Picture credit: «Rackspace Afterparty TechStars Boulder 2011», by «Andrew Hyde», used under CC BY / Modified from original
Cloud provider Rackspace has announced the launch of a new private cloud service utilising the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack platform.
The move plays further into Rackspace’s ‘OpenStack as a service’ offerings, which aim to simplify the process of OpenStack private and hybrid cloud uptake. The latest product, ‘Rackspace Private Cloud powered by Red Hat’ to give its full name, will be fully managed by OpenStack and Red Hat experts at Rackspace and promises all the hype of the public cloud but with enterprise-grade security.
“Rackspace is excited to expand our managed services and expertise to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform,” said VP and OpenStack private cloud general manager Darrin Hanson. “We help make OpenStack simple by eliminating the complexity and delivering it as a service to customers in their data centre, a Rackspace data centre or in a colocation facility.”
The move ties in with various Rackspace policies, including its ‘fanatical support’ for managed cloud services, and partnering with other technologies. In July, Rackspace announced an expanded service offering with Microsoft, combining its private cloud with Microsoft Cloud Platform, for customers who are not entirely ready to go all in with public cloud.
Like Microsoft, Rackspace has enjoyed a long partnership with Red Hat and claims it is uniquely positioned to provide customers benefits through managed deployment of Red Hat clouds. “We are consistently hearing feedback from enterprises that one of the primary barriers to OpenStack adoption continues to be the operational complexities around deployment,” said Gina Longoria, Moor Insights & Strategy senior analyst. “With Rackspace expanding their offerings, customers can take out a lot of the uncertainty of the do it yourself model and leverage the OpenStack as a service product portfolio at Rackspace.”
The Rackspace Private Cloud powered by Red Hat is generally available now.