When a software company wants rapid access to the market, using the resources of a reliable cloud provider is an attractive prospect. eZ Systems offers a successful content management solution, and Ixonos has an infinitely elastic cloud platform. These products were combined to innovate a new business model for eZ Systems that allows customers to launch their business instantly and using exactly the right resources.
BACKGROUND
Norwegian company eZ Systems has developed an awardwinning content management system eZ Publish, which is the foundation for their current offering of a customer experience management platform. The platform is used on more than 250,000 servers in 160 countries. eZ Systems’ wide partner network integrates the web services of the company’s customers into the customers’ own data centres as well as into the clouds of dozens of providers. To offer a simpler and quicker way for its customers to deploy the content management platform, eZ Systems was in search of a reliable cloud provider partner, one that would also be capable of deeper collaboration in the development of their product.
Ixonos has developed an open and secure enterprise cloud solution, Ixonos Elastic Cloud™, launched in May 2011. Ixonos Elastic Cloud is the first Red Hat certified enterprise cloud platform in the Nordics. It is particularly well suited to enterprise system and R&D customers whose business is based on the open source paradigm.
eZ Systems asked Ixonos’ experts to integrate the two solutions. Thus came about eZ Publish Cloud: the popular customer experience solution pre-integrated into a reliable cloud.
SOLUTION
Together with eZ Systems, Ixonos developed the eZ Publish digital experience management platform into an Ixonos Elastic Cloud compatible solution. Ixonos’ experts standardised and automated a process to integrate the content management solution into Ixonos’ cloud platform. This integration enables Ixonos to provide eZ Systems with network and data centre capacity that automatically adapts to the flow of customers.
To make the service as easy to use as possible, the eZ Systems website was enhanced with a user interface that allows customers to purchase the content management solution and the needed cloud resources with the push of a button. Ixonos’ experts also automated the end customers’ lifecycle management: customers can increase their capacity, view their accrued charges and adjust their service level online, in real time.
BENEFITS
Ixonos’ cloud integration made deployment of eZ Systems’ content management solution much easier, quicker and more cost-efficient. Instead of having to predefine the needed capacity and purchase it from different providers, eZ Publish Cloud customers can start at minimum capacity and increase resources as business grows. They can purchase limitless cloud resources instantly through selfservice and are billed only according to the resources they use.
Ixonos’ cloud platform also comes with a service level guarantee. eZ Systems’ customers can rely on their web services being managed on a stable platform in Ixonos’ data centre, the connectivity and security of which are world class. Ixonos’ round-the-clock customer and system support as well as its global service monitoring ensure uninterrupted global availability of the customers’ web services.
With Ixonos in charge of all platform management challenges, eZ Systems can focus on its core business and intensify its service development activities. Aided by Ixonos, eZ Systems offers a future proof open-source business model: income is no longer generated solely through software subscription but also by providing reliable and affordable cloud services to partners and customers.
We are highly satisfied with our collaboration with Ixonos. They have extensive experience in multi-channel software development and in providing cloud and hosting services, and their data centre is among the best in the world. Ixonos’ service orientation enables us, together, to offer our customers very high quality service and support.”
GABRIELE VIEBACHCEO, eZ Systems