Interview with John Pozadzides, VP of Product Development, Layered Technologies

1. As an introduction, could you elaborate on Layered Tech’s Cloud Computing Solution?

Layered Technologies is a global leader in the area of cloud computing.  We currently have well over 1,000 nodes (physical machines) in our Grid Layer computing platform, making us larger than almost all of our competitors combined.

The best way to explain the Cloud computing concept is to compare and contrast it with existing technology, so if you’ll indulge me I’m going to back up a bit and start with traditional architecture.

Historically, the only option available to businesses with large mission-critical applications was to distribute them across a number of dedicated servers intermixed with firewalls, switches and load balancers.  These enterprise-grade solutions have a high degree of complexity, require a staff of system administrators and engineers to provision, and are extremely expensive to deploy with 100% redundancy.

Layered Technologies cloud computing offering, The Grid Layer, solves all of these problems by providing users with a powerful graphical configuration interface which lets them create entire virtual infrastructures within the Grid, comprised of a wide range of devices including firewalls, load balancers and servers.  Switching, routing and monitoring are all built into the Grid as well as complete physical redundancy and RAID 1 network duplication of data across physical nodes.

We believe that cloud computing services are the next generation of infrastructure and that as more businesses learn about these offerings the huge cost reductions, inherent redundancy and extreme scalability will compel CIOs and CTOs to migrate their sprawling applications to service providers like Layered Technologies.

2. What are the salient features of your solution?

The Grid layer offers a number of important features simply not found in competing service offerings.  All of the following are native features of The Grid:

• A simple Visio-like graphical configuration interface which allows anyone to configure one server, or an entire virtual data center, in minutes.
• Complete redundancy within the system with built in monitoring and self-healing capabilities.  The Grid will restart any application running on a physical node that fails by moving it to a separate node within minutes.
• The proven ability to scale a single client grid to well over 100 physical nodes means that even extremely large clients can obtain incredible resource density if required.  For example, a 100 node grid with quad core, dual processor nodes, each containing 1TB hard drives and 32GB of RAM would equate to 800 processor cores, 3.2TB of RAM and 100TB of storage space.

3. What differentiates your solution from that of others in this field?

Some of the most significant differences between Layered Tech’s Grid solution and others available in the market include:

• Unlike providers such as Amazon and most recently Google who are offering spare computing cycles on their inventory of existing hardware, Layered Technologies is a dedicated hosting provider.  Our singular focus in this area allows us to be more responsive, flexible, and customer service oriented.
• One of the hallmarks of The Grid Layer is the ability to run almost any application natively without the need for custom API integration or other proprietary modifications.  Amazon and Google’s cloud computing and storage offerings require strict adherence to very specific API guidelines which can require complete re-writes of applications – only to then be locked in to using their proprietary service.
• Provisioning on true enterprise grade HP hardware means that Layered Tech’s Grid clients have access to the fastest CPUs, RAM and networking components available.  This contrasts sharply with Amazon’s offering, which they have stated runs on Celeron 1.7ghz equivalent white box machines.
• Layered Tech’s two years of Grid leadership combined with our demonstrated ability to provision the world’s largest Grid infrastructures means we are well ahead of all competitors in terms of developing support structures, provisioning systems, and intellectual property within the organization for servicing these special clients.  Experience counts.

4. What do you consider as drivers propelling the growth of Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is a new disruptive technology.  When compared to Dedicated hosting utility computing platforms are “better”, “faster” and “cheaper”.  This is not merely an improvement of existing systems in which you can only pick any two (better + faster is NOT cheaper), but an evolutionary step, which is absolutely compelling to anyone that consumes computing resources.

5. What according to you are the major challenges or restraints that impede further development of Cloud Computing? How are you trying to address them?

Problems currently impeding the growth of utility / cloud / grid computing (whatever you choose to call it) include:

• As an emerging technology, it takes time for service providers to get over the learning curve. 
• Service providers have been geared up for dedicated hosting for the last decade.  Their infrastructure, sales channels, support systems, etc. are all built to focus on legacy systems.  Disruptive technologies hurt.
• Amazon’s offering has not done anyone favors to Cloud computing because many people who initially looked into their limited offering quickly realized existing systems would not utilize it without retooling.

