rackspace private cloud

The words “run like Rackspace” are something we hear from customers and prospects all the time. Everyone from enterprise CIOs to ISV development leads want to build private clouds that look, feel and operate like our open public cloud. They want the same software, the same configuration and the same operations that power our public cloud, but they want it all to themselves, most often in their own data centers.

With constantly increasing demand in compute power, data center space can fill up very fast. The problem with compute is that new servers require significantly more power than older facilities can provide. Thus, power demand limits rack density.

One of the most difficult aspects of migrating existing IT applications to the cloud is setting up appropriate storage for those applications. In fact, one of the questions I am frequently asked by our customers is how to set up Rackspace Private Cloud Software to enable their business take advantage of enterprise storage. This dilemma historically has not been easy to solve, since current cloud storage solutions require either re-writing applications to use object storage or using new technologies like NoSQL databases.

OpenStack Swift is a highly-available, distributed object store that you can use for storing all sorts of files, such as media, backups and archives.

Lots of companies out there will come out and sell you software, hardware or both to help you build a private cloud. It’s our opinion at Rackspace and the opinion of thousands of customers using our cloud solutions every day that OpenStack, by far, represents the best software for building a cloud. Our public cloud is powered by OpenStack and our private clouds are built using our freely available Rackspace Private Cloud Software. We use reliable and tested hardware in our data centers and help our customers architect and implement the same reliable, high performance hardware in their own data centers.

If you’re not quite sure exactly what OpenStack is; you’re not alone. We’re frequently asked what OpenStack is and why we think it’s better than anything else out there.

Earlier this month, we updated the Rackspace Private Cloud Software, adding new features and support capabilities that give you the ability to quickly and easily deploy an OpenStack-powered private cloud in your data center.

During his keynote presentation at OpenStack EMEA in London on Wednesday, General Manager of Rackspace Private Cloud and OpenStack co-founder Jim Curry opened the curtain on some of the untold history of OpenStack. Throughout the discussion, Curry chronicled how and why OpenStack got started; how Rackspace uses OpenStack today; and where OpenStack should go in the future, all while sharing previously unheard details of the open source cloud project’s humble beginnings.

The scope for corporate IT has changed rapidly. Gone are the days where operational efficiency, business process automation and cost reduction are the defining goals. In the cloud era the IT organization is seen as a partner that enables enterprise growth. There is no glory in spending 80 percent of the time “keeping the lights on.” IT leaders must become business partners that help organizations become more agile to respond to market demands, and to deliver exceptional customer experiences that maximize value.

Rackspace knows how to build and run clouds. And RightScale knows how to help customers manage workloads on those clouds.  I’ve worked closely with engineering and product teams on both sides and can say that Rackspace and RightScale represent some of the brightest minds in the cloud biz.