MaximumBit is a leading integrator of the next generation cloud
computing infrastructure
Delivery infrastructure for the cloud service provider
market
Citrix Cloud Center (C3) is an integrated portfolio of Citrix
delivery infrastructure products packaged and marketed to the cloud
service provider market. C3 integrates cloud proven
virtualization and networking products that power many of today's
largest Internet and Web service providers. This unique combination
lets next-generation cloud providers take advantage of the most
widely-adopted virtual infrastructure platform for hosted cloud
services, as well as the most proven infrastructure to deliver
those services reliably and securely to both cloud consumers and
enterprise datacenters.
The cloud computing era
Just as distributing computing evolved from the mainframe era,
cloud computing is the next major wave that will supplement today's
computing model. C3 brings together the service delivery
infrastructure building blocks that have been proven in the world's
largest clouds and enterprise datacenters, enabling massively
scalable architectures that support rapid innovation and cost
reduction.
Citrix Cloud Center
C3 is designed to give cloud providers a complete set of service
delivery infrastructure building blocks for hosting, managing and
delivering cloud-based computing services. C3 includes a reference
architecture that combines the individual capabilities of several
Citrix product lines to offer a powerful, dynamic, secure and
highly available service-based infrastructure ideally suited to
large-scale, on-demand delivery of both IT infrastructure and
application services. This architecture consists of four key
components:
- Platform - Powered by Citrix
XenServerTM Cloud Edition: The new XenServer Cloud
Edition is a powerful virtual infrastructure solution optimized for
service provider environments. It combines the cloud-proven
scalability of the Xen® hypervisor which powers most of the world's
largest clouds, with all the virtualization management and dynamic
workload provisioning capabilities of the full Citrix XenServer
product line (
see separate announcement on XenServer 5), enabling cloud
providers to host and manage any combination of Windows® and Linux
environments. XenServer Cloud Edition also features an innovative
consumption based pricing model to meet the needs of service
providers that charge their customers based on metered resource
use.
- Delivery - Powered by Citrix® NetScaler®:
Through its rich policy-based AppExpert engine, Citrix
NetScaler delivers cloud-based resources to users over the Web,
continually optimizing user application performance and security by
dynamically scaling the number of virtual machines (VMs) or servers
available in response to changing workload demands and
infrastructure availability. This allows cloud providers to balance
workloads across large distributed cloud environments and
transparently redirect traffic to alternate capacity on or off
premise in the event of network failures or datacenter outages.
NetScaler can also dramatically reduce server requirements in
large cloud centers by offloading protocol and transaction
processing from backend server pools. NetScaler's proven
architecture is designed for highly scalable, multi-tenant Web
applications and delivers Web services to an estimated 75 percent
of all Internet users each day.
- Bridge - Powered by Citrix
WANScalerTM: As larger enterprises begin
experimenting with cloud-based services for parts of their own
infrastructure and application hosting strategy, cloud providers
will also need reliable and secure ways to provide a seamless
bridge between hosted cloud services and premise-based enterprise
services. Over time, C3 will incorporate a set of open interfaces
that allow customers to easily move virtual machines and
application resources into a cloud-based datacenter and back again
as needed. WANScaler technology will play a critical role in this
enterprise bridge by accelerating and optimizing
application traffic between the cloud and the enterprise
datacenter, even over long distances.
- Orchestration - Powered by Citrix Workflow
StudioTM: Tying it all together, Citrix Workflow Studio
provides a powerful orchestration and workflow capability that
allows the products in the C3 portfolio to be dynamically
controlled and automated, and integrated with customer business and
IT policy. Workflow Studio allows customers to control their
infrastructure dynamically--integrating previously disconnected
processes and products into a single powerful, orchestrated and
cohesive system. This unique capability will make it easier for
cloud providers to enable highly efficient burstable
clouds that automatically scale resources up and down based on
demand, shifting hardware resources to where they are most needed
and powering them down for maximum power savings when not
needed.
