Mirantis vs Rackspace

August 19, 2023 | Author: Michael Stromann
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Mirantis
Mirantis is the number one pure-play OpenStack Company. We deliver technology, integration, training and support to succeed. OpenStack without the compromises of vendor lock-in. 400+ open source infrastructure experts makes us one of top 5 contributors.
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Rackspace
Rackspace Cloud offers four alternative hosting products: Cloud Servers for on-demand computing power; Cloud Sites for robust web hosting; Cloud Load Balancers for easy, on-demand load balancing and high availability; and Cloud Files for elastic online file storage and CDN.Rackspace Cloud hosting customers never need to worry about buying new hardware to meet increasing traffic demands or huge traffic spikes.
Mirantis and Rackspace are both prominent players in the cloud computing and managed services industry, but they differ in their approach and offerings. Mirantis is a leading provider of cloud-native infrastructure and Kubernetes solutions. They specialize in helping businesses build and manage their own private clouds and containerized environments using open-source technologies. Mirantis offers a comprehensive suite of services, including cloud consulting, managed Kubernetes, and infrastructure-as-code solutions, catering to enterprises seeking to leverage the benefits of cloud-native architectures.

Rackspace, on the other hand, is a managed cloud services provider that offers a range of managed hosting and cloud solutions. They provide expertise in managing infrastructure across various cloud platforms, including public, private, and hybrid clouds. Rackspace offers a comprehensive suite of managed services, including infrastructure management, application support, security, and data services. They cater to businesses looking for end-to-end management and support of their cloud infrastructure.

See also: Top 10 Public Cloud Platforms
Mirantis vs Rackspace in our news:

2018. Rackspace acquired Salesforce specialist RelationEdge



Rackspace has completed the acquisition of RelationEdge, a recognized partner specializing in Salesforce implementation. While Rackspace has established itself as a prominent provider of hosting and managed cloud services, the company is determined to broaden its portfolio and incorporate managed services for SaaS applications. This strategic move follows Rackspace's previous acquisition of TriCore, a company operating in the enterprise application management sector, signaling the company's commitment to expanding its capabilities in this domain. Through the acquisition of RelationEdge, Rackspace aims to further enhance its offerings and strengthen its position in the market.


2017. Rackspace acquires multi-platform hybrid IT management solution Datapipe



Rackspace has announced its acquisition of Datapipe, a major competitor in the managed public and private cloud services industry. While Datapipe has achieved significant success with enterprise and government clients, Rackspace has traditionally focused on the mid-market segment. Notably, the two companies have not consistently competed for the same deals, and their product portfolios differ substantially. Rackspace acknowledges that it could have attained similar technical capabilities through multiple smaller acquisitions, but this approach would have been more time-consuming and may not have granted Rackspace access to Datapipe's current customer base. Among Datapipe's customers are numerous large public-sector organizations, including the U.S. departments of defense, energy, and justice, as well as the U.K.'s cabinet office, ministry of justice, and department of transportation.


2016. Rackspace added cloud optimization platform to its private cloud



In a collaboration with AppFormix, Rackspace has introduced cloud monitoring and performance optimization tools to its private OpenStack cloud. This partnership grants Rackspace customers the ability to utilize AppFormix's real-time monitoring, analytics, and optimization tools. Rackspace's engineers will also leverage these tools to efficiently manage the cloud services for their customers. This marks a somewhat atypical move for Rackspace, as the company typically develops its own tools for managing the technical aspects of its cloud business. Notably, Rackspace played a pivotal role as a founding member of the OpenStack project, alongside NASA.


2014. Mirantis gets $100M funding to become enterprise OpenStack leader



Commercial OpenStack distribution provider Mirantis has recently secured $100 million in Series B funding. OpenStack, known as an open source platform for infrastructure as a service deployment, serves as the foundation for Mirantis' ambitions. Much like Red Hat's relationship with Enterprise Linux, Mirantis aims to become the leading corporate representative for OpenStack. However, the competition in the enterprise OpenStack market is intense, with major players such as HP, IBM, Cisco, and Red Hat vying for a share. Interestingly, Red Hat recently announced its transition from client-server to cloud computing, with a specific focus on OpenStack, further intensifying the competition. Mirantis' significant funding injection will likely be crucial in establishing its presence and success in this competitive landscape.


