Loudcloud Pumps Up Its Database Smart Cloud Service With Server Clustering Capabilities; Service Offers Customers Dramatic Increases in Web Site Uptime Through Rapid Fail Over Capabilities

Business Wire, Jan 9, 2001

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2001

Loudcloud, Inc., a leading software infrastructure services provider, today announced new server clustering capabilities as part of its Database Smart Cloud(TM) service. These enhancements allow Loudcloud customers to take advantage of a robust database service that offers full redundancy and fail over capabilities, limiting the potential for lost data and dramatically increasing Web site uptime.

Data is the life-blood of all businesses and most simply cannot afford their data to be unavailable, even temporarily. To meet its customer's stringent uptime requirements, Loudcloud offers an enterprise database solution that is highly available with built-in redundancy at every database layer and provides better overall performance. Loudcloud is delivering these new capabilities using Loudcloud's automation technology, Opsware(TM), and proven enterprise technology from industry-leading data technology vendors such as Veritas, Oracle, EMC, and Brocade.

Loudcloud engineers have enhanced Opsware to perform this fail over to a second database with speed and precision. Opsware is Loudcloud's unique automation technology that streamlines formerly manual tasks associated with the deployment, support and growth of Internet infrastructure. This technology offers Loudcloud customers the quality, scale and speed in their Internet operations not available with any other competitive solution. Opsware performs tasks with precision that is consistent over time, provides infrastructure dynamically that will scale to meet the changing demands of customers, and can perform functions in a fraction of the time that is required to perform these operations manually to free scarce engineering resources to work on value-creating activities.

"This type of high-availability solution requires advanced technical skills, making it out of reach for companies lacking the resources or the talent to support it," said Ben Horowitz, CEO at Loudcloud. "Loudcloud customers will now get the benefits of this first-class set of technologies combined with the unique power of Opsware to manage the valuable data that is the brain of their Internet operations."

Database clustering connects two or more computers together in such a way that they behave like a single database. A clustered database would typically run on one primary server and, in case of its failure, the database is automatically switched to a second, standby server. Without this capability, customers that experienced database failures would have to be switched over manually, resulting in longer downtimes and potential data loss. Now, through this functionality, any failure is transparent to the Web site end-user, and access to any data affected by the failure is granted in minutes rather then hours.

The Database Smart Cloud also protects customers from any single point of failure in their data management systems. This is accomplished through complete redundancy for all data technology components including the servers, server disks, the network, switches, storage disks, and storage "frames."

About Loudcloud

Loudcloud, Inc. was formed in September 1999 and offers businesses a new class of Internet infrastructure services required to provision, deploy, maintain and scale Internet operations. Founded by some of the Internet's early entrepreneurs, including Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and former Netscape/AOL executives Ben Horowitz, Tim Howes and In Sik Rhee, Loudcloud provides Smart Cloud(TM) services which enable businesses to benefit from reliable, high-quality and scalable Internet operations without undertaking the difficulty and expense associated with building the required expertise in-house. These Smart Cloud services leverage Loudcloud's proprietary Opsware(TM) automation technology to deliver scalability and reliability for a broad base of customers. For more information on Loudcloud, please visit our web site at www.loudcloud.com.

Loudcloud, Opsware and Smart Cloud are service marks and trademarks of Loudcloud, Inc. All other product names, service marks, and trademarks mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.