Cloud Takes On A Ruby Hue

摘要

Ruby on rails developers want to focus on writing Web applications, not on the underlying software and systems needed to support them. Engine Yard's Ruby-in-the-cloud service lets them do that. "We're 100% Ruby on Rails," providing 24/7 support for Ruby on Rails applications, says CTO Tom Mornini, one of the 2-year-old startup's four co-founders. Engine Yard's customers write the apps, and "we flip the switch" to deploy and support them, Mornini says. Applications on Engine Yard can be used by a handful of people or tens of thousands. WePlay.com, a social networking site for youth sports that was launched in March, is an early adopter. Its investors include Derek Jeter, Payton Manning, and LeBron James. WePlay has an internal team of Ruby developers, but no systems administrators or IT support staff, says VP of engineering Luke Melia. If WePlay had used a general hosting company like Rack-space, it would also need to have an IT pro with Ruby expertise on staff for issues such as backup and database management, Melia says. But Engine Yard takes care of all that and makes recommendations on architecture and scaling, he says.