Mycroft, which specializes in developing identity and security-as-a-service solutions, has released Heimdall, a self-service management portal to help provide role-based access management to cloud and virtualized applications.
Apart from a sweet reference to Norse mythology — Heimdall being the watchman on the bridge to Asgard, the realm of the Gods — Mycroft Heimdall Portal allows enterprises to “request, manage and view its data centers, grids and applications based on service levels and individual user role,” according to the press release. The technology essentially sounds like an entry into a market defined by providers including Vyatta and (more recently) VMware.
Mycroft is also promoting the fact that Heimdall reports give the Service Management Index (SMI), which helps determine if organizational needs are being met. The release doesn’t say so in as many words, but it sounds like a way for users to get insight into whether SLAs are being met. Finally, Mycroft Heimdall Portal offers “application deployment rapid response capability,” which is designed to help facilitate the conversation between IT and the rest of the organization.
When I contacted Mycroft to ask about its channel play, I got the following intriguing answer back, taken verbatim from the e-mail:
“Mycroft Inc. is more than a traditional VAR solution provider, in addition to the traditional systems integration and reseller roles, we also provide operational support and managed services in a SaaS model for our product vendor partners. We think of ourselves as the next evolution of VARs.”
That’s certainly an interesting take on the cloud services channel. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll heat from Mycroft, so stay tuned to TalkinCloud for more.
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