Windstream bridges private, public cloud with elastic hybrid cloud service

Windstream Hosted Solutions has introduced its new Elastic Hybrid Cloud as an enhancement to its Managed Private Cloud service that targets hybrid private and public cloud opportunities.

One of the key elements Windstream says the Elastic Hybrid Cloud addresses is reducing costs by delivering resources through secure virtual data centers, leveraging existing investments and open standards to ensure interoperability and application portability between clouds.

A key focus of the Elastic Hybrid Cloud is enabling on-demand services. Customers can manage data resources and workloads on demand by bursting virtual machines from a private cloud to a public cloud. Windstream said this feature allows customers to limit capital spending risk in software and hardware and, by leveraging their hybrid cloud, to scale capacity and meet on-demand computing needs.

"While our Private Cloud offers a fully dedicated infrastructure and data storage, combined with enhanced security, Elastic Hybrid Cloud offers even greater agility, including bursting capabilities," said Rob Carter, vice president of data center marketing for Windstream, in a release.

Other features of the Elastic Hybrid Cloud include enhanced security including DDoS mitigation, portal access and a pay-as-you-go pricing model.

Elastic Hybrid Cloud is supported at Windstream's cloud-enabled data centers and will be made available to Managed Private Cloud customers at no additional cost.

Cloud services continue to be a growing factor in Windstream's revenue base.

During the first quarter, enterprise and small business service revenues were $741 million. Within that mix, data and integrated services revenues grew approximately 3 percent in the first quarter from the same period a year ago to $427 million, led by demand for IP-based solutions and next-generation data.

For more:
- see the release

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