2014 Cloud, OpenStack and IT industry predictions

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: 2013 has been an incredible year for the IT industry with highlights including mainstream OpenStack adoption, unprecedented Platform as a Service (PaaS) participation and the Big Data explosion.

But as another momentous year comes to a close, many are left to wonder what 2014 has in store for OpenStack and the larger cloud computing industry.

The following 2014 predictions are offered from Joshua McKenty, CTO and co-founder of Piston Cloud Computing, Inc., the enterprise OpenStack company.

1. Hoodies and blazers unite as the OpenStack community rallies around a new mission.

2013 marked the end of the 'common enemy' for OpenStack. We have won. Much like the Mongol Empire, without a new common goal, we risk OpenStack turning on itself and each other. In 2014, the OpenStack community must unify around a new mission -- "Every Server in the World," that will give us the foundation with which to build our future upon.

2. The PaaS market will explode.

The next round of PaaS startups will enter the market and acquisitions that mirror what happened with AppFog in 2013 will start taking shape in 2014. The investment community is going to follow the noise as a result of several big name customer win announcements, which will wake everyone up to the fact that this is what companies like Pivotal and Piston have been trying to accomplish all along.

3. Extreme weather will drive interest in cloud and Big Data analytics.

More devastating typhoons, tornados and hurricanes will refocus everyone's attention on atmospheric modeling as not just something that scientists care about.

4. Data privacy concerns will begin to drive individuals to personal cloud deployments.

The PRISM scandal will get worse before it gets better. The government will continue to refuse admission of any wrongdoing, but the true scope of its surveillance measures will prove to be far beyond what anyone realized. Currently known violations are just the tip of the iceberg. This, along with the explosion of personal data from wearable devices, connected cars and homes will force individuals to see a need for personal private clouds to ensure their most personal information is protected.

5. While no one was looking...Dell comes out in front.

In a surprise twist, the companies that thought they were in front find out that really Dell is in front because they are the only ones (along with Piston) solving the real problem of distributed system management.

6. The end of "fail fast," enter the year of "learn fast."

2014 will be the year of "learn fast," not "fail fast." The metaphor was stretched too far and ended up hurting users. Failing is not great for your users no matter how fast you move on, whereas learning is always beneficial. In 2014, businesses that are winning will be the ones that are learning.

These predictions are only the start to what we'll see next year in cloud, OpenStack, Big Data and the world at large.