Skytap Eases Transition to the Cloud

According to Ian Knox, senior director of product management for Skytap, one of the reasons that IT organizations are loath to move existing applications to the cloud is because of all the custom settings. Skytap is helping customers overcome this issue by developing a network automation tool that taps into a customer’s environment using an application programming interface based on REST. Once that information is gathered, Skytap then presents customers with a management tool that allows them to either replicate their existing network settings or automate the process of deploying new virtual network adapters.

Specifically, the Skytap service allows customers to create virtual servers configured with multiple network adapters, create virtual clusters, add virtual firewalls, routers and gateways and then set up policies to manage those virtual assets on an ongoing basis.

In terms of sophistication, the Skytap network automation service is similar to the capabilities found on new classes of integrated servers from companies such as Cisco or Hewlett-Packard, but is delivered on a virtual cloud service rather than a physical server.

By delivering this capability, Knox expects that Skytap will increasingly be able to differentiate its services in a field that is already overcrowded in terms of suppliers offering hosting capabilities, but very little in the way of sophisticated systems and network management tools.