Dimension Data set to launch cloud platform in Auckland

Dimension Data will launch its New Zealand managed cloud platform in Auckland on November 13 and go live with the service in December.

As a result, New Zealand will be the multinational's 13th global cloud platform worldwide.

Chief technology manager James Walls says the service is aimed at corporate and enterprise customers.

“One of the major benefits of our cloud service is that we can offer both global scale and local delivery,” he says.

“This is particularly evident in the pricing model where we offer New Zealand companies real cost efficiencies through our global pricing, as well as strong local support.

“We've found that most of our clients have changing needs and requirements, so it's important we have the flexibility to change with them.

"They don't want to be tied into packages and bundles for their IT services, so we've ensured our managed cloud platform runs as a simple cost per use model where clients pay only for what they use and nothing more."

Walls believes a key aspect of the platform is Dimension Data's "intuitive" management application, Cloud Control.

"With this technology, any organisation can spin up their own elastic cloud server and can them provision any amount of resources needed anytime from anywhere, starting at only $0.058 per vCPU hour," he adds.

“Our clients can increase, decrease, switch on and switch off their CPU, RAM, and increase or remove storage as they choose, and we only bill them for what is used.

“When a server is no longer needed and deleted, the organisation stops paying for it immediately.”

Facts about the service:

·         Server pricing is per vCPU, GB of RAM and storage, charged and metered per hour

·         Rates are globally indexed and competitive against international competitors such as AWS and Google

·         Adjustments can be made via the Graphical User Interface (CloudControl) or via API.

·         With the RESTful API, the flexibility of the service allows organisations to create scripts that allow servers to be powered on and off and adjusted on the fly, or on a scripted condition. For example a demand in usage could be monitored by any one of numerous third party applications, with the monitoring application triggering a change in configuration.

·         As a pricing example, a server with 4 vCPU, 8GB of RAM and 150GB of standard storage can cost as little as $128 per month, if only powered on during business hours.

Walls says that for any given workload, the service can be 10-15% cheaper or dearer than the Amazon equivalent.

He says Dimension Data has signed up a number of cornerstone clients but he wouldn't name them.

“Organisations in Australia also want to join to bring their disaster recovery to New Zealand," he adds.

The data centre is located in Kapua, Hamilton.