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Survey: OpenStack Dominates Open Source Cloud

CloudStack and Eucalyptus have lost significant market share in the last two years.

• By Keith Ward
• 12/01/2014

So say the 376 respondents to an Open Source Cloud survey conducted by Zenoss, a vendor specializing in cloud-based management. Its "2014 State of the Open Source Cloud" study found that 69 percent have implemented some form of cloud computing; of that number, 43 percent have cast their lot with open source. Of those, 69 percent are using OpenStack, which has been on a meteoric growth curve over the last several years.

That's not to say that open source clouds are becoming ubiquitous: 30 percent of the survey-takers report using an open source cloud in 2014. Still, that's a 72 percent increase from a previous Zenoss survey in 2012, which found that just 17 percent were using open source cloud. The uptake indicates that resistance to the cloud, for numerous reasons, is steadily being overcome.

The 2012 survey showed that OpenStack was also the favorite then, but its lead has since grown. It claimed 51 percent of the market two years ago; in 2014, it's the only major open source cloud product to have a higher market share than in 2012, at 69 percent. The No. 2 solution, CloudStack, saw its share drop from 18 percent to 14 percent in that span. The No. 3 player, Eucalyptus, plunged from 9 percent of open source implementations to 3 percent.

Among those businesses still considering open source clouds, the disparity is even larger: more than 86 percent are looking at OpenStack, with CloudStack a distant second at less than 44 percent. Open Nebula and Eucalyptus are tied for third at 19.7 percent. Those figures prompted this conclusion from the survey's Executive Summary: "CloudStack appears to be losing ground, and the future of Eucalyptus is somewhat uncertain due to its recent acquisition by HP."

In terms of what kind of cloud deployments are happening, Zenoss' survey figures tend to mirror the industry as a whole: 44 percent are using private cloud exclusively, and 45 percent are using a hybrid model combining some mix of private cloud and public cloud. Just 11 percent of respondents are relying solely on public clouds.

The chief hurdles to using open source clouds are varied, with no single reason dominating the list. Some of the top reasons include:

• Security: 42 percent
• Lack of in-house specialized skills: 39 percent
• Lack of support: 36 percent
• Maturity: 28 percent
• Prefer a single vendor solution: 18 percent.

The reasons for going with an open source cloud are also varied, with flexibility (71 percent) being the top reason. That was followed by avoiding vendor lock-in (66 percent), lower expense (66 percent), and open standards and an open API (60 percent) rounding out the top four reasons.

Once implemented, open source clouds appear to be delivering on their promises. Forty-two percent report being "very satisfied" with the results, and 35 percent were "somewhat satisfied." On the downside, 18 percent of respondents claimed to be "somewhat dissatisfied," and just 3 percent were "very dissatisfied."