Rackspace goes mondo for MongoDB

Cloud services provider Rackspace will begin offering locally-hosted MongoDB, a NoSQL database, as a cloud service towards the end of 2013.

The move represents Rackspace’s move up the platform-as-a-service foodchain, and follows the acquisition of ObjectRocket, a MongoDB database-as-a-service provider. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

According to Alan Perkins, Rackspace’s director of technology and product for Asia Pacific, the offering is the company’s first foray into the platform-as-a-service marketplace.

“NoSQL databases are a hot topic,” he told iTnews. “They don’t replace relational databases, but make a wonderful adjunct.”

Perkins said the move to offer MongoDB as a service will make life easy for developers wanting to create applications using MongoDB. “They can just fire it up and it’s ready to go.”

ObjectRocket also uses Amazon Web Services Direct Connect to provide low latency and free bandwidth to exising AWS customers, Perkins said.

The Rackspace / ObjectRocket MongoDB offering will initially be available through the company’s Chicago datacentre, with other Rackspace locations, including Sydney, following later in the year.

“Sydney will represent a nice tie-in to the global services,” Perkins said.