Self-service in the cloud
‘OpenStack’. Clearly, it sounds great. But what exactly is it? And, maybe even more importantly: what can you do with OpenStack and why would you prefer this platform over traditional cloud solutions? On 5 October 2016, at the partner meeting ‘The Future Decrypted’ in Rotterdam, CloudVPS explained OpenStack and provided (background) information that we wish to share with you.
OpenStack is open
Yes, we can imagine that sometimes you almost can't see the wood for the trees. There are so many different cloud solutions - but which one is best suited to you? We all know about Azure and Amazon, but are cloud services like OpenStack suited to your environment and the (private) cloud solution you are looking for? The partner meeting of Cloud VPS made it clear that OpenStack, first of all, offers freedom of choice. OpenStack allows you to simply switch between parties that have the right offer for you. This avoids vendor lock-in: with more closed providers like Azure or Amazon it is, for instance, much more difficult to make switches at a later stage or to combine with third-party offers. Now - that is what we call open!
OpenStack connects supply and demand
But it still begs the question why you would select OpenStack as your preferred technology instead of other ‘open’ technology. One of speakers at the partner meeting was Shashi Dahal. Shashi is currently the most prominent OpenStack expert. Passionately, he explained why in his view OpenStack is the cloud technology of the future: because it is comprised of a rapidly growing collection of open source cloud components that is supported by major players like HP, Cisco, Red Hat, IBM and VMware. This is how CloudVPS offers OpenStack building blocks like Nova, Neutron, Swift, Cinder, Keystone and Glance. All building blocks you can - but don't have to - use in a Linux and Windows environment. And there will be more OpenStack features in the future, like Database As A Service, Load Balancing As A Service, VPN As A Service…
OpenStack offers Cloud Orchestration
With the ever growing number and flavours of cloud solutions, Cloud Orchestration is becoming increasingly important. Cloud Orchestration structures the various Clouds, which means you can choose the form that is best suited to your workload. If required, the Cloud Orchestration of CloudVPS also contains OpenStack, which simplifies matters like automatic upscaling, and more.
OpenStack is pay per use
The charging model of OpenStack is pay per use. That gives you flexibility of scales as needed, and you can downgrade again once your project is finished. This is why major parties like Walmart use OpenStack. For in every other way, OpenStack is already a proven technology.
OpenStack invites partnerships
The importance of the indirect channel (resellers and partners) for further growth of Cloud VPS became more than clear that afternoon. Early 2017 a new partner programme will be introduced to ensure quicker and more intensive collaboration with the indirect channel. The difference with the current programme is mainly that the current programme is more like an incentive programme, while the new one has been expanded with knowledge-sharing, focused innovation for the indirect channel and the option of co-creation. Another interesting feature is that you can run marketing campaigns together, or organise round tables for CIOs. This makes the new programme better suited to the various sorts of partners.
Partners can choose between three different types of partnerships: Registered, Select or Premier. Registered means getting to know each other and gaining experience, Select is focused on joint growth, while Premier stands for strategic collaboration. In the end, the main purpose of each type of collaboration is that partners make each other stronger, thus making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
The technology of OpenStack
For those who wish to know more about the technology and how to deploy OpenStack there will be a follow-up session in November where we will explore the platform in more depth and experiment within a demo environment on the basis of practical examples.