Dana CazacuExplore how OpenStack powers hybrid clouds, Kubernetes, NFV, HPC, AI, and disaster recovery in 2025. Learn how it drives innovation and scalability.
As an open-source alternative for building cloud infrastructure, OpenStack has steadily evolved to meet the demands of modern businesses. Its modular architecture and flexibility have made it a reliable choice for organizations looking to deploy private, public, or hybrid clouds without relying on proprietary solutions.
By 2025, the OpenStack Services Market is estimated to reach USD 30.11 billion, reflecting the growing reliance on this open-source platform to power diverse workloads and infrastructure needs. Whether it’s enabling edge computing, supporting Kubernetes, or facilitating multi-cloud strategies, OpenStack continues to provide a cost-efficient and scalable foundation for cloud innovation. Platforms like Atmosphere, which leverage OpenStack, and Kubernetes, simplify the deployment and management of these environments, offering businesses flexibility and control.
Below we will explore some real-world applications of OpenStack in 2025, and highlight how it empowers organizations to innovate, scale, and adapt to the demands of an ever-changing digital landscape.
Real-World Applications of OpenStack
§ Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
OpenStack is a powerful open-source platform that provides the foundation for creating and managing private and public clouds. Functioning as a cloud operating system, it orchestrates core infrastructure resources such as compute, storage, and networking across data centers.
Thanks to its modular architecture, OpenStack gives businesses the flexibility to build cloud environments tailored to their specific needs. Users can interact with the platform through a web-based dashboard, command-line interface, or RESTful APIs, offering adaptable options for managing infrastructure.
At its foundation, OpenStack is best classified as an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform. IaaS is one of the key service models in cloud computing, providing businesses with virtualized hardware resources like virtual machines (VMs), networks, and storage while leaving control over the operating system, middleware, data, and applications to the user. OpenStack excels in delivering this foundational layer, enabling organizations to dynamically provision and scale resources while reducing the capital expenses associated with physical hardware.
OpenStack’s alignment with the IaaS model is driven by its modularity and extensive feature set. Core components such as Nova for compute, Neutron for networking, and Cinder for block storage empower organizations to deploy and manage infrastructure on demand.
While OpenStack is primarily an IaaS platform, it also serves as the underlying infrastructure for Kubernetes-based solutions. By integrating with Kubernetes, OpenStack provides the foundational resources needed to orchestrate and manage containerized workloads efficiently. This combination allows organizations to leverage the control and scalability of IaaS while benefiting from Kubernetes’ automation and application-layer management. Together, they create a comprehensive cloud solution that bridges infrastructure and application orchestration seamlessly.
Atmosphere takes OpenStack’s capabilities to the next level by integrating it directly with Kubernetes, creating a unified platform that bridges traditional cloud infrastructure and cloud-native patterns. Unlike the traditional method of running Kubernetes on top of OpenStack, Atmosphere flips the setup by running containerized OpenStack services inside Kubernetes. This innovative architecture brings modularity, manageability, and efficiency to cloud operations.
With Atmosphere, Kubernetes serves as the foundation, providing scheduling, health checks, self-healing, and rolling upgrades for containerized OpenStack services. By leveraging OpenStack-Helm, Atmosphere enables declarative, repeatable provisioning of OpenStack components, making deployments simpler and more reliable. This cloud-native approach eliminates the challenges of brittle scripts and manual processes, allowing infrastructure management to follow modern, automated workflows.
You can learn more about how Atmosphere seamlessly integrates Kubernetes and OpenStack in the post, Inside the Kubernetes Sandwich.
§ Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Deployments
According to the 2024 State of the Cloud report, Flexera found that 89% of organizations utilize multi-cloud strategies, while 73% employ hybrid cloud setups. Hybrid and multi-cloud strategies are the standard for enterprises aiming to achieve flexibility, scalability, and freedom from vendor lock-in. OpenStack plays a pivotal role in these architectures by acting as the on-premise foundation that integrates seamlessly with public clouds. Organizations use OpenStack to build private clouds that connect with providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, allowing them to orchestrate workloads across multiple environments efficiently.