6. What are the current and potential applications of Cloud Computing? Could you provide a Roadmap on when the applications would be realized?

The nice thing about LT’s Grid is that almost any existing application will run on it.   We currently have a wide range of clients who have migrated their applications to the Grid and are enjoying the benefits of increased redundancy, improved scalability and ease of management.  Clients are currently running applications such as:

• A major search engine
• A development environment for one of the largest Telecoms in the world
• A Web site monitoring service
• Standardized enterprise SAS services.

7. Do you collaborate or wish to collaborate with other companies / universities / research institutions / companies for your work?

We currently work closely with 3tera, the company behind AppLogic software that helps to power our infrastructure, as well as hundreds of clients who utilize our Grid hosting services.  With that, we would be happy to enter into discussions with researchers interested in cloud computing initiatives, but we are unaware of any who are working in this field.

8. What additional information is available?

The best thing we could share would be a demonstration of the Grid’s Web based interface in action, and I’d be happy to arrange for that demonstration if there is any interest in seeing it.  Please email me at johnp@layeredtechnologies.com >>

New HP Servers include Quad–Core AMD Opteron™ and Intel® Xeon® processors, and accommodate up to 12 hard drives per chassis 

Plano, TX (May 12, 2008)- Layered Technologies, a leading worldwide provider of “on demand” IT infrastructure, announces today immediate availability of a new range of servers to meet the needs of the enterprise market.  The packages include brand new HP servers configured with ultra-fast Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ or Intel® Xeon® CPU’s, along with the ability to hold up to 12 hot swappable hard drives.  These new packages represent a huge increase in the ‘price-for-performance’ value equation for clients seeking highly expandable, leading edge computing platforms.

New server packages include the latest HP chassis, newly released AMD Barcelona and Intel Harpertown / Clovertown processors, a minimum of 4GB of RAM, and 500 GB or larger hard drives.  Each chassis can currently accommodate up to 12TB of storage and 32GB of RAM.

“Layered Technologies has a history of leading the market in next–generation technology and we’ll continue to seek ways to maximize performance, optimize virtualization, increase levels of utilization and enable greater energy efficiency,” said Todd Abrams, President & COO of Layered Technologies. “These new name-brand server offerings are unrivaled and give our customers greater choices and unbeatable value.”

With clients in more than 120 countries, Layered Technologies’ custom technology solutions allow both large and small customers to rapidly deploy on-demand hosting and utility computing services, providing all the controls of collocation without the start up costs, capital investments, long term contracts and associated challenges. By partnering with Layered Technologies, companies are able to achieve ROI quickly via reduced capital investment, total cost of ownership (TCO), labor reduction, training and floor space. Layered Technologies can have a company up and running in days versus months.  For more info on Layered TECH, please visit www.layeredtechnologies.com

More: Managed Services * LT PACT 2008 Hosting Conference *  DynaVol Storage (Compare to Amazon S3) * TRUE Grid Computing

Layered Technologies‘ CMO John Pozadzides recently visited the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco and took some time out to speak with Michael Scherotter from Microsoft about LT’s GRID computing technology.

“GRID computing is a system whereby many computers are assembled together to create one large computing system with vast amounts of processor power, RAM, and storage.” states John Pozadzides. 

Check out the video below and learn more about Layered Tech’s “The Grid Layer” and you’ll see why it’s so cool!

Layered Technologies, a leading provider of on-demand IT infrastructure, announces today that there is NO COST for Registration to LT PACT 2008. The Third Annual LT PACT 2008 conference will take place at Caesars Palace Resort in Las Vegas, NV from June 25-27. Industry analysts, key industry players, hosting companies and other leaders in the hosting environment will speak about the most current information in the industry.

This three day conference will provide opportunities for attendees to learn industry insights, interact with the latest products in workshops, increase revenue with improved business practices and also participate in the Texas Hold’ em Tournament with $5,000 in cash prizes and no entry fee.  Keynote Speakers include: Forrester Research, Principal Analyst of IT Infrastructure & Operations, James Staten and Tier 1 Research, Founder & Hosting Visionary, Andy Schroepfer.

