CERN has entered an agreement with cloud provider Rackspace to develop a hybrid cloud based on OpenStack. The agreement falls under the auspices of CERN's openlab, a joint public/private partnership that gives CERN a chance to get its hands on new technology, while vendors get feedback on products used in the IT infrastructure that supports CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Other openlab partners include HP, Huawei and Intel.

Cloud computing is attempting to boldly go farther than computing systems have gone before, on a mission to discover the origins of the universe. CERN openlab will use Raskspace to deliver a hybrid cloud solution under a year-long agreement.

CERN openlab, a public-private partnership between CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) and ICT companies has partnered with leading hosting company Rackspace to deliver a new hybrid cloud architecture that will help create a more seamless relationship between private and public clouds.

Can OpenStack and hybrid cloud computing explain the origins of the universe? Maybe not on their own, but they will be helping starting today as part of a partnership between Rackspace (RAX), the OpenStack-based cloud-computing host, and the CERN openlab collaborative group to process Big Data in the cloud.

European physics laboratory Cern is working with Rackspace on a project to link together multiple clouds used by the site along with other research centres and public cloud computing resources, in order to provide scientists with the compute power to research data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Rackspace(R) Hosting (NYSE: RAX), the open cloud company, today announced it has entered into a contributor agreement with CERN openlab. During the year-long collaboration, Rackspace will deliver a hybrid cloud solution featuring its public and private clouds powered by OpenStack to help CERN advance its mission by enabling more in-depth research into the origins of the universe.