OpenStack Announces ARM-Based Cloud

Calxeda is making a comeback as Openstack announced that it will be offering a cloud environment based on ARM microservers using Calxeda's SoC technology.

Following HP's announcement that its Project Moonshotwill not initially use Calxeda's processors, Openstack has said that it will offer the first ARM technology-powered OpenStack cloud as a zone in TryStack, which is provided as a free sandbox to try and test OpenStack.

OpenStack, created by Rackspace and NASA, is designed to promote the development of an open source cloud computing platform for public and private clouds entirely through a global collaboration model. The OpenStack organizers say that the project will eventually provide a full cloud infrastructure solution.

“Highly efficient datacenters, combined with flexible cloud infrastructure on a massive scale, are increasingly essential to support the proliferation of always-on, always-connected mobile computing devices,” said Ian Ferguson, director of server systems and ecosystems at ARM. “The ARM technology-powered OpenStack cloud zone in TryStack provides free and easy access to explore and test workloads on the latest generation of ultra-low power servers. This will help to accelerate and extend an innovative server ecosystem based on the ARM architecture.” TryStack now offers both an x86 and an ARM environment.

There was little information on the technology behind the ARM cloud. OpenStack simply said that it was made possible with "hardware and engineering contributions from Calxeda, Canonical and HP, with data center space provided by Core NAP." For Calxeda, of course, it is critical to build credibility in this segment and the OpenStack cloud should be able to be a stepping stone for the company.