OpenStack has gained notoriety in recent months as the “Linux of the cloud” offering what many hope is a true open-cloud concept. NASA was Rackspace’s first big OpenStack partner, and EBay has recently announced a move to OpenStack for some of their server needs. Sait feels that the IT market, or perception of the market, has changed significantly enough that a new logo and focus is necessary; Rackspace believes companies want choice when it comes to cloud computing, and will continue to offer on-premesis, private, hybrid, and public cloud options.
Despite the OpenStack’s big strides, however, it isn’t all smooth sailing. Citrix, once an OpenStack affiliate, has debuted its own competitor in the market, CloudStack, to compete with Rackspace. The company has also seen several programmers jump ship in recent months, and is now starting to compete head-on with Amazon and its AWS service.