OpenStack creating a cloud computing revolution

For nearly two years, a revolution in cloud computing has been shaping the tech landscape in San Antonio and around the world. And with companies such as Rackspace Hosting Inc. leading the charge, now there's money to be made.

This revolution's weapon of choice is OpenStack, an open-source cloud computing platform.

OpenStack was launched in July 2010 through an effort between San Antonio-based Rackspace, NASA and others. It is best described as Linux for the cloud; a free, open-source software that allows enterprises to deploy public and private clouds and it's being adopted by major technology players such as Cisco, HP and Yahoo.

In total, more than 175 companies worldwide are using OpenStack, giving and taking from the code to build it. And with the cloud market expected to generate $61 billion in revenues this year, according to research firm Forrester, the number of companies looking to the cloud is growing.

“If companies see others deploying it, they see an opportunity to make money,” said Jim Curry, general manager of Rackspace Cloud Builders.

Companies like Rackspace take the free technology and tailor it to fit their and their clients' needs, deploying products and services that generate revenue.

“We think it's really ready for us at this point,” said John Engates, chief technology officer for Rackspace. “We're betting our company on it.”

During the first quarter, Rackspace saw revenues from dedicated and public cloud services grow to more than $301 million, a 31 percent jump from the same period last year, according to its financials. To grow that business, the company is using OpenStack as the backbone for its next-generation cloud solutions and for other products such as its private edition cloud. It's a strategy that Engates says will help Rackspace gain some ground on Amazon Web Services, the industry's leader.

“What we want to do with OpenStack is to even the playing field where we can compete with other companies at a technology level with the same technology,” Engates said.

A level playing field also helps cash-strapped start-ups.

“It allows businesses and entrepreneurs like us to build our own cloud infrastructure without having to spend so much time and money,” said Vid Luther founder of San Antonio-based ZippyKid, a WordPress Hosting firm. “NASA and Rackspace have done the hard part, and now the same technology and research they're doing is now available to someone like us.”

But the idea behind OpenStack goes beyond Rackspace. It was developed to provide a standard platform for launching clouds.

“The people who are building solutions on top of clouds, they don't want to have to write their software 15 different times for 15 different clouds. They want to write it to some sort of common, compatible standard across multiple clouds,” he said.

Just like computer operating systems, there are various open source and proprietary cloud software options on the market. What set OpenStack apart from other platforms was NASA's initial involvement, said Curry.

NASA recently announced that OpenStack has reached a high enough level of development that it can stop being actively involved in its evolution, although it still will utilize the software.Rackspace, which owns the copyrights and trademarks to OpenStack, is planning to form the OpenStack Foundation. The foundation is expected to launch later this year and will provide governance and take ownership of the OpenStack trademark.

The fifth edition of OpenStack was released in April and the sixth is expected to launch later this year.

In its most recent release, more than 200 developers from around the globe contributed to the project. With that many people chipping in, it gives Rackspace access to a swell of talent that it struggles to find in the Alamo City, said Curry. In two years, Racksapce has grown its OpenStack team from 30 to about 100 developers.

“With OpenStack, we've started a huge technology trend. It's all based (in San Antonio) and all the innovation is being driven out of here. That will have a long lasting impact for the city in terms of its ability to transform into a tech center and to attract the kind of talent we'd want to have to build more tech companies here in town.”