Building Off SovLabs, CloudBolt Introduces OneFuse Integration Platform

Less than two months after the cloud management vendor bought SovLabs, it released a codeless, policy-based integration offering that extends the startup’s technology beyond the VMware ecosystem to Kubernetes and Terraform.

Less than two months after buying SovLabs, CloudBolt has introduced a comprehensive integration platform that extends SovLabs’ technology beyond VMware.

CloudBolt, based in North Bethesda, Md., is one of many companies vying for a lead in one of the hottest and most open enterprise technology markets.

The company founded in 2012 has solved major enterprise challenges around cloud management, cost optimization, provisioning and governance, said CEO Jeff Kukowski, who stepped into the top job three months ago.

SovLabs, purchased on June 2, provided the final technological piece of the puzzle: simplified integration of popular DevOps tools with all the components of hybrid cloud infrastructure, Kukowski told CRN.

[Related: Managing Multiple Clouds Still Challenged By Lack Of Comprehensive Management Platforms]

“Our move acquiring Sov[Labs] was all about meeting customers where they are in their hybrid journeys,” Kukowski said.

SovLabs, founded in 2017, rose fast in the VMware ecosystem with a codeless framework for integrating vRealize Automation—VMware’s infrastructure automation platform used by some 5,000 customers—across all IT infrastructure, Kukowski said.

The startup was named a VMware Technical Alliance Partner of the Year, and rapidly built a base of enterprise customers looking to extend vRealize Automation without writing any code, he said.

“SovLabs could come in and in weeks get customers up and running,” Kukowski said, when custom integration methods would often take months.

But CloudBolt customers use infrastructure automation tools beyond vRealize Automation, he said.

To meet their needs, CloudBolt has extended SovLabs’ capabilities to HashiCorp’s Terraform and Kubernetes as part of a comprehensive integration layer called OneFuse.

“Companies are struggling with putting governance around Kubernetes clusters and workloads,” he said. “Same with Terraform.”

OneFuse enables enterprises to more easily connect those popular DevOps technologies to cloud backup systems, load balancers, networking tools and other critical infrastructure components.

“We’re bringing that software-defined approach to OneFuse so engineers don’t have to code those integrations,” Kukowski said. “We are doing what we did for [vRealize Automation] for other technologies.”

CloudBolt now has more than 30 go-to-market partners, and the “channel plays a big role in what we do,” Kukowski said.

OneFuse will benefit those partners that focus on VMware’s technology, as it helps them shift customers from vRealize Automation 7 to 8—the latest major release incorporating container-based microservices.

That “big replatforming” of vRealize Automation customers is a huge opportunity for CloudBolt’s channel partners to use its management and visibility tools to add value, he said.

Following the introduction of OneFuse, CloudBolt Wednesday made generally available CloudBolt 9.4, which introduces new features including integration with the ServiceNow Configuration Management Database and data protection choices for Cohesity and Rubrik.