OnApp accelerates global cloud applications  

OnApp has announced three new ways for cloud providers to enhance and extend their application hosting capabilities, and make it easier for cloud users to deploy, accelerate and manage applications in the cloud on a global basis.

They include Application Servers, a new type of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) appliance that cloud providers can sell through their OnApp control panel; Virtual Server Instances, which enable cloud providers to pre-configure cloud infrastructure for specific applications or customer segments; and OnApp Accelerator, a patent-pending web application accelerator which enables cloud providers to automatically optimize web pages, scripts and images for their customers, and distribute them globally with a single click.

The new capabilities will be on show at HostingCon 2015, from July 26th-29th in San Diego, at the OnApp VIP Lounge and the OnApp booth, #601.
“Cloud providers need to make it easy for their customers to deploy applications wherever and whenever they need them and ensure they are optimized for the best performance,” said Ditlev Bredahl, CEO of OnApp. “That’s why we’re announcing a wave of enhancements to the OnApp platform that address these needs and make it easier for providers to trade out of the cloud price war, by offering better quality products and services to their own customers. It’s no longer simply about providing compute capability or storage, cloud providers need to offer customers SaaS capabilities, so they can deploy their favourite applications with a minimum of fuss on a global basis.”

With Application Servers, OnApp cloud providers can offer more than 300 cloud-ready applications that customers can deploy in a few clicks, including a wide variety of CMS, blogging, social networking and project management tools. It’s an easy way for cloud providers to add value to clients by selling Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) on top of their OnApp-powered Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) capabilities. Their customers get streamlined deployment of a wide range of content management, blogging, project management and social networking tools; the same scalability and resilience of a normal OnApp virtual server; and the ability to manage their applications alongside virtual servers, bare metal servers, CDN (Content Delivery Network), DNS and other IaaS services in OnApp, through a ‘single pane of glass’ control panel.

The applications deployed, and their associated databases, can be backed up and restored from the OnApp control panel too.

OnApp Accelerator is a patent-pending web application accelerator for OnApp clouds. Currently in Beta, it enables cloud providers to offer one-click optimization and automatic global content delivery for their customers’ applications. When OnApp Accelerator is enabled for a web application, it will automatically optimize web pages, scripts and images and distribute them to locations across the OnApp Federation, a global network of 170+ OnApp clouds in 43 countries. This reduces load times by minimizing the bandwidth required for file transfer, and by ensuring web content is delivered to end users from the nearest possible location. It also removes the need for cloud providers and cloud customers to set up, configure and maintain their own CDN service.

In tests with a typical e-commerce website, OnApp Accelerator decreased file size by almost 60%, improved file load times by more than 50%, and resulted in 75% fewer file requests to the virtual server.

With Virtual Server Instances, cloud providers can now package cloud resources (CPU, RAM, storage and network infrastructure) as one or more instance types, to simplify pricing and packaging and streamline the provisioning process for their customers. Instances can be configured, priced and named however the provider wishes (for example, Micro, Standard, Enterprise) and presented to customers as part of the provisioning wizard in the OnApp control panel.