Bluelock provides VMware users with cloud-based disaster recovery

Lately there seems to be more and more applications and internal IT services being migrated to the cloud. One of those cloud services that businesses are investigating is disaster recovery. It seems like a natural fit for an organization to back up its virtual environment to the cloud for quick and easy recovery should a disaster strike. It also makes sense for businesses of all sizes, which is probably why there is a growing list of providers gearing up to offer these types of recovery and business continuity services.

Businesses are increasingly becoming reliant on technology; when systems go down, people stop working. A reliable recovery solution is important to a business of any size as the cost of downtime continues to grow. Last year an Aberdeen Group report estimated that the average cost per hour of data center downtime had increased from $98,000 per hour in 2010 to $138,000 per hour in 2012.

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To respond to that challenge, VMware cloud partner Bluelock, which specializes in hosting virtual data centers based on VMware’s vCloud infrastructure, launched a new recovery-as-a-service (RaaS) option for users of VMware virtualization. The technology is powered by Zerto Virtual Replication. But what’s interesting here is that this disaster recovery capability was designed for not only those virtual machines already being hosted in one of Bluelock’s existing public cloud environments but also those virtual machines being hosted by organizations on premises in a private VMware vSphere environment.

According to Bluelock, cloud-based recovery-as-a-service has two important subterms that you need to understand before exploring recovery options. Each is named for the location from which the workloads are being replicated.

• To-Cloud RaaS involves replicating to a cloud provider from a physical infrastructure or internal private cloud. To-Cloud, as the name suggests, involves the company replicating its applications to the cloud, from somewhere they own and/or maintain.
• In-Cloud RaaS involves replicating between two geographically diverse public cloud sites, typically hosted by the same provider. In-Cloud RaaS is typically used to protect important workloads and/or satisfy geographic diversity compliance requirements.

Bluelock calls its RaaS offering a “4-Series Virtual Datacenter,” which reflects the fact that it operates Tier-4 designated facilities, meaning they meet a 99.995 percent level of reliability.

The company offers two versions of its RaaS solution so that it can meet both “in-cloud” and “to-cloud” designations:

• The VDC 4500 is the company’s In-Cloud RaaS offering and was developed for Bluelock customers with critical workloads that require geographically separated recovery environments. It provides replication of production applications from one Bluelock data center facility to another.
• The VDC 4000 on the other hand is the company’s To-Cloud RaaS offering which was designed for businesses operating their own VMware-virtualized data center environments that want the ability to recover production applications and data to an enterprise-grade Bluelock Virtual Datacenter in the public cloud.

“If you’re currently hosting a private cloud or physical infrastructure at your business, you’re likely considering RaaS against an internal, traditional solution in which you manage both ends of the replication sites,” says Diana Nolting, Bluelock’s marketing coordinator. “Bluelock’s To-Cloud RaaS solution is ideal for businesses running VMware-virtualized environments that are frustrated with the complexity and expense of traditional DR options.”

Nolting went on to describe the company’s VDC 4000 solution by stating:

By replicating to a public cloud provider instead of replicating to an internally managed second site, you will save by not having to purchase or maintain a second infrastructure. Bluelock’s To-Cloud RaaS solution comes in a turnkey package complete with customer support, client services and technical documentation to make your installation, planning and recovery experience easy and efficient. The solution provides everything you need to effectively replicate your production workloads to a Bluelock VDC hosted in the cloud using the most advanced replication technologies. The required software is not an agent. It is simple to understand and easy to install with no required reboots. No assembly or maintenance of complex software and infrastructure technology is required, so you can focus on the projects that would otherwise get pushed to the side if your team were managing its own replication environment.

Bluelock bases its replication of existing systems on the Zerto Virtual Replication software. Zerto technology allows Bluelock to clone virtual machines and data traffic in running systems and then send a copy to the recovery site. According to Zerto, the system relies on a continuous, up-to-date data stream rather than using snapshots which can impact your existing application performance and slow down your production environment.

“Achieving and optimizing the appropriate balance between IT disaster recovery capabilities, affordability, and risk mitigation is central to Bluelock’s RaaS solutions,” said Pat O’Day, chief technology officer, Bluelock. “Bluelock’s 4-Series Virtual Datacenters provide an affordable and effective product for both Bluelock customers and companies who want to recover into Bluelock’s proven enterprise-grade cloud environment at a compelling price point.”

Both of Bluelock’s RaaS offerings are available today.

Bluelock is a member of VMware’s public cloud partner ecosystem and has data center facilities in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City as well as Indianapolis, where the company is headquartered. The company currently competes with SunGard and other data center providers with disaster recovery services. But it will be interesting to watch what VMware announces on May 21 when VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger unveils his company’s new cloud service that is said to extend a company’s virtualized data center to the cloud. Is it possible that VMware and Bluelock will go from partner to competitor in little more than a week from now?

This article, “Bluelock provides VMware users with cloud-based disaster recovery,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in virtualization and cloud computing at InfoWorld.com.