Really amazing! And GoGrid is really thankful.

Thank goodness Werner Vogels keeps getting up on stage with incredible success stories. Werner’s slides featuring Amazon’s growth statistics are so awesome that I bet they make Al Gore jealous. And that isn’t a tongue-in-cheek quip because Al Gore gave birth to the Internet. This isn’t a tongue-in-cheek blog-post. This is a hearty high-five to Amazon from GoGrid. The convenient truth for GoGrid is that when Werner takes the stage, it feels like he’ll need a ladder to show us how incredible the adoption is of AWS.

Can you imagine a world without Amazon? The whole “cloud” revolution probably wouldn’t be happening. SalesForce had been doing their thing for about a decade but it wasn’t until Amazon Web Services geared up that the whole “cloud” thing started cranking.

• No great brand-name company was going to bring cloud computing to market because they’ve been watching a bookstore eat their lunch now for years and they still haven’t done anything relevant. I’m talking about computing giants like IBM, HP, Dell, and Cisco or telecom service providers like AT&T and Verizon. Sun was gonna do something relevant about 2 years ago but Larry pulled the plug on that. Amazon has declared an entirely new style of computing that will define the future, and the big-names just seem to be watching. Wake up! What is going through your dino-minds? There is a new Sheriff in town. Do you still think that Amazon is just an attempt to sell excess bookstore infrastructure that they didn’t need at Christmas? Amazon-dot-com faced an incredible IT challenge and so they invented an entirely new style of massively multi-tenant, incredibly scalable, programmable, on-demand infrastructure. Smell the Java ©!
• Countless technology start-ups would never have started. Amazon established an entirely new paradigm that has changed the game for entrepreneurs in several great ways. First of all, Amazon enables bunches of new businesses that simply couldn’t have existed even if they had the capital. The best examples of these are the companies that simply grew too fast to get their needs met without programmable and massively scalable on-demand infrastructure.
• Amazon has done wonders for the psyche of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs feel empowered. There is a new consensus that a company can be started for almost nothing whereas it used to feel like a start-up needed $10,000,000. Entrepreneurs are liberated because they know that they can scale their cost of goods sold with their revenues and that they don’t need any CapEx. Amazon is a bigger friend to tech start-ups than venture capital and has become a comparable engine for growth in our economy.
• OpenStack wouldn’t exist. OpenStack was invented to compete with Amazon. RackSpace never would have purchased SliceHost and jumped into the cloud game. RackSpace wouldn’t have needed a “cloud” strategy ‘cause their core business was doing great.
• And last but not least, people wouldn’t care so much about GoGrid. We’re proud to have pioneered cloud computing alongside Amazon, but if we had done it alone it might be comparable to a tree falling in the forest. We had load balanced cloud servers years before Amazon, and load balancing is core to elasticity which is a defining attribute of cloud computing, but not as many people would have noticed. We also were way ahead of Amazon with on-demand Windows servers, real VLANs, dedicated servers, Hosted Private Cloud and bunches of other things but you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog-post if it weren’t for Amazon. We take great pride in having a feature-set that our customers and industry analysts alike consider to be the most comparable to Amazon’s. We’re headquartered in San Francisco and quite good at R&D ourselves and we also are pushing the industry forward. GoGrid got into the game trying to solve a different problem than Amazon, we were trying to automate managed hosting, but we’ve both ended up in nearly the same wonderful place…the cloud!

So thank you Amazon! You’ve done the World a great service!

Love,

John Keagy

CEO
GoGrid

The conference is being held on February 2-3, 2011 in the Barbican Exhibition Hall 1 in London, England. The 2-day event has 3 different speaking tracks: Business, Solution and Security & Storage track.

John will be presenting on Wednesday, February 3rd. Details on his presentation are as follows:

Date: February 3rd, 2011
Time: 12:00pm – 12:30pm GMT
Location: Barbican Exhibition Hall 1
Presentation Title: “What it Takes to build a Leading Public Cloud”
Topic Details:

Being a cutting-edge cloud provider has enabled GoGrid to learn the nuances of being a profitable public cloud provider while also passing on cost-savings to its customers. However, there are many cloud vendors who are struggling to survive while providing innovative solutions to their customers. What makes one company more successful than others? And how does this translate to cost-savings to the cloud consumer? Are vendors passing on efficiencies to their end-users so that they can capitalize on the benefits of moving entire infrastructures to the cloud? How are cloud providers innovating internally to invest in their cloud growth and adoption strategies?

