Rackspace Hits One Billion OpenStack Server Hours

Amid rumours of a $3.5 billion (£2.7bn) takeover, Rackspace has pushed ahead with announcements at the Rackspace::Solve customer cloud conference in San Francisco this week.

First up, Rackspace claims to have reached one billions server hours operating in production-ready OpenStack clouds. Rackspace was a co-founder of the OpenStack cloud movement, along with NASA, and said that it has more experience building OpenStack clouds than any other company.

OpenStack competition

“The one billion managed server hour milestone is an exciting accomplishment and further validates that we are ahead of competition in OpenStack leadership and expertise,” said Scott Crenshaw, senior vice president of strategy at Rackspace.

The company has also expanded its multi-cloud security products for use with Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.

Rackspace’s Managed Security is now available in early access for Azure customers. Launhced last September, the product was initially only available to AWS customers, along with users of Rackspace’s own cloud and Rackspace’s managed VMware cloud.

“In today’s cybersecurity landscape, organisations are no longer asking if they should have a security solution in place, but rather whether they should do it themselves or partner with a trusted managed security service provider,” said Brannon Lacey, general manager of emerging businesses at Rackspace.

“We are proud to extend this security solution to Azure, as it represents the continued growth of our Managed Security capabilities and aligns with the overall Rackspace mission to provide the best expertise and service across the world’s leading clouds.”

Rackspace sale?

All this comes one week after sources told Reuters that Apollo Global Management may be in discussions with Rackspace to purchase the cloud hoster for $3.5 billion.

The rumours are just the latest sales explorations made by Rackspace since it announced intent to look at strategic alternatives two years ago. The sources warned that the talks may well not result in a deal. Following the report from Reuters, Rackspace shares jumped 11 percent.

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