2014. Rackspace will sell and manage Google Apps



Cloud provider Rackspace has expanded its offerings to include the sale and support of Google Apps for Work to business customers, alongside its existing reselling and support of hosted Exchange and Sharepoint. Google Apps for Work, available directly, starts at $5 per user per month with 30 GB of online storage, while an unlimited storage version costs $10 per user per month. Rackspace will charge $10 per user per month for the basic package and $15 per month for unlimited storage. The additional $5 provides access to Rackspace's renowned "fanatical support," encompassing assistance with provisioning, security configuration, device management, migration issues, and account management. By offering Google Apps for Work, Rackspace aims to cater to the diverse needs of its business customers and provide comprehensive support for their collaboration and productivity tools.


2014. Rackspace guarantees 99.99% uptime of private cloud



Rackspace is expressing great confidence in the latest release of its private cloud software, built on the OpenStack open-source framework for cloud computing. The company is even offering a guarantee of success for enterprise workload production. Rackspace initially introduced its private cloud in the summer of 2013 and has now enhanced its offering with several notable features. These include a 99.99 percent uptime guarantee for the OpenStack API, increased scalability capable of supporting hundreds of nodes, and DevOps automation services for efficient application lifecycle management. While facing tough competition from industry giants like Amazon Web Services, Google Compute Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, which can provide more competitive pricing, Rackspace aims to leverage the momentum it has built through its private cloud solutions.


2014. Mirantis offers OpenStack-based private cloud as a service



OpenStack, the open cloud platform, presents a significant challenge when it comes to installation and setup for many companies. Mirantis aims to address this issue with OpenStack Express, a solution that allows companies, and even individuals without extensive IT expertise, to effortlessly order and deploy a private OpenStack implementation and pay for it based on usage. While there are other players in the OpenStack private cloud market, such as Rackspace, HP, Red Hat, and more, Mirantis stands out due to its extensive experience in deploying OpenStack for clients. Originally functioning as a systems integrator, Mirantis eventually ventured into offering its own OpenStack distribution. By packaging their expertise in a user-friendly manner, Mirantis provides a significant advantage to users seeking an easily consumable OpenStack solution.


2010. Rackspace launched a dating service for apps and their users



After Amazon had entered the niche of low-cost cloud platforms (where previously Rackspace ruled), Rackspace has to look for the new ways to attract customers and provide value-added services for them. One of these services is AppMatcher - a marketplace, where SaaS-applications and their users can find each other. It's designed in a very original way - it imitates dating site. The potential customer enters basic information about his organization (industry, number of employees, the IT budget, department) and the service finds apps, that may be interesting for him. After  registration in the online account he can specify more parameters about his business and app criteria, to narrow the search results. He can also invite co-workers and discuss potentially useful applications with them in the online account. On the other hand, developers add their SaaS apps (for free), filling in the questionnaire list. And it's not necessary that the app was hosted on Rackspace. ***


2010. Rackspace added Windows to its Cloud



Rackspace Cloud, a platform that has attracted numerous customers from Amazon due to its affordable pricing and easy administration, has expanded its range of services by introducing Windows Cloud Server. Previously, only Linux instances could be created on this platform. However, it's worth noting that Rackspace's pricing for Windows instances is not as competitive as Amazon EC2 and Windows Azure. For instance, the minimum configuration for a Windows instance (1 GB of memory, 40 GB storage, and 30 Mb/s bandwidth) costs $0.08 per hour (approximately $58 per month). In comparison, Amazon's small Windows server with 1.7 GB of memory and 140 GB storage (nearly twice the specifications) costs $0.12 per hour. Moreover, Rackspace's Windows servers can only be scaled up, lacking the option to scale down. Interestingly, Rackspace has recently undertaken an exciting initiative to develop an open-source cloud platform called Openstack.


2010. Rackspace wants to be Linux for Cloud Computing



As we recently mentioned, the private clouds have become the necessary intermediate step in moving companies to public cloud platforms. In result we see more and more private cloud solutions on the market. Basically it's a game for IT giants: IBM, Oracle, HP. These vendors use to supply the ready-made cloud solutions: servers + virtualization + operating systems + DBMS ... So companies are forced to buy all this staff combined and can't use the equipment in the existing data centers. It's like buying a computer from Apple with all included. But recently the pure software solutions for creating enterprise clouds appear. Moreover, one of the major cloud providers Rackspace has initiated the project of creating the free open-source platform for building clouds - OpenStack - something similar to Linux in the world of computers. ***

Author: Michael Stromann
Michael is an expert in IT Service Management, IT Security and software development. With his extensive experience as a software developer and active involvement in multiple ERP implementation projects, Michael brings a wealth of practical knowledge to his writings. Having previously worked at SAP, he has honed his expertise and gained a deep understanding of software development and implementation processes. Currently, as a freelance developer, Michael continues to contribute to the IT community by sharing his insights through guest articles published on several IT portals. You can contact Michael by email stromann@liventerprise.com