Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has stopped funding an initiative it started 24 months ago in collaboration with Rackspace with a view to encouraging big business clients looking for cheaper and more flexible data center infrastructure to use OpenStack software technology. The initiative, branded OpenStack Innovation Center, had been announced in July 2015.
According to sources, the funds that had initially been allocated for the initiative were supposed to be enough for up to the whole of 2018 but Intel decided to withdraw early. The decision was disclosed internally by both companies early last week.
Developer community
A spokesperson for Intel revealed that Intel had indeed pulled out of the initiative but was proud of all that had been achieved. The spokesperson added that the two technology companies would continue to collaborate with the developer community working with OpenStack.
“OSIC’s objective was to create the world’s largest OpenStack developer cloud and develop enterprise capabilities within OpenStack. It quickly accomplished the first goal, and has made great progress toward the second,” a spokesperson for Rackspace said.
Alternative cloud solution
With OpenStack being a set of open source software tools, business organizations can utilize these tools to put up their own data centers or cloud infrastructure. When it was started in 2010, OpenStack was hailed as a VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW) or Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Web Services alternative.
The end of the initiative will inevitably mean some job losses and a source indicated that 30 members of staff who had been deployed at the OpenStack Innovation Center have been asked to seek alternative positions at Rackspace.
More vendors
This is not the first time OpenStack is having to deal with vendors cutting support. In the last 6 months, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) both withdrew from OpenStack projects leading to job losses for employees working on the OpenStack projects. Staff at Mirantis concentrating on OpenStack have also been laid off.
The bad news for OpenStack come just four weeks prior to the yearly OpenStack Summit which will be held in Boston, Massachusetts.
On Thursday shares of Intel Corporation fell by 1.07% to close the day at $35.25.
