Survey Shows That Concerns Remain in the Open Source Cloud

Open source cloud computing solutions have been proliferating, as businesses and organizations demand flexible solutions for deploying public and private cloud applications. Among these solutions, OpenStack remains one of the highest profile examples, with vendors ranging from Hewlett-Packard to Red Hat to Dell supporting it. But, OpenStack competes directly with Eucalyptus Systems, which we've covered since its inception here at OStatic, and with Citrix's CloudStack.

Despite all this competition among open source cloud platforms, we noted the other day that not everyone is so smitten with the trend.  And, according to the results of a new survey from Zenoss, there are many concerns about open source cloud offerings.

Zenoss surveyed more than 100,000 members of its community on open source cloud topics and found that:

• 82.8% of respondents said they are not using an open cloud.

• Maturity (38.4%), lack of support (30.7%), and security (28.7%) were most commonly selected as reasons why respondents are not using an open source cloud.

And, among the big three open source cloud platforms, the Zenoss survey revealed that:

 Of those considering deploying an open cloud 63.2% are looking at OpenStack, 47% are looking at CloudStack, and 23.5% are looking at Eucalyptus.

Despite the concerns about open source cloud platforms, future plans around them look bright. Zenoss' survey showed :

  57% of respondents said they are thinking of deploying an open source cloud in the future, 41.2% of these expect to do so in 1 – 2 years.

You can view a copy of Zenoss' full report, along with an infographic, here.

As we've pointed out before, open source cloud platforms will get their biggest boosts from top-notch, mature levels of support.  In the cloud computing arena, yes, businesses and organizations want flexible solutions for their deployments, but they will demand reliable support. Support is a giant cost center for companies that provide it, but companies that do it well succeed. That's why the next wave in the open source cloud will come from those offering comprehensive support and training options.