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HP adds Eucalyptus to Helion cloud, but OpenStack still reigns

Support for Amazon-lookalike clouds is back in HP's IaaS

HP has restored Amazon Web Services compatibility to its Helion cloud product line, just over a year after it dropped support in favor of focusing on a mix of OpenStack and its own, in-house technology.

The reinstated features come in the form of a new version of Eucalyptus, the AWS-friendly open source cloud-building software that HP acquired in September 2014.

Helion Eucalyptus 4.1 is the first release of the software under HP's brand, and it's also the first new version to appear since October.

"The addition of Eucalyptus to the HP Helion portfolio gives customers the flexibility to deploy existing AWS workloads onto cloud environments they control (private or managed), addressing demand for cost-effective alternatives to public cloud vendor lock-in," HP cheerily explained in a press release.

The release marks the first time that AWS compatibility has been available on HP's Helios cloud since it reached general availability in December 2013. Prerelease versions had included support for the AWS EC2 APIs and Eucalyptus tools, but the features were pulled for Helion's official launch.

New features in Helion Eucalyptus 4.1 include support for deploying private Eucalyptus clouds based on AWS CloudFormation templates, plus Helion Eucalyptus Cloud manager, a web-based tool that lets admins manage S3-compatible storage either on Eucalyptus clouds or AWS itself.

The reinstatement of Eucalyptus on Helion should be an encouraging sign for fans of the tech. For a while it looked like HP's Eucalyptus gobble was intended merely as a way to consolidate the cloud software market behind OpenStack, and former Eucalyptus CEO Mårten Mickos' decision to step down as head of the Helion division last week didn't help matters.

Helion OpenStack marches forward

Whatever HP's plans for Eucalyptus, however, OpenStack remains its top cloud bet. In 2014, HP CEO Meg Whitman said the company would invest $1bn in OpenStack-related R&D over two years, and that project is still underway.

Case in point, simultaneous with its Eucalyptus announcement HP also released version 1.1 of both its Helion OpenStack distribution and the accompanying development platform.

Helion OpenStack 1.1 includes improved hypervisor security and all data in transit between components of OpenStack clouds is now secured with TLS encryption. In addition to some management enhancements, it is also now certified to run Windows Server 2012 R2, 2012, 2008 R2, and 2008 as guest operating systems, with full support from Microsoft.

Both Helion Eucalyptus 4.1 and Helion OpenStack 1.1 are available immediately, HP says, but pricing will depend on customers' individual requirements. ®

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