The full Press Release is below:

NTT America Enables GoGrid to Meet Customer Growth Demands via NTT Communications Tier-1 Global IP Network

NTT Com network facilitates growth for GoGrid’s Cloud Computing product suite

NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO – January 25, 2011 – NTT America, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) and a Tier-1 global IP network services provider, and GoGrid, a leading cloud infrastructure provider, today announced that NTT America has enabled GoGrid to continually meet customer demands for increased bandwidth and capacity via NTT Communications Tier-1 Global IP Network.

As GoGrid’s international customer base grew, the company turned to NTT Com’s Tier-1 IP backbone service to support increased bandwidth demands across the board. As a Tier-1 provider, NTT Com provides private peering and seamless service from a single global ASN (ASN2914) over NTT Communications Global IP Network, directly connecting telecoms, ISPs, content providers, CDNs and enterprises at the highest performance levels available.

“Over the last year, GoGrid’s international customer base has grown substantially and NTT America has enabled our global cloud platform to increase broadband capabilities and in turn provide new growth opportunities,” said Bobby Brown, vice president of operations and support for GoGrid. “Overall, NTT Communications Global IP Network, with one of the best international footprints in the industry, was by far the best choice for us to grow with. The network provides faster routes to international markets – specifically Asia – as well as excellent customer service and unrivaled uptime.”

GoGrid’s complete cloud infrastructure service solution enables its customers to easily deploy robust, customized cloud infrastructures, leveraging the multifaceted features and services that make up the GoGrid cloud. Users worldwide can create and manage complex cloud and hybrid environments utilizing a variety of appliances including cloud servers, on-demand dedicated servers, F5 hardware-based load balancers and cloud storage.

As demand grows for content and services available via the Internet, NTT America supports its customers by shaping IP transit bandwidth delivered over both Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) and the next generation Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6). The company provides flexible and fast dedicated access to the global Internet, the most aggressive Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in the industry and more than 1 Tbps of peering capacity globally.

“NTT Com operates one of the largest transpacific networks available on the market today, and our capacity is always growing. In fact, we surpassed 400 Gbps in Q4 2010 – an industry high,” said Shuichi Ikeda, vice president, sales and business development for NTT America’s Global IP Network business unit. “Because of this, our customers are able to provide better services and a true competitive advantage to their customers. We look forward to working with GoGrid into the future to continue to help them meet customer demand.”

NTT America directly connects customers – including telecommunications companies, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), content providers, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and enterprises – to major markets around the world via NTT Com’s Tier-1 IP Backbone Network and Point of Presence (PoP) locations in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific.

For more information on the NTT Com Global IP Network, visit http://www.us.ntt.net/about/ipmap.cfm.

About NTT America
NTT America is North America’s natural gateway to the Asia-Pacific region, with strong capabilities in the U.S. market. NTT America is the U.S. subsidiary of NTT Communications Corporation, the global data and IP services arm of a Fortune Global 500 telecom leader: Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation (NTT). NTT America provides world-class Enterprise Hosting, managed network, and IP networking services for enterprise customers and service providers worldwide. For additional information on NTT America, visit us on the Web at www.us.ntt.com.

U.S. product information regarding the NTT Communications Global IP Network and its award winning IPv6 transit services may be found at http://www.us.ntt.net/, by calling 877-8NTT-NET (868-8638), or by emailing sales@us.ntt.net.  Join us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NTTAmerica, follow NTT America on Twitter at @NTT_America or LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/companies/ntt-america for up-to-date news and announcements.

About NTT Communications Corporation
NTT Communications provides a broad range of global networks, management solutions and IT services to customers worldwide.  The company is renowned for reliable, high-quality security, hosting, voice, data and IP services, as well as expertise in managed networks and leadership in IPv6 transit technology.  NTT Communications’ extensive infrastructure includes Arcstar Global IP-VPN and Global e-VLAN, as well as a Tier 1 IP backbone reaching more than 150 countries in partnership with major Internet service providers, and secure data centers in Asia, North America and Europe.  NTT Communications is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, one of the world’s largest telecoms with listings on the Tokyo, London and New York stock exchanges.  Please visit www.ntt.com/index-e.html.

About GoGrid
Thousands of leading IT experts choose and rely on GoGrid’s Cloud infrastructure services. GoGrid’s award winning technology enables sysadmins, developers, and IT professionals to create, deploy, and control cloud environments and complex virtual and physical server networks with full administrative control. GoGrid’s industry standard specifications and robust service offerings are powering thousands of businesses globally to achieve previously unrealized efficiencies. Deploying a GoGrid infrastructure solution using a Standard or Partner Server Image, free hardware F5 load balancing, Cloud Storage, private VLANs and much more takes minutes via a web interface, API, or iPhone application. GoGrid provides users the control and advanced capabilities of a data center environment with the flexibility and immediate scalability of the cloud.  For more information, please visit: http://www.GoGrid.com.

