Storware and Rackspace Technology: A Strategic Partnership

In August, 2025 Storware and Rackspace Technology officially announced a partnership that opens new opportunities for both companies. It is a strategic and technically advantageous move that can accelerate Storware’s growth.

Rackspace Technology – A Pioneer in Cloud Services

Founded in 1998, Rackspace Technology is a pioneer in the cloud services market. One of the company’s most significant milestones was the joint development of OpenStack with NASA. The initiative aimed to create an open, universal cloud standard that would serve as an alternative to vendor lock-in.

Rackspace contributed part of its Cloud Files system code, while NASA provided its NOVA compute platform. The combination of these technologies gave birth to OpenStack.

The goal was clear: to enable companies and institutions to build scalable cloud environments on standard hardware—without dependency on closed, proprietary platforms.

Although OpenStack did not gain wide adoption among startups and small businesses, it has become very popular with large enterprises, telecom operators, and private cloud providers. Its users include NASA, Walmart, Verizon, Banco Santander, PayPal, AT&T, CERN, Comcast, and NTT. Since 2012, the project has been overseen by the independent OpenStack Foundation. Interestingly, OpenStack has been better received in Asia and Europe than in the United States.

Perfect Timing for Partnership

The agreement between Rackspace and Storware comes at a critical time. The virtualization market is experiencing turbulence, with customers seeking stability and predictability. One of the key factors driving uncertainty is the aggressive pricing policies of dominant players. As Gartner VP Luke Ellery noted, some VMware licensing costs have increased by as much as 1,050%. Such drastic price hikes are forcing organizations to look for alternatives.

Concerns are also growing around the behavior of major hyperscalers. High-profile cases—such as Microsoft cutting off a client due to EU sanctions or disabling cloud services for Israel’s Ministry of Defense—show the risks of relying on a single, closed ecosystem. In this context, the Rackspace–Storware offering, built around the open OpenStack standard, becomes a safe haven. It provides enterprises with a compelling alternative, helping them escape uncertainty and rising costs.

This partnership not only opens new opportunities for Storware but also strengthens its position as a trusted vendor.

Read the Joint Value Proposition (JVP)

More Than Marketing

OpenStack is a driving force for large enterprises and an attractive alternative for MSPs building private and public clouds, said Paweł Mączka, CEO of Storware, in an interview with CRN Polska. When Rackspace selects us as a partner, customers no longer question our credibility.

Rackspace serves thousands of companies worldwide, giving Storware access to customer groups that would otherwise be extremely difficult—if not impossible—to reach. A recommendation from a globally recognized provider carries much more weight than traditional direct marketing.

Rackspace Technology has consistently built a strategic partnership ecosystem, signing similar agreements with Cohesity and Rubrik. Storware now joins this elite group of technology partners.

Beyond Reputation: Real Technological Benefits

The benefits of this collaboration go far beyond image and branding. Storware now gains direct access to Rackspace Technology’s global infrastructure—data centers, advanced networks, and extensive cloud resources. This gives Storware a true sandbox for large-scale testing and optimization, allowing real-world deployments that enhance performance and stability.

The partnership also enables deeper integration of Storware’s solutions with Rackspace Technology’s ecosystem, including monitoring, management, and automation tools. As the relationship strengthens, these integrations will become critical, improving interoperability and customer value.

Storware focuses on enterprise and institutional customers, while Rackspace works with a broad range of global clients. This opens the door for Storware’s engineers and architects to collaborate directly with Rackspace experts in real-world deployments. Such knowledge exchange provides valuable insights into enterprise needs and the challenges of managing data at scale.

Rackspace can also help steer Storware toward cloud-native solutions, fostering the development of new connectors, improved replication, and advanced data management in complex hybrid environments. This represents a strategic investment that will allow Storware to scale globally and meet the most demanding needs of the modern IT market.

Comprehensive Data Protection Without Compromise

The integration of Storware Backup and Recovery with the Rackspace OpenStack Enterprise platform creates new possibilities for enterprise IT protection. The solution combines advanced backup mechanisms with lightning-fast recovery and full disaster recovery (DR) capabilities. Customers gain precise control over recovery processes—from individual files and critical databases to entire virtual machines. This flexibility directly minimizes downtime and eliminates the risk of data loss—factors that can determine business survival in today’s world.

Storware provides a unified management platform that seamlessly supports heterogeneous IT environments. For Rackspace, this means offering customers a single, consistent tool for managing all backups, regardless of infrastructure complexity.

Advanced deduplication and compression significantly reduce data storage costs without compromising backup integrity. Built-in end-to-end encryption and granular access controls guarantee data security throughout its lifecycle.

Josh Villarreal, General Manager of OpenStack at Rackspace Technology, highlights the potential of Storware’s V2V (Virtual-to-Virtual) migration feature. This technology allows seamless migration of entire production environments—operating systems, applications, and data—between different virtualization platforms. It directly addresses data gravity, the growing challenge of trapped digital assets in centralized infrastructures. The more data organizations accumulate in one place, the harder and more expensive it becomes to move—creating a digital prison that limits flexibility and innovation.

Storware’s technology is particularly valuable for organizations moving away from proprietary platforms like VMware to open ecosystems such as OpenStack. This transformation delivers three key benefits:

• Compatibility – Migration requires no application rebuilds or environment reconfiguration; systems work immediately after transfer.
• Freedom of choice – Organizations escape vendor lock-in, gaining control over infrastructure and the ability to select best-fit solutions.
• Cost optimization – Open platforms eliminate expensive licensing fees and allow precise resource scaling.

True Freedom of Choice

While some data protection vendors limit support to the most popular hypervisors—for example, Veeam initially focused only on VMware—Storware chose a different strategy. It offers comprehensive support for more than 10 virtualization systems, including VMware, Hyper-V, Nutanix AHV, OpenShift, and OpenStack Virtualization.

This approach gives customers full freedom to migrate between platforms while ensuring business continuity. Backup systems remain consistent regardless of the chosen virtualization technology, eliminating migration costs and allowing organizations to plan their technology roadmaps with confidence.

As an active player in the world of open virtualization (KVM) for over a decade, we have unmatched expertise. Our mission for many years has been to be the number one provider in this space. Just as Veeam claims leadership in VMware, we aim to become the leader in OpenStack KVM, says Paweł Mączka.

The partnership with Rackspace Technology brings Storware significantly closer to achieving this goal.