This interoperability enables businesses to optimize costs by running steady, predictable workloads on private infrastructure while leveraging the scalability of public clouds for dynamic or seasonal demands. Additionally, OpenStack’s ability to enforce data locality and compliance ensures that sensitive workloads remain secure and meet regulatory requirements, even in complex multi-cloud setups.
Atmosphere simplifies the management of private and public cloud environments by providing centralized control, advanced automation, and tools for scaling infrastructure. This ensures that businesses can seamlessly balance workloads, maintain high availability, and adapt to changing demands without sacrificing control or efficiency.
§ Kubernetes and Cloud-Native Workloads
The widespread adoption of Kubernetes has made it the go-to platform for managing cloud-native application. Its ability to orchestrate containerized workloads at scale has transformed how organizations build, deploy, and operate modern applications. OpenStack plays a critical role in supporting these workloads by acting as the foundational infrastructure layer, enabling businesses to deploy scalable Kubernetes clusters with ease.
OpenStack Magnum—a container orchestration engine—and Cluster API (CAPI) integrations provide organizations with the tools needed to seamlessly deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters on private clouds. This tight integration allows businesses to benefit from Kubernetes' automation, scalability, and self-healing capabilities while leveraging OpenStack's robust infrastructure services. These include Nova for compute, Neutron for networking, and Cinder for storage, ensuring that containerized workloads operate reliably and efficiently.
This combination gives organizations the agility to adopt cloud-native development practices without sacrificing control, security, or compliance. Private clouds powered by OpenStack provide a secure environment for sensitive workloads, while Kubernetes ensures that application deployment and scaling remain streamlined. Developers can focus on building and shipping applications faster, while IT teams maintain full visibility and control over the underlying infrastructure.
Platforms like Atmosphere enhance the integration of OpenStack and Kubernetes by providing a unified platform that simplifies Kubernetes cluster provisioning and lifecycle management. With centralized control and automation, Atmosphere streamlines operations with features like rolling upgrades, auto-scaling, and isolated cluster deployments, enabling organizations to scale their cloud-native environments with minimal overhead. At the same time, Atmosphere bridges the gap between traditional workloads and modern containerized applications by allowing businesses to manage both Kubernetes clusters and virtual machines within the same platform. This flexibility supports hybrid architectures, enabling organizations to transition to cloud-native models at their own pace without disrupting existing operations.
If you are interested in how Atmosphere integrates OpenStack and Kubernetes to modernize legacy systems and bridge traditional IT with scalable cloud-native solutions, check out this blog post.
§ Network Functions Virtualization (NFV)
OpenStack is a powerful option for telecommunications companies looking to build and manage their Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) infrastructures, which are central to their digital transformation efforts. By providing a scalable and flexible platform for deploying Virtual Network Functions (VNFs), OpenStack enables telcos to reduce operational costs, streamline service delivery, and accelerate the rollout of advanced technologies like 5G and beyond.
OpenStack’s networking components, such as Neutron, combined with support for advanced features like SR-IOV and DPDK, deliver the high-performance networking required to meet the rigorous demands of modern telecommunications. These capabilities allow telcos to handle the exponential increase in connected devices, bandwidth-intensive applications, and real-time data processing with efficiency and reliability.
Platforms like Atmosphere extend these capabilities by simplifying the deployment and management of NFV infrastructures, offering centralized control, automation, and scalability to meet the demands of modern telecom environments.
Additionally, OpenStack’s flexibility allows telecom providers to seamlessly integrate NFV infrastructures with both legacy systems and emerging technologies. This ensures that they can modernize their networks incrementally while maintaining operational continuity. As a result, OpenStack not only supports the shift toward software-defined networking but also empowers telcos to innovate faster, offer dynamic and customizable services, and adapt to the growing demands of high-speed networks and IoT ecosystems.
