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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsPiston Cloud Computing was a San Francisco-based enterprise software company that automated deployment and orchestration of large-scale systems running on OpenStack. Cisco announced its intent to acquire Piston in June 2015 and completed the transaction that month. Piston CloudOS and Piston OpenStack were later placed into end of support/end of life, effective December 4, 2015, and are no longer available for purchase.
What was Piston Cloud Computing?
Cisco described Piston as a privately held San Francisco-based OpenStack product company. Its software streamlined operational deployment of distributed systems and automated orchestration of the infrastructure supporting applications built on OpenStack. In practical terms, Piston packaged tools for deploying and operating OpenStack-based environments rather than creating a separate public cloud from scratch.
Cisco’s acquisition overview provides the company description and acquisition date: Cisco Has Acquired Piston Cloud Computing.
How Piston fit into OpenStack
OpenStack is an open-source infrastructure-as-a-service platform made up of interrelated services, each exposed through an API. An organization can install some or all of those services depending on its requirements; it is not a single monolithic application.
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The project began in the first months of 2010. Rackspace was considering releasing infrastructure code for its Cloud Servers, while Anso Labs, working under contract for NASA, had published beta code for Nova, a Python-based cloud-computing fabric controller. Those efforts converged into the foundation of OpenStack. The OpenStack Project Team Guide documents this history at Introduction: A Bit of OpenStack History.
Piston operated one layer above that project: its enterprise products were intended to make deployment and day-to-day operational management of OpenStack-backed distributed systems more streamlined. That distinction matters because OpenStack remains an active open-source project even though Piston’s commercial products do not.
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Did Cisco acquire Piston Cloud?
Yes. Cisco announced its intent to acquire Piston on June 3, 2015. Cisco’s acquisition overview lists June 12, 2015 as the acquisition date, while a June 17 Cisco post said the transaction had been completed “this week.” These are different source-specific milestones, so they should not be treated as one undifferentiated date.
| Date | Milestone | Source |
|---|---|---|
| June 3, 2015 | Cisco announced its intent to acquire Piston. | Cisco’s announcement |
| June 12, 2015 | Cisco’s acquisition overview lists this as the acquisition date. | Cisco acquisition overview |
| June 17, 2015 | Cisco published a welcome post reporting that the acquisition had completed “this week.” | Welcome Piston Cloud! |
Cisco said Piston’s distributed-systems engineering and OpenStack expertise would support cloud automation, availability, and scale within its Intercloud strategy. The June 3 announcement described the rationale as: “Paired with our recent acquisition of Metacloud, Piston’s distributed systems engineering and OpenStack talent will further enhance our capabilities around cloud automation, availability, and scale.” That is Cisco’s stated corporate rationale, not evidence by itself of the acquisition’s eventual results.
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Cisco’s follow-up post also noted that CloudOS was part of the transaction, while saying plans for the technology had not yet been specified. The first-party sources do not establish the later disposition of every Piston technology asset.
What happened to Piston CloudOS and Piston OpenStack?
Cisco’s formal Piston Cloud Computing End of Support / End of Life Notice states that Piston CloudOS and Piston OpenStack entered end of support and end of life effective December 4, 2015.
- Neither product was available for purchase after the notice.
- Customers could not renew existing subscriptions.
- Existing subscribers could continue using the products after support ended, but continued use did not include an entitlement to Cisco support.
- The notice suggested Cisco Metapod to customers at that time.
That 2015 suggestion is historical. The notice does not verify that Metapod remains available under that name today or that it is a current successor to either Piston product.
Piston products versus OpenStack today
| Question | Piston products | OpenStack today |
|---|---|---|
| Product status | CloudOS and Piston OpenStack reached end of support/end of life on December 4, 2015 and are no longer sold. | OpenStack continues as an open-source project with current documentation. |
| What was provided? | Enterprise software for deployment and orchestration of distributed systems running on OpenStack. | A collection of infrastructure services and APIs that can be installed in combinations suited to an operator’s needs. |
| Historical or current? | Historical Cisco/Piston commercial packaging. | Current platform-level software; availability and support depend on how an organization deploys it. |
For the current platform description and installation concepts, see OpenStack’s Get started with OpenStack guide, which reports an update date of June 11, 2026.
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Is Piston OpenStack still available?
No. Cisco’s lifecycle notice says Piston OpenStack was no longer available for purchase and entered end of support/end of life on December 4, 2015. OpenStack itself is still available as open-source software, but downloading or deploying modern OpenStack is not the same as obtaining Piston’s discontinued commercial distribution.
If you find an old Piston download or subscription
- Treat it as legacy software, not a supported current product.
- Verify licensing, repository integrity, and security exposure before running it.
- Do not assume current OpenStack documentation applies directly to Piston’s packaging or release.
- Plan migration to a maintained OpenStack deployment or another supported infrastructure platform rather than building a new production system around an end-of-life release.
What can someone learn from Piston Cloud Computing now?
Piston is useful as a case study in the commercialization of OpenStack: the underlying project supplied cloud infrastructure services and APIs, while a company such as Piston focused on making those systems easier for enterprises to deploy and operate. Readers seeking technical background should use current OpenStack documentation or an OpenStack cloud-computing book or operator guide; those resources explain OpenStack generally and should not be represented as Piston products or official successors.
What remains uncertain
The available Cisco notices establish the acquisition milestones and the end-of-life status of CloudOS and Piston OpenStack, but they do not document the subsequent disposition or present-day availability of every Piston technology asset. They also do not establish a current OpenStack provider, referral program, or officially designated successor. The continued existence of OpenStack does not resolve those company- and product-specific questions.
Bottom line
Piston Cloud Computing was an OpenStack-focused enterprise software company acquired by Cisco in 2015. Its CloudOS and Piston OpenStack products were retired from sale and support on December 4, 2015. OpenStack remains active, but it is a separate open-source project—not a continuation of Piston’s discontinued commercial products.
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