RightScale Moves In With Cloud Management Platform
Company:
Headquarters: Santa Barbara, Calif.
Technology Sector: Software
Key Product: RightScale Cloud Management Platform
Year Founded: 2006
Number of Channel Partners: Approximately 20 worldwide
Ideal Channel Partner: Enterprise-focused solution providers
Why You Should Care: Cloud computing holds a lot of promise, but IT managers are still struggling to make it all work. RightScale has developed an automated cloud management system that helps businesses deploy and manage cloud computing applications.
The Lowdown: Launching a cloud computing project can be a pretty scary undertaking, what with integration challenges, potential security issues and worries about reliability. And yet given its potential for lower IT costs and improved business agility, more businesses are mulling taking the first steps into cloud computing. But where to start?
Enter RightScale, which developed an automated cloud management platform that businesses use to design, deploy and manage applications across multiple clouds. Delivered on a Software-as-a-Service basis, the RightScale Cloud Management Platform includes tools for developing, monitoring and managing cloud applications, a Web-based management interface and a library of cloud-ready software, said Michael Crandell, RightScale founder and CEO.
"By focusing on providing a platform for cloud computing, RightScale is providing an easy way for channel partners to deliver the benefits of cloud computing to their customers," he said.
Companies such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace and Eucalyptus Systems provide hosted hardware and software infrastructure for implementing cloud-computing systems. Crandell said RightScale works in conjunction with those services rather than competes with them.
RightScale has recently taken steps to increase its market visibility. Earlier this month, for example, the company joined forces with Jaspersoft, Talend and Vertica to offer a complete business intelligence cloud computing package.
Initially RightScale sold only direct to customers, and direct sales still account for the bulk of its revenue today, according to Crandell. But starting last year, the company began working with ISVs, followed by systems integrators and cloud computing service providers such as Amazon. "Each of those represent a distribution channel for us," the CEO said.
The company has assembled a structured channel program for its partners, including offering business development, training and co-marketing programs. It also offers a free entry-level version of its software that partners and customers can use for developing proof-of-concept cloud computing systems.
Crandell looks to increase the portion of the company's sales made through solution providers, although he wouldn't disclose a specific goal. "The key to scaling this business is through partnering and working with the channel," he said.