HP is launching an OpenStack-based beta program for two public cloud services that will encompass compute and storage capabilities.
Hewlett-Packard is taking the latest
steps in its efforts to become a major cloud computing player, launching the
private beta for two public cloud services.
The infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)
offerings, announced Sept. 7, are HP Cloud Compute and HP Cloud Object Storage,
and offer a combination of HP hardware and software technologies as well as the
OpenStack open-source cloud software stack.
"At HP Cloud Services, our goal is to
provide the next generation of cloud infrastructure, platform services and
cloud solutions for developers, ISVs, and businesses of all sizes," Emil
Sayegh, vice president in HP's Cloud Services business, said in a
post on the company's Scaling the Cloud blog. "We
recognize that public cloud services should be open and transparent from
end-to-end across APIs, infrastructure and software stack."
HP joined the OpenStack initiative in July-a day
after rival Dell did-with Sayegh saying at the time that HP already was playing
an active role in the effort.
The move is taking HP closer to
competing more directly with public cloud giants Amazon Web Services, Microsoft
and Rackspace. In addition, it comes a week after Dell announced its own IaaS
offering, based on a
partnership with virtualization technology vendor VMware.
HP's public cloud beta initially will
incorporate HP Cloud Compute, which enables users to access compute power in an
on-demand fashion. They also can customize their instances to more closely fit
their workload demands and can scale them if the need arises, according to HP.
In addition, HP Cloud Object Storage enables users to access online storage on
demand.
The services will be free during the
beta timeframe, and users reportedly will be charged on a pay-per-use fashion
once they go live. The services will feature a Web-based user interface and
RESTful APIs, company officials said. HP already has tested the services with a
small group of users and now is looking to expand the user base, according to
Sayegh.
Users can
register for the program at the HP Website.
HP is joining a growing crowd in the
cloud. Along with the likes of Microsoft, Amazon and Rackspace, a number of
other top-tier tech vendors, including Oracle and Google, are looking to make
inroads. For its part, Dell has been aggressive over the last couple of months
in expanding its cloud computing capabilities.
In July, Dell officials announced the
Dell OpenStack Cloud Solution, a combination of
the OpenStack software offerings and its own PowerEdge servers. Dell said the
solution also includes the vendor's "Crowbar" OpenStack installer, which the
company is releasing to the open-source community.
In addition, at the VMworld 2011 show
in August, Dell officials said the company will launch its first public cloud
offering later this year. The IaaS offering will involve Dell hosting VMware's
new vCloud public cloud systems in Dell's data centers, including one that
already is online in Texas. Another is being built in the Pacific Northwest,
and more are planned.
The Dell-VMware partnership will open
up more opportunities for Dell in the cloud, according to Mark Bilger, vice
president and CTO of Dell Services.
"This partnership also will build
private clouds for customers," Bilger said in an interview with
eWEEK at the time. "By extension
between the two, Dell Services will be providing hyper-cloud solutions between
the private cloud data centers and Dell's public cloud offering."
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