Brocade proposes an OpenStack solution to support multiple networked data centers

Brocade has proposed an OpenStack service designed to support inter-data center multi-tenancy, the company said in a statement. The proposed solution is aimed at helping organizations with multiple data centers and virtual machines across centers maintain operations in an automated and flexible manner.

Brocade has partnered with Huawei on the proposed solution, which is specifically geared toward managed service providers and cloud service providers. The proposal is the first to propose extending OpenStack operability across multiple networked data centers.

The proposal will go before an OpenStack committee to determine if the project is feasible. If it’s approved, Brocade will start working to build the code necessary to complete the project.

Brocade and OpenStack

OpenStack is a global collaboration of approximately 16,000 developers and cloud computing technologists. Brocade has been a member of OpenStack since 2011. During the past three years, Brocade has supported OpenStack by contributing architectural enhancements to the core OpenStack framework and it helped to orchestrate OpenStack’s On-Demand Data Center.

OpenStack has drawn criticism from industry observers who feel it isn’t ready for commercial deployment. However, Dell and Red Hat recently launched an OpenStack solution that offers businesses a way to explore the rollout of OpenStack capabilities through small-scale proof of concept and pilot configurations. Oracle recently launched Solaris 11.2, an OpenStack integration designed to provide enterprise cloud users simpler and faster lifecycle management capabilities.

Last week, Brocade appointed networking and open-source expert Colin Dixon to the position of Principal Engineer. Dixon is an active contributor to the OpenDaylight Project, an open platform for network programmability to enable software-defined networking and create a foundation for network functions virtualization.

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