Rackspace Opens VMware-Powered Private Cloud

Written by Lorna Garey
August 21, 2017

Rackspace broadens its private cloud stack support with VMware.

**Editor’s Note: Click here for our recently compiled list of new products and services.**

Rackspace on Monday announced general availability of its Rackspace Private Cloud powered by VMware Cloud Foundation. The offering joins Rackspace’s OpenStack and Azure private cloud options.

VMware’s Private Cloud Foundation is a bundle of vSphere (for compute), vSAN storage, NSX network virtualization, and VMware SDDC Manager. It can run in an on-premises or colocated private cloud or as a service from a public cloud, usually AWS, and is available through VMware partners or OEM channels. To run Private Cloud Foundation on a customer site, you must select from a list of supported hardware from providers including Dell, Cisco, HPE and HDS.

The hosted Rackspace Private Cloud powered by VMware is built on certified hardware and comes with 24x7x365 support from Rackspace’s more than 150 VMware Certified Professionals.

For Rackspace partners, adding VMware support will make a hosted private cloud more feasible for legacy applications. According to RightScale’s 2017 State of the Cloud report, VMware vSphere continues to lead in terms of private cloud stacks, with 42 percent, slightly down from 44 percent in 2016. OpenStack holds 20 percent share, VMware vCloud Suite is at 19 percent and Azure Pack/Stack grew from 9 percent to 14 percent. The report also shows 85 percent of respondents from a mix of organizations have multi-cloud strategies, up from 82 percent in 2016.

Rackspace recently deepened its AWS relationship, adding services to help partners assess customer workloads, including server types and configurations, network topology, security, governance and compliance requirements; designing the systems architecture from the AWS catalog that is the best fit; and then moving those workloads to AWS. Rackspace’s new channel sales and alliances vice president for North America, Lisa McLin, also told Channel Partners that Rackspace plans to be a better partner to the AWS channel.

Partners looking to learn more about the various cloud stacks options available to customers can hear from Gerry Le Canu, senior cloud solutions engineer for Rackspace, at Channel Partners Evolution, next month in Austin.

“Provisioning hardware quickly is no longer considered a value for customers; it’s expected,” said Peter FitzGibbon, vice president and general manager of VMware at Rackspace, in a statement. “The enhancement in our VMware private cloud delivery model through VMware Cloud Foundation will provide further value to new and existing Rackspace Private Cloud powered by VMware customers by giving them access to the most streamlined and innovative VMware SDDC capabilities and life-cycle management. We are excited to use VMware Cloud Foundation and look forward to continued innovation on the platform.”