Rackspace Technology Works with CAS to Accelerates Scientific Breakthroughs by Modernizing its OpenStack Private Cloud, Achieving Cost Savings, System Optimization, and Consistency

Rhea-AI Summary

Rackspace Technology (NASDAQ: RXT) has collaborated with CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society, to modernize its OpenStack Private Cloud. This upgrade enhances CAS's ability to provide scientific innovators with access to cutting-edge, lifesaving research in chemistry and life sciences. The project focused on improving resiliency, reliability, and functionality of CAS's private cloud infrastructure.

Key achievements include:

• A Minimal Viable Product (MVP) upgrade that advanced CAS through several OpenStack versions with zero downtime
• Management of three important OpenStack environments: development, non-production, and production
• Enhanced support for CAS's new life sciences product line, the CAS BioFinder Discovery Platform™

This collaboration has resulted in cost savings, system optimization, and improved consistency for CAS's mission-critical cloud environment.

Positive

• Successful modernization of OpenStack Private Cloud infrastructure
• Zero downtime during major version upgrades
• Improved resiliency, reliability, and functionality of CAS's private cloud
• Cost savings and system optimization achieved
• Enhanced support for new product line (CAS BioFinder Discovery Platform™)

Negative

• None.

CAS leverages upgraded mission-critical private cloud environment to support cutting-edge, lifesaving, chemistry-related, and life-science research

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rackspace Technology^® (NASDAQ: RXT), a leading hybrid, multicloud, and AI technology services company, today announced working with CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society, to accelerate its scientific knowledge management breakthroughs by modernizing its OpenStack^® Private Cloud. The mission-critical private cloud environment supports CAS in providing scientific innovators with access to cutting-edge, lifesaving, chemistry-related, and life-science research.

As a leader in science information, CAS connects the world's scientific knowledge to accelerate breakthroughs that improve lives. Established as a volunteer effort in 1907, CAS officially became a self-supporting division in 1956. CAS has been an OpenStack customer with Rackspace Technology for over ten years.

"We help people, companies, institutions, and academics develop scientific innovations faster like cancer drugs and vaccines. It may sound cliché, but CAS is helping empower the scientific discoveries that are saving people's lives," said Luke Chandler, Senior Director of Cloud Platforms and Solutions, Infrastructure and Support Services for CAS. "We partnered with Rackspace as our managed service provider to raise the bar for our private cloud on OpenStack — including everything from resiliency to reliability to service robustness. We underwent a full redesign to achieve modernization of our cloud infrastructure."

CAS sought to modernize its OpenStack environment to enhance the resiliency, reliability, and functionality of its private cloud, which hosts its solutions. CAS prioritized high availability, reliability, and performance to meet its cloud platform's highest standards. A critical project was a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) upgrade that moved CAS forward several OpenStack versions with zero downtime.

Rackspace Technology provides expertise and manages three crucial CAS OpenStack environments, which are deployed on-premises in its data centers, including:

• A development cloud for testing updates
• A non-production cloud for pre-production testing
• A production cloud hosting live services on the latest hardware
  

"Rackspace played a crucial role in enabling CAS to implement a robust private cloud, offering more choices. The partnership and leadership from Rackspace were instrumental in this transformation. This high-stakes undertaking was a substantial leap forward for CAS, contributing to the organization's credibility and success," added Chandler.

"95% of organizations that leverage OpenStack chose to build with a partner, so finding a successful partner is crucial. Rackspace co-founded OpenStack in 2010, so we know how to build an OpenStack infrastructure at scale," said Lance Weaver, Chief Product and Technology Officer for Private Cloud, Rackspace Technology. "CAS has a high number of nodes, so we helped them scale, and our expertise, along with our history, puts us in a position to ensure customer success by optimizing deployment at a significant cost reduction."

Looking ahead, CAS is focused on supporting the launch of its new life sciences product line, the CAS BioFinder Discovery Platform™, while going through a complete Private Cloud OpenStack lifecycle program. The next collaboration and iteration of the CAS private cloud aims to support customer-facing products better and accommodate new workloads.

For more information about the CAS OpenStack modernization by Rackspace Technology, click here.

About CAS
CAS connects the world's scientific knowledge to accelerate breakthroughs that improve lives. We empower global innovators to efficiently navigate today's complex data landscape and make confident decisions in each phase of the innovation journey. As a specialist in scientific knowledge management, our team builds the most extensive authoritative collection of human-curated scientific data worldwide and provides essential information solutions, services, and expertise. Scientists, patent professionals, and business leaders across industries rely on CAS to help them uncover opportunities, mitigate risks, and unlock shared knowledge to get from inspiration to innovation faster. CAS is a division of the American Chemical Society. Connect with us at cas.org.

About Rackspace Technology
Rackspace Technology is a leading end-to-end hybrid, multicloud, and AI technology services company. We design, build, and operate our customers' cloud environments across all major technology platforms, irrespective of technology stack or deployment model. We partner with our customers at every stage of their cloud journey, enabling them to modernize applications, build new products, and adopt innovative technologies.

Media Contact: Natalie Silva, publicrelations@rackspace.com

FAQ

What improvements did Rackspace Technology (RXT) make to CAS's OpenStack Private Cloud?

Rackspace Technology improved the resiliency, reliability, and functionality of CAS's OpenStack Private Cloud. They performed a zero-downtime upgrade across several OpenStack versions and now manage three important environments: development, non-production, and production.

How does the OpenStack Private Cloud upgrade benefit CAS's scientific research capabilities?

The upgrade enhances CAS's ability to provide scientific innovators with access to cutting-edge, lifesaving research in chemistry and life sciences. It also supports the launch of their new CAS BioFinder Discovery Platform™, improving their capacity to accelerate scientific breakthroughs.

What cost benefits did CAS experience from Rackspace Technology's (RXT) OpenStack modernization?

While specific figures aren't provided, the press release indicates that CAS achieved cost savings through system optimization and improved consistency in their mission-critical cloud environment as a result of Rackspace Technology's OpenStack modernization efforts.

How long has CAS been an OpenStack customer with Rackspace Technology (RXT)?

CAS has been an OpenStack customer with Rackspace Technology for over ten years, indicating a long-standing partnership in cloud infrastructure management.