Atomic Object and former IBM executive create joint venture called Blue Medora

Deborah Johnson Wood

Grand Rapids technology firm Atomic Object and Nathan Owen, a former IBM employee, have created a joint venture called Blue Medora to help Fortune 5000 companies manage aspects of cloud computing.

Many companies are moving data systems to the Internet-based Amazon Cloud as a cost savings measure because they don't have to upgrade equipment continually and only pay for the data resources they use.

However, the companies generally lose the ability to monitor their systems when they use Amazon Cloud. Until now.

"Our angle is that this IBM Tivoli Monitoring (ITM) tool hasn't been adapted to work with customers who are putting things in their cloud," Nathan Owen says. "That's what we're doing now, giving them a single view of everything they have."

Blue Medora's software allows users to meter computing resources, disk usage, the number of users in the system, system slowdowns and more. Additionally, companies can determine a cut-off point when the system will alert them they need more capacity to avoid a system crash.

"The software tells companies when to elastically expand," Owen says. "Once you use, let's say, 90 percent capacity, it lets you go out and create new servers in the cloud."

Owen says Blue Medora's relationship with IBM is mutually beneficial – IBM licenses some of Blue Medora's technology and sells it under the IBM brand, and IBM sends Blue Medora customer leads.

Atomic Object incubated Blue Medora at Atomic's offices at 941 Wealthy St. SE for the first 18 months. Atomic's staff worked closely with Owen, enabling him to develop a marketable product without having to hire his own staff. Now the company has some 10 employees and Owen expects to double that in the next 18 months.

"It's in our interest to find people like Nathan with good ideas and to invest in him or her to expand our business," says Carl Erickson, Atomic Object president. "Companies like Atomic and Blue Medora are growing and creating jobs that keep the talent here."

Source: Nathan Owen, Blue Medora; Carl Erickson, Atomic Object

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Development News tips can be sent to [email protected].