“We know attendees will gain tremendous insight by taking part in LT PACT 2008,” said Todd Abrams, President & COO of Layered Technologies. “Both end users and hosting partners will find the sessions and workshops highly valuable, taking away key industry insights, best practices and product knowledge.  Plus, it’s a great opportunity to network both with industry leaders and the LT team.”

The event will kick off on June 25th with a cocktail party featuring an open bar from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. On day two, sessions with speakers will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will extend until lunch at 11:45 a.m. Sessions will resume at 1 p.m. and will go until early to late evening. On June 27th, the previous day’s schedule will repeat with the addition of a dinner banquet at 7 p.m. followed by the LT PACT 2008 Hold’em Poker Tournament at 8 p.m. with Master of Ceremonies Robert W. Thompson II from NBC’s BravoTV Celebrity Poker Showdown.

For more information visit http://www.ltpact.com >>

James Staten, Leading IT Infrastructure Analyst, to Keynote LT PACT 2008
        
Layered Technologies’ Annual Hosting Conference in Las Vegas Features Industry Experts to Discuss Future of the Hosting Industry

Plano, TX (May 07, 2008)- Layered Technologies, a leading worldwide provider of “on demand” IT infrastructure, announces today the opening day keynote speaker for the third annual LT PACT 2008 conference at Caesars Palace Resort in Las Vegas, NV from June 25-27. James Staten, Forrester Research Principal Analyst IT Infrastructure & Operations, will deliver his keynote address, Cloud / Grid Computing: A Classic Disruptive Technology on Thursday, June 26 at 8:40 a.m.

Industry analysts, key industry players, hosting companies and other leaders in the hosting environment will speak about the most current information in the industry. This three day conference will provide opportunities for attendees to learn industry insights, interact with the latest products in workshops, increase revenue with improved business practices and also participate in the Texas Hold’ em Tournament with $5,000 in cash prizes and no entry fee.

“We’re excited and honored to have James deliver the opening day keynote for LT PACT this year,” said Todd Abrams, President & COO of Layered Technologies. “James is an expert in cloud computing and his presentation has mass appeal to our customers, partners and attendees at this year’s event.”

Staten serves IT Infrastructure & Operations professionals. He is a leading expert on x86 servers and server infrastructure, data center futures, and application-specific infrastructure deployment trends and technologies. Staten has eight years of experience in product marketing and strategy positions for infrastructure providers, including Sun Microsystems and Azul Systems, plus four years of analyst experience and a background in high-tech journalism. Staten holds a master’s degree from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas.

The event will kick off on June 25 with a cocktail party featuring an open bar from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. On day two, sessions with speakers will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will extend until lunch at 11:45 a.m. Sessions will resume at 1 p.m. and will go until early to late evening. On June 27, the previous day’s schedule will repeat with the addition of a dinner banquet at 7 p.m. followed by the LT PACT 2008 Hold’em Poker Tournament at 8 p.m.

A full event pass for attendees is $99 For anyone planning to only attend the social events, that cost is $75. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor or would like more information on sponsorship opportunities, please contact Eric Hubbard at eric.hubbard@layeredtechnologies.com.

For additional information on Layered Technologies, please visit www.layeredtechnologies.com.

For additional information on LT PACT 2008 and online registration, please visit http://www.layeredtech.com/ltpact/.

Newly combined assets include managed and unmanaged hosting, cloud computing, and virtualization technologies

Plano, TX (April 14, 200 –  Layered Technologies, Inc., one of the world’s largest providers of “on demand” IT infrastructure today announced the acquisition of FastServers.net, a leading Chicago – based managed hosting company.  Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

“Thousands of clients rely on the exceptional service offerings of FastServers.net, and the combination of the two companies will expand the range of offerings and provide additional scale for client growth,” said Jack Finlayson, Chief Executive Officer of Layered Technologies.  “We look forward to bringing these two exceptionally talented teams together to service our customers and meet the demands of the high growth hosting industry.”

“With Layered Technologies and FastServers.net working together, business owners will view their managed service provider as a valued, long-term partner that helps manage IT infrastructure,” said Ian Andrusyk, President and CEO of FastServers.Net.   

