Welcome!

Cloud Expo Authors: Bob Gourley, Jim Shepherd, PR.com Newswire, Walter Hinton, Jonathan Gershater

Related Topics: Cloud Expo, SOA & WOA, Open Source, Virtualization, AJAX & REA

Cloud Expo: Article

Rackspace Launches Next Generation Cloud Powered by OpenStack

The enhanced cloud capabilities makes the Rackspace Cloud a perfect solution for startups

Rackspace on Monday launched new cloud capabilities featuring the world’s first large-scale, production ready next generation cloud, powered by OpenStack and backed by Fanatical Support. Built on OpenStack, the next generation cloud incorporates a robust portfolio of cloud solutions such as Cloud Servers, Cloud Databases, Cloud Block Storage, Cloud Networks, a completely new cloud Control Panel, Cloud Monitoring and support for the OpenStack API.

“The open era of the cloud is a reality and Rackspace has positioned itself at the forefront of this massive, technological shift,” said Lanham Napier, CEO of Rackspace. “We’re drawing a line in the sand against proprietary cloud providers. With this launch, Rackspace is providing an open cloud alternative, backed by Fanatical Support and our core expertise on OpenStack, to deliver a strong product portfolio that will help customers navigate their way through an increasingly complex cloud environment.”

The enhanced cloud capabilities makes the Rackspace Cloud a perfect solution for startups innovating on new technologies, independent software vendors looking for a powerful and reliable platform on top of which to build their software as a service offerings, software teams looking for an agile solution for development and test, and IT organizations looking for agility and efficiency, among other use cases.

“We’re impressed with the speed and performance of Rackspace Next Generation Cloud Servers. The API is remarkably reliable and we can be comfortable with its stability thanks to its OpenStack heritage,” said Karthik Ram, director of engineering at ScaleXtreme. “This may be one of the first Infrastructure-as-a-Service offerings to take full advantage of the power of open standards and we’re excited to be using it.”

The Rackspace Next Generation Public Cloud features the following products:

These products are in “limited availability” – customers can sign up now, the products are production workload ready, include service level commitments, 24x7 support and regular billing. These products will be provided to customers in limited amounts over a period of time to ensure a smooth ramp-up.

  • Cloud Servers, powered by OpenStack – based on the latest OpenStack compute release, this solution is fast, reliable, scalable and is accessible via the new OpenStack API as well as via an easy-to-use, intuitive control panel. Limited availability sign-ups are open now and Rackspace will begin providing access on May 1.
  • Cloud Control Panel – the new Control Panel was built from the ground up and with the customer in mind. It is simple, fast, intuitive and flexible. The new control panel also features multiple enhancements, including server tagging and multi-region capabilities.

The following products are in “early access,” as they are production workload ready but have limited support available, no service commitments and no billing.

  • Cloud Databases, powered by OpenStack – gives customers API access to massively scalable, high availability MySQL database that is based on SAN storage for high performance and provides automated management of common database tasks.
  • Cloud Monitoring – helps customers easily monitor their infrastructure and applications proactively, including OpenStack Clouds.

The following products are in “preview,” as we are currently inviting customers to test the early version of these products.

  • Cloud Block Storage, powered by OpenStack – this new solution is designed to give customers highly elastic raw storage and a choice between a high performance (leveraging solid state disks) or a standard lower-cost block storage solution.
  • Cloud Networks, powered by OpenStack – this solution is designed to allow customers to manage logically abstracted network services programmatically. Software-defined virtual networks provide flexibility and agility in addition to enhanced security via network isolation and port filtering.

These products add to Rackspace’s existing cloud capabilities such as Cloud Files (powered by OpenStack) object storage for files and media, Cloud Load Balancers, On and Off-premise Private Clouds (powered by OpenStack), CDN, Cloud Sites and the ability to connect cloud, dedicated and on-premise deployments via RackConnect™.

"The expansion to its OpenStack cloud offering has given Rackspace a more comprehensive portfolio of solutions, which now spans across computing, storage and networking. The ability to address critical business needs in these key areas will help them open new doors and extend their reach to a broader range of customers," said Melanie Posey, research vice president at IDC. "Rackspace's Cloud Networks solution in particular is going to eliminate some of the hesitation businesses have around cloud adoption by providing a programmatic approach to networking, which in turn, enables more seamless hybrid cloud and virtual data center implementations."

