Open source is key to the architecture of cloud-based systems

"Open source is certainly at the foundation in terms of building out cloud technologies," says Byran Che, senior director of product management at Red Hat and responsible for its cloud operations offerings.

"If you take a look at market share in the server space, as you look at traditional data centers, about 70 percent are running on the Windows platform and about 30 percent are running Linux. As you take a look at what operating systems people are choosing to build applications on in the cloud, the ratio flips completely."

The reasoning is simple, Che says: "With a fresh start, you get to build a whole new architecture from the ground up, and open source gives you the best value."