Making the most of the memory and processing capacity of networked servers around the world, Cloud computing means real freedom for users, giving them unprecedented access to real computing power on demand. But organisations also demand very high levels of service delivery, and easy integration with the rest of their IT, as well as appropriate support for their needs.

With Cloud Maker, Agarik - Bull's specialist hosting subsidiary - has created a tailored solution that perfectly matches IT Managers' needs. Cloud Maker is different from typical mass-market cloud solutions because it offers:

• A simple, on-line purchasing facility, which allows customers to easily define their power and services requirements
• A complete range of operational services
• Microsoft/Linux interoperability
• High performance guarantees for Web operations.

Cloud Maker provides a comprehensive range of services applied to a low-cost hosting solution:

• Real-time system supervision
• Access to a customer interface enabling real-time monitoring of platform operation (metrology)
• And day-to-day support, provided by a dedicated team of technical experts.

Bull Agarik has joined forces with Microsoft and NetApp to create an interoperable, high-performance Cloud.

Cloud Maker uses Microsoft's Hyper-V hypervisor for operating system virtualization, for both Linux and Windows. Alfonso Castro, Director of Interoperability Strategy at Microsoft France commented: "The launch of Cloud Maker is a clear demonstration of our pro-active approach to interoperability. Above all, the use of Hyper-V on this very large-scale project ensures an inherently high level of scalability."