In the past week, a story that was originally reported in InformationWeek , among other places, said PayPal was adopting OpenStack. Then the story took on a life of its own — as some outlets reported that eBay was booting VMware off 80,000 servers and replacing it with OpenStack. Let’s examine what conclusions can be drawn about this saga — and VMware’s future.
When InformationWeek first asked a PayPal spokesman, Saran Mandair, about PayPal’s plans, he responded with a minimum of information, omitting any reference to replacing VMware. Boris Renski, a spokesman for the consultant on the project, Mirantis, was theoretically in a position to know the scope of PayPal’s plans and he offered the “80,000-servers conversion” line. InformationWeek declined to report something PayPal itself was unwilling to say, even though a seemingly knowledgeable source was claiming it.
Two other sources, however, reported the story as Renski represented it. “In A Dangerous Sign For VMware, PayPal Chooses Rival OpenStack,” said the headline on Business Insider on March 25. Reuven Cohen in his column in Forbes, picked up the theme on March 26: “PayPal To Drop VMware From 80,000 Servers and Replace It With OpenStack.” The source was Renski, not PayPal.
PayPal doesn’t have 80,000 servers; it has closer to 9,000. But part of the appeal of the story was the presumption that if PayPal converted, parent eBay would as well. And in that way, a magic wand was waved over 9,000 servers and they became 80,000.
At the peak of the story’s twists, one knowledgeable observer tweeted, “I’m replacing 80,000 calories with OpenStack,” as an equally sensible statement.