Case Study: Intel achieves speed and agility in virtualized infrastructure with OpenStack

Intel IT: An Architectural Evolution with OpenStack

This case study looks at how enterprises with large VMware vSphere investments can gain cloud speed and agility by adopting OpenStack. The core challenge is balancing the stability and resiliency required by legacy, scale-up applications with the self-service, API-driven provisioning developers demand for cloud-native, horizontally scalable workloads — raising questions about replacing ESX, feature parity, and whether both platforms can co-exist.

The paper outlines three deployment approaches — OpenStack as a multi-hypervisor control plane, commercial OpenStack distributions running on vSphere, and VMware Integrated OpenStack (VIO) — that let organizations keep VMware features (HA, vMotion, NSX, VSAN) while adding automation and developer-facing APIs. Real-world results include Intel running 17,000+ VM lifecycles across KVM and ESXi and projecting an 85% reduction in manual service requests (with a goal of 90% routine automation), while Adobe and a large bank deployed VIO or commercial distributions to deliver self-service clouds, preserve resiliency, and speed application delivery.

Intel