Dell is rolling out an open-source cloud-computing solution based on the OpenStack cloud software and its own PowerEdge C servers.
Dell is
releasing a cloud-computing solution that leverages the open-source OpenStack
cloud software platform and its own PowerEdge servers.
Dell's new
IaaS (infrastructure as a service) offering-called the Dell OpenStack Cloud
Solution and announced July 26-is part of the vendor's effort to push the
adoption of open-source technology for cloud offerings. Along with the use of
OpenStack, the Dell solution includes its "Crowbar" OpenStack installer, which
manages the deployment of OpenStack from when the server initially boots all
the way through configuration.
As part of the
open-source IaaS strategy, Dell officials also announced that they are
releasing Crowbar to the open-source community, with hopes of making it a
project within the OpenStack initiative.
The OpenStack
platform enables customers to adopt a cloud environment that is open rather
than proprietary licensed software, Dell officials said. The Dell OpenStack
Cloud Solution also includes Dell's cloud-optimized PowerEdge C servers and
services from Dell and Rackspace Cloud Builders. The rollout comes four months
after
Dell, Rackspace and Opscode demonstrated what
officials said was the first fully automated provisioning of a multi-node
OpenStack cloud.
The companies
gave the demonstration during the Cloud Connect conference in March.
Rackspace and
NASA launched the
OpenStack
project in July 2010, and it now has 92 companies and almost 2,000
people as members, according to its Website. The goal is to create an open and
standard cloud operating environment.
Dell's
OpenStack Cloud Solution-which uses the current OpenStack released, dubbed
"Cactus"-is designed to give businesses a fast and cost-effective way to get
their IaaS infrastructure up and running, according to Mark Linebaugh, vice
president of Dell's Next Generation Computing Solutions group.
"Dell is
an active participant in the OpenStack community because it brings our
customers open APIs, capable practices for cloud operations and affordable
infrastructure," Linebaugh said in a statement. "Utilizing and integrating the
efficiencies of the PowerEdge C line with optimized software and tailored
services, the Dell OpenStack Cloud Solution enables users to go from unboxing
servers to running a usable OpenStack cloud in mere hours. The ability to
quickly develop, deploy and deliver open-source cloud services can translate
not only to lower costs, but also the flexibility to rapidly add new features
and meet customer needs on demand."
Dell's Crowbar
technology is a key part of the equation, according to company officials. The technology
enables users to more quickly launch a bare-metal deployment of OpenStack
clouds in a matter of hours rather than days. Crowbar then helps businesses
maintain the cloud and grow it through such capabilities as BIOS configuration,
RAID configuration, network discovery, status monitoring, performance data
gathering and alerting.
Dell's
OpenStack Cloud Solution supports public compute cloud application programming
interfaces from Amazon and Rackspace, as well as virtualization technologies
from Citrix Systems, Microsoft, and VMware.
Dell's PowerEdge C systems are designed to offer
high performance in small, energy-efficient form factors, features that meet
the demands of cloud environments and Web 2.0 data centers. Designed by Dell's
Data Center Solutions Group, the initial PowerEdge C systems were custom-built
for large data centers. Later releases were aimed at more mainstream customers.
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