OpenStack has released “Essex,” the fifth version of its community-driven software. According to the announcement, OpenStack Essex allows users to leverage pools of on-demand, self-managed computing, storage, and networking resources to build efficient, automated private and public cloud infrastructures.

The Essex release delivers user-requested features for improved automation, integration across projects, as well as central management and provisioning by leveraging OpenStack’s pluggable architecture. Essex also will be included in the next Ubuntu 12.04 long-term support release.

According to the announcement, Essex adds new features and better project integration across the compute, storage, and networking pillars. Essex also marks the first full release of two new projects, Dashboard and Identity, which provide additional infrastructure and support. OpenStack Essex includes the following five components:

• OpenStack Compute (code-name Nova) – Focuses on stability and integration with Dashboard and Identity, including enhancements to feature parity among the tier one hypervisors.
• OpenStack Object Storage (Swift) – Includes new features to improve compliance and data security, more protections against corruption and degradation of data, and sophisticated disaster recovery improvements.
• OpenStack Dashboard (Horizon) – Provides administrators and users the ability to access, provision, and automate cloud-based resources through a self-service portal.
• OpenStack Identity (Keystone) – Unifies all core projects of the cloud operating system with a common authentication system. The technology provides authorization for multiple login credentials, including username/password, token-based and AWS-style logins.
• OpenStack Image Service (Glance) – Includes key updates to improve usability, authorization, and image protection.

OpenStack is an open platform for both public and private clouds with the support of more than 150 industry companies and more than 2,600 global project participants.