HP Scaling the Cloud Blog

Scaling the Cloud

HP Partner, TwinStrata, Offers Their View on HP Cloud Services

By: MargotRudell 12-02-2011  | Edited: 12-13-2011

 

Nicos Vekiarides, CEO, TwinStrataMark Alred, Engineering Manager, TwinStrata

From time to time, we’ll post articles about how specific partners and customers use HP Cloud Services.  Today, I’d like to introduce TwinStrata’s CEO and co-founder Nicos Vekiarides and Engineering Manager Mark Aldred.

 

Nicos co-founded TwinStrata four years ago to bring cloud storage to market in a way that is easy for enterprise customers to use. Today, TwinStrata delivers connectivity to cloud storage with an easy to use web-based user interface and a pay as you go business model.  

Nicos Vekiarides,            Mark Aldred,

CEO, TwinStrata              Engineering Manager,

                                            TwinStrata

 

 

TwinStrata’s CloudArray 3.0 appliance provides access to cloud storage so that it performs seamlessly with customers’ existing IT infrastructure.  The appliance makes cloud storage an attractive option for those enterprise customers, who lack the time to use online storage on their own through APIs. Customers use CloudArray for backup and archiving, offsite storage capacity, and disaster recovery.

 

 

According to Nicos, TwinStrata chose to work with HP Cloud Services for three reasons. 

 

First, HP Cloud Services is a good match for TwinStrata, as HP will deliver reliable cloud computing and cloud storage offerings that enterprise customers can trust. 

 

Second, open source software is attractive to application developers and businesses of all sizes, and HP Cloud Services integrates key elements of OpenStack, the emerging standard for open source cloud infrastructure.

 

Thirdly, working with HP Cloud Services will broaden TwinStrata’s customer market. Through TwinStrata’s CloudArray appliance, traditional hardware and software enterprise customers will soon have access to a business grade cloud provided by HP Cloud Services for their storage needs.

 

Since HP Cloud Services is still in private beta, TwinStrata is aggressively testing HP Cloud Services’ performance and functionality. Nicos and Mark indicated that HP Cloud Services is performing well in TwinStrata’s tests. “While still in private beta, HP Cloud Services is already very reliable and comparable to other public clouds. We are already impressed,” said Mark Aldred, Engineering Manager, TwinStrata.  Nicos, Mark, and the TwinStrata team said they are happy with they’ve seen, including the high performance levels and the speed with which they were able to make progress. Benchmark tests of HP Cloud Services versus other cloud services have been positive.  Functional testing of HP Cloud Services has been quick and easy, and the RESTful APIs work exactly as expected. HP Cloud Services’ online forum community is already active and responsive. Mark told us that he was very impressed that he received a very accurate response to a question he posted in the HP Cloud Services forum in less than an hour.

 

Welcome, TwinStrata! We’re pleased to have you as part of the HP Cloud Services family.

 

A growing number of customers and partners have already joined the HP Cloud Services ecosystem. If you’re already an HP Cloud Services private beta customer or partner, come tell us your story, share and comment on this article. If you would like to be featured on this blog, please contact Darlene Lynch at Darlene.Lynch@HP.com.  Feel free to tweet this article or share it through Facebook and LinkedIn. If you’re not yet signed up to participate in our private beta, come join us. Sign up now.

