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Open source technologies are the foundation of many modern IT environments. They can also act as the basis for cloud computing infrastructure, including platforms operating on a great scale.

Open source technologies i.e. based on an open code, allow their users to become independent of many aspects, including geopolitical factors. Such solutions also make it tremendously easier to ensure superior scalability. In this article we present the benefits that open source can bring, and  find out why some cloud service providers are betting on open source technologies.

Let us take as an example our cloud computing services, where we build and operate clouds for collecting, storing, sharing, and processing various satellite data on behalf of institutions such as the European Space Agency, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), among others. Every day, we provide thousands of users around the world with access to PB-counted volumes of data delivered by the Sentinel constellation’s European satellites, and a cloud environment designed specifically for their processing.

The nature of the data processed defines significantly the cloud computing architecture. With regards to satellite data, it is crucial to ensure the highest possible availability of both historical and current data (satellite data is available to the user within 15 minutes after it is generated), as well as the scalability and stability of long-term development. This is possible through the use of open source technology and the competences of the provider's team.

Open source as the foundation for cloud computing platform

CloudFerro's cloud platform has been built from scratch using open source technologies as a multitenant environment. We address our services to large European public institutions, and the vast majority of them prefer open-code solutions. From their perspective, open source means the ability to guarantee the continuity of IT environments in the long term.

The ability to scale infrastructure horizontally, i.e. the fact that at some point we will not face a limitation in the ability to expand resources or the ability to support another group of users, is of great importance to the essence of the public cloud model. 

From the perspectives of both the provider and the users of cloud environments based on open source solutions, this translates into a number of benefits. Let's summarize the most significant ones.

1. Avoiding the risk of vendor lock-in

In practice, it is important for the supplier, among other things, to ensure the independence of the hardware and application layers.  This, in turn, eliminates possible risk of excessive attachment to a single vendor. Over-reliance on one vendor's solutions naturally poses a risk not only to business continuity, but also to the ability to freely set the directions of platform development.

Clients and providers need to make sure that the software we use as a basis for our services, and very often also for our business model, will be available, supported and developed in a long-term perspective. For instance, let’s look at a well-known case of VMware company who has changed its license model, ending the sale of perpetual licenses for their products, and transitioning to a subscription model. This has put many customers in a difficult situation as they have to take into account additional workload and expenses.

The modularity of this technology, that is quite natural for the open source approach, also meets these needs - both in the hardware and software layers. For instance, any component, or even the entire cloud computing technology stack, can be replaced at any time. This gives organizations using such solutions have, among other things, a degree of versatility and the ability of changing easily their cloud service provider. Workloads or data based on standard open source solutions can be directly migrated to another environment providing the same mechanisms. This also translates into  new opportunities for ensuring business continuity.

2. High level of technological and operational security

A separate issue is the ability to fine-tune the environments based on open source solutions in line with customers’ or users’ needs. It is of great value that anyone, if they only wish, can thoroughly analyze the application code to fully understand how the entire technology stack works. Openness and technological transparency have impact on the level of data security and user burden.

Statistically, open code technologies do not stand out with a higher scale of vulnerabilities than closed solutions. There are hundreds or thousands of people working on particular solutions within the open source community, so there is a good chance that potential vulnerabilities will be quickly detected and neutralized. The specificity of CloudFerro's cloud services also requires ensuring high resilience and business continuity. This, in turn, is reflected in the framework of internal procedures and regulations implemented by the operator of the cloud.

Last but not least, understanding how the cloud platform components function on a low level, paves the way for implementing unique modifications to tailor its functioning to customers' specific needs.

3. Multi-user accessibility and data isolation of individual users

One thing that differentiates various solutions based on open source technologies is the ability to separate the data and processing used by different users of public cloud environments. This translates into non-obvious technology decisions.

A critical aspect that determines which technology stack will be selected to build public cloud environment is the ability to ensure full multitenancy and complete isolation of individual user's data in a transparent manner. There are a number of technologies that perform well in a single-tenant architecture, but far less well in a multi-tenant architecture. This is especially true in terms of data security issues.

At the same time, as our team’s experience shows, it is possible to build a multi-tenant cloud computing platform that provides full isolation of customer data based entirely on open source technologies. Ensuring end-to-end data separation of individual users of a single cloud environment - including users representing different organizations - is crucial in terms of security, as well as the ability to comply with regulations in certain industries.

4. Cloud platform functional development and adaptation to particular needs

The ability to customize or change the solutions that make up a cloud platform are also beneficial to customers as they can have a much greater impact on setting the development priorities than in case of closed-code solutions.

In the case of closed solutions, their users have a fairly limited influence on the directions of technology or feature development. With open source solutions, the possibilities for determining the vectors of such changes are generally very broad. However, they pose business and technical challenges.

The base for such plans is, obviously, the dialogue between the client and the provider. For many institutions, the very possibility of negotiating the cloud platform development roadmap means greater freedom in defining strategic business plans.

However, in terms of customizing standard capabilities of the open source technology stack, the experience and competence of the team are of great importance, as well as the scale of operations that affects the effectiveness of customization projects.

Naturally, it is unlikely that a single organization is able to implement all ideas on its own, but it can envision at least the direction of the necessary changes. In large-scale organizations like CloudFerro, such a discussion mainly comes down to setting priorities and gradually implementing planned changes. In this sense, open source is much safer and more flexible than closed-code solutions.

5. Freedom to switch suppliers

The greater flexibility of open source technology also means hardware independence. From the vendor's perspective, it is easier to change various elements of the technology stack. For users, it provides greater freedom to migrate workloads to another platform, whether cloud-based or on-premise.

The technology standardization is key here. As the solutions used are technologically similar, they can be more clearly priced, which in effect makes it possible to compare offers of different suppliers. At the same time, technological consistency ensures that the possibility to change supplier is technically feasible with relatively little effort.

In this context, standardization at the level of the technology stack, regardless of possible functional or technological adjustments, leads to into greater universality and versatility in the use of cloud platforms in the face of dynamically changing needs.

6. Price, quality and functional competitiveness

The example of CloudFerro platform shows that the software layer can play a significant role in terms of differentiating cloud platforms in the market. From the providers' perspective, independence in composing the technology stack and freedom of choosing hardware create unique opportunities to compete on price, quality and functional scope of the cloud environment. In turn, from the customers' point of view, these attributes are a significant differentiator between cloud environments based end-to-end on open source solutions and other cloud computing services, particularly those using closed-code technologies. Greater flexibility in terms of cost, quality and functionality, among other things, means the ability to fine-tune the way the entire cloud platform operates to suit unique needs. Significant differences also exist between environments based on open source technologies.

Our customers expect open source solutions. They don't want closed technologies because they are aware of the potential risks associated with them. Instead, they know that open and closed technologies can provide the same values.