The OpenStack ecosystem is growing at a very rapid pace, becoming increasingly fragmented as a result. Wikibon senior analyst Stu Miniman discussed how the OpenStack Foundation is addressing interoperability, and explained how this topic ties in with the recent release of Grizzly, on yesterday’s NewsDesk show with Kristin Feledy.

Miniman says that one of the biggest challenges faced by the OpenStack community is the fact the open-source platform is still maturing.  For this reason, vendors that commercialize OpenStack must augment the vanilla version with their own components – and that code is usually not interoperable with forks developed by rivaling firms.

OpenStack Grizzly, the latest release of the platform, bridges some of the functionality gaps that afflicted earlier versions.  It includes native support for ESXi,  HyperV and Xen, as well as extended software-defined networking (SDN) functionality in the form of compatbility with Open vSwitch, PLUMgrid and Big Switch.

These are all important additions to the project, but Miniman says that interoperability still remains more hype than reality. He adds that CIOs should be a “little cautious” when it comes to OpenStack: the platform is not quite enterprise-ready, but it is suitable for service providers that are willing to spent time and effort on tweaking the platform for their specific use cases. It may also come in handy for certain internal initiatives.

“So enterprises and CIOs, I recommend that they definitely look at what OpenStack is doing here, look at the partners they’re working with, both from a service provider standpoint and the vendor standpoint,” Miniman says. “OpenStack is maturing, it does seem to be getting some traction, and it’s definitely something that they can easy put test/dev environments into or some of the more scale-out architectures that might be able to take advantage of some of the lower cost solutions that are available with OpenStack.”

See Miniman’s full analysis below: