Ericsson, the Swedish provider of communications technology and services, recently signed a five year software licensing deal with Mirantis for OpenStack Infrastructure as a Service technology. According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal is valued at $30 million and consequently vies for the designation of the largest commercial OpenStack deal in the platform’s history. Ericsson intends to use OpenStack as the infrastructure technology for its internal data centers, telecommunications network and cloud computing services. Ericsson’s director of cloud systems and platforms, Jason Hoffman, noted that the company had begun using OpenStack since its inception and plans to collaborate with Mirantis to improve the resilience, durability and performance of OpenStack. The Swedish technology giant is considering development of an OpenStack-based cloud for its telco customers in response to telco pressure and feedback for Ericsson to deliver infrastructure-related innovation. Ericsson is a gold sponsor of the OpenStack Foundation and an investor in Mirantis, a Mountain View based company that specializes in helping other companies successfully implement OpenStack. Mirantis, which finalized $20M in Series A funding last year, boasts its own OpenStack distribution known simply as the Mirantis OpenStack Distribution.
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