Weighing the

Move to an
OpenStack Cloud

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UNDERWRITTEN BY

Weighing the Move to an OpenStack Cloud | I

Table of Contents
1
. 2
. 7
. 17
. 18
. 19

The Question | The Survey . . . .

Cloud Adoption . . . . . . . . .
Perceptions About OpenStack.
Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . .
Recommendations . . . . . . .
About FedScoop | StateScoop.

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The Question

As cloud computing matures, organizations increasingly must weigh the

costs and benefits of pursuing more established, proprietary cloud platforms,
or embracing more open cloud technologies such as OpenStack.
The objective of this survey was to gauge perceptions around the perceived
pros and cons of using open source cloud management tools and specifically
OpenStack in managing multiple clouds and cloud migration initiatives.

23%

The Survey

The findings of this survey are based on

the responses of nearly 300 Government IT
community professionals who are regularly
involved in managing, brokering, operating or
acquiring cloud computing services.
Of those polled, 77% are government
employees, including contractors working
for government agencies, and 23% work for
industry in the government IT community.

46%

IT Industry

Federal
Government

17%
Government
Contractor

14%
State
Government

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Weighing the Move to an OpenStack Cloud | 1

Cloud Adoption

3 IN 4

government respondents
use one or more scalable,
on-demand cloud services
as part of their IT operations.

2 IN 3

of those not using cloud

services currently say their
agencies plan to in the next
12-24 months.

Take Away
The vast majority of government respondents are using, or
will be using, cloud services within the next 12-24 months.

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Where Cloud Services Get Done

Among government respondents using cloud services:

6 IN 10
take a hybrid
approach

3 IN 10

rely on third-party
providers

1 IN 10
stay solely
on-premises

Take Away
While some agencies still use cloud technology on-premises,
most are taking a hybrid cloud approach.

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Top 7 Uses of the Cloud

Cloud services are being used for multiple types of work, including:

61%

Computing

58%

Email

55%

Storage
AD

50%

Application Development

36%

Back up
Continuity of Operations

31%

Network Resources

30%

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The Move to Agile

7 IN 10

government respondents
are using, planning or
considering adopting agile
delivery approach.

20%

10%

Yes, using agile approach

Yes, undertaking
agile project

22%

28%

Yes, planning agile

implementation

Not considering
agile approach
at this time

20%
Thinking about adopting
agile approach
*BasedonGartnerMode2definition:DeliveringITinarapid,non-linearfashion.

Take Away
Most government respondents say their agencies are already
moving toward agile delivery approach. Industry respondents
are doing so in even greater numbers.

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Opening up to Open Source

1 IN 4 & 1 IN 3
government
respondents

industry
respondents

now use open source

technology, like OpenStack,
for on-premises cloud services
for their organizations.

Take Away
Open source technology has gained a solid footing
for on-premises cloud services.

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Perceptions Time to Deploy

Slower
GOVT

government respondents
believe OpenStack is
AS FAST or FASTER to
deploy than proprietary
cloud software.

INDUS

8 IN 10

Compared to proprietary cloud software,

% who believe the OpenStack approach is

20%
8%

As fast to deploy

46%
54%

Faster

38%
38%

Take Away
A significant portion of respondents believes OpenStack
offers a faster alternative to getting to the cloud than
proprietary software.

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Perceptions Security
Less secure
GOVT

government respondents
believe OpenStack is
AS SECURE or MORE
SECURE than proprietary
cloud software.

INDUS

3 IN 4

Compared to proprietary cloud software,

% who believe the OpenStack approach is
As secure

23%

More secure

52%

31%

46%

20%
23%

Take Away
Most respondents see OpenStack as a secure
alternative to proprietary cloud offerings.

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Perceptions Resilience
Less resilient
GOVT

government respondents
believe OpenStack
is AS RESILIENT or
MORE RESILIENT than
proprietary cloud software.

INDUS

7 IN 10

Compared to proprietary cloud software,

% who believe the OpenStack approach is

28%
23%

As resilient

38%

More resilient

33%

54%

23%

Take Away
Most respondents believe OpenStack can handle operating
faults as capably as proprietary cloud software.

