Capgemini announces SkySight - a next generation cloud orchestration service

SkySight will implement hybrid cloud environments using core Microsoft cloud technologies including Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012 and Windows Azure. It will include a portfolio of cloud-based application and infrastructure services through the SkySight Enterprise Applications Store. This portfolio will include Microsoft SharePoint, messaging, collaboration, Microsoft Lync, testing platforms, high performance computing platforms, compute capacity, and storage capacity.

SkySight will be made available initially, by the end of September, in the UK, the Netherlands, France, offering public, private and hybrid cloud environments. It will also be available by the end of September in North America for clients using public cloud only. In addition, SkySight will provide services and tools to help independent software vendors take full advantage of its delivery platform.

By using SkySight, Capgemini Group’s clients will benefit from user-friendly access to this broad portfolio of services that can be rapidly deployed in hours rather than months, where and when needed, regardless of capacity model (e.g. public/hybrid/private). With SkySight, organizations can adopt these next generation services at their own pace alongside legacy services that can be run in parallel.

SkySight implementations will be hosted within Capgemini data centers, which helps to address data sovereignty concerns of its clients. These can also be deployed on client premises if required. The Capgemini-developed cloud orchestration service simplifies a customer’s cloud experience by providing valuable oversight, process automation and control of cloud services, as it integrates cumbersome Business Process tasks and functions such as configuration, billing, metering, performance monitoring, provisioning, security and data compliance. Importantly, SkySight will help companies speed up time to market, reduce cost through pay-per use pricing, and replace capital expenditure outlays with consumption-based charges.

Paul Hermelin, Chairman and CEO of Capgemini Group said: “SkySight is the culmination of our strong global strategic alliance with Microsoft. We know our clients are investing significantly in digital technologies to achieve lower-cost business services, capable of supporting rapid change and innovative development. They are telling us that they are being held back by a lack of maturity in the tools and services available to integrate and manage this expanding range of new assets. Leveraging Microsoft’s technologies, SkySight offers the first truly end-to-end platform for managing, acquiring and developing cloud services, alongside legacy investments. It allows enterprises to leverage the cloud on their own terms, whether through private, hybrid or public environments.”

Mark Hill, Vice President, Enterprise Partners at Microsoft adds:“Microsoft and Capgemini recognize and embrace the hybrid cloud, enabling companies to consume the public cloud as they need it, while continuing to benefit from their on-premises infrastructure. Built on the foundation of Windows, Capgemini’s SkySight solution spans on-premises infrastructure with Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 and will also extend to Windows Azure public cloud services. Few companies have Capgemini’s multi-partner track record, strong industry expertise, and deep integration skills with Microsoft’s best-of-breed technology. Even fewer have the know-how to create enterprise-worthy solutions like SkySight.”

Capgemini’s launch of SkySight is in line with its overarching “Simply. Business Cloud” approach, which sees simplicity and business involvement as central to generating organization-wide benefits of cost-effectiveness, speed to market and flexibility from the cloud. Cloud is a ubiquitous design principle underpinning Capgemini’s entire end-to-end portfolio of solutions and services, which are customized to meet clients’ business needs. Capgemini’s ‘Business Cloud: The State of Play Shifts Rapidly’[1] report highlighted many issues facing clients moving to the cloud, such as security and data sovereignty, lack of integration and the increasing involvement of the business in cloud decisions. SkySight addresses these concerns by providing the flexibility of workload placement and mobility across private and public cloud domains, within a secure, policy-driven Capgemini orchestration service.