Layered Technologies will begin immediate integration of the two companies’ operations, product development, distribution and customer support organizations to ensure a smooth transition and immediate value for customers, employees and partners.  Combined, the company will serve over 6,000 clients. 

Rapid Growth of Real-Time Web Analytics Service Powered by Cloud Computing Platform

Plano, TX | April 2, 2008:  Layered Technologies, Inc., a leading worldwide provider of “on demand” IT infrastructure, and 3Tera, Inc., the leading innovator of grid computing technology and utility computing services for Web applications, today announce support for Woopra, the real-time Web analytics platform. The companies will provide 100 grid-based servers in order to assist Woopra as it experiences a huge market demand prior to official launch.

“We are extremely pleased that Layered Technologies has stepped up to pledge the infrastructure necessary for us to meet the growing demand for Woopra,” said Elie Khoury, CIO of Woopra. “We are also grateful for all of the public feedback and support we have been given in the past 48 hours. We vow to work as quickly as possible to make Woopra available to as many as 100,000 Web sites within the next few weeks.”

Woopra provides real-time stats delivered via a revolutionary client-server application, and includes unique features such as the ability to identify and chat real time with visitors to the monitored site. The beta version of Woopra was quietly unveiled to a select audience of 200 at WordCamp Dallas, but news rapidly spread to over 2 million as buzz began to grow.

“We are excited about the launch of Woopra and the fact that we will be hosting it on The Grid,” said Todd Abrams, COO and President of Layered Technologies. “With such high demand, we are working closely with Woopra to ensure that all of Layered Technologies’ clients can gain access to the application as quickly as possible.”

With more than 12,000 servers and nearly a decade of experience, Layered Technologies has developed an expertise in data center operations. Using 3Tera’s award-winning AppLogic OS, Layered Technologies is able to provide grid computing solutions by harnessing the power of their data centers and making it available on-demand - processing power, bandwidth, and storage capacity. 3Tera’s AppLogic Grid OS allows a customer to package their entire application into a single self-contained logical entity. The packaged system can be scaled from a fraction of a CPU to hundreds of machines without any code modification.

“The instant growth of Woopra is a perfect example of how grid solutions provide new capabilities for growth,” said Peter Nickolov, President and CTO of 3Tera. “Scaling an online application, such as Woopra, can be enormously challenging. Being able to quickly deploy and operate on a highly available and scalable utility computing platform offers a unique business solution. Partnering with Layered Technologies has allowed us to deliver true utility computing solutions and help hundreds of companies scale their application with the growing demand.”

3Tera’s AppLogic grid operating system is the first commercial platform designed specifically to enable true utility computing. The system converts commodity servers into scalable grids on which users can visually deploy, operate and scale transactional Web applications without any modification of code. With the ability to run on any grid anywhere in the world, the disposable infrastructure technology found in the heart of the AppLogic system packages applications with the definition of the infrastructure required to run them into self-contained and portable entities. As a result, applications become completely separated from the hardware infrastructure traditionally needed to run them, allowing users to remotely manage their applications through a Web browser and provision resources as needed.

For more information on Layered Technologies, please visit www.layeredtechnologies.com.  For more information on 3Tera, please visit www.3tera.com.  For more information on Woopra, please visit www.woopra.com.

Tiny Firms Offer Big Computing Services
(FORBES Magazine, Andy Greenberg, 03.26.0

Dave Durkee believes in the “Big Switch.” Like tech pundit Nick Carr, who coined that term in his recent book of the same name, Durkee, the CEO of utility computing company Enki, argues that information technology will eventually move out of corporations’ server rooms and into massive, shared facilities, where servers and storage can be hosted more efficiently and piped out to customers. Instead of investing in expensive IT infrastructure, companies will take advantage of computing as a utility, paying their IT bills the same way they pay for water and electricity. 

[A] start-up, Plano, Texas-based Layered Technologies, rents out customized servers by the month to about 4,500 clients. The company hosts a grid of servers that it divides up and rents to clients in packages designed especially to satisfy their hardware needs. Clients can choose to add hardware or subtract machines, like an extra server or storage device, in seconds. Layered Technologies completed its first round of publicly announced funding in mid-March. 

