Datalink delivers managed services for virtual data centers

Datalink, a data center provider, announced on Tuesday it has added unified monitoring and managed infrastructure service to its virtual data centers (VDCs).

Datalink VDC synthetic transaction process

Datalink VDC monitoring process. (Source: Datalink)

Enterprise customers will now be able to use Datalink to design and deploy VDC architectures, while outsourcing other non-business functions including monitoring, reporting, operating, and troubleshooting of all components to the data center provider's managed services staff.

While no two enterprises have the same attitude about outsourcing IT elements to a third-party, a key benefit with the Datalink serivce is that they can free up their own resources to focus on their own strategic core business initiatives.  

At the same time, Gartner analysts cautioned during the Gartner Symposium ITxpo 2012 in October that "companies should not move core systems--high control applications that have relatively sensitive data or deep integration with other systems--to the cloud."

As has been the trend in the data center and cloud industry throughout 2012, Datalink has also expanded its service set with a set of managed archiving, cloud backup, and server offerings through its  acquisition of North Carolina-based Strategic Technologies.
 
Customers will be able to access a wide array of performance monitoring, problem identification, analysis, and diagnosis functions, in addition to advanced features designed specifically for converged environments such as NetApp's FlexPod and EMC's VSPEX reference architectures.

Given the desire from enterprises to have constant uptime, VDC said that users can use Datalink's OneCall Unified Support Service for single-source problem resolution. As a result, they can limit downtime if a problem arises.

The timing of Datalink's service comes during a major growth surge in both the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) segments. According to Synergy Research, IaaS and PaaS both grew 65 percent to $2.75 billion in the first half of 2012.

For more:
- see the release

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