Ceph is an open-source storage subsystem that proponents say is more adaptable and less expensive than proprietary storage systems. Probably more to the point, it is also a competitor or alternative to the Swift storage system that is part of the OpenStack cloud platform. Ceph claims API compatibility with both Amazon S3 and Rackspace Cloud Files.
Shuttleworth’s Inktank investment comes in the form of a convertible bond that will be used to fund growth of InkTank and the Ceph community around it. Inktank itself was spun out of DreamHost, a large hosting company, last year as a sort of system integrator or consultant to help companies deploy Ceph. Inktank’s founder and CEO, Sage Weil, co-founded DreamHost. Last week, Los Angeles–based DreamHost announced its version of Ceph and (spoiler alert) Canonical talked up its integration of Ceph into its OpenStack implementation at the Linux Foundation’s CloudOpen conference last month.