EC OPTIMIS Project releases new version of Open Source toolkit for Cloud providers

The EU-funded OPTIMIS project has announced the third version of its open source toolkit that helps European service providers build and run applications in the cloud. New features include a user interface, an infrastructure dashboard and plug-ins for OpenNebula and OpenStack.

As the EU’s three-year OPTIMIS project nears completion - and having achieved its original goals - the toolkit is now being integrated into the OpenNebula Ecosystem. The code is also on the Github open source repository. Each open software tool has an owner with a commitment to post-project support as OpenNebula developers ensure the continued enhancement of the OPTIMIS toolkit as it is folded into the organisations’ respective standards for open source industry standard cloud solutions.

“The previous version of the toolkit, which went live about a year ago, was downloaded dozens of times. Now with this new version the project team has added new features and ensured the longevity of the EU’s investment,” said Csilla Zsigri, director of consulting services EMEA, at 451 Research and project spokesperson.

“The availability of the OPTIMIS toolkit is pertinent as we witness the increasing demand for multi-clouds and hybrid set-ups. End-user organisations are now seeking new ways automate the delivery of workloads and applications to the most appropriate cloud environments, be it internal or external, and whether it is determined by performance, risk, location and compliance or other SLA parameters. We trust OPTIMIS will encourage more European SMBs to create and use new cloud applications and services,” Zsigri added.

OPTIMIS is a cloud-enabling technology designed to optimise the provision of cloud infrastructure services. The OPTIMIS tools are deployed in the datacentre and complement cloud management and orchestration platforms. The optimisation covers the full cloud service lifecycle including service construction, deployment and operation. Optimis gives service providers the capability to easily orchestrate cloud services from scratch, run legacy apps on the cloud and make intelligent deployment decisions based on their or their customers’ preference regarding trust, risk, eco-efficiency and cost (TREC). It supports end-to-end security and compliance with data protection and green legislation. It also gives service providers the choice of developing once and deploying services across all types of cloud environments – private, hybrid, federated or multi-clouds.

OPTIMIS simplifies the management of infrastructures by automating most processes while retaining control over the decision-making. The various management features of the Optimis toolkit make infrastructures adaptable, reliable and scalable. These, altogether, lead to an efficient use of resources.

Using the OPTIMIS toolkit, organisations can easily provision multi-cloud and federated cloud infrastructures and optimise the use of resources from multiple providers in a transparent, interoperable, and architecture-independent fashion. And once the cloud service is live, OPTIMIS allows the service provider to continue to monitor, change and optimise the various configurations at runtime.