Cloud realigns major IT company's strategies

As more companies continue to expand their cloud divisions, the demand for interoperability between systems grows. Additionally, the cloud may force IT infrastructure offerings that were once rigid to become more flexible.

According to Giga OM, Cisco is reevaluating its cloud computing architecture demands, favoring an open source cloud for its service, dubbed OpenStack.

Cisco also believes network services are important and realizes one of the chief components of cloud offerings is scalability, thus explaining its switch to open source, as it allows businesses to adjust application demands as they grow. The news source stated that "fairly advanced network management will be critical to achieving a robust cloud computing experience, " which may explain Cisco's interest in providing network solutions for cloud-enabled businesses.

Experts say that open source clouds, such as the one offered by Cisco, allow for a greater variety of applications to become integrated into a single cloud. This is beneficial for small businesses, as it makes the cloud market more competitive, thus producing better services and more customer options.

According to PCworld, cloud applications developers who make their offerings open source may attract a greater number of clients, because open source applications can migrate more freely form cloud to cloud.