Zoho delivers apps in private cloud

Online productivity apps provider Zoho has teamed up with VMware to offer customers with VMware environments the opportunity to run Zoho apps in their own datacentres with minimal disruption.

Zoho explained that most of its customers access the online applications that are running in Zoho’s own datcentres, but larger enterprises sometimes want to run Zoho behind the firewall.

Until now, Zoho has offered these customers “applications delivered as appliances” via racks of servers that were the exact replica of those running in Zoho datacentres.

The new VMware vSphere 4-based solution will minimise the hardware limitations of the Zoho rack, said the firm.

“Previously, we offered those customers a single hardware configuration,” said Zoho chief executive Sridhar Vembu.

“This new relationship enables us to deliver solutions that help customers build internal SaaS clouds with Zoho applications, leveraging the VMware platforms that they are already using.”

By running their Zoho applications behind the firewall as an internal cloud, firms will be able to allay any data security concerns and integrate more easily with their existing applications, the online productivity specialist said.