“Cloud computing” may seem like a buzzword, but businesses are still building cloud architecture at a growing rate. A study by RightScale, a provider of cloud management services, shows how enterprises are moving into the cloud.
“Cloud infrastructure now dominates as the architecture for 'the new IT'–and companies big and small enjoy an unprecedented variety of options for deploying the best cloud solution to meet their business needs," Michael Crandell, CEO of RightScale, said. “No one-size-fits-all approach will work for everyone, which is why it's important to choose a platform that will allow you freedom of choice now and into the future as you decide where and how to leverage infrastructure-as-a-service cloud providers.”
More than two-thirds (68 percent) of businesses moving into the cloud are implementing multi-cloud solutions. Additionally, 53 percent are choosing a mix of both public and private clouds for their infrastructure. Another 15 percent have multiple public clouds with no private clouds at all.
RightScale provides multi-cloud solutions, which they say is what causes customers to seek them out.
“In order to make our customers successful, it is critical that we leverage the best in class solutions –from public cloud, private cloud and even physical servers," Sanket Naik, Senior Director, Cloud Operations at Coupa, said. "We are committed to zero downtime and seamless availability for customers to our platform. RightScale's multi-cloud support empowers us to customize our approach to the cloud to meet the business needs of Coupa and our customers."
A surprising result of the survey is the number of organizations basing their clouds on open source software. Of the survey, 64 percent said they used open source, with 41 percent of them saying they planned to base their clouds exclusively on open source software.
In additon, 29 percent of respondents said they planned to combine both open source and VMware software, while 30 percent said they would use VMware exclusively.
"We've seen an explosion in multi-cloud usage in the market, and among our own customer base," Crandell said. "Many RightScale customers have already deployed multiple clouds, including private clouds, and those multi-cloud companies represent over 90 percent of cloud usage we manage. This means that cloud leaders are already using multiple clouds, and our survey shows that many more companies intend to employ that strategy. RightScale helps companies navigate and manage this complex landscape by offering support of eight public clouds and three private clouds.”
Edited by Amanda Ciccatelli