OS33 powers new LevelCloud offerings

Managed services provider LevelCloud has turned to software developer OS33 to add a cloud component to the IT services it already provides to small and mid-sized enterprises.

OS33’s platform, which the vendor describes as “IT-as-a-service,” lets the provider give its enterprise customers web-based desktop (or “webtop”) access to cloud-based apps and offers more flexibility that other solutions LevelCloud considered, said Biren Shukla, president and CEO of LevelCloud.

“OS33’s platform is a fresh approach because it’s gadget-based,” Shukla said. “You can provide access to all the different gadgets on the web browser, and it’s all customizable.”

The OS33 software also frees up LevelCloud—which has been providing managed services for six years—to offer cloud-based applications in any geographic region, Shukla said. “For companies that have employees all over, having everyone on the same platform makes a lot of sense,” he said.

OS33’s platform also has been around for about six years, said Paul Angelides, the company’s director of marketing. The solution was developed by OS33’s president, Jacob Kazakevich, when he was at External IT, a managed services provider Kazakevich co-founded in 2002.

“The technology has been battle-tested with tens of thousands of users,” Angelides said. “It enables MSPs to get quickly into cloud services.”

OS33’s platform lets managed service providers mix and match resources from any public or private cloud and convert storage, CPU and RAM applications. It also provides a single interface for providers to provision servers, publish applications, select from a catalog of pre-integrated business software, activate third-party software offerings and manage permissions.

LevelCloud’s aim is to make it easy for enterprises to ease into using the cloud services it is serving up, Shukla said.

“If I engage a company and they have existing investments in Google Apps, for example, I’m not going to force them to change,” he said. “I will integrate Google Apps right into the OS33 platform, and take all the complexity out of it.”

By providing the infrastructure and connectivity and any additional applications businesses need, LevelCloud can shift the risk for the business owner and simultaneously lower operating expenses, Shukla said.

“All we need to do is go to the company, take their apps and integrate them to LevelCloud,” he said. “IT has become a utility: you’re now only paying for what you use, and everything is easily accessible from a web browser.”