Rackspace has updated its OpenStack-powered cloud server, OnMetal, focusing its new features on building connectivity between public cloud and dedicated hardware.

The company highlighted it delivers enhanced compute power, and is designed for customers aiming to run workloads such as Cassandra, Docker and Spark, which require intensive data processing as well as the ability to quickly scale and deploy.

“With the combination of new features and performance capabilities in the next generation of OnMetal, it can be a solution for many customers seeking OpenStack as the platform to run their most demanding workloads,” said Paul Voccio, VP Software Development at Rackspace.

The new servers, designed from Open Compute Project specs, feature the Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 processors, and build on Rackspace’s journey to lead the OpenStack market. Last month, Rackspace added an OpenStack-as-a-Service option, in partnership with Red Hat, to its proposition while highlighting its ambitions “to deliver the most reliable and easy-to-use OpenStack private and hybrid clouds in the world.”

Rackspace claims app performance and reliability indicators are increased with OnMetal cloud servers. The bare metal offering, generally associated with increased security, has helped its customer Brigade avoid performance limitations common with virtualized environments.

“OnMetal has played a significant role in our ability to deliver the Brigade app with optimal uptime, and to innovate and grow the application with the performance of a dedicated environment,” said John Thrall, CTO of Brigade.