Growing to Maturity: Open Cloud and Open SDN [feedly]

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Growing to Maturity: Open Cloud and Open SDN
// OpenDaylight blogs

 

Having just attended OpenStack Summit and LinuxCon/CloudOpen Japan it's clear that interest in open source is the highest it's ever been and has hit the mainstream. These are open source events to be sure, but what struck me were the conversations I had with folks about how and why open cloud and open SDN have continued to mature.

OpenStack Summit is no longer simply a gathering of developers. The idea of the 'superuser' was introduced, and I talked to many at the show. OpenStack is on its way to being as ubiquitous as Linux or vSphere, with instances of OpenStack environments outside of the service provider community. There remains tremendous work to further drive the maturing of OpenStack, but the community came to the OpenStack Summit ready to work. More than 4,500 people attended the event--an impressive figure when we're talking about software that's not controlled by any one interest or company. OpenStack is a testament that things are changing in the software industry -- many people, with different interests can come together around a common idea and make something great happen. It was also very interesting to hear about the ways big companies, in particular, have been approaching the OpenStack phenomenon. Let's take a look at a few:

• Rackspace: If in the early days people were concerned about their dominance. By 2014 it is clear Rackspace is an important player in OpenStack, but only one of many. It is amazing how fast we've seen others step up.
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• HP: HP has built upon its heavy investment in OpenStack over the last couple of years. Their most recent Helion announcement had a lot of people at the event talking about what this meant for OpenStack, especially for Neutron, where HP has written a significant amount of new code for their internal deployment. It was also interesting to have the OpenDaylight booth right next to the swamped VMware booth.
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• VMware: VMware has clearly made a 180-degree turn. The influence of Nicira was clear throughout VMware's presence at the OpenStack Summit. VMware has dedicated significant resources behind making vSphere a serious option for those deploying OpenStack as well as clearly articulating their view that network virtualization, overlays and NSX is the right way to deliver abstracted networks. VMware is also among the top ten companies contributing to OpenStack's Icehouse release. Many people shared with me they were surprised how much code VMware contributed to OpenStack's Icehouse release. ​

​From an OpenDaylight community perspective, it's amazing how the OpenStack community has embraced the project. While some attendees wondered about the potential overlaps between Neutron and OpenDaylight, most following the projects closely understood how the two dovetail and that overlaps and interfaces are not to be feared but to be worked through together, collaboratively.

Following the OpenStack Summit, I traveled to one of the most interesting markets for SDN -- Japan -- for LinuxCon/CloudOpen. On one hand, Japan probably has the most advanced carrier markets in the world, but delays in virtualization to the country's data centers make Japan relatively behind the US, Australian and European markets from a private cloud / SDDC perspective. While there, I had the great honor of delivering a keynote address at the Linux Foundation's LinuxCon and CloudOpen in Tokyo and noticed a lot of interest in OpenDaylight from Japan's open source community. During the OpenDaylight Mini Summit I moderated a panel with representatives from Fujitsu, Huawei and NEC, who each talked about why they thought open source and OpenDaylight are so important to the Japanese market. In meeting with Japanese executives and press at the show, I found an awareness that networking is rapidly evolving and that open source is a key force. I strongly believe that Japan will be an important market for SDN and that companies like Fujitsu, H3C, Huawei, Midokura and NEC can contribute greatly to the coming revolution. I look forward to continuing the dialogue with many of the people that I met.

Overall it is great to see that more and more people around the world are aware of what the OpenDaylight community is building, that they understand the need for a common, SDN platform and that the heart of the networking industry is working collaboratively to build one. I look forward to meeting a whole new set of folks this week at Network Virtualization and SDN World in London.

-- @NeelaJacques

 

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