Texas-based hardware company
Dell, one of the most recognizable technology brands in the world, has dropped its VMware-based IaaS vCloud datacenter public cloud services, ending a two-year investment in offering Public Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). The company will now provide customers with "best-in-class partner offerings" from companies in its US Cloud Partner Program "partner ecosystem" which includes ScaleMatrix, ZeroLag and Joyent. The company has also concluded plans to launch an OpenStack public cloud public storage service.
Existing and future customers in European, the Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) markets will be catered for through program partners in the United States. Cloud providers that utilize Dell hardware to establish cloud infrastructures will be utilized for those in European markets.
While the company suggests the move is intended to free customers from being locked into a single platform, some analysts suggest Dell's inability to provide a competitive cloud solution is behind the change. The company purchased Enstratius in the belief it could establish better margins for IaaS management, but the functionalities it offered were quickly replicated by competitors.
The move will disappoint many in the OpenStack community. The company was a firm OpenStack supporter and for the last year has been promoting its plans for an OpenStack Public Cloud. It will also disappoint company watchers who might see the move as admission of its inability to compete in what analysts suggest is one the fastest growing markets.
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