NetStar lines up for Vblock kit

The alliance between VMware, EMC and Cisco is proving fruitful for network services company NetStar Australia, which is lining up to deliver the alliance's newly-announced Vblock infrastructure packages into Australia through its new data centre consulting division.

NetStar's marketing director Oliver Descoeudres described the Vblock strategy as fitting well with his company's new division, which provides data centres lifecycle consulting and managed services.

Vblock infrastructure packages are comprised of integrated stacks of virtualised servers, storage, and switches, and are suitable for public and private clouds.

"We are seeing real customer interest in what that strategy has to offer, and what we are now seeing is substance in terms of architecture," Descoeudres said. "So rather than just being words, we are now starting to see actual designs that incorporate the three product sets.

"We are very keen to work with Cisco, EMC and VMware to see what role NetStar can play working with Vblock to bring those solutions to market. Cisco is very much encouraging us to move into this space, as they see it as a natural progression for Cisco Gold partners."

NetStar made its first hire for the new business in July, and Descoeudres said it will exceed its projected full year revenue within its first five months. The team is expected to expand to around 10 people by the end of next year, when it will account for between 10 percent and 20 percent of NetStar's revenue.

The business has already signed three customers in the healthcare, property and transport industries, two of which are new to NetStar.

"We were expecting growth to come from our existing customers, but we're already seeing some new customers coming on aboard because of the focus we have on the VMware, Cisco and EMC," Descoeudres said.

NetStar will also offer its nSVisage software-as-a-service monitoring application as part of the new service.

Interest in both public and private cloud computing has created a flurry of activity in the data centre industry. Descoeudres said that two of the three initial clients are heading towards a private cloud computing strategy.

"The business proposition around virtualisation and consolidation is strengthening, but what's happening with Vblock is giving a lot more credibility to private cloud computing," Descoeudres says. "We're seeing larger companies being fairly comfortable talking about a longer term move towards a cloud computing model."

The chief executive officer of Sydney-based managed and cloud hosting provider Ultra Serve, Samuel Yeats, said more independent software vendors would be promoting cloud, off-premise, and data centre technologies to remain relevant over the next six months.

"Whether they choose to build and deliver these services themselves, or partner with an organisation with established services and experience will be the question," he said.