Tags: appliance beta cloud cloudarray storage twinstrata
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About the Author
  • Zorawar Biri Singh is senior vice president and general manager for Cloud Services at HP. He has global responsibility for HP’s public cloud infrastructure, platform services, cloud solutions and cloud ecosystem for developers, independent software vendors, service providers and enterprises. Singh has more than 20 years of global leadership experience as an executive and serial entrepreneur in enterprise IT, online advertising, e-commerce and telecommunications. He has an extensive products background in infrastructure software, cloud computing services, data center and internet scale-out infrastructure, and networking. Prior to joining HP, Singh was vice president of Cloud Computing at IBM, where he helped lead corporate-wide strategy and solutions for cloud computing. He joined IBM in 2008 through the acquisition of Encentuate, Inc., an identity and access management security company, where he served as chief executive officer. Singh also previously served as CEO of Pivia, a network acceleration appliance company acquired by F5 Networks; JRG, a Consumer Packaged Goods-focused software-as-a-service company acquired by CDC; and e-commerce startup Idapta. Earlier, he was chief operating officer of RelevantKnowledge / MediaMetrix, a pioneer in online advertising ratings and Internet audience measurement, which today is part of comScore Inc. Singh started his career at NORTEL as a product line manager. Singh holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from North Carolina State University.
  • Blake is a Product Manager in HP's emerging Cloud Services focusing on cloud products and technologies. Prior to joining HP, Blake served as the Product Line Leader for Cloud Compute at San Antonio based Rackspace Hosting, a provider of hosted IT services and Cloud Computing. During his tenure there, Blake's team focused on driving the development and growth of the Cloud Servers product line and launching the Managed Cloud Service Level. Previously, Blake was VP of Research and Development for Gandinnovations, a grand-format digital inkjet printer manufacturer based in Toronto. Blake lives in San Antonio, Texas where he and his wife enjoy spending time outdoors running, bicycling, fishing and hunting. They are also avid travelers who enjoy seeing new places and sampling the local fare. Blake can be reached via email at blake.yeager@hp.com or on twitter: @Blake_Yeager.
  • Brant leads HP Cloud Services’ Product Management function for those parts of our system that are behind the scenes or that span our service offerings. Included in that is the Identity Service, the Manage console, the Bindings and CLIs, system security, the billing system, sales and support tools and others. Before joining HP Cloud Services, Brant spent many years in other parts of HP where he, among other things, managed the first 2G wireless iPAQ Pocket PC offering, oversaw the development of the industry’s first low cost fingerprint reader, devised the BioAPI consortium and was Marketing Chairman for the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance. Brant lives in Houston with his wife and family where he’s an avid swimmer and Boy Scout leader. He also enjoys skiing, snowboarding, scuba diving, rafting and kayaking. He even once fought off a wild bear – you can bet there’s more to that story. Brant holds degrees from Claremont McKenna College, Dartmouth College and MIT. He can be reached at brant.jones@hp.com or you can follow him on Twitter: @partly_cloudy1
  • Recently joined HP’s services lab with a focus to identify ways to pull lab activities into HP Services as well as harvest some of the ideas and opportunities in the services organization back into the research space. I've been utility player for EDS (and now HP) performing a variety of roles in recent years like the Chief Technologist of EDS' Application Delivery organization, the acting VP for Application Portfolio during the creation of EDS' application portfolio strategy and the chief technologist for the relationship between EDS and a large consumer products company. I've supported a variety of industries including process manufacturing, discrete manufacturing, engineering, consumer products, financial systems and health care. I am known as a team builder who interfaces across and within organizational boundaries to develop team solutions and I constantly strive to understand innovation both within and outside HP. My value has been that of a pioneer-- typically knowing where the explorers have gone and identifying the best path for others to follow. I try to cultivate a large resource network inside and outside HP, which helps facilitate the process of clearing overgrown routes and enabling efficient and effective movement of the larger group to meet common and corporate objectives.
  • Darlene has 20 years technology marketing experience and currently works with HP’s Cloud Services. She has held a range of positions within marketing with Tandem, Compaq and HP, including working in the gaming, media, entertainment and telecom industries. Prior to HP, Darlene worked in telecom industry with customers from enterprise, small and midmarket, and consumer segments. She held a variety of roles across marketing, sales, customer satisfaction and quality management at Nortel, Pacific Telesis, and PacTel. She has taught public relations, has been a Texas and California state examiner for the National Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award, and an ISO auditor. She received her degree from Pepperdine University and although originally from Southern California, she currently resides in Austin, Texas. Darlene can be reached via e-mail at darlene.lynch@hp.com
