Elkie Holland has an audience with Mark Pick, founder of PickCloud Inc to chat about MultiValue DBaas and the partnership with Martin Phillips, Technical Director of Ladybridge Systems Ltd, to find out more about the recent MultiValue DBaaS offering that has been launched.
Q. Could you tell me exactly what MultiValue DBaaS is?
A. Database-as-a-service (DBaaS) is defined as an on demand cloud computing service model that provides users with some form of access to a database without the need for setting up physical hardware, installing software or configuring for performance. All the administrative tasks and maintenance are taken care of by Pick Cloud so all that the end user or application owner needs to do is use the database. MultiValue DBaaS just indicates the type of database being used. In this case the actual database is OpenQM.
Software as a Service is a
widely used term and considered as the nomenclature for cloud computing, as
well as infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS),
desktop as a service (DaaS), backend as a service (BaaS), and information
technology management as a service (ITMaaS).
Q. How did the partnership between Pick Cloud Inc. and Ladybridge Systems Ltd come about - especially when you aren’t even on the same continent?
A. We recognized that Ladybridge Systems has the same forward thinking mindset and saw a synergy between the two companies. Ladybridge’s motto is “taking MultiValue where it has never been before.” Pick Cloud’s mission has always been about rejuvenating and preserving MultiValue. This made the partnership between the two perfect.
Q. $15 per seat per month seems very good value. Is it that Pick Cloud sell in the USA and Ladybridge sell in the UK?
A. Currently the OpenQM DBaaS model is sold exclusively by Pick Cloud, Inc. in the North American market (USA, Canada and Mexico). Look for multi country offerings soon.
Q. This seems very cost effective for the small businesses with low users but at what point does it start to not be as financially viable?
A. Pricing is relative, whether you have 20 users or 2,000 you have a budgeted cost for software and hardware maintenance. Cloud computing is economical and beneficial for companies of any size or budget. Compared to an average list cost of $549 per license and annual software maintenance, this pricing model proves to be very cost effective for companies of any size. There are also many benefits to cloud computing including but not limited to:
- Reduced CapEx. Expensive hardware costs formerly taken as a
capital expenditures over time can now be recognized monthly and in full as an
operating expense or OpEx and can be deducted in the current tax year.
- Saving money by minimizing capital expenditures and other
upfront costs
- Spend less of your budget on hardware, power, maintenance and
administration
- Stay ahead of the technology curve. You don’t have to worry
about refreshing out of date capital equipment. Maintenance and upgrade costs
are part of a single monthly fee, so your spend is predictable and manageable.
- 24x7 availability and access from anywhere
- 14-day file-save tape rotation
- Highest level of Internet security available.
- And more!
Q. Are you offering bulk discount?
A. Yes, when 25 or more virtual machines (VMs) are ordered at one time, that would qualify for our discounted rate.
Q. What backbone and sort of back up facilities are in place?
A. We have access to numerous high density datacenters in every US time zone where we can host the primary system in one place and a secondary back up system in another location. This coupled with OpenQM’s inherent failover features allows for 99.999% uptime. This equates to approximately five minutes of downtime per year.
Q. Are you giving away any free Developer licenses to get people developing on this new platform in your Pick Cloud?
A. Absolutely! OpenQM developer licenses are already free of charge and we offer a free 30-day trial.
Q. How easy is it for someone to cross over from another MultiValue platform and learn to program in this MultiValue dialect?
A. Once someone knows how to program in PICK the difference between programming in other flavors is minimal.
Q. Could a system currently written in Universe or Reality easily move to DBaaS to become a cost efficient option for gaining sales with smaller businesses?
A. The migration effort would be broadly similar with any PICK flavour but the total cost of ownership of the database would be massively reduced. We offer help with the migration if the need arises.
Q. Where / what sort of companies are you aiming at with this offering?
A. Small to medium businesses (SMBs) are the ones who can really take advantage of this offering. Since Pick Cloud would be taking over the management of their Pick hardware, software and database, they are able to focus on their business and innovation, not their IT.
Q. When exactly was this launched?
A. The OpenQM DBaaS initiative was launched in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Q. Any existing success stories?
A. Since this offering is fairly new, we don’t have any DBaaS success stories as of yet. We have several companies in the trial phase and currently have companies who are hosting their MultiValue applications in Pick Cloud.