“Utility computing is one of those disruptive technologies that larger players won’t be interested in until it gets big,” says Carr. “That means smaller players can serve the first adopters. The challenge will be when the IBMs, the HPs, and the Suns start to come in to dominate the market.” But don’t count out the little guys, insists Layered’s chief marketing officer, John Pozadzides. Layered’s customers want more than cheap, generic computing power, he contends. As a smaller firm, Layered can customize and scale the resources it rents to every customer, Pozadzides says, whether it’s a start-up search engine or a software-as-service sales and inventory company. 

A different sort of player hoping to squeeze into the utility computing space is 3tera, in Aliso Viejo, Calif. 3tera offers a program that helps utility computing companies divvy up their hardware resources among their customers. Both Enki and Layered use 3tera’s program, known as AppLogic, to create the virtual data centers that they host for their clients; the software lets their customers expand or contract the resources they need in seconds, literally by dragging and dropping components on a computer screen.  “Today, if you want to add a new server, many sets of hands are involved,” says Bert Armijo, 3tera’s vice president of product management. “If you have the ability to instantly provision what you need, that’s when it really becomes a utility.” 3tera, which predicts it will become profitable in the first half of 2008, is a start-up worth watching, says Forrester Research analyst James Staten. The company’s “arms dealer” strategy, he says, will allow it to profit no matter who eventually comes to dominate utility computing. 

As for the other small fry, Staten says, it is too early to pick out potential winners as the industry evolves. But he’s confident that by the time larger customers start to look at utility computing as an attractive option, [smaller companies] may have grown into a real competitor.  “This is classic disruptive innovation, where the mainstream dismisses the product and small companies have time to create a real differentiated value,” says Staten. “When this technology becomes really robust five to seven years from now, the doubters may not be able to compete anymore.”  Read more >>

2–Day WordPress Event Includes Sessions on Ways to Power Up Your Blog, SEO for Bloggers, and the Business of Blogging 

Plano, TX (March 18, 200 - Layered Technologies, a leading worldwide provider of “on demand” IT infrastructure, announces today their sponsorship of WordCamp Dallas, hosted by WordPress. WordCamp is a 2-day conference for podcasters, designers, programmers, aficionados, users and developers. The first day focuses on how to be a better blogger and the second day discusses the development and future of publishing on the Web.  The event will be March 29 – 30.in Frisco, TX, and is limited to the first 300 attendees that register. 

“Layered Technologies is proud to be a sponsor of WordCamp, created and hosted by WordPress,” said Todd Abrams, president and COO of Layered Technologies. “It’s a great event that emphasizes the importance and benefits of publishing on the Web, as well as a great opportunity for networking and building relationships. WordPress is a valued client of ours, as we provide the majority of their infrastructure. We are thrilled to offer them our support in return.” 

With clients in over 120 countries, Layered Technologies’ custom technology solutions allow both large and small customers to rapidly deploy on-demand hosting and utility computing services, providing all the controls of co-location without the start up costs, the commitments, and the challenges. Layered Technologies’ on-demand computing solutions are effectively utilized by thousands of customers around the world, including WordPress.

”WordCamp is a great venue for us to interact with the WordPress community,” said Abrams.  “It is also a great opportunity for us to reach out to other Web 2.0 companies and bloggers and let them know how we can help them create an infrastructure that will scale to their demands and provide instant new computing capacity without capital expenditures.” 

The event will be held Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30 at George A. Purefoy Municipal Center, 6101 Frisco Square Blvd., Frisco, TX. Wordcamp starts at 9:30 AM on both days. The agenda for WordCamp includes expert panels and presentations on the business of blogging, SEO for blogging, ways to power up your blog, how to prevent, detect and stop content theft of your blog, and more. Presenters include: John Pozadzides, CMO of Layered Technologies and Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress. 

Registration for WordCamp Dallas is $20. To register, go to: http://wordcampdallas2008.eventbrite.com/.  

For additional information on Layered Technologies, please visit www.layeredtechnologies.com. For additional information on WordCamp Dallas, go to: http://dallas.wordcamp.org/.