OpenStack 6 years on: thriving, expanding and maturing

This week marks the 6th anniversary for OpenStack cloud software. What began in July 2010 with a first design summit in Austin, Texas, has since grown into the clear leader for open source cloud solutions. Industry analyst 451 Research sees the OpenStack market growing at an impressive 35% CAGR and predicts that revenue will exceed $4bn by 2019. Without doubt, these are exciting times.

With all the hype surrounding the topic, we might sometimes forget that the whole cloud concept is relatively new. But things have moved fast – incredibly fast! With a huge community of innovative and committed developers, OpenStack has quickly gone from the new kid on the block to a mature, business-ready and feature-rich cloud platform.

With a customer driven agenda, OpenStack has rapidly gathered momentum. Market research, sponsored by SUSE, shows that 81% of large companies have already moved to an OpenStack private cloud or plan to at some stage. The most recent OpenStack User Survey reports that 65% of users are now in production or full operational use. Leading global organisations now using OpenStack clouds include eBay, PayPal, AT&T, Walmart, BMW, CERN and many others.

Open source veterans like SUSE saw the potential of OpenStack from the very beginning. As a founding member of the OpenStack Foundation, we’ve seen the community grow to more than 54,000 members and over 600 supporting companies across 182 countries at the last count.

And 6 years on, OpenStack is all grown up. What’s next I hear you ask? OpenStack has a roadmap strongly influenced and driven by customers and users. It has momentum and a future full of interest. Why not put the next OpenStack summit in Barcelona this October on your agenda. Come along and join the community to find out what’s driving OpenStack cloud adoption and how it can give you the improved agility and innovation needed to conquer today’s business challenges.