy, and how does it differ from all of the other noise Talkin’ Cloud hears? CA positions AppLogic as a cloud management console. But that really doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. In some ways, AppLogic is similar to virtualization and VMware — perhaps because it’s built atop of the Xen hypervisor. Instead of virtualizing a single server, AppLogic provides a cloud software layer across a grid of servers. In theory, AppLogic allows MSPs and CSPs to speed SaaS deployments across that grid. And customers, in theory, gain freedom of choice as they potentially move their cloud applications for one service provider’s grid to the next.

I’m certainly intrigued. CA Technologies, as Talkin’ Cloud previously pointed out, has a growing portfolio of cloud solutions from which MSPs and CSPs can choose. CA Technologies has also improved its track record on the M&A (merger and acquisition) front. During the 1990s, CA acquired legacy mainframe software companies and client-server software providers, but frequently destroyed the acquired companies’ channel partner programs. Fast forward to the present, and recent acquisitions like Nimsoft and 3Tera (developer of AppLogic) seem to be going well.

Still, CA Technologies and AppLogic face intense competition. Just about every major software company promotes a cloud strategy aimed at speeding SaaS engagements with channel partners. Plus, open source efforts like OpenStack are frequently positioned similarly to AppLogic — allowing customers to move applications from one service provider to the next.

It’s early in the cloud computing game. I’m not suggesting that AppLogic is a guaranteed winner — I haven’t even used the software. But AppLogic is the latest example of how CA Technologies apparently is changing for the better, especially when it comes to channel partner and service provider engagements.

Disclosure: I’ve moderated events for CA Technologies in the past 30 days. Some of my opinions are based on feedback I’ve heard from MSPs and CSPS at those events.