Mirantis Launches Vendor Database for OpenStack Cloud Computing

Mirantis is aiming to make it easier for enterprises to deploy OpenStack, the open source infrastructure for cloud computing. This week, the company launched a Web-based database listing vendors who offer OpenStack-compatible solutions.

The database is available now as a Web-based dashboard on Mirantis's website. The company derived the information on OpenStack compatibility from the OpenStack DriverLog, which keeps track of drivers and plugins that support OpenStack.

The dashboard does more than simply aggregate information from DriverLog into a convenient interface, however. It also offers configuration instructions for vendors' products, information on whether a vendor's OpenStack products have passed or failed OpenStack integration tests and contact information for vendors.

Mirantis's goal in releasing the dashboard, according to Boris Renski, the company's co-founder and EVP, is to promote "open process and transparency in addressing vendor compatibility," which it sees as "key to the success of the OpenStack community." In other words, Mirantis believes that for OpenStack to continue to grow, users need to have an easy way of keeping up to speed with the latest innovations in OpenStack cloud development, which are issuing from a variety of different vendors and therefore not easy to track by watching a single source.

With initiatives like this, perhaps the OpenStack ecosystem will not become victim to the uncertainity about support options and interoperability that plagues so many other open source projects that rely heavily on development contributions by third parties. And at the least, it will make it easier for enterprises to connect to OpenStack vendors, which should further the interests of all parties involved.