We are gearing up for an open source release in the coming weeks, and you’re probably curious what all the fuss is about. What you’ll find here is some introductory information and ways to sign up for news and, eventually, pre-release code as we get closer to the project launch. Read Red Hat’s press release – it will give you the background information you need.

Founding Community Members

As part of this announcement, we’re proud to announce that four Founding Community Members have joined the ManageIQ Community: AutoTrader Group, Booz Allen Hamilton, Chef, and CiRBA. Some of them have already produced high quality integrations that demonstrate the power of the ManageIQ platform. Look for more information from them over the coming weeks as they prepare their open source releases for the ManageIQ platform.

Where’s the Code, Dude?

You may be wondering, “Where’s the code?” The full project release will take place in a matter of weeks and will include full source code and builds. ManageIQ will be an open source cloud management platform, with lots of open source apps and add-on content that makes it usable for a number of users. Red Hat will remain a significant contributor to ManageIQ, but our goal is to create a community that has a wide variety of participating organizations from end users to ISVs to OEMs and more.

Why Cloud Management?

ManageIQ is about more than any single virtualization or cloud platform. It’s about managing resources in a hybrid cloud world. For example, OpenStack is a wonderful cloud platform, but many OpenStack deployments are side-by-side with services running in AWS, vSphere, RHEV/oVirt, Hyper-V, and a variety of other cloud and virtualization platforms. ManageIQ allows admins and operators to abstract away from the specific tooling and focus on managing applications and services, regardless of platform and tooling. For example, with ManageIQ, you have the capability of blocking or allowing services running on specific platforms based on a number of parameters: geographic location, pricing, performance, etc. Add logic and business processes that allow you to EOL specific tools and platforms, migrating existing services to updated providers, or providers that have patched specific security holes, eg. heartbleed.

The Gateway to the Open Cloud

We feel that the recent cloud wars are a replay of the previous Unix wars and the server application wars. In each case, proprietary vendors used whatever means necessary to lock in customers, essentially charging them a tax for migrating to another platform. The good news is that customers eventually resolved each of those in their favor with Linux and open source ecosystems for the former and web-based applications for the latter. Unfortunately, lots of money was wasted and efficiency lost along the way.

With cloud infrastructure and services, we’re fighting the same battle. It’s a burgeoning market and a host of vendors are lining up to keep customers in their place (on their platform). We believe that ManageIQ will be a way for cloud admins and operators to fully unleash the power of cloud computing, allowing them to abstract services away or towards particular platforms. This puts more power and choice into the hands of the people who need it most: you. You’re the one whose job depends on managing all these services efficiently. You’re the one charged with making sure applications running on any platform are fully patched, running efficiently, and not exposing your employer to more risk than anticipated.

Today is a great day to be in the cloud.