CloudShare

CloudShare is a cloud computing provider which enables users to create, replicate and share fully functional IT environments in the Cloud.^[1] The company (formerly IT Structures)^[2][3] was founded in January 2007 in Israel and is now headquartered in San Mateo, California. In December 2009, CloudShare closed its Series B round of funding, receiving $10MM from Sequoia Capital, Charles River Ventures, and Gemini Capital, bringing total venture capital funding to $16MM.^[4][5][6]

Products and Offerings

CloudShare combines aspects of virtualization, cloud computing^[7] and web conferencing to offer a software as a service (Saas) solution for delivering IT to colleagues, clients, customers and partners.^[8] Similar to virtual lab automation, CloudShare makes full-featured virtual enterprise environments available online and on-demand. This has a variety of applications including developing and testing,^[9] pre-sales demos,^[10] proofs-of-concept, evaluations, technical training, development and certification of hardware or software and channel enablement.^[11][12]

Customers can create multi-machine IT environments in the cloud^[13] or upload existing virtual machines.^[14] CloudShare supports leading hypervisors (VMWare, Xen) and operating systems (Windows 7, Ubuntu), and provides 18 templates for new machines with operating systems and even software (such as Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Microsoft Office 2010 or Ruby on Rails) preinstalled.^[15][16]

Created environments can consist of a single virtual machine or multiple networked machines and are able to operate seamlessly with the user’s physical PC or workstation.^[17] These environments can then be saved, replicated and shared with additional users who are free to interact with their own independent replica (or “snapshot”) as they would like – install software, access the Internet, save or download files etc.

There are two products currently offered by CloudShare:

• CloudShare ProPlus is the single user version of the CloudShare platform designed for individual users and small teams of developers, solution integrators and IT professionals to share simple, multi-VM environments for a variety of uses. It includes preinstalled templates (such as Windows and Linux operating systems, SharePoint 2010, Oracle 11g and others), but is limited to one environment (up to six virtual machines) and has restrictions on computing power. Storage, networking, bandwidth and CPU usage are included.^[18]

• CloudShare Enterprise is designed for enterprise-grade applications such as development and testing, virtual training, presales demos, proof of concepts, technical evaluations, and other IT functions. More robust and offering greater compute power and storage, as well as unlimited machines and sharing, CloudShare Enterprise also includes:
  • a user management dashboard with analytics tools
  • multiple user hierarchies, roles and privileges
  • customer branding
  • user-interface customization
  • integration with Salesforce.com^[19]

History

CloudShare was founded in Tel Aviv, Israel in January 2007 by Avner Rosenan, Ophir Kra-Oz and Zvi Guterman, The company was originally named IT Structures. In 2009, CloudShare moved its headquarters to San Mateo, California.^[20]

Customers and Competitors

Key CloudShare customers:^[21]

• • Cisco
  • Websense
  • SAP
  • VMWare
  • Alcatel-Lucent
  • McAfee

Potential competitors:

• • Amazon AWS
  • Hatsize
  • MadeiraCloud
  • ReadyTech
  • Skytap
  • StandingCloud
  • RightScale
  • SoftwareDEMO
  • Surgient

Management Team

CloudShare’s management team comes from Check Point,^[22] VMWare and GE.^[23]

References

1. ↑ http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/15/cloudshare-launches-lightweight-version-of-software-deployment-platform/
2. ↑ http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Cloud-Computing/Startup-IT-Structures-Builds-Virtual-IT-Environments-688891/
3. ↑ http://startupmania.net/2009/12/14/cloudshare/
4. ↑ http://thenextweb.com/2009/12/12/startup-funding-roundup-emo-labs-cloudshare-51-land-cash/
5. ↑ http://virtualization.com/news/2009/12/17/cloudshare-abandons-stealth-mode-with-10m-in-vc-funding/
6. ↑ http://www.sequoiacap.com/israel/cloudshare
7. ↑ http://features.techworld.com/virtualisation/3213879/cloud-virtualisation-wasting-it-resources/
8. ↑ http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/06/14/cloudshare-throw-your-infrastructure-into-the-cloud/
9. ↑ http://www.sptechweb.com/link/35246
10. ↑ http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2009/11/03/14354/
11. ↑ http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/node/1440557
12. ↑ http://www.crn.com/software/223101597;jsessionid=EOZC3CHELHABRQE1GHRSKH4ATMY32JVN
13. ↑ http://www.ebizq.net/topics/cloud_computing/features/11898.html
14. ↑ http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Virtualization/CloudShare-FastUpload-Will-Ease-Moving-VMs-to-the-Cloud-406760/
15. ↑ http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/products/?p=1366
16. ↑ http://www.sptechweb.com/link/35246
17. ↑ http://www.ondemandbeat.com/2010/03/12/cloudshare-democratizes-the-cloud/
18. ↑ http://bx.businessweek.com/technology-for-smbs/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Fc.moreover.com%2Fclick%2Fhere.pl%3Fr4022898755%26f%3D9791
19. ↑ http://sites.force.com/appexchange/listingDetail?listingId=a0N30000001qExdEAE
20. ↑ http://www.calcalist.co.il/internet/articles/0,7340,L-3388854,00.html
21. ↑ http://www.cloudshare.com/Customers/customer_list.aspx
22. ↑ http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=50133199&privcapId=48853180&previousCapId=20613&previousTitle=Gemini%20Israel%20Funds
23. ↑ http://www.crunchbase.com/company/cloudshare