With ever-changing products, the technology industry continuously alters its missions and goals. One such example is OpenStack, an open-source software platform for cloud computing, and its influence in the business world.

“OpenStack very much now is about solving a real business problem, which is the automation of the data center and the cost parody of private data centers with public data centers,” said Mark Shuttleworth (pictured), founder and chief executive officer of Canonical Ltd., a privately held computer software company that uses OpenStack technology and offers its open-source operating system Ubuntu.

The OpenStack audience has also changed since last year’s conference. Consumers of OpenStack are looking for solutions to problems within the tech. They want to automate their data centers or utilize a cloud that runs cost-effectively in their data center that can be used as part of a multicloud strategy, Shuttleworth explained.

Shuttleworth spoke with Stu Miniman (@stu), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, and guest host John Troyer (@jtroyer), chief reckoner at TechReckoning, during the OpenStack Summit in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They discussed the combination of OpenStack and Canonical/Ubuntu, as well as Canonical’s future endeavors. (* Disclosure below.)

The future of Canonical

As the problems are worked out of the early version of OpenStack, Shuttleworth and Canonical have found a better way to outline OpenStack.

“It’s better for us actually to take it to people as a solution, say, ‘Look, explain your requirements to us then let us architect that cloud with you,” Shuttleworth said. “[When] it’s all stable and the economics are good, you can take over,” he added.

Moving forward, Canonical has two focus areas the company hopes to explore. They include “internet of things” and cloud infrastructure. Currently, cloud is “a growth story,” according to Shuttleworth. However, “IoT continues to be an area of research and development for us, so we’re still essentially underwriting an IoT investment. I think IoT is the next wave, effectively, and we’re in a special position,” he concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of OpenStack Summit. (* Disclosure: Canonical Ltd. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Canonical nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE