Any Language, Any Stack, Any Cloud: ActiveState Unveils Stackato 1.0, the Application Platform for Creating a Private PaaS

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwire - Feb 29, 2012) - ActiveState, whose software enables developers and enterprises to innovate from code to cloud, today announced the general availability of Stackato 1.0. Stackato is the application platform for creating a private platform-as-a-service (PaaS) using any language on any stack on any cloud. From the desktop to the datacenter, Stackato makes it easy to develop, deploy, migrate, scale, manage, and monitor applications on any cloud. Today's launch underscores Stackato's technology leadership in the private-PaaS space, and highlights how it solves real-world business challenges.

"This is a great day for developers and enterprises looking to the cloud," says ActiveState CEO Bart Copeland. "Stackato delivers on the promise of the cloud -- convenience, cost-efficiency -- with the security, control, and compliance the real-world enterprise demands."

With Stackato, developers can simulate a production environment on a local machine, code, test, and then launch an application to any cloud. Enterprise IT can achieve new levels of data security, reduce time to market, save money, ensure compliance, and gain greater control over the cloud.

Stackato supports three key functional objectives for developers and enterprises:

• Setup and Scale
  Create an auto-configuring private PaaS on top of a private cloud or IaaS in minutes
  
  
• Develop and Deploy
  Deploy new and migrate existing applications to the cloud in three simple steps
  
  
• Manage and Monitor
  Manage updates and upgrades, monitor application performance

Stackato's innovative features set it apart in the private-PaaS space:

• The web-based Management Console provides comprehensive administrative control
• The new app store offers a one-stop shop for easy install of common applications
• Persistent file system service enables compatibility with applications like Drupal
• Performance monitoring technology from New Relic delivers application management visibility

"Stackato is about freedom, control, and ROI," continues Copeland. "Developers have the freedom to work with multiple stacks; use the best-suited tools; configure, test, and deploy faster; and ultimately build more apps. IT managers get control: They can create new apps and migrate existing ones; eliminate the risks of data silos or rogue clouds; ensure tighter security and compliance; and deploy to the cloud model that's right for their enterprise, whether that cloud is public, private, or a hybrid of both. And CIOs get return on investment: More-efficient private-PaaS app development means shorter time-to-market and better use of resources. Stackato offers an escape from vendor lock-in. And ultimately, lower costs."

For the developer, a new cloud paradigm
"Stackato changes the way development teams produce cloud applications," notes Jeff Hobbs, ActiveState VP of Engineering and CTO. "Its support for multiple languages and stacks means engineering can truly 'develop anywhere and deploy anywhere.' Devs code in the language that's best for them and best for their enterprise."

Hobbs credits ActiveState's broad developer network for helping to perfect Stackato: "Our engineering work has always benefitted -- and will to continue to benefit -- from the valuable contributions of our advocates in the developer community. Stackato is a better product because of their input."

For enterprise IT, a secure, compliant, private path to the cloud
Stackato leverages proprietary containerization technology that enables easy, fast, and safe migration of legacy applications to the cloud, with little or no application customization required. That same technology lets Stackato put control of data back in the hands of its owners, enabling IT management greater oversight of cloud applications, whether those applications are launched on-premise or to a public infrastructure. And that means greater security, privacy, and compliance.

Partners cite application deployment speed, security, flexibility
"We've been working with Stackato for several months now," says Appsembler CEO Nate Aune, "and we've been able to focus our development on Appsembler's core competencies and service, while relying on Stackato as the underlying technology to power our site. We are excited to continue working with ActiveState as we launch our new Appsembler service to bring our vision to life: enabling developers to deploy Python applications to the cloud faster than ever with one click and provide a marketplace to sell their applications."

"ActiveState makes an excellent partner for us," notes Colin Humphreys, Director of Technology for Carrenza. "Our business has transitioned from hosting to IaaS, and we now offer more PaaS services for our enterprise clients. Stackato is an ideal solution that lets us create reproducible custom environments for our clients' multitude of applications in our secure, elastic cloud. It enables our staff to focus on providing the service, performance, and up-time that our clients' high-traffic enterprise sites demand, while leaving the application deployment, upgrading, and monitoring to Stackato. ActiveState's close partnership with VMware gives us an end-to-end solution with the power of open source backed by leading vendors."

Pricing and Availability: Stackato Enterprise, Micro Cloud, Sandbox, and AMI
Stackato is available in Enterprise, Micro Cloud, and Sandbox editions. Stackato Enterprise is priced per VM per year: To learn more about how Stackato Enterprise can help your business, contact the ActiveState Stackato sales team at stackato-sales@activestate.com.

The Stackato Micro Cloud is available free for use in single node on a desktop client. In addition, Stackato is also available as a free 45-day trial running on the Stackato Sandbox service. Learn more and download the free Stackato Micro Cloud at http://www.activestate.com/stackato.

Stackato is also available as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI): Users can set up a private PaaS in Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) without having to download a virtual machine of Stackato. For more information about Stackato on Amazon EC2, visit http://www.activestate.com/stackato.

About ActiveState
ActiveState empowers innovation from code to cloud smarter, safer, and faster. ActiveState's cutting-edge solutions give developers and enterprises the power and flexibility to develop in Java, Ruby, Python, Perl, Node.js, PHP, Tcl, and more. Stackato is ActiveState's groundbreaking application platform for creating a private platform as a service (PaaS), and is the cost-effective, secure, and portable way to develop and deploy apps to the cloud. ActiveState is proven for the enterprise: More than two million developers and 97% of Fortune-1000 companies use ActiveState's end-to-end solutions to develop, distribute, and manage their software applications. Global customers like Cisco, CA, HP, Bank of America, Siemens, and Lockheed Martin look to ActiveState to save time, save money, minimize risk, ensure compliance, and reduce time to market.