German-based start-up ASCAMSO just started the public beta for its cloud service procurement platform of the same name. The new service measures the actual availability and performance of Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud services in real time and links the results with expert reviews of other service features to generate individual, use case-based ratings. Buyers of cloud services can thus now truly benchmark IaaS prices relative to the business benefit they might get from the services. Previously, this was either impossible or involved substantial additional cost. "The cloud services market is opaque; it's a so-called 'lemon market'," explains ASCAMSO founder and managing director Jan Thielscher. "Prices refer only to how the services are supposed to perform, which under regular operating conditions is not always achieved. This can pose a significant risk to service consumers, depending on the application for which they use the service. ASCAMSO enables IT to precisely assess this risk, for the first time."
Until now, prospective cloud service buyers faced with similar rankings had to either simply trust the service provider's promises or consult often expensive market reports by independent analysts that tend to be more general in nature. Many IT managers did both or started big tender and selection procedures to determine the most suitable service provider. But these methods can take weeks or even months and generate considerable costs, without actually yielding an accurate risk assessment.
ASCAMSO: True comparability at your fingertips
This is precisely where ASCAMSO comes in: its platform creates application-based comparability extremely quickly. The ASCAMSO interface leads users through the process of needs assessment and describing the use case on to a performance comparison with service provider "short-list" before generating a concluding price comparison showing the best-value service based on the needs specified. The whole thing is so easy to navigate that even users with modest IT knowledge can quickly arrive at a cloud service procurement decision.
The technical basis for the functionality is a web service that hires virtual resources from IaaS providers and then installs testing software called "satellites" on these. These simulate configurable usage patterns, measure actual availability and performance of the respective service and then display the corresponding results in a dashboard. The platform also references service provider evaluations obtained by ASCAMSO specialists in extensive testing. These include hundreds of evaluation scores on such characteristics as IT security, data protection and sustainability. ASCAMSO makes the measurement tools available publicly on the internet for viewing.
Benefits for service consumers and providers
The platform helps service consumers select and purchase cloud services, saving time and money while reducing risk, but service providers benefit from ASCAMSO as well. Because the platform highlights service performance, service providers now can to market themselves on such features as high actual availability or performance, outstanding IT security, offering the best data protection or low over-provisioning confirmed by ASCAMSO – instead of just selling on price.
Jan Thielscher: "Our platform allows more specialised small and medium-sized service providers to break out of the constricting price war situation. There is definitely a demand for services with specialised performance characteristics, but in the past, no compelling offerings for these were marketed. That is going to change with ASCAMSO."
