Rackspace Open-Source Platform Parts Clouds

Hosting and cloud computing specialist Rackspace Hosting announced
the launch of OpenStack, an open-source cloud platform designed to
foster the emergence of technology standards and cloud
interoperability. OpenStack will feature several cloud infrastructure
components including a fully distributed object store based on
Rackspace Cloud Files, available via OpenStack.org. The company said
the next component planned for release is a scalable
compute-provisioning engine based on the NASA Nebula cloud technology
and Rackspace Cloud Servers technology, which is expected to be
available later this year.

Rackspace and NASA also announced a plan to actively collaborate on
joint technology development and leverage the efforts of open-source
software developers worldwide, based on their joint experience in
building large scale cloud platforms and their desire to embrace
open-source technology. NASA and Rackspace said by using these open
components, organizations would be able to turn physical hardware into
scalable and extensible cloud environments using the same code
currently in production serving tens of thousands of customers and
large government projects.

An OpenStack Design Summit hosted by Rackspace was held July 13-16 in
Austin, Texas, where more than 100 technical advisers, developers and founding
members joined to validate the code and ratify the project roadmap,
with more than 25 companies represented, including AMD, Dell,
Citrix and Spiceworks.

"We believe in offering customers choice in
cloud computing that helps them improve efficiency," says Forrest
Norrod, vice president and general manager of server platforms at Dell.
"OpenStack on Dell is a great option to create open-source enterprise
cloud solutions."

Rackspace and NASA said they have committed to use OpenStack to power
their cloud platforms, and Rackspace will dedicate open-source
developers and resources to support adoption of OpenStack among
enterprises and service providers.

“We are founding the OpenStack initiative to help drive industry
standards, prevent vendor lock-in and generally increase the velocity
of innovation in cloud technologies,” said Lew Moorman, president of
cloud and CSO at Rackspace. “We are proud to have NASA’s support in
this effort. Its Nebula Cloud Platform is a tremendous boost to the
OpenStack community. We expect ongoing collaboration with NASA and the
rest of the community to drive more-rapid cloud adoption and
innovation, in the private and public spheres.”