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    Red Hat Acquires NooBaa to Drive Open Source Data Management

    Red Hat today signaled its intention to deliver data services across hybrid cloud computing environments by acquiring NooBaa, a provider of data management software designed from the ground up to span multiple clouds.

    Ranga Rangachari, vice president and general manager for storage and hyperconverged infrastructure at Red Hat, says that while Red Hat has provided storage management software for years, the acquisition of NooBaa marks the first time Red Hat is moving into the realm of data management.

    “We’ll now be able to migrate and copy data,” says Rangachari.

    Rangachari says that as part of the strategy, Red Hat will be making the NooBaa data management software available under an open source license.

    In general, data management is about to become a major issue as organizations move beyond multiple clouds to create a unified hybrid cloud computing strategy. NooBaa will make it simpler for developers to access data from within an application regardless of where that data is stored, says Rangachari.

    The degree to which Red Hat will be able to drive NooBaa as an open source project focused on data management remains to be seen. In fact, IBM, which is scheduled to acquire Red Hat next year, along with a host of other vendors, provide proprietary data management offerings that NooBaa might potentially usurp. IBM has promised to allow Red Hat to develop its strategy as an independent entity that operates as a separate business unit. Both IBM and Red Hat are crafting hybrid cloud computing portfolios. A recent survey conducted by IBM finds that 85 percent of companies are already operating in multi-cloud environments, with 98 percent forecasting that they will be using multiple hybrid clouds within three years.

    Regardless of how successful Red Hat will be following the acquisition of NooBaa, the one thing that is clear is that hybrid cloud computing spanning multiple centers of data gravity in and out of the cloud is now all but inevitable. The only real question at this point is how that effort to tame cloud computing will be realized.

    Mike Vizard
    Mike Vizard
    Michael Vizard is a seasoned IT journalist, with nearly 30 years of experience writing and editing about enterprise IT issues. He is a contributor to publications including Programmableweb, IT Business Edge, CIOinsight and UBM Tech. He formerly was editorial director for Ziff-Davis Enterprise, where he launched the company’s custom content division, and has also served as editor in chief for CRN and InfoWorld. He also has held editorial positions at PC Week, Computerworld and Digital Review.

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