CBTS, a leading provider of data center and managed services, in partnership with Virtual Blocks Inc., announced today the national launch of a new utility computing service allowing customers to provision and manage virtual Windows^® and Linux servers in a cloud computing environment. The service is branded as the CBTS “Virtual Data Center.” CBTS is a division of Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB).

CBTS customers are able to provision virtual servers through a standard Web portal, specifying CPU, disk, memory, and operating system requirements. Servers are available for use within minutes, allocated from within a large resource pool consisting of Sun AMD Servers, Nortel and Cisco Network Switches, and NetApp SAN Disk that are securely housed in one of the CBTS Tier 3 data centers. Network access is via Internet, VPN or MPLS service.

“More and more customers are requesting cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS) capabilities,” said John Burns, president of CBTS. “As a trusted technology adviser to our customers, CBTS is dedicated to bringing new and innovative solutions to market. The Virtual Data Center unifies our resource pool of secure data centers, scalable computing and networking equipment, and advanced solution development to provide cost savings and competitive advantage to CBTS clients.”

CBTS selected Virtual Blocks, a division of Commerx Computer Systems Inc., as its partner for the initiative. Commerx has developed a business “wrapper” around VMware Virtual Center that enables a standard virtualization environment to function without the usual IT operator intervention and management.

“Processor speed continues to double each year while in-house server utilization rates continue to fall; the average Windows server is running at less than 10 percent capacity,” according to Virtual Blocks President Stuart Levinsky.

The CBTS Virtual Data Center has been in pilot since early June, and the service will be in full production by Nov. 1. Development plans include service enhancements enabling quicker access to emerging virtual appliances, end-user initiated disaster recovery setup and testing, and dedicated virtual hosting options. For more information about the Virtual Data Center, call CBTS at 866.355.5287.