Canonical and VMware have announced a collaboration that enables Canonical’s Ubuntu-based implementation of the OpenStack cloud computing framework to integrate with VMware-based infrastructure.

Announced at the OpenStack Summit in Portland, Oregon, the collaboration involves Canonical shipping its Ubuntu/OpenStack build with the plug-ins required to make it operate with VMware’s vSphere and Nicira network virtualisation platform.

The plug-ins, developed by VMware as part of a commitment to deliver vSphere support in OpenStack, provides improved support for an OpenStack Compute node to run atop VMware’s hypervisor.

This move enables those interested in building an OpenStack cloud to preserve any investments they may have already made in vSphere infrastructure, VMware said.

“By fulfilling our promise to deliver VMware vSphere support in OpenStack, and teaming with Canonical to serve our collective customers, we’re delivering customer choice by providing a powerful platform for those interested in OpenStack clouds,” said VMware vice president for Product Management, Joshua Goodman.

Canonical and VMware said they will work together on software testing, deployment automation, technical support and reference designs for interested customers.

VMware’s plug-ins were delivered as part of the latest OpenStack release, codenamed Grizzly, unveiled earlier this month. This extended VMware’s existing code contributions to the OpenStack Networking project, based on its Nicira NVP technology.