SAN ANTONIO, TX, Oct. 3 — Today, Rackspace Hosting, the open cloud company, announced an expansion of its training offering for OpenStack, by launching the industry’s first certification program for OpenStack. Since launching its training program for OpenStack in 2011, Rackspace has trained hundreds of students across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.

“As a founder of OpenStack and leading expert on the technology, we are listening to our customers’ and partners’ requests for a certification program for OpenStack to accelerate the learning curve of the technology,” said Tony Campbell, Rackspace’s director of training and certification for OpenStack. “With over 500 OpenStack related job openings on recruiting websites, an objective measure and qualification was a necessity for companies looking to hire candidates with proven OpenStack expertise.”

Rackspace currently offers a variety of public and private classes in which students learn how to use and operate OpenStack technology both in a public and private cloud environment. Each class is highly interactive and facilitated by OpenStack experts allowing students to practice actual OpenStack experience and real world expertise.  In addition to the current training classes, Rackspace will be adding more tracks that will cover a range of topics in the areas of business, operations, development, architecture, community and ecosystem. The company will also provide training for anyone looking todeploy and utilize the Rackspace Private Cloud Software.

Certification on OpenStack

As OpenStack gains widespread adoption, individuals and employers require an objective measure for demonstrating an individual’s expertise on the technology.  In order to fulfill that need, Rackspace is launching a certification program for application developers and DevOps engineers of OpenStack beginning with a Rackspace Certified Technician for OpenStack certification exam. This foundational certification is earned when an OpenStack professional has demonstrated the skills necessary to utilize and operate an OpenStack cloud.

Rackspace CertifiedTraining Partners to Extend Reach

Through a certified training partner program, Rackspace expects to syndicate its OpenStack course offering in multiple languages and across various geographies.  Partners who are certified under this program would deliver or resell Rackspace developed and branded training courses for OpenStack. By coupling a diverse network of partners and the OpenStack expertise of Rackspace, the Rackspace Certified Partner Program is expected to have the capability to deliver OpenStack training to students almost anywhere in the world.  Rackspace will be accepting applications for training partners to deliver this certification.

For more information on the Rackspace training and certification program visit:www.rackspacetraining.com

Supporting Quotes:

“When we first started with OpenStack at the University of Melbourne, we were able to learn from scratch, but we wanted to make sure there was a baseline of knowledge available to each location thatwould be building its OpenStack cloud nodes. The goal was to help kick-start learning about OpenStack. Honestly, we weren’t sure what the demand for the course would be. However, once word got out that we were hosting the training, the calls poured in and people were really keen to be a part of it. Everyone truly enjoyed and appreciated the training. Participants got to build a cloud. Then they got to break their cloud. And then they got to fix their cloud. Throughout the process, they got to learn the ins and outs of the various components of OpenStack. Everyone thought highly of the thoroughness of thetraining.” Steven Manos, manager, research services, ITS, University of Melbourne

“The OpenStack training I took taught by the Rackspace team this year was extremely well put together.  I had zero prior knowledgeabout the OpenStack technology until the class.  After completing the class, I was giving back helpful tips to the community from information I learned in the class.  The training course is a must go for anybody interested or already in the cloud community.” Josh Hutchinson, Systems Engineer at PCI Strategic Management, LLC

About Rackspace

Rackspace Hosting is the open cloud company, delivering open technologies and powering more than 190,000 customers worldwide. Rackspace provides its renowned Fanatical Support® across a broad portfolio of IT products, including Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Hybrid Hosting and Dedicated Hosting. The company offers choice, flexibility and freedom from vendor lock in. Rackspace has been recognized by Bloomberg BusinessWeek as a Top 100 Performing Technology Company and is featured on Fortune’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. Rackspace was positioned in the Leaders Quadrant by Gartner Inc. in the “2011 Magic Quadrant for Managed Hosting.” Rackspace is headquartered in San Antonio with offices and data centers around the world. For more information, visit www.rackspace.com. 

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Source: Rackspace