CloudShare FastUpload helps move virtual machines to the cloud

CloudShare, formerly IT Structures, came out of stealth mode in December 2009 with a business plan to offer solution providers and ISVs selling software or appliances a simple way to deploy multiple, independent copies of their demo or training environments into the cloud. The company entered into competition with existing companies like Skytap, Surgient, and VMLogix in the proof of concept, sales demo, training, and collaboration markets.

Soon after, in February of this year, the company launched CloudShare Pro, an initially free and streamlined version of its cloud-based platform for creating and sharing multiple copies of complex IT environments in a cloud computing environment. The company’s lofty goal is to provide a simple way for users to extend access to or move their virtual infrastructure from the enterprise into the cloud, with much the same ease-of-use as WebEx did for Webcasts or Salesforce did for CRM.

[ Find out how the Cisco Nexus 1010 brings the virtual back to the physical | Track the latest trends in virtualization in InfoWorld’s Virtualization Report newsletter. ]

Now, only two months later, CloudShare is announcing a new technology called FastUpload. The company is adding FastUpload into its software-as-a service (SaaS) cloud computing platform and describes it as the “missing link in enterprise-to-cloud evolution.” FastUpload is said to quickly and easily move virtual machines (VMs), unchanged, into the cloud. The company even claims it can convert an entire in-house VMware virtual IT environment into a cloud-based service in as little as 15 minutes.

The product is expected to remove a lot of time, expense, and security risk associated with the moving and sharing of virtual environments to the cloud. Currently, in order to move these environments, organizations are forced to FTP their virtual machines, which could take hours or days, or even worse, ship storage media to cloud providers, which could take much longer and comes with a host of security problems. However, individuals still hold a certain level of fear about transferring images across the wire into the cloud.

Some of the key points to CloudShare FastUpload include the ability to:

• Work offline and sync your changes into the cloud within minutes
• Replicate the exact configuration and architecture you have locally
• Use unmodified, full, off-the-shelf operating systems and applications

The company’s latest announcement also makes subtle mention of being complementary to hosting services provided by VMforce, the anticipated but very hush-hush cloud computing joint effort between Salesforce and VMware that will be discussed on April 27. It will be interesting to see where or how much CloudShare fits into this discussion.

This article, “CloudShare FastUpload helps move virtual machines to the cloud,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in business technology news and get a digest of the key stories each day in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter and on your mobile device at infoworldmobile.com.