Cloud News: OpSource, Quest, Riverbed, RightScale

Here’s a roundup of some of this week’s headlines from the cloud computing sector:

OpSource and VCE build public clouds.  OpSource announced an alliance with VCE, the Virtual Computer Environment Company, to deliver solutions for service providers that speed time to market for launching public cloud services. Together a public cloud service can be launched quickly using OpSource’s orchestration software and the Vblock platform from VCE, a joint venture between Cisco, VMware and EMC. “Telecom providers like SingTel can bring cloud services to market rapidly with highly automated solutions built on integrated OpSource and VCE technologies,” said Blake Sallé, SVP, Worldwide Channels on VCE. “With Vblock platforms as the foundation for cloud computing and OpSource as the orchestration connector, service providers have a robust framework that will not require extensive integration efforts or expense to move applications into the cloud. This will enable service providers to rapidly expand their portfolios and capitalize on the growing demand for cloud services.”

Quest acquires Symlabs. Quest Software (QSFT) announced that it has acquired Symlabs, a privately held solutions provider that specializes in virtual directories and identity management solutions.  The addition of Symlabs and its middleware technology capabilities will enable Quest products to easily consolidate identity data that is stored in the distributed environment. Symlabs also brings additional federated identity capabilities to Quest.  “Symlabs has a strong history of eliminating complex integration problems quickly and inexpensively, and its virtual directory technology makes it a great fit for Quest One and our approach to simplifying IAM for IT and the business. This investment, as well as the recent patents, availability of Quest One Identity Manager and continued investment in multifactor authentication, continues to drive the new wave of IAM for our current and future customers," said Jackson Shaw, senior director of product management at Quest Software.

Riverbed adds to Cloud Storage Gateway family.  Riverbed (RVBD) announced the introduction of three new Riverbed Whitewater cloud storage gateway models designed to optimize data protection. Whitewater will now allow a wider range of organizations, including small and medium businesses (SMBs), to take advantage of the benefits of cloud data protection. The new 510 and 710 models will target the SMB market and the 2010 is designed for the mid-sized enterprise and targeted use cases in the large enterprise. Whitewater cloud storage gateways deduplicate, compress and encrypt backup data sets before storing them in the local cache and securely accelerating them over the network and into the cloud. "We are bringing the power of a high-performance, secure and flexible cloud storage gateway to our SMB customers to tap into the tremendous benefits of using the public cloud for data protection," said Apurva Davé, vice president of product marketing at Riverbed. "These new offerings will help SMBs, in addition to larger organizations, leverage Riverbed Whitewater cloud storage gateways to overcome barriers to cloud storage adoption, including performance, security and vendor lock-in. This enables a wider range of organizations to better compete without having to build and maintain a high-capital, high-maintenance infrastructure."

RightScale launches myCloud.  RightScale announced today the launch of RightScale myCloud, a simple to set up, easy-to-use and cost-effective management platform for hybrid and private cloud computing. The free edition of RightScale myCloud gives organizations a powerful framework for testing and developing private cloud infrastructures with little financial or management risk.  The new management platform simplifies deployment and givs a single view into both public and private cloud resource pools. “RightScale has always focused on making it easier and more productive to manage and automate applications in the cloud, and now with myCloud we are taking our support for private and hybrid clouds to the next level. RightScale myCloud makes on-premise cloud computing a viable option for all our customers by enabling an easy on-ramp and then offering a path to build out whatever multi-cloud environment they need,” said Michael Crandell, CEO of RightScale. “This is our vision for the future of hybrid clouds.” MyCloud will be powered by Cloud.com and Eucalyptus Systems.