Etelos Introduces Virtual Server Environments

Etelos has an interesting announcement today that is supposed to make life easier for many web application developers and business owners relying on web applications in their work. The newly announced virtual environment is basically an on-demand virtual server that absolutely anyone with a web application (be it a developer or a business owner) can use for deployment instead of a traditional server deployment.

The new offer from Etelos is supposed to reduce hosting and deployment expenses and to eliminate hassle involved in the server set up and maintenance. Besides, an important factor is that it does not even matter what language the application is written on - be it Django, Ruby on Rails, .Net, Java, or LAMP - Etelos has applicable environments for them anyway.

The new virtual environment can be purchased via Etelos Marketplace where business owners can purchase all types of web-based business applications from developers that use Etelos marketplace as a platform for distribution of their applications. Starting today anyone will be able to add a virtual server to the cart and have an application deployed using one of Etelos’ virtual environment options. I think the solution will mostly be useful for companies that are looking to cut their IT expenses by purchasing various CRM or accounting applications (or whatever else they may need) and having them deployed using Etelos virtual environment instead of a traditional server. Pricing varies in the range from $8 to $240 per month depending on the server configuration.

Of course we will have to wait for some feedback from developers or business owners to see how good the environment is and how it meets real-life requirements and expectations of web apps developers and users. But in general this idea looks like it has a chance of bringing a new level of comfort to lives of those relying on web applications in their work. But it seems to me that there is one negative factor: those businesses that already know what the terms SaaS and PaaS mean and how they could benefit from organizing their work in the cloud may at the same time be clever enough to handle a traditional hosting for any application they may need. To the contrary, those businesses that may be willing to pay someone to eliminate the hassle involved in hosting, probably still stick to traditional software installed on desktops and corporate networks.