Available to all customers via SoftLayer's proprietary customer portal and API, IP Manager enables administrators to assign, provision and route IP space at will, says the company. It provisions static IP addresses for single server use or portable IP addresses to be used with clustering, virtualization and grid applications.

"IP Manager turns even the most novice user practically into a network engineer. They can manage their own IP space in minutes without any human intervention at the data center," says Ric Moseley, VP of engineering at SoftLayer. "It’s just one more part of our continued strategy to give customers complete control."

SoftLayer's development team is also currently working to improve the company's licensing manager with a similar focus on dedicated and virtual technologies, slated to launch the first quarter of 2008.

Last month, SoftLayer added an automated, hardware-driven load balancing solution to its portfolio of automated managed services.