You probably already heard the news: Redhat is acquiring InkTank.
InkTank is a small startup that is developing around the opensource file/block/object storage system Ceph, and even though it is not going to be a WhatsApp-like deal in terms of price, it will certainly be a game changer in the Openstack landscape.
Ceph, yeah!
Ceph, which I’ve already written about in the past, is the perfect choice to build Openstack infrastructures and I love it.
Ceph has a very elegant and resilient scale-out architecture which distributes data on each node of a linux cluster.
It provides:
– a block interface, that can be used by KVM guest (via QUEMU).
– a posix compliant distributed file system.
– an Object interface through a Swift/S3 compatible gateway.
It’s simply perfect to build a cloud infrastructure, isnt’ it?
Long story short, Ceph can run on the same linux cluster already capable of running KVM VMs and OpenStack services, enabling RedHat to build a strong hyerconvergent infrastructure for Openstack. Isn’t it intriguing?
Furthermore, Inktank is developing some really interesting management/monitoring tools that RedHat will soon release under open source. Just Redhatizing the product.
Why it is important
RedHat is building a strong OpenStack cloud proposition and they are choosing the right building blocks.
The renewed partnership with CISCO can easily lead to a VCE-like offer, which could be very credible and appealing for enterprises.
More than ever, RedHat is becoming the real OpenStack champion for the enterprise space, leaving most of the startups in the dust and it could also become a real threat for VMware.
Ceph enthusiasts will be happy about this acquisition, just because the product will mature more quickly… Gluster fans will be disappointed, but it’s obvious Gluster plays best in other fields like HPC or Media/entertainment.
