Open Source is Dominant In The Cloud
New survey shows how open source is the force behind the cloud
By Alan Shimel on Tue, 06/14/11 - 3:31pm.
A new survey by some open source cloud companies released today shows exactly how prevalent and dominant open source is in cloud computing. The survey by Cloud.com, BitNami and Zenoss shines a light on just how prevalent open source is in cloud deployments. So much so that only 3 percent of cloud users don't use open source software at all and a full 69 percent use open source software in the cloud whenever possible.
The graphic below has some great facts from the survey, but if you would like the full survey you can get it here. Other important numbers for open source are that of those that don't use open source, 58% have no cloud computing strategy at all. Of course Linux is the dominant cloud based OS with an over 80% usage rate. But somewhat surprisingly is the metric that Microsoft OS'es are in use by 66% of the respondents who use clouds as well.
What was no surprise were some of the reasons giving for adopting cloud solutions:
Overwhelming interest in cloud computing:
- 61 percent of organizations are in the information gathering or planning stages or have an approved cloud computing strategy (but no implementation), 20 percent have cloud implementations and 20 percent have no cloud computing plans at this point;
- Hardware savings was the number one reason cited for adopting cloud computing (68 percent), faster deployment of infrastructure (66 percent) and to reduce systems management burden (57 percent) were also top reasons for cloud adoption; and,
- Of the surveyed Chief Technical Officers, scalability (71 percent) was the most popular reason for adopting cloud computing followed by elasticity or the need to adjust to fluctuations in resource demands (61 percent).
Of course caveat emptor on this stuff, as all three companies sponsoring the survey are big open source shops themselves. In fact I have covered both cloud.com and BitNami. However, it is one more data point that the cloud is going to be as big as open source makes it.
- About Open Source Fact and Fiction
As co-founder and Managing Partner at The CISO Group, Alan Shimel is responsible for driving the vision and mission of the company. The CISO Group offers security consulting and PCI compliance management for the payment card industry. Prior to The CISO Group, Alan was the Chief Strategy Officer at StillSecure. Shimel was the public persona of StillSecure as it grew from start up to helping defend some of the largest and most sensitive networks in the world.
Shimel is an often-cited personality in the technology community and is a sought-after speaker at industry and government conferences and events. His commentary about the state of security, open source and life is followed closely by many industry insiders via his blog and podcast, "Ashimmy, After All These Years" (www.ashimmy.com). Alan is now also a regular contributor to The CISO Group’s security.exe blog and podcast.
Alan has helped build several successful technology companies by combining a strong business background with a deep knowledge of technology. His legal background, long experience in the field, and New York street smarts combine to form a unique personality.
Disclosure: The CISO Group sells a software-as-a-service PCI compliance application called SAQPro. The company is independent and does not represent any other vendor's products as a reseller.
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