For more information, or to sign up for Rackspace’s limited availability program, please visit: www.rackspace.com/nextgen.

More Stories By Liz McMillan

Liz is Associate Online Editor at Ulitzer.com, where she covers emerging technologies including Cloud Computing and Virtualization, as well as mergers and acquisitions and "new-media" strategies as described under the Ulitzer Live! umbrella. You can forward your press releases by email lizmcmillan.ulitzer.com.

Cloud Expo Breaking News
“I believe it is incumbent on the Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and/or System Integrators (SIs) to understand the regulatory and compliance-related issues that their customers face,” noted Manjula Talreja, VP of Global Cloud Business Development at Cisco, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. “Of course these issues are different in each industry and in each country.” Cloud Computing Journal: The move to cloud isn't about saving money, it is about saving time - ...
“Regulations and compliance are key trust topics with regards to cloud solutions and technology,” noted Sven Denecken, Vice President, Strategy and Co-Innovation Cloud Solutions, SAP AG, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. “But it is also more than security of access – it is portability of data and a clear definition of where the data resides.” Cloud Computing Journal: The move to cloud isn't about saving money, it is about saving time – agree or disagree? Sve...
Many organizations want to expand upon the IaaS foundation to deliver cloud services in all forms – software, mobility, infrastructure and IT. Understanding the strategy, planning process and tools for this transformation will help catalyze changes in the way the business operates and deliver real value.
WSO2 on Thursday announced that WSO2 Vice President of Technology Evangelism Chris Haddad and SUSE Business Development Manager Frank Rego will lead a joint presentation at 12 International Cloud Expo. The session, "Bridging IaaS and PaaS to Deliver the Service-Oriented Data Center," is part of the event's Enterprise Cloud Computing Track on Thursday, June 13, 2013. The Cloud Expo conference is being held June 10-13, 2013 at the Javits Center in New York City. Bridging IaaS and PaaS to Deliver ...
IT has more opportunities than ever before with the growth in users, devices, data and secure cloud services. This creates not only a more enriching experience for users, but more opportunities for businesses. The key to capitalizing on these opportunities is to have the right tools in place to help scale operations. In his Day 3 Keynote at 12th Cloud Expo | Cloud Expo New York [June 10-13, 2013], Intel's Rob Crooke will describe the range of products that Intel provides to support different usa...
Quantum Corp., a proven global expert in data protection and Big Data management, has announced that Senior Vice President of Cloud Solutions Henrik Rosendahl will present a session exploring the future of cloud data protection and the impact of data reduction technologies on cloud storage at the 12th International Cloud Expo. The conference takes place June 10-13 at the Javits Center in New York City. Rosendahl will explore trends in cloud-based backup and disaster recovery (DR) and how curre...
One of the cloud’s biggest draws is the capability to virtualize computing resources, allowing it to be consumed with the click of a mouse. But behind that simple click is an enormous infrastructure challenge that has recently been cited as a major cause for slower enterprise adoption. Enterprises can better prepare for this shift and take full advantage of future computing benefits. Between architecture design and migration planning, the road can be long, so what do you do with your talent? I...
In the old world of IT, if you didn't have hardware capacity or the budget to buy more, your project was dead in the water. Budget constraints can leave some of the best, most creative and most ingenious innovations on the cutting room floor. It’s a true dilemma for developers and innovators – why spend the time creating, when a project could be abandoned in a blink? That was the old world. In the new world of IT, developers rule. They have access to resources they can spin up instantly. A hyb...
INetU, the industry's experts in complex hosting and a global provider of business-centric managed cloud and application hosting, has announced that Cloud Architect Rich Hand will be presenting "Private Cloud, Public Cloud - Is There a Third Option?" at the 12th International Cloud Expo taking place June 10-13, 2013 in New York City. As more enterprise IT departments move into the cloud, many executives are evaluating whether to adopt a Public or Private cloud. The cost benefits of the Public ...
“I’m careful when using terms like Big Data, because it can mean so many things to different people,” explained Eric Hanselman, Chief Analyst at 451 Research, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. “There is huge value in analytics that companies can use to pull intelligence from a collection of data sources that are available in their businesses. The inexpensive storage that cloud services can offer make a great environment to pull together siloed data.” Cloud Co...