First public cloud service based on OpenStack on its way

The first commercial public cloud platform based on OpenStack has been launched and it's not from Rackspace.

Internap is first off the block offering its Open Public Cloud compute service, a complement to the company's dedicated service, Custom Public Cloud.

The company said the new OpenStack-based service offered users a highly-scalable public cloud with an easy-to-use management interface.

It was widely anticipated that Rackspace, the company who, along with NASA, set up OpenStack, would be first to market with a public platform but Internap has beaten it to the punch. Internap has also been one of the early backers of the project, which is supported by more than a hundred companies.

"Enterprises moving to the cloud want the ability to select services that meet their specific control, security and cost requirements rather than a one size fits all' option," said Paul Carmody, senior vice president of product management and business development at Internap.

"Internap offers enterprises maximum flexibility with public cloud, private cloud and a scalable cloud storage service. This allows customers to future-proof' cloud investments, moving from one cloud platform to another or using a hybrid approach as priorities and business needs evolve."

Writing in his blog, he continued: "I think that Internap should be the "Most Interesting Company in the World." Like the man in the commercials, we have it all. We now have the most comprehensive lineup of IT platforms anywhere. We can support colocation, managed hosting, private cloud and public cloud. We even give flexible choices within our private and public clouds. No one else can match that flexibility."