We have highlighted in previous blog articles that we had some Cloud PBX Infrastructure Changes on the way. We also talked a little bit about why one should go Private Cloud vs Public Cloud. We are happy to announce that we are driving quickly down the OpenStack Track on top of our Global Network within the Rackspace Umbrella. As you can imagine this is a LARGE project with many moving parts so it’s worth understanding what OpenStack is in order to appreciate the magnitude!
What is OpenStack?
OpenStack is a cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources throughout a data center, all managed through a dashboard that gives administrators control while empowering their users to provision resources through a web interface. If you investigate deep enough you will find most of the popular public cloud providers ride on top of OpenStack.
What can OpenStack Automate?
It is true here at BVoIP we have a VERY specific offering with very specific requirements however OpenStack is wide open to what we can do. We are excited to think about future possibilities and new offerings that we can bring to you down the line.
What Does This Mean for BVoIP Partners?
By having an OpenStack based architecture changes things here at BVoIP in a few ways:
Automated Environment Build
While this may not be opened up right away we will be able to provide BVoIP partners the ability to spin up accounts automatically which speeds up a way for our partners to onboard new customers.
In DC / Region High Availability
OpenStack is "smart" and in a known service change instances can be moved around in "real time" meaning live instances don't need to be shut down to be moved only to be started up on the other end. In the event of an in DC hardware failure OpenStack will move instances to other available servers and start them back up automatically. This will speed up our DR plan from the current strategy today which requires human intervention.
Instance Sizing / Storage Control
Today we "eye ball" enviroment sizing in terms of raw space. In the new OpenStack world each instance will need a storage allocation. The great part here is that now a more well defined storage plan will be outlined and quota control per instance can be enabled as well as segregated file storage especially for call recording storage and voicemail files.
Individual PBX Instances on both Windows & Linux
There is a difference between the two especially when it comes to integration. We will be able to offer both flavorings which give our partners choice and pricing control.
Time Zone Freedom
Traditionally, BVoIP instances meant dedicated blades set to specific time zones. In the past we have run into scenarios where there are special time zone considerations that created a "musical chairs" routine that can now be avoided. Since each instances will be in its own bubble time zone stories now go away.
Automation of Individual Instances and Account Control into a Single Portal
We have worked really hard and will continue to drive down our "2017 Vision" where we continue to centralize access into a single place and also automate as much as possible so that human being effort can be spent on more strategic things. We believe our Unified Management and Provisioning resource will prove to be a critical piece to our post OpenStack migration.
Final Thoughts
While this does change some things we feel it brings about good change and helps us enable our partners to do more in less time while adding additional technical functionality and capacity to our story. The great news here is that we can move over all of our current deployments "as-is" while starting to offer new deployments under the new technical model. This gives us a "best of both worlds" results which is the best possible result. If you are a BVoIP partner and want to learn more feel free to contact us.
