Dell expands open source initiatives

Dell has announced the expansion of three open source software and cloud computing initiatives: the formalisation of Project Sputnik, resulting in a Dell product in the fall - its Dell's emerging solutions ecosystem to include Pentaho and Datameer; and enhancements to Dell's OpenStack-powered cloud solution and the Dell/Cloudera solution, eChannel Line reports.

Originally a six-month exploratory pilot to create an Ubuntu-based developer laptop, Dell is taking Project Sputnik from pilot to product this fall. At that time, the company plans to deliver an official developer laptop based on the Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu 12.04LTS preloaded, available in select geographies.

Made possible by an internal innovation fund, the system will offer developers a complete client-to-cloud solution. The included software will allow developers to create 'micro-clouds' on their laptops, simulating a proper, at-scale environment, and then deploy that environment seamlessly to the cloud.

“Project Sputnik is a great example of the employee-driven innovation we built Dell's incubation programme to enable,” said Nnamdi Orakwue, executive sponsor of the Dell incubation programme and executive assistant to Michael Dell, Yahoo News writes.

This project represents the first of many new ideas Dell employees will test with customers or partners through the programme.

“Since we announced project Sputnik a little over two months ago, we have continued to be amazed by the amount and quality of interest and input we have received,” said Barton George, project Sputnik lead and director of Dell's web vertical marketing. “By listening to developers, Dell can provide them with solutions and products to help make them more productive and allow for greater innovation.”