Scale Computing CEO touts partner advantages of Google collab

Exec claims partners gain ability to help customers with hybrid cloud options

Hyperconvergence vendor Scale Computing is teaming up with Google to develop a hybrid cloud solution with the aim of making it easier for organisations and channel partners to move application workloads between the cloud and on-premise.

The new offering, HC3 Cloud Unity, is said to help the channel bridge the gap between on-premise and the public cloud. It allows an organisation's applications to use resources in the cloud and on-premise at the same time. In addition, it enables apps solely created for on-premise to run on the Google Cloud Platform.

Customers have traditionally faced unexpected costs and performance problems when attempting to migrate traditional applications to the public cloud.

However, HC3 Cloud Unity is a "game-changer" for channel partners, Jeff Ready, CEO of Scale Computing, claims.

"They now have the ability to help customers, particularly those with limited resources, to bridge between on-prem and public cloud," Ready said. "What that means is organizations no longer have to re-architect or create different apps for the cloud. Networking across the WAN and bridging those cloud apps back home is no longer an issue.

"Instead, they can utilise their apps created for on-prem to run them in the Google Cloud as part of their LAN architecture. And because it happens seamlessly, users won't ever know if they utilising the cloud or on-prem infrastructure. This opens up huge opportunities for the channel as they can offer a true hybrid cloud model to their customers."

The vendor says HC3 Cloud Unity, which is currently available, combines the private cloud capabilities of its HC3 hyperconverged platform, SCRIBE software-defined-storage and new SD-WAN capabilities with Google Compute Engine, the Infrastructure as a Service offering for Google Cloud Platform. HC3 also uses Google's recently-released nested virtualisation support.

With HC3 running both on-premise and in the Google Cloud Platform, Cloud Unity creates a virtual LAN that bridges an on-premise LAN with the private virtual network on Google Cloud Platform, enabling customers to connect to the cloud in real time using their on-premise IT.

"Traditionally, migrating apps to the cloud meant you had to go to different sources, including the different software and hardware providers, and then on top of that provide integration to make an app work successfully in the cloud. For many that was a deterrent to implementing an effective solution," said Ken Dominguez, senior account manager of Enterprise Technology Solutions at New Jersey-based Ocean Computer Group.

"HC3 Cloud Unity solves all of those problems and is so easy to use, consume and implement and provides a predictable cost to the user."

Wendy Bahr is SVP of Cisco's Global Partner Organization. She has responsibility for managing and supporting over 60,000 global partners, which account for approximately 85 percent of Cisco's revenue. Bahr and her team are responsible for developing strategic initiatives and program innovations that create profitable growth and capacity for Cisco and its partners.

Bahr previously lead the Americas Partner Organization, where she was responsible for partner enablement, partner profitability and product and service sales growth with partners in Cisco's largest geographical region.

Prior, Bahr led Cisco's Global and Strategic Partner Organization, where she was responsible for generating revenue through the company's largest and most strategic SIs, service providers and ecosystem partners. She was also responsible for Cisco's Global Executive Briefing Centers and Proposals Team, supervising more than 30 Executive and Customer Briefing locations worldwide.

Bahr also oversaw Cisco's Global Sales Associates Program, which trains new college hires as sales and engineering professionals. In addition, Bahr has been SVP of U.S. and Canada channels, VP of U.S. commercial and field Channels, operations director of federal civilian agencies and operations director of network service providers.