  • Gavin Pratt is on the HP Cloud Services product management team, where he focuses on storage, networking, and CDN services. Before joining HP Cloud Services, Gavin held a number of corporate and business unit strategy-related roles at HP, where he spent a significant amount of his time on cloud computing. Before HP, Gavin worked at a small technology startup, and before that, he worked at The Boston Consulting Group. Gavin holds an MBA in Finance & Strategic Management from The Wharton School and a BA in Economics from Yale University. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife, and he is an enthusiast of: travelling, sushi, standup comedy, and everything technology-related.
  • Jeff wrote his first e-commerce site in 1997 for an amusement park, spent a few years at Whole Foods Market managing web server load, creating CMSes and writing web interfaces to pricing systems, spent a decade doing all manner of Perl, PHP and Ruby projects at a small web consultancy and is now the server guy on the Developer Experience team at HP Cloud Services.Jeff lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, new baby and very cute corgi. You can find him on twitter as @jeffk, posting about interesting augmented reality, 3d manufacturing and other near-future technologies.
  • John Purrier is Vice President of Cloud Infrastructure for HP Cloud Services. John oversees engineering, service/technical operation and customer satisfaction. Prior to HP, John worked as a director of OpenStack at Rackspace, where he drove the development of this industry leading open source cloud computing project. John brings more than 30 years of technology expertise to HP, with roles at IBM and Microsoft, as well as a variety of startups. Over the course of John’s career he has served as chief software architect, director of product development, CTO and has been the CEO of two different companies. John lives in San Antonio, TX and enjoys live music and spending time with his family and friends.
  • Karen Reynolds is Director of Marketing Communications, ensuring the HP Cloud Services vision and strategy are communicated with world-class execution. Her responsibilities include leading and driving brand identity, messaging, PR/AR/Influencer relations, event marketing and executive communications and employee engagement activities, ensuring alignment across the team as well as HP. Prior to joining HP’s public cloud team, Karen led executive communications for PSG Americas, HP’s largest regional business where she provided strategic communications counsel to the SVP and GM of HP’s PC business and led messaging across the region’s senior leadership team. Karen has over 25 years’ experience in technology communications and has worked for iconic Silicon Valley companies, including leading global marketing and communications for companies both large and small, such as Azul Systems, Autodesk and Sun Microsystems. You can follow Karen on Twitter @karenreynolds.
  • Marc is the Director of Product Management for HP Cloud Services. Marc’s team is responsible for defining and prioritizing the services and features deployed on hpcloud.com and working with other HP teams, customers, and ecosystem partners to create public, private and hybrid cloud solutions. Prior to joining HP, Marc served in a variety of product management roles with his 11+ years at Dell and 5+ years at a local startup in Austin, Texas. While at Dell, Marc worked in the Data Center Solutions, Web/Customer Services, Enterprise Products, and Client Systems Groups. Before Dell, Marc worked at Asyst Technologies (formerly “PST”), a company that specializes in semiconductor and flat panel display factory automation solutions. Marc lives in Austin, Texas where he and his wife enjoy spending time running around to different kid activities. Marc also likes tinkering with media solutions and relaxing with movies and music.
  • Margot has over 12 years experience in technology product marketing, product management, and corporate marketing. Prior to joining HP, Margot served as Director of Product Marketing for YouSendIt, a cloud collaboration, cloud storage, and cloud file transfer provider, and Director of Marketing for Space-Time Insight, a business intelligence software vendor. Previously, she was director of product marketing for companies including Imperva, a web application and database security vendor, and Merced Systems, a performance management software company. Margot founded a mobile games startup that launched an iPhone game in the early days of the iTunes AppStore. Earlier in her career, she served as Senior Manager, Product Marketing for Hyperion Solutions’ business intelligence products. Margot lives in San Francisco, California where she enjoys exploring the city. Margot can be reached via email at margot.rudell@hp.com.
  • Monty is Manager of Developer Automation and Infrastructure for HP Cloud Services. He runs the developer tooling, automation and process for the OpenStack project, is an at-large member of the OpenStack Project Policy Board, and is a regular conference speaker around the world. Monty has been with OpenStack since its inception, but before that was a core developer on Drizzle at Rackspace, and a Senior Consultant at MySQL, Inc. He's also started several companies related to Open Source software for the entertainment production industry, and he is an accomplished lighting designer. Monty splits his time between Seattle and New York where he works with several bands and theatre companies.
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  • Peter is a project manager in HP’s Cloud Services business, engineering HP’s upcoming global-scale public cloud. Prior to this he managed research in HP Labs on automated cloud infrastructure, and led the HP Labs SE3D program, a cloud-based service for digital media production, which — among other things — showcased the world’s first automated, market-based computing utility.
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  • Steve Loughran is a researcher at HP Laboratories in the UK on datacenter & cloud computing infrastructure. He is the author of the book "Ant in Action", is an Apache member and a committer in the Apache Ant and Apache Hadoop projects. He is also an evangelist of test-driven development and specializes in breaking things.