GoGrid wants to be the new face for cloud computing
Cloud Computing is currently going through some difficult times trying to get traction and widespread adoption in the market. In many cases, the technology is going through similar battles once faced by server virtualization in the early parts of 2000. Some forget, server virtualization too was once thought of as nothing more than "hype," having little value, and being an immature technology that was more for fun than anything else. And as a result, it received very little media attention and perhaps even less adoption.
Both large and small companies are now going after the cloud computing space (sometimes called grid or utility computing). However, the types of services being offered can be wildly different. This adds to the confusion and adoption problem around the technology. But companies like Amazon, Google, AppNexus, and GoGrid are still getting into the business.
GoGrid is one of those cloud infrastructure services being offered by ServePath, and it allows startups, SMBs, and enterprises to rapidly create, deploy, load balance, and scale Windows and Linux cloud servers in minutes. And GoGrid has been getting a lot more interesting over the last few months.
The company prides itself on being first to market with a unique Web-based GUI, Windows and Linux cloud servers, free f5 hardware load balancing, and free 24x7 support, among other breakthrough features. And now, GoGrid is proud to offer what it describes as yet another industry first: a public API that gives users what it calls true "Control in the Cloud."
GoGrid's API allows GoGrid users to programmatically control their GoGrid environments. For example, they can auto-scale their GoGrid instance. And while the existing GUI enables users to easily and quickly create complex network infrastructures, the addition of the GoGrid API provides some additional highlights:
- Resellers can skin their own GoGrid portals
- Customers can retrieve real-time billing and usage information
- Users can script and chain various GoGrid commands for automation (e.g., "get" available unused IP addresses, "add" a server with unassigned IP, and "power" a server when it is ready.)
- Users can instantly query GoGrid environments to retrieve variables about all objects
- 3rd-party developers can hook GoGrid functions into other computing environments or management tools
John Keagy, CEO and co-founder of GoGrid, said, "GoGrid is all about offering 'Control in the Cloud.' The addition of the API further proves that we are living up to this by being the first cloud computing vendor to offer this full control via a choice of a Web control panel or an API."
What about you? Are you adopting the notion of cloud computing? Which company's technology have you implemented or looked at?
