Since the announcement of OpenStack crossed the wire on Monday, much of the emphasis has been on Rackspace‘s decision to open source their code and what this might mean in terms of the other major (proprietary) cloud players. But there are 25 companies who’ve signed on to the OpenStack organization and the benefit of the open source project will be far-reaching beyond just the cloud service providers.
I had a chance today at OSCON to talk with Peder Ulander, CMO of Cloud.com, about what being part of the OpenStack initiative means to the startup.
Cloud.com offers a software platform for building and managing both public or private cloud environments. Cloud.com allows customers to deploy cloud services within their existing IT infrastructure, facilitating the move to the cloud. Cloud.com has been open source all along, with modular offerings designed to meet the needs of its customers.
While the benefits, and even the inevitability, of cloud technology are clear to some, there are still major inroads to be made before adoption is ubiquitous. The fears of vendor lock-in – which is a major piece of what the OpenStack project addresses – are a big part of what’s causing some companies to hesitate about the cloud. After all, despite the frequently heard assertion that cloud computing is a “disruptive” technology, Ulander says that companies don’t necessarily want to adopt something “disruptive.”
Ulander likens the adoption of the cloud to the adoption of Linux. Once major players like IBM “sanctioned” its use, Linux was able to make greater inroads in the enterprise. Similarly with the backing of major players like Rackspace, Ulander contends that the OpenStack initiative will probably help cloud computing take a big leap towards legitimacy and acceptance.
It’s too early to tell if the open source project will be collaborative or competitive, but Cloud.com already sees the benefits of participating. Cloud.com is planning to adopt the OpenStack Object Storage platform into its CloudStack product, for example, allowing the company to immediately add a new feature to its offerings.