OpenStack and the Software Defined Data Center (SDDC)

The future of OpenStack looks bright, and with the all the software-defined data center (SDDC) features contained in the recent release of “Grizzly” they are now ready to compete toe-to-toe with heavyweights like VMware, Nutanix, Dell, and HP. Whether they can start unseating VMware products in the enterprise remains to be seen, though. Despite the immediate SDDC advantage of OpenStack, companies and technologies like that of Nicira and Virsto, both acquired by VMware, are not to be ignored.

A Secure Cloud Framework for Non-Clouds

Is it possible to use a Cloud Framework to better secure your datacenter? Does cloud technologies provide a secure framework for building more than just clouds? We all know that virtualization is a building block to the cloud, but there may be a way to use cloud frameworks to first secure your datacenter before you launch a private, public, or hybrid cloud. In essence, we can use tools like vCloud Director to provide a more secure environment that properly segregates trustzones from one another while allowing specific accesses.

Vyatta: Building Block for Brocade SDN Plans

Brocade has stated they will buy Vyatta for an all cash deal. This is good news for Vyatta and perhaps a way for Brocade to partake of software that could rival VMware’s purchase of Nicira when Vyatta’s own SDN features are married with Brocade Ether Fabric technology. Brocade has been in the software business for a while now, but only with respect to their own hardware. With Vyatta, they will shortly own a building block to allow Ether Fabric to extend into the virtual and cloud environments. It would be short sighted to say this is just an SDN play, this purchase shows there is quite a bit of benefit to Brocade.

Cisco Nexus 1000v: Free unless you want Security

While not particularly new news, the next version of the Cisco Nexus 1000v will be free, unless you want the security features. This is an interesting shift from Cisco with respect to VMware vCloud Director, the Nicira purchase, furthering UCS, and Cisco within non-UCS data centers. However, given other announcements, with respect to OpenStack, perhaps this is more a play to level the playing field between cloud architectures? But what I find most interesting, is that the changes to the Nexus 1000v also align with the changes we see in the vCloud Suites from VMware.

VMware Poised to Accelerate OpenStack Adoption

Last week’s inaugural board meeting of the new OpenStack Foundation signaled a change in the organization as Rackspace the driving force behind OpenStack handed control to the newly formed board. Allen Clark director of SUSE was appointed chairman, with Lew Tucker Cisco’s VP and CTO of cloud joining the board as Vice Chairman. Members of the OpenStack community who had voiced concerns that OpenStack’s founder Rackspace’s had too much control over the project should be please by these appointments which are seen as key to establishing OpenStack’s bona fides.