OpenStack moves to help users navigate ecosystem
Tue 13 May 2014
The OpenStack Foundation, tasked with developing the opportunity for open source cloud building software, has moved to bring clarity to the market surrounding OpenStack by launching a web site to bring as much product and service information together as possible in one place.
Announced on the first day of the Foundation’s summit in Atlanta, OpenStack Marketplace aims to help users “easily find and compare products and services that best meet their business requirements”. It has five initial categories: Public Clouds, Distributions & Appliances, Training, Consulting & Systems Integrators, and Drivers.
“How to get started with OpenStack is one of the most common questions we receive,” said Mark Collier, COO of the OpenStack Foundation. “The answer is that there are many ways to consume OpenStack, whether they are building a cloud, looking to use one by the hour or pursuing a hybrid model. The Marketplace is intended to help users make sense of the paths to adoption and find the right mix of products, services and community resources to achieve their goals.”
All included products and services must meet specific technical requirements and be transparent with product information, such as OpenStack versions and capabilities supported.
Industry Comment:
Kyle Hilgendorf (@kylehilgendorf) the cloud computing research director for Gartner, welcomed the move but felt it could have gone further. He tweeted, “So OpenStack launches “Marketplace”. Hmm a simple website registry, that’s it? Let’s hope this evolves to an actual Marketplace. OpenStack Marketplace is a nice centralized info hub. But Marketplace might be misleading.”
Barb Darrow, a Gigaom analyst said: “Confused about OpenStack? You’re not alone. A new marketplace/directory lists all the distributions, compatible drivers, public clouds to help solve the mystery.”
The move was welcomed by Jesse Proudman, (@blueboxjesse) the founder and CTO of OpenStack cloud builder, Blue Box, who tweeted: “Marketplace is an awesome resource. It will get even better once the hosted private cloud section is added soon. :)”
Describing the marketplace as a “big brochure of open source cloud tech”, The Register’s Jack Clark found some shortcomings: “On a cursory inspection by El Reg we found a few problems with the Marketplace, for instance, when viewing public cloud providers it fails to be clear about where they have chosen not to use OpenStack tech and have instead created their own solution. Though the providers may understandably not want to disclose this, it’s valuable to the buyer to get an idea of which parts of the technology lack the maturity to tempt in a major seller.”
