Aptum’s new private multi-tenanted cloud service is now available in the US, UK, and Canada, and Aptum is emphasizing how it provides a stronger level of support than their competitors.

Hybrid cloud and managed services provider Aptum has announced the launch of Multi-Tenant Cloud [MTC]  their new virtual data centre solution. It provides the ability to deploy virtual machines, virtual appliances, and other services in a multi-tenant environment using a consumption-based billing model. The new private cloud service is now available in the US, UK, and Canada.

“These services as delivered to customers have been around for decades,” said Alberto Da Anunciacao, Aptum’s President of Managed Services, who is based in Canada. “It’s how they are delivered that have changed over time. The MTC looks very much like the public cloud, but provides you with the benefits of a multi-tenanted cloud environment.”

“We have had things that were similar in nature to this, but this solution specifically is new,” said Ron Bradburn, Product Manager, Private Cloud at Aptum.

“It is a secure managed IaaS platform for real time automation to deploy real time data centres managed by us on our infrastructure,” Bradburn added. “It also uses a consumption-based model.”

Bradburn also emphasized that their level of customer support is also a positive differentiator against their competition.

“There is a key piece that we offer around support,” he said. “We deliver functionality on our platform that is comprehensive, and it is not hard to reach a real human to help you. Support isn’t just taking a call when a reseller has a question. Each partner has an account manager that helps them deliver.”

“Customer environments are not pretty,” Da Anunciacao said. “The way we are going to market involves capabilities around these big private clouds. But what we kept hearing is that customers needed a Canadian-specific environment. Data residency is still an important thing, but we provide all the things expected in the public cloud, including the ability to self provision and being consumption-based.”

While Aptum overall sells to a broad range of the market, they believe that the strongest demand for MTC is among their larger customers.

“We are targeting this at mid to large enterprises because the features, like HA being built into the platform, resonate for those types of businesses,” Bradburn stated.

“I see us positioning MTC as the right solution at the right time to fit what the customer is asking for,” he added. “It’s not one size fits all.”

“We didn’t see anything in the market that really fit,” Da Anunciacao added. “That’s why we built this.”

The Multi-Tenant Cloud Solution has two routes to market.

“Aptum sells directly to the market,” Bradburn said. “We provide customers with virtual machines. The other route is through the channel. We have built a distinct combination of predefined resources around hardware profiles for partners. With our direct sales, customers can choose flexible amount of CPU and RAM, that meets their needs. For Resellers we have built hardware profiles with a predefined amount of CPU and RAM bundled at a competitive price point, as well as provide options for variable amounts of CPU and RAM they can sell.”

Bradburn said that the reseller pricing is simpler for them, which in turn makes the solution simpler for them to sell.

“It’s an interesting price point compared to direct sales,” he stated. “It’s simpler than certain other competitors. It’s easy to calculate your costs as a reseller and then add margin. We also encourage them to add their services on top.”

Bradburn said that about half of their resellers presently are adding such services.

“In conversations with our resellers, we have seen about an equal share of those who are targeted at solution suites for customers, such as a partner in the U.K that focuses on emergency medical services, and where they add things like a payment gateway. Others are very generic in what they deliver.”

“Even our generic partners are very good with their customers,” Da Anunciacao said. “We are very excited about partnering opportunities.”