storage , servers & hardware
NASA had so much data generated by satellites in space that the back-end IT function couldn ’ t provide resource fast enough to keep up with demand . your organisation and data centre , the more savings you can make by adopting a private cloud model . However , finding the staff with the skills needed to adopt , administer and manage OpenStack isn ’ t so easy . This is a huge gap in the skills market .
Despite all the claims , how many vendors actually have the experience , proven track record and end-to-end skills to help consult , provide the infrastructure , deploy and manage an OpenStack platform ? Only the ones who have references of having done this I would say and unfortunately , there isn ’ t a lot of them out there which means most businesses aren ’ t willing to risk the move or have pockets deep enough to pay for doing this effectively . these challenges that led Rackspace and NASA to lay the foundation for OpenStack back in 2010 . OpenStack environments provide both a massively scalable infrastructure based on commodity hardware to keep acquisition and operating costs low but also the elasticity to scale both ways . What started out as a joint project between these two companies is now backed by over 150 companies across the world with code contribution from the open source community made up of thousands of developers all over the globe . Each focusing on various areas of the data centre ( compute , networking , storage , dashboards etc .) and building one of the most powerful open source software packages available today . But how do you make a scientific geek project fit for enterprise ? Productise it of course . That ’ s exactly what the likes of Red Hat , SUSE and Mirantis amongst others have done . They offer organisations productised , tested , validated versions along with support and maintenance .
Where to start ? To truly leverage an OpenStack platform effectively , enterprise organisations must start with the needs of the business which is led by the needs of the customer . To do this effectively , most organisations see great benefits in leveraging a DevOps model that delivers fast IT and competitive advantage .
In today ’ s age of technology leveraged business , organisations must evolve and adapt fast to remain in the market , let alone competitive . Look at the example of Blockbuster versus Netflix or taxi firms all over the world versus Uber . The traditional data centre model simply isn ’ t good enough anymore for large corporations and enterprises and the sooner large organisations realise that , the sooner they can capitalise on the opportunity they ’ re missing out on . Of course , the larger
OpenStack : rise to the challenge and reap the rewards The banks and online grocer I mentioned earlier had pockets deep enough to hire developers with skills to deploy OpenStack in a secure manner and reap the rewards as a consequence . OpenStack reduces vendor lock-in by commoditising hardware and adopting open source software whilst providing a lower operating cost model and creating an engine designed to deliver a competitive advantage , essential for survival in some cases .
Make no mistake ; whilst the rewards for adopting OpenStack are huge , this is no easy feat . It ’ s nothing like the traditional software such as Microsoft Windows , Hyper-V or VMware that most of us have run in our data centres for decades . So much so , that many companies have built their entire business on offering services to help organisations build , deploy and manage their OpenStack environments .
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