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Perceptions Expense
More expensive
GOVT

government respondents
believe OpenStack is NO
MORE EXPENSIVE and
HALF believe it is LESS
EXPENSIVE to deploy than
proprietary cloud software.

INDUS

9 IN 10

Compared to proprietary cloud software,

% who believe the OpenStack approach is

5%

As expensive

43%
23%

Less expensive

53%
38%

38%

Take Away
A majority of government respondents view OpenStack as being
a less expensive alternative to proprietary cloud software.

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Perceptions Difficulty
of Execution
More difficult
GOVT

government respondents
believe OpenStack is
AS EASY or EASIER to
execute than proprietary
cloud software.

INDUS

8 IN 10

Compared to proprietary cloud software,

% who believe the OpenStack approach is

21%
17%

As difficult

Less difficult

47%
67%

32%
17%

Take Away
A vast majority of respondents view OpenStack to be no
more difficult to execute than proprietary cloud software.

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Perceptions Cost
Control

Take Away
Government
respondents also
generally believe
OpenStack makes
it easier to control
development
costs compared
to proprietary
cloud software.

5 IN 10

government respondents believe

OpenStack makes development costs
EASIER TO CONTROL.
Compared to proprietary cloud software, % who
believe the OpenStack approach makes it

51%

Easier to control costs

37%

Not sure
Harder to
control costs

12%

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Perceptions Risk of Failure

9 IN 10

government respondents
believe OpenStack
poses NO GREATER or
LESS risk of failure than
proprietary cloud software.

Compared to proprietary cloud software,

% who believe the OpenStack approach is
Greater risk

13%

As much risk

62%

Less risk

28%

Take Away
Most government respondents believe OpenStack poses no
greater risk of failure than using proprietary alternatives.

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Perceptions
Adoption rate

Take Away

4 IN 10

of government respondents believe

OpenStack is becoming MORE WIDELY
ADOPTED by enterprises.
Compared to proprietary cloud software, % who believe
OpenStack is, or is not, becoming more widely adopted:
More widely adopted
Not more
widely adopted

A thriving global
development
community
surrounding
OpenStack
is gaining
attention among
government IT
leaders.

40%

7%

Not sure

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53%
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Top 6 Obstacles
to Adoption

Take Away

Most-cited reasons preventing government

respondents from transitioning to OpenStack:

62%

Lack of staff to execute

59%

Lack of internal skills

38%

Doubt benefits will

outweigh costs
Doubt it meets agency
requirements
Lack of budget
resources
Lack of senior
level support

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Lack of staff
and skills are
the top issues
keeping agency IT
departments from
transitioning to
OpenStack cloud
operating model.

36%
33%
28%
Weighing the Move to an OpenStack Cloud | 15

Conclusions &
Recommendations

Conclusions

1.
2.
3.
4.

Cloud services are now widely used for many types of computing
work in government IT.
OpenStack technology is perceived to be equal to, or better than,
proprietary cloud software in terms of cost, resiliency, security and
deployment speed by a majority of IT leaders.
About one-third of respondents say their shops are already using
or testing OpenStack.
A lack of skills and staff are seen as the top obstacles to
using OpenStack.

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Recommendations

1.
2.
3.

Provide greater education and use cases to demonstrate the

costs and benefits of migrating to OpenStack technology.
Support increased training of specialists to aid in
OpenStack migration.
Strengthen OpenStack capabilities to function between
and across cloud platforms.

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About FedScoop | StateScoop

FedScoop is a Government IT media company, a one-stop news
source and the government IT communitys platform for education
and collaboration. FedScoop gathers top leaders from The White
House, federal agencies, academia and the tech industry to discuss
ways technology can improve government, and to exchange best
practices and identify ways to achieve common goals.
StateScoop features the latest leaders and innovators, news and
events in state and local government technology. StateScoop
gathers top leaders from across government, academia and the
tech industry to discuss ways technology can improve government,
and to exchange best practices and identify ways to achieve
common goals.

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