OpenStack deployments are getting bigger. Users are diversifying across industries. Enterprises report using the open source cloud software to support workloads that are critical to their businesses.Â
These are among the findings in a recent study by 451 Research regarding OpenStack adoption among enterprise private cloud users. About 72 percent of OpenStack-based clouds are between 1,000 and 10,000 cores and three fourths choose OpenStack to increase operational efficiency and app deployment speed. The study was commissioned by the OpenStack Foundation.
 The data were previewed at the OpenStack Summit Barcelona, alongside a diverse set of users speaking directly about their experience, including Banco Santander, BBVA, CERN, China Mobile, Comcast, Constant Contact, Crowdstar, Deutsche Telekom, Folksam, Sky UK, Snapdeal, Swisscom, Telefonica, Verizon, Volkswagen, Walmart and many more.Â
Key findings from the 451 Research include:
- Mid-market adoption shows that OpenStack use is not limited to large enterprises. Two-thirds of respondents (65 percent) are in organisations of between 1,000 and 10,000 employees.[1]
- OpenStack-powered clouds have moved beyond small-scale deployments. Approximately 72 percent of OpenStack enterprise deployments are between 1,000 to 10,000 cores in size. Additionally, five percent of OpenStack clouds among enterprises top the 100,000 core mark.
- OpenStack users are adopting containers at a faster rate than the rest of the enterprise market with 55 percent of OpenStack users also using containers, compared to 17 percent across all respondents.[2]Â
- OpenStack supports workloads that matter to enterprises, not just test and dev. These include infrastructure services (66 percent), business applications and big data (60 percent and 59 percent, respectively), and web services and ecommerce (57 percent).
- OpenStack users can be found in a diverse cross section of industries. While 20 percent cited the technology industry, the majority come from manufacturing (15 percent), retail/hospitality (11 percent), professional services (10 percent), healthcare (seven percent), insurance (six percent), transportation (five percent), communications/media (five percent), wholesale trade (five percent), energy & utilities (four percent), education (three percent), financial services (three percent) and government (three percent).
- Increasing operational efficiency and accelerating innovation/deployment speed are top business drivers for enterprise adoption of OpenStack, at 76 and 75 percent, respectively. Supporting DevOps is a close second, at 69 percent. Reducing cost and standardising on OpenStack APIs were close behind, at 50 and 45 percent, respectively.
Our research in aggregate indicates enterprises globally are moving beyond using OpenStack for science projects and basic test and development to workloads that impact the bottom line, said Al Sadowski, research vice president with 451 Research. This is supported by our OpenStack Market Monitor which projects an overall market size of over $5 billion in 2020 with APAC, namely China, leading the way in terms of growth.
Our keynotes this morning highlighted enterprises doing work that matters with OpenStack, said Mark Collier, COO of the OpenStack Foundation. The research gives an unbiased look into the plans of enterprises using private cloud, and they’re telling us that OpenStack is not merely an interesting technology, but it’s a cornerstone technology. Companies are using OpenStack to do work that matters to their businesses, and they’re using it to support their journey to a changing landscape in which rapid development and deployment of software is the primary means of competitive advantage.Â
New Enterprise User Case Studies Available Online
Members of the OpenStack community have joined forces to take advantage of the momentum in enterprise adoption. The collaborative effort, dubbed “The World Runs” on OpenStack, was launched at the OpenStack Summit Barcelona, using the social media hashtag #RunsOnOpenStack. The cornerstone of the campaign is a collection of OpenStack enterprise user success stories that feature many industries, workloads and organizations using the software around the world.Â
 About OpenStack®
OpenStack is the most widely deployed open source software for building clouds. In use globally at large and small enterprises, telecoms, service providers, and government/research organizations, OpenStack is a technology integration engine that supports the diverse ecosystem of cloud computing innovation. Current news and alerts signup at: http://www.openstack.org/news/
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