RightScale and Rackspace Hosting entered into a strategic agreement to integrate RightScale cloud management with the Rackspace Open Cloud powered by OpenStack.

As part of the agreement, RightScale will support Rackspace Open Cloud products with its leading cloud management platform.

This announcement builds on the long-standing relationship between RightScale and Rackspace and their mutual commitment to choice and openness of cloud solutions for customers. Customers can select from private, public or hybrid offerings and have the freedom to deploy their applications in a Rackspace data center or a customer data center. Rackspace provides the open cloud choices and RightScale provides the ‘single pane of glass’ management platform for public, private or hybrid clouds.

RightScale support for Rackspace Open Cloud will provide integration with a suite of Rackspace Public Cloud services - including Cloud Servers, Cloud Databases, Cloud Block Storage, Cloud Networks – as well as Rackspace Private Cloud. In addition, RightScale’s expertise in deploying and managing cloud based applications, combined with Rackspace’s Fanatical Support®, will drive reliability and dependability for customers.

“Enterprise interest in OpenStack continues to increase. This agreement ensures that RightScale customers have an open cloud alternative that aligns with the OpenStack trunk code base and minimizes proprietary extensions,” said Michael Crandell, CEO at RightScale. “Rackspace has been very forward-thinking with their open cloud initiatives and we applaud that. RightScale focuses on offering our customers the ability to easily and more successfully deploy on the cloud, and so does Rackspace with their world-renowned Fanatical Support – critical elements for the adoption and growth of cloud.”

"With so many ways to build and deploy OpenStack-powered clouds we are excited that RightScale has selected Rackspace as their recommended choice," said Jim Curry, general manager of Rackspace Private Cloud Business. "RightScale cloud management provides a key solution to customers who need simplicity in running hybrid cloud environments. With RightScale's cloud management and Rackspace's Fanatical Support, customers can focus more on managing their business while we manage their cloud."

The joint solution is an ideal fit for startups innovating on new technologies, independent software vendors looking for a reliable solution on which to build their software as a service offerings, and enterprise IT organizations looking for agility and efficiency, among other use cases.