ParaScale announced a new version of its ParaScale Cloud Storage software (PCS) today with added support for virtual server environments and new API support that streamlines the process of adding applications to the cloud.
ParaScale’s cloud software turns standard Linux platforms (Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS or CentOS) running on commodity servers into a clustered file repository, or storage cloud, with massive capacity and parallel throughput.
The platform supports standard network protocols such as NFS, HTTP, FTP and WebDav, and appears as a NAS device to applications or users connecting to the cloud.
The major new feature of PCS R2.0 centers on virtual machine (VM) environments. With R2.0, a ParaScale cloud can now function as a backup target and disaster recovery option for VMs and their respective data. Users can also boot VMs directly from the ParaScale cloud in the event of a failure.
In addition to VM support, ParaScale has expanded access to the cloud via additional Web services APIs, including SOAP and REST, to supply configuration, administration, and provisioning support for cloud applications.
Jack Norris, ParaScale’s vice president of marketing and business development, says the APIs allow enterprise customers and service providers to integrate ParaScale’s software with third-party dashboards, control panels and workflows.
The 2.0 release offers synchronous replication based on policy per multi-tenant instance for up to eight synchronous copies to different data sets.
The ParaScale cloud also provides multi-tenancy support, including metered usage for chargeback. A cloud repository based on PCS R2.0 software can be partitioned to provide different service levels as well as deliver usage-based metrics and pricing to customers.
ParaScale’s Cloud Storage software R2.0 will be available on November 30. The company offers a free downloadable version of the software capable of creating a 4TB storage cloud.
The company is offering two licensing options for commercial versions of the product – a perpetual license for enterprise customers and a pay-as-you-go model for service providers.
Pricing for the product is based on the physical capacity in the cloud, with deployments starting in North America at a list price of $0.95/GB.
