OpenStack Essex release is most stable yet, supporters say

The latest version of the cloud operating system OpenStack, known as Essex, will be released on Thursday, and supporters say that its stability should encourage larger deployments.

Essex, the fifth OpenStack release, includes 150 new features and enhancements, said Jonathan Bryce, co-founder of Rackspace Cloud and chairman of the OpenStack Project Policy Board. Fifty-five companies and 200 developers contributed code to Essex, he said.

Megaupload says case could affect other cloud storage services

A verdict against Megaupload in the U.S. would mean other cloud storage providers can be held criminally liable for illegal content stored by customers on their networks, an attorney representing the shuttered file-sharing site said on Tuesday.

OpenStack supporters downplay Citrix defection

Top coordinators of the OpenStack project shot back at Citrix for dropping its support for the open source cloud development platform in favor of starting a separate open source project based on an Apache license.

StorSimple extends portfolio of cloud-connected storage appliances

StorSimple has introduced four cloud-connected storage appliances that offer better performance and more local capacity, the company said on Tuesday.

Integrated on-premise and cloud-based storage is a growing product category with a number vendors vying for attention. Just like with many other cloud-based services, increased simplicity is one of the purported advantages.

Asavie launches pay-as-you-go VPN for iPad users

Asavie Technologies today launched a SaaS-based VPN for iOS devices that provides remote access to corporate data.

Terremark launches private cloud offering

Terremark is offering enterprises a new private cloud service that includes the option to burst onto a public cloud.

The private offering, introduced Tuesday, should appeal to customers in industries like financial services or government agencies that are interested in a cloud service but aren't comfortable with the shared approach, said Ellen Rubin, vice president of cloud products for Terremark, a subsidiary of Verizon.

Citrix abandons OpenStack, takes CloudStack to Apache

Citrix has abandoned its Olympus OpenStack distribution and will focus instead on its open-source CloudStack operating system, which it has contributed as a project under the Apache Software Foundation.

As part of the announcement, Citrix said CloudStack will continue to support Amazon's APIs (application programming interfaces) and believes such support is crucial to the success of cloud platforms. It implied it has Amazon's blessing.