Big Data might collect every scrap of information it can get from customer interactions, but the most valuable tool for figuring out what customers want is to simply ask them. That’s the purpose of the OpenStack User Survey, a questionnaire sent out to users, vendors, decision makers and other industry people across the tech world. The results are always interesting, and highlight the trends expected to define the future for OpenStack and other computing solutions.

To shed some light on the latest survey, Stu Miniman (@stu) and John Walls, cohosts of theCUBE from the SiliconANGLE Media team, spoke to Heidi Joy Tretheway, senior marketing manager at the OpenStack Foundation, during the OpenStack Summit in Austin, TX.

Calling on the community

This survey, Tretheway said, was sent to reach as many people as possible. This approach paid off, with the results being 25-percent larger than the last survey. She pointed out they saw a good distribution in the sizes of the companies involved; businesses small and large responded.

The survey, she said, confirmed that some of the best-known brands are using OpenStack for their Cloud needs. More than 50 percent of the respondents are using the software, making it pervasive in all walks of life.

New data, new insights

One surprise in the survey, Tretheway said, is that the vast majority polled said they were standardizing on OpenStack as a platform. This standardization represented a massive increase over previous surveys. Also, she noted, the top five projects under OpenStack had risen to up above 90 percent adoption, which is huge.  

In an interesting point, Tretheway mentioned that “Cloud Architect” was showing up as a write-in business title on the surveys. The major take away, though, is that companies are adopting OpenStack more quickly than ever before and concentrating on the latest releases. Not only are people jumping on board, but they’re staying up to date.

Watch the full video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of OpenStack Summit — Austin. And make sure to weigh in during theCUBE’s live coverage at the event by joining in on CrowdChat.

Photo by SiliconANGLE