For other recent Press Releases, please visit our Press Releases section of the GoGrid site. Also, we have had a lot of Media Coverage recently which is all captured under the Press Coverage section of the site.

The GoGrid Hosted Private Cloud is:

• Secure – delivering state-of-the-art security and protection within a non-shared environment
• Private – a cloud environment dedicated to a single company with unmatched computing performance of our public cloud
• Lower Cost – with no Capital Expenditure, the GoGrid Hosted Private Cloud is a pay-as-you-go Operating Expense

Read more about the GoGrid Hosted Private Cloud on our website.

The following Press Release is now available on the GoGrid site:

GoGrid First to Deliver Hosted Private Cloud Infrastructure Leveraging Proven Public Cloud Technology

Leading Cloud Provider offers the ability to create and manage private cloud infrastructure via a dedicated platform

San Francisco, Calif., – January 19, 2011 – GoGrid, a leading cloud infrastructure company, today announced the introduction of an enterprise-grade hosted private cloud solution — a revolutionary advancement in cloud computing built for enterprises, service providers, financial institutions and businesses in other key verticals. The GoGrid Hosted Private Cloud offers the award-winning capabilities of GoGrid’s public cloud in a completely dedicated and secure environment – all with no hardware procurement or resource sharing.

Contrary to other “private cloud” offerings available in the marketplace, GoGrid’s Hosted Private Cloud service delivers on the true value of cloud computing by converting capital expenditures to operating expenses, ensuring that infrastructure components can be deployed in a self-service, pay-as-you-go model, and ultimately providing scalable programmatic Infrastructure-as-a-Service. Most importantly, GoGrid’s solution is a hosted and managed environment running on dedicated hardware for each enterprise which means there are no costly and time-consuming data center environments to set up and maintain.

“The GoGrid Hosted Private Cloud has excellent security, reliability and is easy to deploy,” said Lee Cardona, director, CSI for Orange Business Services. “We are happy to use their infrastructure, with their top level of technical support and industry-leading SLAs, as an embedded component of our customized service management solution we are offering our multinational customers.”

Built with proven technology and best-in-class features, the GoGrid Hosted Private Cloud provides many benefits including:

• Dedicated Solution – GoGrid’s highly-secure solution is dedicated to each customer and includes hardware, software, and networking. There is no sharing of compute, storage or local (Layer 2) networking resources which means that all levels of data, server integrity and security are fully ensured.
• True Cloud Computing Characteristics – GoGrid’s Hosted Private Cloud adheres to the critical characteristics of cloud computing including no capital expenditure, complete self-service and control, a pay-as-you-go model, and vertical and horizontal scalability of on-demand infrastructure, all as a maintenance-free offering.
• No Expensive Hardware or Software Costs – No additional purchases and upgrades are required as enhancements are automatically included with the service offering.
• Near Real-Time Implementation – Unlike other private cloud or software virtualization offerings, the GoGrid Private Cloud can be delivered quickly. There is no lengthy waiting period for hardware to be requisitioned, configured and deployed because the GoGrid solution is specifically built for quick and easy adoption.
• High Performance Cloud Technology – GoGrid’s Cloud technology has been benchmarked by numerous 3rd parties as a top performer in a variety of measurement tests including I/O, CPU and other pertinent metrics. GoGrid provides this same high-performance infrastructure within the GoGrid Hosted Private Cloud.
• “Cloud Bursting” Capabilities – allows for the seamless integration to the GoGrid Public Cloud for additional on-demand capacity.

According to Ted Chamberlin, Research Vice President at Gartner, “Enterprise adoption of cloud computing is accelerating but many find that hurdles exist in pure public or private cloud models. Hybrid cloud models including hosted private cloud offerings will stimulate adoption by bridging the gap between current and future cloud-based IT infrastructure requirements. Enterprises require tighter security controls, rigorous auditability, and predictable management of cloud computing services and hosted private clouds provide the means to do so.”

The new GoGrid Hosted Private Cloud includes flexible management tools that enable customers to have complete control of their infrastructure.  With enterprise IT and finance departments in mind, the sub-account and chargeback capabilities provide usage transparency and controls preventing “server sprawl,” allowing customers to hold individual employees and business units  accountable for infrastructure consumption within their organization. Enterprise businesses can easily understand and manage costs associated with their private cloud implementation and more easily forecast and plan future resource allocation and usage.

