At the OCP U.S. Summit 2016 in San Jose, CA, the possibilities of open computing are being explored, expanded and examined by some of the brightest minds in the tech field today.

JR Rivers, CEO and cofounder of Cumulus Networks, Inc., joined Jeff Frick and Stu Miniman, cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, to talk about some of open computing’s potential, its pitfalls and the surprises still in store.

Bring in the buyers

To help break the ice, Rivers gave theCUBE some of his perspective on the history of open computing. “When you look at open computing, and how it’s evolved … I think [developers] were trying to figure out what it all meant … and it’s evolved to a point where customers are trying to wrap their heads around what it’s like,” he said.

That shift of opening up accessibility to consumers is one of the more stimulating aspects of working with open computing, Rivers felt. “It’s pretty cool to watch consumers latching on to it, figuring out, ‘Hey, this is in the realm of possibility.’” And that engagement is available to a surprisingly wide range of company sizes and focuses, with Rivers stating that “[open computing] goes all the way down-market … it doesn’t really stop at any size or scale.” With that availability, Rivers felt, some of the “black magic” mystery of open computing is being dispelled for consumers.

Software, hardware and optimization

Focusing in on his own company and its business allies, Rivers said, “For us at Cumulus, we’re all about software … We partner really well with people that make great hardware … those are our natural partners.” However, as he noted, “We have great relationships with software people as well, because we’re less about what we write and more about [what we can do] for our customers.”

Rivers also expressed some amused surprise at the attendance of Google to the OCP Summit, commenting on its tendency to do some tech-hoarding, but he also recognized that, among other factors, it was likely due to the move from other companies into the playing field. With that comes more ideas about how to employ open computing. “What we’re seeing increasingly is it’s a little less about open source and more about the ability to be flexible.”

Along with the “[removal of] cost as a barrier to capacity, across the board,” Rivers outlined some other big changes that were being brought into action. “You’re starting to see this age where … people are envisioning operational environments that are way different from what they were before.”

Asked to give his thoughts on what would be a major area of development in the coming year, Rivers gave a surprising answer, and asked a question of his own. “IP storage and the right solutions for scalable, tangible IP solutions, that’s going to be the new direction … How does storage live in that world, where it’s redundant, scalable, movable?”

Watch the full video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of OCP U.S. Summit 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE