Quest Software, Inc.  today announced the release of Quest Cloud Automation Platform 7.5, the next generation of enterprise-class cloud automation and management technology. Featuring patented technology, the platform enables organizations to efficiently manage and deliver complex IT services across the enterprise, while maximizing their investment in virtual and physical infrastructures. When combined with the overall Quest virtualization management portfolio, the Quest Cloud Automation Platform offers a truly comprehensive, enterprise-class solution for deploying and automating infrastructure as a service private clouds.

In conjunction with the release of Cloud Automation Platform 7.5, Quest Software will host a webcast Dec. 8, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time — Essential Guidance for Successful Private Clouds. The webcast features guest speaker Mary Johnston Turner, research director for systems management software at IDC. This practical webcast highlights key trends, proven best practices, and multiple examples of successfully-implemented private clouds.

Register for this live online event.

"More and more enterprise IT decision-makers rank developing and implementing private cloud strategies as one of their top priorities,” Turner said. “They are looking for policy-based automation and self service capabilities to increase operational efficiency and to help tame the data center complexity created by rapid increases in production use of virtualization. With this new release, Quest Software is extending its portfolio to specifically address these important requirements.”

“With the Quest Cloud Automation Platform, we were able to quickly deploy and efficiently manage our hybrid cloud for software development, quality assurance, support, training and demonstrations,” said Bill Keese, senior vice president, Research and Development at QAD, Inc (Nasdaq: QADI). “At the same time, we have dramatically reduced capital and operating expenses in our data center while improving our business agility. These capabilities are possible because we now have a robust, infrastructure cloud that can be shared across the entire company, our customers and partners.”

The Quest Cloud Automation Platform assumes the presence of virtual infrastructure from either VMware or Microsoft, and seamlessly allows combinations of both in a single private cloud. In addition, the Cloud Automation Platform integrates with physical provisioning and automation solutions from leading technology providers such as HP and Symantec. Finally, the platform provides a self-service portal backed by automated service delivery and recovery, as well as just-in-time, user-centric services that can be scaled easily.

Quest Cloud Automation Platform 7.5 Features:

• Instant Cloud Insight with the Cloud Capacity Management Dashboard: Interactive graphical views of pooled infrastructure enable cloud administrators to easily manage cloud capacity and resource allocation.
• Self-Service-Enabled, Policy-Based Virtual Machine Migration: New graphical interface enables administrators to safely manage migration recommendations from performance management tools (i.e. VMware vMotion™, DRS, DPM) while maintaining the integrity of a true self-service cloud.
• In-Depth System Utilization Reporting with Chargeback Support: Fully re-designed reporting solution supports multiple chargeback methodologies and provides comprehensive data for inclusion in third-party business intelligence tools.
• Enterprise Deployment Modes: New persistent and debug deployment modes enable long-running deployments and ease the development of new IT services.

“In addition to these key features, the Quest Cloud Automation Platform also automates the delivery of complex IT services and the reclamation of unused infrastructures,” said Steve Stover, senior director of product management, Quest Virtualization Management. “The technology also dynamically manages resources, and provisions shared infrastructure while guaranteeing required capacity. And by providing a secure, multi-tenanted shared infrastructure, the platform also supports data separation and privacy.”

Availability

Quest Cloud Automation Platform 7.5 is currently available. Visit www.quest.com/cloudautomation for more information.