Intel teams up with 16 cloud service providers

SANTA CLARA, USA: To help IT organizations make better, more informed purchasing decisions and ensure optimal performance for their cloud applications, Intel Corporation is teaming with 16 leading cloud service providers (CSPs) around the world to introduce the "Intel Cloud Technology" program.

New initiative will provide cloud users with a clear view into the technology powering a CSP's infrastructure before they purchase any services or instances, said Intel in a release.

With infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) revenue expected to increase 41 percent annually by 20163 and more companies considering outsourcing their IT services, the technology that powers cloud-based services and applications matters more than ever, said Intel.

The chipmaker further added that CSPs participating in the new Intel program will be recognized by using the "Powered by Intel Cloud Technology" badge to distinguish their Intel-based instances where the performance and security capabilities of the underlying hardware become transparent to the end user.

"Much like when choosing a car, the type of engine that runs a cloud service dramatically affects performance and efficiency," said Jason Waxman, vice president, Data Center Group and general manager, Cloud Platform Group, at Intel.

"Cloud customers want to know what technology their applications are running on because it has direct impact to their business. For the first time, users will have the transparency to select the technologies that are optimal for running their applications in the cloud," added Waxman.

It has been reported that a heterogeneous cloud infrastructure environment may result in 40 to 60 percent performance variation. Therefore, end users are increasingly looking for more insight into the performance, capabilities and cost trade-offs of the many instances that CSPs offer so they can get the right size and type of performance matched to their specific workloads.

In addition to Virtustream (U.S.); Canopy, an ATOS company (U.K.); Cloud4com (Czech Republic); CloudWatt (France); Expedient (U.S.); KIO Networks (Mexico); KT (Korea); Locaweb (Brazil); NxtGen (India); Online.net (France); OVH (France); Rackspace (U.S.); Savvis, a company of CenturyLink (US); Selectel (Russia); and UOLDIVEO/UOL Host (Brazil) have committed to participating in the program.

The chipmaker also announced Intel Cloud Finder, an online search engine which is integrated into the program, allowing users to find CSPs that provide cloud services built on Intel technologies that match required criteria, with the ability to try services for free before purchase.