Mirantis OpenStack Integrates with Oracle Linux, Oracle VM

Mirantis, which has been expanding its bets on the OpenStack cloud computing platform throughout 2014, is also deepening its bets on the enteprise. The company, which is already a member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), has announced that Oracle Linux and Oracle VM have been integrated Mirantis' own OpenStack distribution, which will keep Mirantis and Oracle serving and supporting joint customers.

The news comes just after Mirantis announced the availability of Mirantis OpenStack Express, an on-demand private Cloud-as-a-Service for enterprises.

Until recently, most people thought of Mirantis as an OpenStack consultancy and training company, but it is quickly expanding into the service provider and enterprise vendor space.

The Mirantis OpenStack software subscription will now offer deployment and management capabilities with support for running OpenStack clouds on Oracle Linux and Oracle VM. These are platform choices made primarily by existing users of Oracle applications.

For its part, Oracle seemingly took a shot at Red Hat in announcing the partnership with Mirantis. Red Hat has been under fire for what is perceived as an unwillingness to support users of OpenStack distributions other than its own.

We are happy to collaborate with Mirantis on this effort," said Oracle Chief Corporate Architect, Edward Screven, in a statement. "While Oracle ships its own OpenStack distribution with Oracle Linux and Oracle VM, we also want to offer customers choice. We are providing the same high quality Linux support to every customer, no matter which OpenStack distribution they choose."  

The key leg up that Mirantis may get out of its deal with Oracle is that Oracle will share support duties for subscription users. Mirantis and Oracle will integrate support operations "to provide a consistent service level agreement and a virtually seamless support escalation path for customers," according to the companies.

Support is the key differentiator for companies focused on OpenStack, and small companies like Mirantis must be nimble and shrewd in forming partnerships that can bring enterprise-grade support into the fold.