Users can set up their own inter-cloud networks by logging onto their VCider account and downloading software onto all the cloud nodes they want to include in the network. The VCider system then gives them virtual IP address that can be used to communicate with one another as though they're located on the same LAN instead of on, say, different continents. Marino says that the idea is to take the basic framework of a VPN and scale it so that it can connect cloud servers directly to one another.

"With a VPN you typically have a box on the premises that users connect to through an IPsec tunnel where all users connect to the same box," explains Marino. "That works OK for desktops but when you bring that model to servers it collapses. With our networking-as-a-service system, every node can speak directly with its destination and you can scale more because you don't have a single hub to connect to and you don't have an extra data hop."

VCider so far has raised more than $500,000 and is looking to raise even more money over the next few months to ramp up its capabilities. For now, though, Marino says users can try out the live service that's currently available on the VCider website to take their virtual cloud LANs out for a spin.