Ctera Integrates With Parallels Automation Certified Application Packaging Standard

Ctera Networks Ltd announced a certified Application Packaging Standard (APS) for its storage-as-a-service offerings.

This packaging of Ctera’s service delivery tools will allow Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) using Parallels Automation platform to sell, provision, manage and bill for Ctera-based offerings and deliver backup and recovery services, enterprise file sync and share services, and DR and management services using Ctera cloud storage gateways – all from a single, integrated cloud framework.

“With a total addressable customer base of tens of millions of end customers, service automation is key to being successful in today’s cloud storage-as-a-service provider market,” said Jeff Denworth, SVP marketing, Ctera. “Our service provider partners now have even more options to easily upsell cloud storage services to their customers. Ctera dramatically reduces service provider time-to-market, while also enabling the delivery of the broadest suite of storage-as-a-service offerings to maximize revenue per user.“

By packaging its Cloud Storage Services Platform for Parallels APS, Ctera enables simple and secure provisioning of white-labeled cloud-storage services via Parallels Automation. Broadly used by cloud service providers, Parallels Automation allows for the delivery and consolidation of billing services with other hosted and cloud-based services including Ctera’s, as well as Microsoft Office365, Cisco WebEx, McAfee Security and more.

Benefits of the integration include:

• Using Ctera’s multi-tenant platform with Parallels Automation, CSPs can provision services to new customers on the fly with pre-defined workflows and flexible service plans, making them available on self-service portals and app stores, and requiring zero additional development or integration.

• White-label-ready storage services enable CSPs to launch their own branded SaaS offerings for cloud-based endpoint backup, secure file sync and share and also remotely-managed storage gateways.

• Parallels Platform facilitates automated payment processing integration and fraudulent payment screening to ensure simple and trusted transactions of Ctera-based cloud storage services.

Portugal Telecom is one of the first CSPs to benefit from the new partnership, enabling the launch of the company’s  cloud service called Virtual Disk 360. The service allows for the storing and sharing of files and folders in the cloud from any device.

“Portugal Telecom is pleased with the partnership achieved between Parallels and Ctera. Portugal Telecom and Ctera have worked successfully to provide customers with the possibility of buying and automatically provisioning our Virtual Disk 360 offering in the cloud within a fews,” said Abel Aguiar, head of cloud and data center product management, Portugal Telecom. “The efforts made by both teams, alongside the ease of administering the service through Parallels’ Provisioning Platform, have allowed Virtual Disk 360 to be one of the finalists in the 2014 Telecoms.com awards in the category of Best cloud Innovation.“

“We are excited to partner with Ctera, helping service providers benefit from a simple and automated approach to delivering a broad suite of cloud storage services to customers large and small,” said Alex Danyluk, senior director, alliances, Parallels.

Ctera is officially certified on Application Packaging Standard (APS) 1.2 and expects to be certified on APS 2.0 this quarter.