IBM Debuts OpenStack-Based Cloud Management Tools

By Rick Whiting
March 05, 2013 11:20 AM ET

Vowing to develop all of its cloud software and services on "open cloud architecture," IBM Monday debuted private-cloud management tools based on the open-source OpenStack cloud operating environment.

The new software, unveiled at IBM's Pulse conference in Las Vegas, makes it easier to deploy, monitor and control various compute, storage and network cloud services across hybrid cloud environments without the need to develop interfaces for every service.

"History has shown that open source and standards are hugely beneficial to end customers and are a major catalyst for innovation," said Robert LeBlanc, IBM senior vice president of software, in a statement. "Just as standards and open source revolutionized the Web and Linux, they will also have a tremendous impact on cloud computing."

OpenStack is an open-source Infrastructure-as-a-Service project backed by a number of major IT vendors including Intel, Dell, Cisco, VMware and others. The OpenStack Foundation manages the project with the software released under an Apache software license.

IBM joined the OpenStack Foundation one year ago as a Platinum sponsor and the company describes itself as "one of the top code and design contributors" to OpenStack projects.

The new IBM SmartCloud Orchestrator provides a graphical interface that businesses use to combine and deploy various cloud services on the OpenStack platform. That can reduce operational costs by automating application deployment and life-cycle management, IBM said, and simplifies end-user consumption of cloud services through the use of a self-service portal. IBM SmartCloud Orchestrator is scheduled to be available later this year.

IBM also unveiled a new version of its IBM SmartCloud Monitoring Application Insight tool for monitoring the performance and availability of cloud applications. The company has integrated its IBM SmartCloud ControlDesk and IBM Endpoint Manager for managing cloud services for compliance, regulation and security purposes. And the company launched two beta programs that use analytics to predict changes in the scale and usage of cloud services.

PUBLISHED MARCH 5, 2013

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