IBM launched new private cloud service based on OpenStack this week, and many think the IBM OpenStack bet signals a push to open cloud standards
Technology giant IBM announced on Monday at its IBM Pulse conference in Las Vegas a new private cloud service based on OpenStack, and the eventual move of all of its cloud services and software to open cloud architecture.
IBM joined OpenStack last year when it announced Platinum sponsorship of the OpenStack Foundation in April. In addition to providing technical and financial resources to OpenStack, it contributed code to the fifth version of OpenStack, Essex.
OpenStack has been gaining momentum for some time now, and its community has grown to more than 8,000 people in 87 countries. As the open source side of it has grown, so has the enterprise support around it. Enterprise OpenStack company Piston Cloud recently secured $8 million in funding to drive development of its products.
IBM has more than 5,000 private cloud customers in 2012, which increased 100 percent year-over-year, according to its press release. This will translate to a fairly significant jump of companies on OpenStack-based cloud architectures.
DataCenterKnowledge has a comprehensive round-up of the coverage on IBM’s move to OpenStack. While many call the move unsurprising, the consensus is that it is a big deal, and should eventually help IBM SmartCloud compete with AWS.
Read more: IBM Announces OpenStack Cloud, Boosting Open Cloud Momentum
“Open standards drive innovation. We all know that Linux attracted early adopters, but Apache is another example. In fact IBM stopped doing our own HTTP servers in 1997 and instead embedded Apache – a phenomenal step at the time – but we understood how open standards can work with proprietary technologies to ultimately drive business growth. That’s what many are seeing with OpenStack,” Daniel D. Frye, vice president, IBM Open Systems Development said in a Wired post on Monday.
“If we don’t convene around basic framework of standards, everything becomes slower and more expensive. A world not based on standards is a world dominated by vendor lock-in. With a proprietary cloud infrastructure, when a client decides they want to change the hardware underneath, they may have to change everything – a significant barrier – requiring new software and even middleware,” Frye said. “However, if the cloud infrastructure layer is standard, then you can switch only the hardware without changing middleware or software. More importantly, this means that the market forces come to bear and superior technology and competitive pricing win out.”
Also on Monday, IBM launched its new software, called IBM SmartCloud Orchestrator, for companies to deploy cloud services like compute, storage and network resources with a graphical interface.
The new IBM SmartCloud Orchestrator allows users to build new cloud services, automate application deployment and lifecycle management, and includes a self-service portal for users to measure costs with metering and chargeback capability.
Talk back: What do you think of the new IBM cloud? Are you surprised by the IBM OpenStack bet? Let us know in a comment.
About Nicole Henderson
Nicole Henderson is the Editor in Chief of the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
