Dell Makes OpenStack Cloud Platform Available In UK

Dell is to make its OpenStack-powered cloud solution available in the UK, along with a number of other regions in Europe and Asia.

Based on the open source OpenStack platform, Dell hopes that its availability will serve as a catalyst for the adoption of open source Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).

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The platform was first launched by Dell last year and uses the vendor’s PowerEdge C servers. The company claims that these servers are the product of all the lessons it has learned in terms of efficiency and design and are engineered to maximise the revenue per square foot within a data centre.

When the service was launched last year, Dell also open sourced its Crowbar software, which is used to manage the deployment from the server boot to the configuration of the primary OpenStack components. Dell says that this means that the deployment of a multi-node cloud stack can be completed in just a few hours.

The software is then used to expand and maintain the deployment, performing status monitoring performance data gathering and alerting. The open source nature of Crowbar means that customers can customise it to suit their needs while training is also provided if it is necessary.

“As early supporters of solutions based on open-standards like OpenStack and Hadoop, Dell remains committed to providing open, standards-based solutions that enable customers to integrate new technologies without sacrificing performance or existing IT investments,” said John Igoe, executive director of cloud and big data solutions at Dell. “Using and integrating the efficiencies of the PowerEdge C line with optimised software and tailored services, the Dell OpenStack Cloud Solution enables users to take a server out of the box and be up-and-running on an OpenStack cloud in mere hours.”

“With Dell’s tested and validated designs in infrastructure, software, and services, customers can build out their IT presence and lower in-house costs,” he added.

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