By leveraging OpenStack for NFV, telecom providers are better equipped to future-proof their networks, driving innovation and remaining competitive in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
§ High-Performance Computing (HPC)
OpenStack provides a robust foundation for High-Performance Computing (HPC), enabling organizations to efficiently handle complex workloads like simulations, data analysis, and machine learning. Widely used in industries such as scientific research, financial modeling, and healthcare, HPC demands immense computing power and scalability—both of which OpenStack delivers.
With its compute service (Nova), OpenStack provisions high-performance virtual machines and bare-metal instances, supporting resource-intensive tasks like AI/ML training. Features such as GPU acceleration and support for multiple architectures (x86 and ARM) further enhance its flexibility for diverse HPC use cases. Additionally, OpenStack’s block storage (Cinder) and object storage (Swift) offer fast, scalable solutions for managing large datasets, while advanced networking capabilities powered by Neutron ensure low-latency, high-throughput connections.
Platforms like Atmosphere simplify HPC operations by automating resource provisioning, scaling workloads, and centralizing management. This reduces complexity, allowing organizations to focus on innovation and achieving their computational goals.
If you want to know more about how Atmosphere simplifies HPC operations check out this blog post.
By leveraging OpenStack for HPC, businesses can build cost-effective, scalable infrastructures capable of meeting the demands of data-intensive industries. This flexibility makes OpenStack a key enabler for innovation and growth in HPC environments.
§ AI
OpenStack’s powerful compute and storage capabilities make it a perfect fit for AI and big data analytics. Enterprises use OpenStack to manage large-scale data processing frameworks like Hadoop and Spark, often leveraging OpenStack Sahara to simplify their deployment. Its support for GPU acceleration is especially valuable for training complex AI models, enabling faster computation for tasks like deep learning and neural networks.
OpenStack’s object storage service (Swift) offers scalable and reliable storage for massive datasets, ensuring that businesses have the capacity to handle large-scale analytics workflows. Additionally, its block storage service (Cinder) provides high-performance storage for applications that require low latency and high throughput, making it ideal for real-time data processing.
Platforms like Atmosphere amplify these benefits by simplifying infrastructure provisioning, automating resource scaling, and optimizing environments for data-intensive workloads.
This allows organizations to reduce operational complexity and focus on extracting insights and driving innovation in AI and analytics.
If you are interested in learning more, you should read our blogpost about What AI Developers Need From The Cloud in 2025.
§ Disaster Recovery and Backup
As businesses prioritize resilience, OpenStack has become a key solution for disaster recovery (DR) and backup strategies.
Its modular design enables seamless replication of data and workloads across multiple locations, ensuring business continuity in the face of unexpected disruptions. OpenStack’s block storage service (Cinder) and object storage (Swift) offer reliable and scalable options for data redundancy and recovery, minimizing downtime and protecting critical systems.
With Atmosphere, organizations can streamline disaster recovery operations by automating failover processes, managing replication across regions, and centralizing control over DR infrastructure. This allows businesses to safeguard their data and systems while maintaining operational efficiency. You can learn more about from this blog post Atmosphere’s Disaster Recovery for Uninterrupted Business Operations
By leveraging OpenStack and Atmosphere, businesses can address the challenges of AI, big data analytics, and disaster recovery with scalable, cost-effective solutions tailored to their needs.
Conclusion
OpenStack remains a critical enabler for modern cloud computing in 2025, powering diverse use cases such as hybrid clouds, Kubernetes workloads, NFV, HPC, AI, and disaster recovery. Platforms like Atmosphere enhance OpenStack’s capabilities by simplifying deployment, automating management, and bridging traditional and cloud-native workloads. Together, they provide businesses with the flexibility, scalability, and innovation needed to thrive in an increasingly complex digital landscape.
If you’d like to bring Atmosphere into your organization with the help of our team of experts, reach out to our sales team today!