Worknet's 'Burstable" HA, DR Offer Advantage to Private IBM i Cloud

Managed services providers (MSPs) really need to differentiate their services to stand out in what has become a crowded space of vendors looking to capitalize on the burgeoning demand for cloud computing.

One such MSP is Worknet, which says there are significant benefits of a “burstable” disaster recovery solution that leverages advanced cloud/virtualization technology to mitigate risk, yet enables flexible, on-demand activation of a backup environment – and ultimately helps to dramatically lower cost of ownership and cost of compliance.

IBM i shops looking for a private cloud to store backup applications and data have a growing number for MSPs to choose from – Worknet differentiates itself by offering HA and disaster recovery (DR) services based on Vision Solutions’ MIMIX and iTera High Availability offerings, as well as Rocket Software’s iCluster.

Worknet’s “Burstable iManaged” HA and DR services save IBMi shops money by allowing them to rapidly scale up the amount of CPWs and memory they need in an emergency, but not to pay for that extra capacity during the regular, day-to-day course of business, according to Worknet solutions director Biff Myre.

“When you’re replicating journals in an HA environment, you don’t need to have the full production power on the backup until you need to cut over to it,” Myre told IT Jungle. “So we don’t charge you for the full CPW or the full memory that you need until you declare a disaster and you need to cut over, for whatever reason. At that time we'll burst up to the required CPW or memory, and charge you for the additional power and memory that you need.”

For example, working with IT partner Alloya, Worknet helped transition Core Network Processing’s computing environment. In addition to a smooth data-center migration, the offering featured significant IT-infrastructure upgrades, therefore strengthening operations for CNP's credit-union members.

The environment has been up and running at Worknet for several months, providing hosting and management to CNP’s iSeries and open-systems IT infrastructure in a secure, high-performance setting featuring private-cloud technology. Company officials said the total-solution, team-centered transition epitomizes Worknet’s “Technology Plus” program.