Further showing its commitment to the OpenStack project, Cisco has rolled out a free distribution of the open source cloud management platform, which it will package other services on top of, including virtual networking and high-availability features.
Cisco becomes one of a growing group of OpenStack member organizations that have released distributions of the open source code, joining the likes of Linux-distribution companies Red Hat, SUSE, Canonical, and Ubuntu, as well as Rackspace and OpenStack pure-play vendor Piston Cloud Computing. The news comes as OpenStack backers meet this week at the semi-annual OpenStack Summit held in San Diego.
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Cisco VP and CTO of cloud computing Lew Tucker, who is also vice chairman of the newly formed OpenStack Foundation, says the value of the Cisco edition of OpenStack is around services that will be integrated into Cisco's OpenStack distribution, especially virtual networking.
For example, Folsom, which is the latest version of the OpenStack code, includes a new feature named Quantum that allows for virtual networking in OpenStack-powered clouds. Cisco has also made its Nexus switches compatible with Quantum and Tucker says in the coming months Quantum will be compatible with the company's virtualized 1000V Switch. In addition to the software-defined networking capabilities, customers will be able to choose a variety of other features that can be added to OpenStack-powered clouds from Cisco. These include high availability, automated installation, and monitoring of the cloud.
