Savvis – Hybrid Clouds

Enabling public/private hybrid Cloud with Cloud Gateways

Savvis is a global leader in enterprise-level Cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions. Saavis helps its customers lower costs and improve service levels by harnessing the latest advances in Cloud computing. With the launch of its Symphony Virtual Private Data Center (VPDC) offering, the company began using APIs to expose select middleware functions to customers.

The Challenge
The Symphony VPDC APIs simplify the process of creating hybrid public/private Cloud deployments.  However, publishing these APIs creates a number of challenges for Savvis:

• APIs must be adaptable to differing customer needs
• The API lifecycle must be managed to maintain service levels
• APIs must be secured against malicious attacks and accidental misuse

The Solution
Savvis deployed Layer 7’s CloudSpan CloudControl Gateway as an API Proxy. The Gateway’s SOA-based functionality allowed Savvis to:

• Accommodate different API consumers with different credential types
• Simplify stable API versioning and maintain service levels
• Secure APIs against attack and unauthorized access

The Results
By allowing Savvis to deliver APIs in a secure and stable manner, CloudControl has empowered the company to deliver a streamlined solution for creating hybrid public/private Cloud deployments. This has proved to be a key differentiating factor for Savvis in an increasingly competitive market space.