Cloud Users Shun Open Source – Report

Open source cloud infrastructures are not capturing the imagination of cloud implementers, if research from Opsview is to be believed. When asked to identify their existing cloud service providers, 56 percent of respondents chose Amazon Web Services (AWS), while only 19 percent selected Rackspace.

Over half (52 percent) of the 420 respondents indicated that their preferred private cloud supplier was VMware. Microsoft came second with 26 percent, but open source initiatives such as OpenStack and CloudStack managed only 12 percent and eight percent respectively.

Big three dominate

Although the sample was not a vast number, the results were a bit discomforting for Opsview, which was “founded on the belief that the open source model drives better quality software with more relevant feature development”. Its customer base, some of which probably contributed to the survey, include BT Plusnet, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Siemens, Allianz, US Army, Irish Revenue, and Yale University – by no means small players.

Tom Callway, marketing manager at Opsview, said, “What was surprising was the lack of traction by open source virtualisation technologies such as KVM and Xen. Similarly open source private cloud initiatives like CloudStack and OpenStack didn’t feature in our respondents plans as strongly as we’d anticipated.”

VMware, AWS and Microsoft continued to be the dominant players in cloud, with the challenge from open source rivals trailing behind.

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