Rackspace Launches Cloud Tools Ecosystem

rackspace-cloudtools

A screen shot of the Rackspace Cloud Toosl partner application catalog.

Rackspace Hosting wants to make using the cloud easy for its users, and is enlisting partners in its effort. This morning the company rolled out Cloud Tools, a portal to showcase partner solutions that offer applications and services built atop The Rackspace Cloud, its cloud computing suite.

The portal offers developers a way to showcase their offerings to Rackspace's large customer base, which includes more than 51,000 cloud computing users and nearly 20,000 managed hosting customers. The move also extends Rackspace's effort to establish itself as the leading operator of an "open cloud" ecosystem offering an alternative to powerhouse proprietary platformks from Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

"This tool-sharing service, along with our commitments to collaborate with the community to build an open cloud, lays the foundation for a large ecosystem," said Jim Curry, vice president of corporate development, Rackspace Hosting, who noted the company's goal to "constantly seek out new opportunities to connect our customers with quality services. With the recent release of our APIs, we’ve seen an influx of interest in developing applications for our cloud computing offerings and we’re pleased to announce that such applications can be featured in our new Cloud Tools site."

15 Partners at Launch
The Cloud Tools portal features offerings from 15 partners, including RightScale, Beanstalk, Cloud Mobile, Cloudkick, Django Cumulus, Elastic Rack, enStratus, rPath, SOASTA, Sonian and more. Some tools are free while others can be purchased. The Cloud Tools site serves as a catalog of tools and applications in four categories: Monitoring & Reporting, Development Tools, System Management and Client Software. The portal allows participants to rate tools and post comments, allowing users to sort the highest-rated apps and services.

The Rackspace release includes favorable reviews from several partners. "Rackspace’s commitment to helping drive success for their partners by leveraging their substantial customer base makes them a smart choice for cloud developers," said Michael Crandell, CEO of cloud management specialist RightScale.

"As developers we are always looking for outstanding platforms to publish and promote the tools and applications we create and Cloud Tools is just that," said Paul Querna, contributor, Libcloud project.