Pricing will always be a key factor in selecting a public cloud. But performance is an increasingly important criteria in the fast-growing market for cloud computing, as reflected in Joyent's introduction today of a new public cloud platform.
Joyent has focused on superior application speed as a key selling point. The new Joyent Cloud runs on a revamped infrastructure management platform, SmartDataCenter 6. The company says its new platform "enables businesses and developers to run applications faster and with greater peace of mind for less money than on any other cloud."
Sees 'Compromise' in Other Clouds
“Joyent Cloud provides customers with peace of mind that their infrastructure will just work, just scale, and be fully visible and transparent at all times,” said Steve Tuck, GM of Joyent Cloud. “We eliminate the compromises inherent in running on other clouds while delivering exceptional performance and speed at a competitive price.”
Joyent Cloud customers include LinkedIn, Kabam, StackMob, and Gilt Groupe, among numerous leading companies in ecommerce, mobile, online games and other markets.
Joyent is welcoming comparisons with cloud computing market leader Amazon EC2, and says its cloud's performance will translate into lower costs. Joyent says its SmartOS SmartMachines use fewer servers and lower compute costs by delivering up to 14x faster speeds than comparable Amazon EC2 machine instances.
Focus on Analytics Tools
Joyent is also touting analytics tools that offer its cloud customers complete transparency into sources of latency throughout the compute stack, from kernel to application. Coupled with New Relic application analytics and Zeus load balancing software, Joyent says customers have the tools to locate and fix problems before they cause slowdowns or downtime.
Joyent recently updated its SmartOS to include hardware virtualization, broadening the types of workloads and applications it can support.
In addition, Joyent Cloud is introducing a Node.js Joyent SmartMachine for customers ready to deploy commercial Node.js-based applications. Joyent also hosts the Node.js service, No.de, a Platform as a Service offering for developers wishing to create data-intensive, real-time (DIRTy) apps.
Joyent, which received an infusion of funding from Intel in 2009, runs six data centers in North America with a client mix that includes large enterprises in the gaming, media, mobile and e-commerce sectors. It sells software, SmartDataCenter, that runs entire data centers.
