Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that iTopia “is now the first and sole Google partner to host complete Windows workspaces on the Google Cloud Platform.” iTopia has since clarified that it is the first and only officially recognized WaaS Technology Partner in the Google partner program. Both IndependenceIT and CloudJumper have had WaaS offerings on the Google Cloud Platform for several years.
In a sign of continued momentum for the workspace-as-a-service market, three providers of WaaS solutions all trumpeted new alliances on the same day.
The most notable of them involved itopia, a Miami-based vendor that is now the first and sole officially recognized Technology Partner in the Google partner program to host complete Windows workspaces on the Google Cloud Platform. The announcement comes a day before Google opens its Next ’17 conference in San Francisco.
“Working with the Google Cloud team is a big deal for us and a strategic move by Google to accelerate the channel’s adoption of Google Cloud Platform,” said itopia CEO Jonathan Lieberman in a press statement. “Secure and flexible cloud workspaces are the future of IT, and our bet to win is on the IT channel, itopia and Google Cloud.”
Itopia, which charges usage fees by the minute rather than hour like most other WaaS providers, claims that its Google-based offerings cost users one-third less per month on average than workspaces hosted on Microsoft Azure, 50 percent less than workspaces from Amazon Web Services, and two-thirds less than privately hosted workspaces utilizing Citrix or VMware infrastructure. The company introduced a cloud workspace management app for iOS and Anfrod devices last November.
IndependenceIT, for its part, today revealed that businesses can now access its Cloud Workspace Suite (CWS) via new zero client desktop technology from Zella Technologies LLC, of Hammond, La. Available immediately, the Zella solution combines a compact appliance called the zClient powered by the zOS operating system with a cloud-based administration console called zManage. Users can pay for those technologies via perpetual licensing or monthly hardware-as-a-service fees.
“IT service providers with an understanding of WaaS/DaaS solutions will quickly realize the benefits that zClient, zOS, and zManage provide to CWS users,” said IndependenceIT CEO Seth Bostock in a press release. “In conjunction with our workspace automation software, Zella Technologies’ zero client solutions provide innovative options for connectivity to help users go beyond the limits of their office. We welcome the company as a technology development partner as the demand for these solutions intensifies.”
IndependenceIT added support for Windows Server 2016 and new automation options for Azure and Office 365 to CWS last week.
In the last of today’s three announcements, IndependenceIT partner and WaaS vendor CloudJumper, of Garner, N.C., disclosed that MainFrameIT LLC will offer a suite of services based on CloudJumper’s WaaS platform to North American SMBs.
Based in Princeton, N.J., MainFrameIT is a managed service provider and cloud service broker that sells Windows-based desktops, servers, and networks both directly to end users and through resellers. Under the agreement announced today, the company will now host its infrastructure on CloudJumper’s nWorkSpace solution.
“At the end of a rigorous evaluation process we selected nWorkSpace versus others, not only because of CloudJumper’s platform, but because of their proven experience in the WaaS space,” said James White, managing partner at MainFrameIT, in a prepared statement. “Since the platform is turnkey it provides the lowest overhead solution in the industry which translates to cost savings that we are able to pass on to clients. We fully expect MainFrameIT’s WaaS services to lead the company’s revenue generation efforts in 2017.”
This latest wave of WaaS-related news arrives at a time of rapid growth for cloud worskpaces. Transparency Market Research expects global spending on WaaS solutions to expand at 12.1 percent CAGR through 2022 to $18.3 billion.
