F5 Extending the Red Hat OpenStack Platform Advantage with Enhanced Service Definitions
As part of our annual State of Application Delivery survey, we ask about trends. Those trends must, of course, include cloud – in all its various forms. The reality is that cloud has dominated the trends that organizations of all sizes, across the globe, indicate will have a strategic impact on them in the near term for the past decade now.
To date, the most prevalent cloud model in use by enterprise organizations remains the “on-premises private” cloud. While preliminary results for 2018 show public and off-premises models (private and colocation) rising more dramatically, still the on-premises, private cloud remains a clear favorite. For now, at least.
That makes a lot of sense, given that one of the most common impacts on organizations of digital transformation efforts is a cloud-first strategy for applications. Cloud of all kinds enable orgs to move faster and scale more efficiently, and with the increasing number of applications required to support digital transformation inside and out, scale and speed are both paramount to success.
Unsurprisingly, we’ve seen the popularity of OpenStack rise in the past few years, making leaps and bounds to reside in the top three frameworks organizations rely upon to build their private clouds.
That falls in line neatly with industry surveys that show organizations eagerly embrace open source solutions and, in particular, OpenStack for a variety of business and budgetary reasons.
The on-premises private cloud model is one of the pillars of the increasingly multi-cloud strategy organizations are adopting. Some strategically, others tactically, and some accidentally. However they arrived there, they are managing multiple clouds – and one of them is likely to be based on OpenStack.
That’s one of the reasons we put together the F5 Private Cloud Solution Packages, and why one of them is focused on OpenStack.
Today we’re announcing some significant updates to the F5 Private Cloud Solution Package for OpenStack, including support for and certification of our solution for the Red Hat OpenStack Platform, version 10. One of the drivers for supporting Red Hat OSP v10 is the introduction of a new software life cycle which includes three-year support with an option to extend to five years. That’s huge, in the enterprise, because investing in a cloud is a longer-term strategy than many of the apps it’s designed to deliver.
The updated package also enables organizations to add value with differentiated services by employing Enhanced Service Definitions. ESDs allow organizations to enjoy the advantages of standardization in OpenStack without sacrificing the ability to gain competitive advantages through advanced application services and capabilities. When everyone has “an app for that”, competitive advantages are gained through being faster and safer than other apps, and that is exactly what ESDs offer to organizations. You can use iRules or apply performance-enhancing policies, amongst others without sacrificing the benefits of standardization.
This is a great example of how open source like OpenStack enables innovation for us that in turn makes it easier for you to innovate.
If you haven’t heard of or checked out our Private Cloud Solution Package for OpenStack yet, I encourage you to do so. There’s a lot packed into, and with support for Red Hat OpenStack Platform v10 and ESDs, there’s even more freedom (and ability) to innovate.