OpenNebula Systems Exec on VMware Alternatives & Future Cloud Trends

Public and private cloud have been one of the key technologies for channel partners and their clients over the past decade. Now, after major acquisitions and rising costs, some are beginning to rethink their infrastructure strategies. OpenNebula Systems’ Principal Partner Manager Michael Abdou explained how his company fits into the equation in an interview with Channel Insider.

Open source platform developed by in-house talent

OpenNebula Systems was founded in 2010 and has since its inception offered a completely open-source product to its partners and customers. While that might have been met with skepticism or concern in the past, open-source solutions have grown in popularity over the past several years.

Abdou explained that while OpenNebula Systems boasts a robust user community, all of its product development is performed by internal staff and the company prides itself on creating secure, innovative technologies that can then be deployed and integrated alongside other tools as needed.

“I think the fact that we do all of our development in-house with our staff, that offers a clear path forward our customers can see, and that’s a confidence-builder in what we offer.”

The company’s platform combines private, public, and edge cloud operations through one view and interoperable layer. The platform can orchestrate compute, storage, and networking and provides the capability to manage VMs and Kubernetes clusters on a single shared environment.

Broadcom-VMware acquisition and hyperscaler market share fueling search for alternatives

OpenNebula Systems openly markets itself as an alternative to VMware, the once-popular vendor that after its acquisition by Broadcom left many partners stranded and more considering an alternative even if they didn’t immediately need one.

“For years we actually supported integrations with VMware, so we have a deep understanding of what VMware partners need,” Abdou said. “We are now even more aligned to better support those who are looking for something else, whether out of necessity or those planning a switch this year.”

Abdou said the company’s vendor neutrality allows providers and customers to avoid long-term commitments with one vendor, noting thse commitments left many stranded when Broadcom suddenly shifted VMware’s channel availability.

Plus, OpenNebula Systems’ open pricing structure and technological flexibility give partners a stronger opportunity to do what is best for their clients, Abdou says.

“I think there are going to be more partners looking at what else is out there this year,” Abdou said. “There’s going to have to be some adjustments as well. VMware’s been very solid and it provides a certain set of features that many have gotten used to. When assessing alternatives there’s going to be a need for partners to understand how companies can compare to those features.”

Abdou also predicts more and more partners and their customers will consider changes to their overall infrastructure strategy over the coming years. Particularly, he points to the dominant market share of the big three hyperscalers and rising public cloud costs as key areas in which OpenNebula Systems can provide a differentiated experience in the virtualization and private cloud spaces.

“I also see a growing concern about the huge hyperscalers. I think many organizations are going to have similar concerns for those vendors. They can determine how to manage and control their customers’ offerings, and I think organizations are going to be a little more reticent about putting all their eggs in one basket,” Abdou said.

Ultimately, Abdou believes private cloud can provide more cost-effective options for organizations looking to scale their infrastructure. And, he added, even companies and partners who still maintain public cloud instances can integrate those with his company’s offerings, too.

“Organizations who moved to the public cloud are now taking a step back and saying, ‘are we better off? Is this a strategy that aligns to what we need, or should we be moving our resources back to private cloud?’ In many cases, when companies have a pretty stable growth strategy, private cloud offers more solutions than public.”

“There are absolutely still use cases for public cloud, especially if you are scaling in short periods of time and need certain models. OpenNebula integrates with public clouds to enable that growth when companies need it in the short-term.”

Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware left some partners stranded and others looking for a change. Read our guide to the extended timeline of events to catch up on the changes.