The latest Caracal release of OpenStack from Mirantis introduces advanced features and enhanced performance, making it a strong alternative to VMware. In this video, Shaun O’Meara, CTO at Mirantis, discusses Mirantis’ advancements in OpenStack, the benefits of Mirantis Dynamic Resource Balancer (DRB), and how the company is honing in on open source challenges. He says, “We’ve made some advances to make a lot more competitive in the current market state to VMware and to really offer a viable alternative virtualization solution at scale for customers.”

Mirantis OpenStack as a robust and scalable alternative to VMware

• O’Meara discusses Mirantis’ advancements in OpenStack and Kubernetes, highlighting the new OpenStack Caracal release. This update positions OpenStack as a competitive alternative to VMware for large-scale virtualization.
• O’Meara addresses the growing interest in alternatives to VMware, driven by recent market changes. He emphasizes that OpenStack, while complex, offers a scalable and competitive virtualization solution with Mirantis’ enhancements.
• The OpenStack market has now matured and O’Meara describes it as stable and increasingly viable for organizations seeking on-prem solutions. He mentions new features that address previous challenges.
• O’Meara explains how Mirantis’ OpenStack for Kubernetes supports hybrid and multi-cloud environments. He highlights features like live VM migration and advanced networking options that enhance flexibility and integration.

The benefits of Mirantis Dynamic Resource Balancer (DRB) and future plans to open source it

• O’Meara discusses the maturity of Mirantis’ solution as a viable replacement for VMware, focusing on the Dynamic Resource Balancer (DRB) that improves workload management and system stability.
• The Dynamic Resource Balance (DRB) manages dynamic workloads, addressing issues like noisy neighbors and system outages, and leveraging Kubernetes for better infrastructure visibility.
• O’Meara discusses Mirantis’ plan to open source the Dynamic Resource Balancer (DRB), emphasizing their commitment to community involvement and reducing vendor lock-in through open source contributions.

Mirantis’ open source strategy and how it is addressing open source concerns 

• O’Meara outlines Mirantis’ new open source strategy, which includes investing in an Open Source Program Office (OSPO) to enhance community engagement and contribution.
• O’Meara explains the need for a dedicated Open Source Program Office (OSPO) at Mirantis to better support community contributions and focus on sustainable engagement amidst customer-driven priorities.
• O’Meara addresses recent industry trends and concerns in open source, emphasizing Mirantis’ focus on collaborative, broad-based projects rather than highly commercialized products.

Guest: Shaun O’Meara (LinkedIn)
Company: Mirantis (Twitter)
Show: Let’s Talk

This summary was written by Emily Nicholls.