As the leading specialist in the hosting and cloud computing industry, we take our responsibility to drive innovation seriously. So, on the 19th July 2010, we announced the launch of OpenStack. This was big news for us and the hosting industry.

What is OpenStack?

OpenStack is an innovative, open-source cloud computing solution for creating, managing and deploying scalable elastic cloud services.

It’s a collaborative software project among several big players in the cloud computing space, designed to foster the emergence of technology standards and cloud interoperability. It allows the creation of freely available code, badly-needed standards, and common ground for the benefit of both cloud providers and cloud customers.

The initial components being offered by Rackspace through this project include the code that powers our Cloud Files and Cloud Servers. Leaders in the technology industry and other stakeholders support the project and are expected to help us drive a deployable, completely open cloud solution.

What does an open cloud mean for you?

• Prevents vendor lock-in
• Increases flexibility in deployment for a highly elastic commodity cloud
• Offers a bigger, more robust ecosystem for more tools, better capabilities and a stronger platform
• Gives you the freedom to decide how you want your cloud
• Drives greater industry standards
• Increases the speed of innovation in cloud technologies

Here what our CTO John Engates has to say about the launch of OpenStack.