Ravello, a startup with ties to the Red Hat KVM platform, has released a platform for firms looking to simplify the way they build and test applications.

Executives from Ravello claimed that their service will allow firms to test applications in the cloud in an environment which mirrors their on-premise deployments.

In doing so the company hopes to remove the processing limitations of on-premise testing without the development hurdles of a cloud migration.

Ravello senior vice president of products Navin Thadani told V3 firms previously had to choose between limiting the workload of application tests or migrating to a cloud infrastructure which requires an application to be adjusted.

“If you want to use the public cloud you have to recode and rebuild your application,” Thadani explained.

“At that point it does not make sense, it is something completely different.”

To overcome those hurdles, Ravello created a layer which sits between the traditional virtual machine and the cloud environment. The Ravello service offers users a cloud front-end in which an administrator can create a virtual “blueprint” of the on-premise testing structure and systems.

The blueprint is then combined with a software-defined network architecture and the company’s HVX virtual server hypervisor platform to create a fully functional test environment which can be then run on a cloud service as a single compute instance.

The result, said Thadani, is a test environment which mirrors the customer’s own on-premise structure but allows the compute and storage flexibility of a cloud instance.

Currently, the service supports the Amazon, Rackspace and HP cloud environments, though further partnerships are planned.

Based out of offices in Israel and Silicon Valley, Ravello has its roots in the virtualisation space. Prior to striking out on their own, the company’s founders worked on the Qumranet KVM virtualisation project which was later acquired by Red Hat.

Under their new banner, the company hopes to bridge gaps which previously existed between on-premise deployments and cloud environments.

Ravello is now offering its service as a free public beta. The company hopes to take the paid service live with general availability later this year.