Rackspace and CERN openlab will work together over the next year to deliver the new hybrid cloud architecture
CERN openlab, a public-private partnership between CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) and ICT companies has partnered with leading hosting company Rackspace to deliver a new hybrid cloud architecture that will help create a more seamless relationship between private and public clouds.
CERN openlab helps to accelerate the development of cutting edge technical solutions for a range of industries and has implemented OpenStack-based private clouds for its internal IT needs.
Rackspace, a leading contributor to the open source OpenStack platform will partner with lab to create a reference architecture and operational model for federated cloud services between Rackspace Private Cloud, Rackspace Public Cloud and CERN’s OpenStack powered Clouds.
“This is a landmark moment for Rackspace, as we feel this is an opportunity to take our already mutually beneficial relationship with CERN to new heights,” said Jim Curry, SVP and general manager of Rackspace Private Cloud. “Through ongoing collaboration with CERN openlab, we will broaden the global reach of our hybrid cloud solutions, while simultaneously helping to set the pace of innovation within the field of particle physics.”
Rackspace and CERN openlab have worked together before in order to deliver a solution that would allow the laboratory to burst workloads into Rackspace’s public cloud. But through the new collaborative agreement, the Rackspace private cloud platform will be deployed onto servers that the lab utilises for physics experiments – serving up to 11,000 physicists. Both Rackspace and CERN openlab hope to deliver a hybrid architecture that will allow CERN openlab (and organisations like it) to accommodate excess workloads the organisation cannot accommodate on its own.
“We have just celebrated the 20th anniversary of CERN’s decision to make its World Wide Web software freely available. We definitely see great value in open source technologies like OpenStack. They foster continuous technological improvements through community contributions, while also giving us the ability to quickly address challenges, such as massive scaling, by leveraging the work of others,” said Tim Bell, infrastructure manager in the IT department at CERN. “We’re excited to partner with Rackspace in the CERN openlab framework, as we look for ways to accelerate our innovation on top of an OpenStack-based hybrid cloud.”
The agreement between the two organisations is set to last a year and will see Rackspace join other top ICT vendors like HP, Huawei, Intel and Oracle as joint contributors to CERN openlab.