24 October 2012

Cisco Contributes to OpenStack with its New Edition

One of the most interesting aspects of cloud computing is the advent of OpenStack. OpenStack is a bundle of open-source projects that helps in setting up private and public cloud computing solutions.   A project that was at first set up by NASA and Rackspace Hosting is now a full platform that is run by the OpenStack Foundation.

Cisco Systems, a popular networking equipment manufacturer, has announced its own version of OpenStack project. The company has rolled out a cost-free distribution of cloud management solution with which it will package other services including high availability and virtual management features.

Cisco is one of the most popular growing groups among members of the OpenStack organization. Joining the reputations of Linux-distribution companies SUSE, Red Hat, Rackspace, Ubuntu and Piston Cloud Computing, Cisco has released its productions of the open source code. The announcement is made as OpenStack have their meeting in the semi-annual Summit of OpenStack that happened in San Diego.

Mr. Lew Tucker’s Response

Cisco’s Vice President and CTO of cloud computing, Mr. Lew Tucker is also the vice chairman of the vice-chairperson of the new OpenStack Foundation. The gentleman believes the value of Cisco’s OpenStack is thereabout services that may be integrated in the OpenStack distribution of Cisco especially services like virtual networking.

For instance, Folsom, the latest in OpenStack code comes with a new feature called Quantum. This feature allows virtual networking in clouds powered by OpenStack. Cisco’s Nexus switches are now compatible with Quantum. Mr. Lew Tucker also believes that Quantum will be compatible with virtualized 1000v switch of the company.

To add to the software-oriented network capabilities, users will be able to select from a variety of features which can be added to clouds from Cisco that are powered by OpenStack. These services will feature automated installation, high availability and cloud monitoring.        

Mr. Tucker continues saying that the action as a whole is in response to the customers of Cisco. When the OpenStack was deployed into production, there were many other considerations like how to integrate, manage and operate OpenStack cloud. Cisco has included all the elements as part of their scripts, reference architecture and many other crucial components that can be used by customers.

More on the new release
When Cisco announced the event in a blog post on Saturday, they also added some links to websites where Cisco’s edition of OpenStack could be downloaded for no additional cost. This is also accompanied by wiki that describes various elements of the code.

Cisco makes use of a range of other open source tools along with the OpenStack code. It also boasts automation tools from Puppet on its release. The code of Quantum is designed to support segmentation of Layer 2 also using the virtual LAN technology that functions on Cisco Nexus switches as well as vSwitch. The edition that is tested on Ubuntu 12.04 clearly shows that it does not need a Cisco Hardware to work.

Will Comcast be a major player in the future?
According to Tucker, customer’s interest in OpenStack is growing fast. Off late, the company built a strategic relation with Comcast as the latter will use Cisco’s edition as a base for private cloud computing. Even though Comcast is not a full-fledged member of the OpenStack foundation, its contribution is high valued. Apart from Comcast, Tucker believes, he has witnessed interests from government organizations and public sectors that can be used to gear up private internal clouds.

In the coming days, Cisco is all set to expand its involvement in lots of Open Source projects including OpenStack.
   
Author Bio:
Sasha loves to write about technology stuffs in any field. She has been a writer/blogger for four years and currently working for Internet Bundles where you can find great offers and details about verizon internet.

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