CoreSite Realty Corporation has announced a new initiative designed to enhance the capabilities of its cloud-enabled data centers for customers.

CoreSite's Open Cloud Exchange improves customer choice by offering best-of-breed partnerships and services from a broad range of providers. It enables the enterprises, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Systems Integrators (SIs) in CoreSite facilities to connect directly, via a single resource, to the cloud service providers of their choice. It is available immediately in seven of CoreSite's North American data center campuses including Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, New York, Northern Virginia, Boston, and Washington, DC. The Open Cloud Exchange responds to a significant worldwide growth in demand for public, private, and hybrid cloud interconnection and management services. It provides customers with flexible options to securely and easily connect to all types of cloud offerings.

"We're building the industry's premier home for cloud services," said Jarrett Appleby, COO, CoreSite. "With networks — the oxygen for cloud services — as the foundation, adding the industry's leading cloud providers will create best-in-class scalability, management, automation, software, and many-to-many exchange capability. The Open Cloud Exchange offers our customers enormous provider flexibility, guaranteed performance, real-time monitoring, and easy management of cloud infrastructure services."

Initial best-of-breed partners

Four industry leaders join CoreSite in providing initial Open Cloud Exchange services, with more expected: 

• CENX, a leader in Carrier Ethernet interconnect systems and services, will provide its CENX Automated Ethernet Lifecycle Management software specially designed for CoreSite's Open Cloud Exchange, enabling easy, single sign-on management of Layer 2 cloud infrastructure services and full MEF CE 2.0 compatibility.

• RightScale, the leader in cloud computing management, will provide the platform to easily deploy and manage business-critical applications across public, private, and hybrid clouds. RightScale offers efficient configuration, monitoring, automation, and governance of cloud computing infrastructure and applications.

• RiverMeadow Software will deliver its industry-leading automated cloud onboarding SaaS developed specifically for migrating servers and workloads into and between Carrier Service Provider Clouds.

• Brocade, an industry leader in reliable, high-performance network solutions, will provide the hardware infrastructure and switching logic at the heart of the Open Cloud Exchange.

"Powered by class-leading Ethernet management software from CENX, CoreSite's Open Cloud Exchange sets a new standard for data centers by enabling customers to create secure, on-demand, high-performance connectivity to the cloud services of their choice," said Nan Chen, president of CENX. "We are thrilled to be part of the launch of this powerful, industry-leading product."

"Customers need to choose their data center and cloud services management providers carefully," said Michael Crandell, CEO, RightScale. "Vendor neutrality, scale, interoperability, management capabilities, and access to a rich environment of providers are all important considerations. CoreSite and RightScale are working together to provide just that."

"Our goal is to make cloud onboarding fast, simple and cost efficient," said Mark Shirman, CEO, RiverMeadow Software. "It is about making it easy for customers to take full advantage of the wide portfolio of cloud services offered to them by CoreSite, without the usual hassles of templating, scripting and repurposing tools such as back-up and recovery."

Additional services in 2013

The initial partners and services offered in the Open Cloud Exchange announced today are available immediately and will expand with other best-of-breed partners. Future enhancements will strengthen customers' cloud management capabilities and will enable:

• Connection to providers across multiple CoreSite locations within the same metropolitan area

• Connections between customers and providers in various on-net buildings throughout the country

• Choice between numerous software and services providers to support performance sensitive customer applications through a marketplace portal