Dell customers use Ubuntu to deploy cloud

Canonical today announced the availability of Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) running on Dell PowerEdge C2100 and C6100 servers in an integrated solution enabling Dell's U.S.-based customers to easily deploy Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

The standard edition released today allows software developers and IT organizations to run cloud proof-of-concept programs by providing an optimized, pre-configured testing and development environment. Workloads can easily be shared with external providers for capacity growth due to Ubuntu's open-source implementation of the de facto cloud-computing standard provided by Amazon Web Services.

The availability marks the completion of a cooperative engineering effort to give businesses an easy way to build and deploy world-class private cloud infrastructures that work with the most popular public cloud providers. PowerEdge C Servers and Ubuntu software will ship with tested reference architectures and a detailed implementation guide plus support from Dell and Canonical experts.

“Open source is the driving force of cloud computing however we choose to define the concept,” said Neil Levine, vice president of Corporate Services at Canonical. “This initiative is a great way for U.S. businesses to realize the power of this approach — the efficiency, savings and flexibility it brings and the power it can deliver to any data center —  and to start developing their internal cloud infrastructures with hardware and support from a familiar and trusted source.”

“Partnering with Canonical has allowed us to deliver an IaaS solution in a tightly integrated package based on open standards,” said Andy Rhodes, executive director of marketing, Data Center Solutions (DCS) Division at Dell. “This product release fits into our strategy of bringing technologies to market where we can optimize efficiency at every layer, including servers, storage and code. In this way we are making computing resources more accessible to a wider variety of businesses including telcos, hosters, media and entertainment, and financial services, where there is a substantial amount of software development work.”

“The Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud — based on Eucalyptus — is the leading cloud distribution in the world, popular among software developers and web companies,” said Marten Mickos, CEO of Eucalyptus Systems. “The integration and availability of UEC on Dell servers will be ideal for the growing number of organizations that are building new consumer-facing cloud services and need cloud-ready servers. We are pleased that the Eucalyptus private cloud software, as part of the UEC, will now impact an even broader market.”

Availability and important links

Find out more about how to purchase Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud on Dell Servers at www.dell.com/canonical or contact your Dell representative directly.

More information can be found at www.ubuntu.com/dell.

About Canonical Ltd.

Canonical provides engineering, online and professional services to Ubuntu partners and customers worldwide. As the company behind the Ubuntu project, Canonical is committed to the production and support of Ubuntu – an ever-popular and fast-growing open-source operating system. It aims to ensure that Ubuntu is available to every organization and individual on servers, desktops, laptops and netbooks.

Canonical partners with computer hardware manufacturers to certify Ubuntu, provides migration, deployment, support and training services to businesses, and offers online services direct to end users. Canonical also builds and maintains collaborative, open-source development tools to ensure that organizations and individuals can participate fully in innovations within the open-source community. For more information, please visit www.canonical.com.