“I am proud that our Hosted Private Cloud is yet another GoGrid pioneering market introduction that helps enterprise IT organizations execute their cloud computing plans,” said John Keagy, chief executive officer and co-founder at GoGrid. “GoGrid’s Hosted Private Cloud is the first infrastructure solution that delivers the complete set of benefits and features expected from a public cloud computing environment – on private, dedicated hardware. Our customers realize that service offerings that only deploy dedicated hardware powered by virtualization software don’t deliver on the true benefits of cloud computing and are cost prohibitive.”

More information about GoGrid’s Private Cloud offering is available on the GoGrid Web site at http://privatecloud.gogrid.com.

About GoGrid
Thousands of leading IT experts choose and rely on GoGrid’s Cloud infrastructure services. GoGrid enables sysadmins, developers, and IT professionals to create, deploy, and control cloud environments and complex virtual and physical server networks with full administrative control. GoGrid’s industry standard specifications and robust service offerings are powering thousands of businesses globally to achieve previously unrealized efficiencies. Deploying a GoGrid infrastructure solution using a Standard or Partner Server Image, free hardware F5 load balancing, Cloud Storage, private VLANs and much more takes minutes via a web interface, API, or iPhone application. GoGrid provides users the control and advanced capabilities of a data center environment with the flexibility and immediate scalability of the cloud. www.GoGrid.com

If you are interested in receiving more information on GoGrid’s Hosted Private Cloud, please contact one of our Cloud Specialists.

About the Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2010, by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders” quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Access to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant Report

For a limited time, the full Gartner Magic Quadrant study will be available on the GoGrid home page. Please look for the following graphic there and click through to register to download the full report:

Press Release

The press release is available on the GoGrid site and the full text is available below:

GoGrid Positioned as a Visionary in 2010 Cloud Infrastructure as a Service and Web Hosting Magic Quadrant

Evaluation Based on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute

San Francisco, Calif., – January 11, 2011 – GoGrid, a leading cloud infrastructure provider, today announced it has been positioned in the “Visionaries” quadrant of the December 2010 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service and Web Hosting by Gartner Inc. (NYSE: IT), the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. In this report, Gartner analysts, Lydia Leong and Ted Chamberlin, analyze new opportunities for cost savings and business agility from cloud infrastructure deployments.

“We believe GoGrid’s positioning within the Visionaries quadrant is recognition of our success in making cloud computing a reality for enterprises around the world,” said John Keagy, co-founder and chief executive officer at GoGrid. “GoGrid was founded as a cloud computing company.  We have built the industry’s most advanced cloud software and services that address the infrastructure requirements of companies of all sizes from small businesses to the Fortune 1000. GoGrid will continue to aggressively invest in technology innovations that provide customers with the most cost-effective, on-demand cloud service and the highest quality experience available in the industry.”
GoGrid’s services make complex infrastructure easy by enabling businesses to revolutionize their IT environments in the Cloud. With GoGrid, customers can deploy and scale virtual and physical servers (hybrid hosting), storage, networking, load balancing, and security in real-time and in multiple data centers leveraging a powerful management platform that includes a web interface, iPhone application and API. GoGrid offers a utility-based billing model that enables customers to only pay for the resources provisioned. GoGrid is backed by the industry’s strongest and most detailed SLA and includes a rich partner ecosystem of pre-configured, ready-to-go business applications.

About the Magic Quadrant
The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2010, by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders” quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About GoGrid
Thousands of leading IT experts choose and rely on GoGrid’s Cloud infrastructure services. GoGrid enables sysadmins, developers, and IT professionals to create, deploy, and control cloud environments and complex virtual and physical server networks with full administrative control. GoGrid’s industry standard specifications and robust service offerings are powering thousands of businesses globally to achieve previously unrealized efficiencies. Deploying a GoGrid infrastructure solution using a Standard or Partner Server Image, free hardware F5 load balancing, Cloud Storage, private VLANs and much more takes minutes via a web interface, API, or iPhone application. GoGrid provides users the control and advanced capabilities of a data center environment with the flexibility and immediate scalability of the cloud. www.GoGrid.com

Once again, GoGrid is honored by our positioning within the Gartner report. I encourage you to give GoGrid a try for your Infrastructure as a Service solution – you will see why we are categorized as a “Visionary” by Gartner!