Phurnace Provides "On-Ramp" to Move Customer-Facing Applications to the Amazon Cloud

Ixion Helps First SMB Migrate IBM WebSphere Portal® to the Cloud

Austin, TX (PRWEB) May 5, 2009 -- Phurnace Software, Inc., the Java application deployment company, today announced it has successfully deployed a production instance of IBM WebSphere Portal software into the Amazon Elastic Cloud (Amazon EC2). Now available through the Amazon Web Services (AWS) solutions catalog, Phurnace is providing an easy on-ramp for companies to quickly deploy J2EE applications into physical, virtual or cloud computing environments.

Last month, Quintana Capital Group, a private equity firm, turned to Phurnace and Ixion, LLC, an IBM premier systems integrator, to move their extranet portal to the cloud. Used to facilitate communication with investors, this IBM WebSphere Portal is a critical business application that must be accessible to the community at all times. Ixion conducted the migration using Phurnace Deliver™, the company's flagship automation solution, to replace the manual scripting that would have been necessary to configure Quintana's application servers. The migration process was seamless and now Ixion will utilize Phurnace Deliver for all future updates and additions to the portal cloud instance.

"While cloud computing offers numerous positive opportunities for IT organizations, some prefer help with initial deployment and subsequent updates," said Steven Gerhardt, vice president of business development at Ixion, LLC. "Phurnace makes cloud computing even more accessible for organizations whose business-critical applications require frequent updates, like the ones we are building on IBM WebSphere Portal. Together, Phurnace and Ixion provide an added option to companies who want help plugging into the cloud."

Phurnace Deliver automates the deployment of applications into web application servers and portal containers, which decreases errors and streamlines deployments. With Phurnace, it does not matter whether the deployment goes into an on-site server or directly into virtual images running in the cloud.

"We're pleased that Phurnace can leverage Amazon Web Services to further enable Java application deployments to customers," said Terry Wise, Director of Business Development for Amazon Web Services. "Tools like Phurnace Deliver provide added options for enterprises of all sizes looking to access the benefits of the on demand power of the cloud."

IBM and Amazon Web Services recently announced the ability to use Amazon EC2 to build and run a range of IBM platform technologies, including WebSphere and WebSphere Portal. Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) can create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) containing their portal and then leverage Phurnace to upload the AMI into the cloud.

"Amazon Web Services has been a great resource for developers, and now with our AMIs and tools like Phurnace that ease deployment, we are proving it can also be a great resource for SMBs," said Dave Mitchell, director of strategy and emerging business in the IBM Software Group. "We're committed to making it as easy as possible for our customers to take their existing WebSphere portal licenses and move them to the cloud."

SMBs are a key target for cloud computing vendors, but often lack the in-house resources and skill sets to handle cloud solution migrations on their own. Phurnace makes it viable for SMBs to use the cloud not just for development and testing, but for real business applications.

"We support all of the major brands of web application servers in any environment, allowing customers to use Phurnace to eliminate scripts and deploy applications to physical, virtual and cloud computing targets," said Larry Warnock, president and CEO of Phurnace. "Amazon Web Services provide great tools for customers and will be an important part of our long-term business strategy."

About Phurnace Software, Inc.

Phurnace software helps companies drive revenue and dramatically reduce cost by accelerating the deployment of business critical applications into physical environments, virtual images or to cloud computing providers. Leveraging patent-pending technology, Phurnace automates web application deployments - from installation to deployment to upgrades - eliminating manual, error-prone processes and delivering tangible ROI within weeks. Based in Austin, Texas, Phurnace is funded by S3Ventures, DFJ Mercury and other private investors. www.phurnace.com.

About Ixion, LLC

Ixion, L.L.C., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an IBM Premier Business Partner specializing in the design and implementation of advanced IBM software solutions. Since its founding in 2000, Ixion has helped hundreds of customers deploy strategic business solutions that leverage IBM WebSphere and Portal application software technology. For more information, please visit www.ixiononline.com.

Phurnace and the Phurnace flame logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Phurnace Software, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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