Rackspace Announces Kubernetes as a Service for Private Cloud

Managed cloud company, Rackspace, recently announced that it would be expanding its private cloud-as-a-service offerings. The addition comes in the form of a Kubernetes-as-a-Service private cloud, powered by VMware. It is built on a pay as you go pricing model, so enterprises won’t be overwhelmed with unexpected costs. Rackspace has clearly been homing in on Kubernetes services, as they announced a fully managed Kubernetes-as-a-Service in May. For this solution, the company collaborated with Hewlett Packard Enterprise to make this solution possible.

The pay as you go model is an on-demand consumption model for infrastructure usage in a private cloud environment. It leverages HPE GreenLake Flex Capacity to eliminate traditional fixed capacity pricing models. Many believe that flexible pricing models will become the norm for cloud based solutions. Enterprises regularly have issues with cloud cost management, and entire solutions and services are built with this in mind.

The solution is fully open-source using upstream Kubernetes, which prevents potential vendor lock-in. Customers will be able to maintain architectural and data control benefits like they would in a public cloud. Users can scale Kubernetes environments at their own place in almost any data center in the world.

Considering Rackspace’s leadership as a managed service provider, it makes sense that they would offer “Day 2” operations. This means that they will help manage updates, patching, security, and more. Enterprises looking to make the jump to containers will be able to with less pressure.

One complaint many have about containers is their security functionality. Earlier this year, Tesla’s cloud was hacked due to a poorly managed container platform. Luckily, Rackspace provides security for customers using this solution. Their extensive team validates and vets each component of the service and provides container scanning to ensure users are authorized. The security functionality also helps enterprises maintain compliance for regulations like GDPR or HIPAA.