Micron21 gives MSPs an Australia-only VMware alternative

Locally hosted mCloud platform delivers Tier IV redundancy

Under pressure from both global economic uncertainty and AI-driven surge in end users’ infrastructure demands, MSPs are looking for ways to help their customers rein in their cloud infrastructure costs as Broadcom boosts prices for the second time since its $69 billion VMware acquisition.

For longtime VMware user Webres Solutions, resolving these conflicting pressures was an ever-present challenge – until it began testing with mCloud, a full stack cloud platform from Melbourne-based Micron21 that leverages that firm’s three data centres and extensive network architecture to provide full Tier IV redundancy.

“From a network perspective, mCloud’s performance is noticeably better and there’s a latency improvement” compared with alternative cloud platforms, said Webres Solutions director Rob Hore.

Built around OpenStack and the Ceph clustered storage service, mCloud emerged out of Micron21’s desire to give customers an exit as Broadcom worked to recoup its massive investment by raising fees on locked-in VMware customers.

Micron21 worked through the various capabilities of VMware, developing analogous services and a simple migration tool that helps MSPs move their customers’ VMware workloads with little more than a click.

Adopting the new platform was “fairly intuitive and very straightforward”, Hore explained, noting that “we had an instance running in a couple of minutes after logging into the interface.”

“Having CLI capability so that we can script certain deployments or make changes on a mass scale is really powerful, especially for the way we operate – and I’d say anyone who’s a seasoned systems engineer, who has worked with VMware or HyperV, will very easily pick it up.”

A mission-critical alternative at a fraction of the price

Leveraging Micron21’s existing network of three geographically distinct data centres – which have earned the globally recognised Tier IV designation because they each provide full redundancy of power and cooling infrastructure – has helped the company leverage  its more than 99.995%  uptime performance, and connections to over 2000 global networks, to give customers  a viable alternative to VMware.

Webres Solutions is one of many Micron21 MSP customers to trial mCloud since its release, with strong positive feedback confirming the platform’s suitability as a cost-effective alternative for customers that are increasingly turning to channel providers to help them rein in the ballooning costs of their data centre investments.

Micron21’s cost competitiveness stems from its use of OpenStack and the open source Ceph, a scalable storage service that uses an algorithm called CRUSH to track data across a data centre cluster.

Latency considerations on inter-site links generally prevent secondary and tertiary data centres from replicating data in real time – but because of the low latency of Micron21’s extensive fibre infrastructure, the team found that Ceph could be seamlessly ‘stretched’ to provide real-time replication of data across its geographically distributed sites.

In meeting the requirements of Tier IV data centre certification, Micron21 has been able to position mCloud as a mission-critical alternative to VMware that runs on highly configurable cloud servers based on Intel XEON Gold CPUs – and provides network services to link to customers’ own security and other equipment.

“We can get the latency right down so you can actually deal with the problem of data synchronisation and data rights across multiple locations,” explained Micron21 commercial head Sheldon Dyer.

“That was a big tick and competes head on with what vSANs can do through VMware.”

Steering the herd away from VMware

mCloud’s emergence comes amidst an expected surge in Australian data centre spending that Gartner says grew by 14.9 per cent last year and will grow an additional 11.3 per cent this year.

By next year, the firm predicts that half of all companies will be performing real-time cost or performance optimisation of their cloud-based workloads – up from just 20 per cent of companies a few years ago, showing just how important awareness of cloud expenditure has become.

At the same time, Gartner believes service reliability will become so important that 30 per cent of businesses will create new executive roles specifically focused on IT resilience – helping boost end-to-end reliability, tolerability and recoverability by at least 45 per cent.

Anticipating a crush in demand from Australian customers for such capabilities, mCloud – which can be white-labelled for channel partners that want to position it as a seamless cloud infrastructure platform – aims to offer more platform flexibility and better margins for Australian MSPs whose eyes are watering as they receive their latest VMware license renewal invoices.

The fact that mCloud is entirely contained within Australia also addresses growing concerns around data sovereignty and, with 24/7 Australian support that Hore said “makes a big difference” in the quality of the overall service offering, has evolved as a complete platform and service offering that gives end users a real cloud alternative.

“Knowing where your equipment and service reside makes a big difference for ourselves and our customers,” he said, “and it all combines to make sure that we have confidence, and our customers also have confidence, in those services being delivered.”

Micron21 offers a free 30-day trial of mCloud; click here to sign up and find out how easy it is to switch.