A local software firm is attracting global customers for its cloud-computing services.
Minneapolis-based
enStratus helps companies manage their cloud-computing activities.
Cloud computing is a term for using data or applications that are stored online rather than on a desktop computer's hard drive.
"In 2010, what we've done is managed to become a global business," says George Reese, the company's founder and chief technology officer. And he has numbers to back it up.
As of mid-August, 80 percent of the company's new customers this year have been from outside of the United States. A year ago, enStratus didn't have any non-domestic customers.
The company handles everything from accounting to security for companies that buy cloud-computing resources from companies like Amazon, Google or Rackspace.
Its uptick in global customers coincides with the introduction of multi-currency financial support; enStratus' product can convert and track a company's spending whether it's in dollars, euros, or another unit.
With its new global customer base, enStratus announced this week that it's adding a couple of internationally known cloud-computing experts to its board of advisors:
James Urquhart is a senior market strategist for cloud computing at Cisco and author of a respected CNET blog,
The Wisdom of Clouds. He's also a Macalester grad and former Twin Cities resident.
Simon Wardley is a researcher for CSC's Leading Edge Forum and an international speaker on the commoditizing of IT, utility computing, fabrication technologies, and the open-source movement.
Source: George Reese, enStratus
Writer:
Dan Haugen