Page 12 - EngineerIT September 2021

ICT CLOUD

Expect more influence from

opensource within the cloud domain

ustomer mindset that open-source technology
is somehow inferior to proprietary software has
Cchanged, fuelled by the superiority of Linux as the
foundation for innovation. Additionally, the market should
expect open-source solutions to grow in cloud-based
applications, along with the focus on skills related to hybrid
systems. These are key trends behind an increased uptake
and application of open-source technology within enterprises
today says Muggie van Staden, CEO of Obsidian Systems,
and his colleague Deon Lottering, Senior Consultant for MSP
Team at Obsidian Systems.
Opensource means that the source code of a
programme is freely available which means anyone can
work with the code, fix, amend or expand its scope. With Muggie van Staden Deon Lottering
many people working on open-source code, it means that
vulnerabilities are identified by many coders and fixed, often to bounce back with 2 new communities with robust solutions
making open-source software safer. There are two major to turn to. That is the power of open source, the passion to help
misconceptions about opensource. The software is not make everyone’s world better. Speed is critical in mission-critical
necessarily freeware, there may be a cost to it and the other workloads. Our clients’ customers are likely to make quick decisions
misconception is that if it is freeware it is not necessarily of moving to the competition if their needs are not met immediately;
inferior to other propriety software. therefore, speed is essential.’ A case in point is AlmaLinux
Obsidian Systems says open-source technology is and Rocky Linux,” Lottering said. “We are currently testing out
ubiquitous. The company says it is very difficult to not alternatives for its MSP solutions for operating systems and
leverage the potential of open-source because the model maintenance services as the basic architecture for future-proofing
makes it simple for anyone to adopt, at a minimal cost. client services.”
“One only has to ask the question “What percentage of “The best thing about open-source is that you can sandbox
containers on Azure is Linux?” IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat in community versions before moving to more secure enterprise
is also a nod to the critical role and influence that open- versions of those products. The investment is small and the
source companies have in the software industry,” says van rewards that you reap could be great and easily scalable”,
Staden. “It is the communities that continue to work toward Lottering said.
building creative solutions for challenges that they are facing Going forward both van Staden and Lottering believe thinking
at the cutting edge of technology. It is the collective thinking, about disruptive technology especially in the data analytics arena,
diversity and contributions that will keep opensource at the artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) will continue to
forefront of ensuring efficient, and best-fit solutions. At today’s mature and become more accessible through open-source projects.
pace of business, mission-critical applications require agile “It’s a space that many are watching with interest and developing
solutions that are factoring in multi-cloud, hybrid systems to to get the edge over their competitors, van Staden said. n
meet the different needs of service providers.”
Lottering believes skills in hybrid systems will become For more information, go to: https://obsidian.co.za/
essential to any team. “Cloud adoption will dictate the pace of
how we manage hybrid systems, automate the infrastructure
and ensure that we are monitoring and maintaining these Linux is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based
on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on in
systems to keep the lights on.”
Open source is considered to be an efficient workhorse 1991 by Linus Torvalds.
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system
for the enterprise, with more and more organisations adopting
this technology for mission-critical workloads. software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU
“When CentOS announced an early end-of-life date Project. Many Linux distributions use the word “Linux” in their
name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name “GNU/
for the open-source Linux distribution, in March 2021, the Linux” to emphasise the importance of GNU software.
community was a little stunned. However, it didn’t take long

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