Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are facing increasing competition as they strive to retain customers and maximise profitability. Many MSPs are seeking ways to diversify and enhance their service portfolios to gain a larger market share. While they are accustomed to reselling vendor solutions such as VMware, Kaseya, Microsoft, and Acronis, they often struggle to develop profitable services using open-source platforms due to a lack of strategic and technical guidance. This challenge is amplified by the rising costs of customer acquisition and retention, making it even more critical for MSPs to explore new, sustainable growth opportunities – particularly through open-source infrastructure solutions like Apache CloudStack.
Apache CloudStack is a powerful open-source cloud computing platform designed to deploy and manage large-scale virtualised environments. It provides a robust foundation for service providers to build, launch, and manage cloud services efficiently. As a fully open-source solution, CloudStack empowers companies to take control of their infrastructure costs and avoid vendor lock-in. Its multi-tenant architecture and hypervisor-agnostic nature make it an ideal choice for MSPs serving a broad range of customers. Additionally, CloudStack integrates with a wide ecosystem of vendors across networking, storage, monitoring, billing, and more allowing providers to tailor their technology stack to match business and technical goals.
CloudStack on the Rise
Apache CloudStack has seen a notable rise in interest and adoption, particularly as a viable alternative to VMware for cloud infrastructure management. This open-source platform is valued for its scalability and cost-efficiency, streamlining the creation, management, and deployment of cloud services. Leading organisations such as AT&T, BT (British Telecom), KDDI, and Leaseweb have adopted CloudStack to enhance their operations and reduce reliance on proprietary systems. Its strong community, support for multiple hypervisors, and flexible architecture make it a practical choice for enterprises seeking control and efficiency.
Unlike proprietary platforms that require vendor-specific distributions, Apache CloudStack allows users to adapt the code to their unique needs — enabling truly customised solutions without vendor lock-in. Its lower total cost of ownership, free from expensive licensing fees, is another key advantage. Backed by an active global developer community, CloudStack remains secure, modern, and continuously evolving. This combination makes it a powerful, open-source solution — and a gateway for managed service providers to build and monetise value-added services.
Unlocking Revenue: How MSPs Can Monetise with Apache CloudStack
Apache CloudStack opens new revenue streams for cloud and managed service providers. Because it is open-source, your customers avoid costly licensing fees—allowing them to invest more in fully managed services. By using CloudStack, providers can unlock monetisation opportunities across multiple areas:
- Reduced Licensing and Support Costs
ShapeBlue compared the cost of building a cloud with VMware Cloud Foundation versus an open-source stack using Apache CloudStack and KVM hypervisor. The study, based on equivalent workloads and environments, found that transitioning to a CloudStack-based KVM cloud can reduce licensing and support costs by over 60% — directly increasing profitability. - Improved Internal Resource Utilisation
CloudStack is straightforward to learn, deploy, and manage. Your team can deliver projects faster—cutting cloud deployment time by at least 40%, which results in quicker time-to-value and more efficient use of personnel. - Long-Term Reliability and Customer Trust
With Apache CloudStack, providers are not subject to shifting vendor pricing or product strategies. Its open-source nature ensures consistent service delivery and fosters long-term customer trust. - Seamless Integration and Interoperability
Built on open standards, Apache CloudStack integrates easily with third-party systems — whether for networking, storage, monitoring, or billing — allowing for a broader range of customised service offerings.
Incorporating open-source solutions like Apache CloudStack gives Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) a unique opportunity to diversify and enhance their portfolios. By leveraging the cost-efficiency, flexibility, and scalability of open-source, CSPs and MSPs can reduce operational expenses and eliminate licensing fees boosting profit margins by over 50%. Combined with improved resource utilisation and a reliable, adaptable service model, Apache CloudStack positions MSPs and CSPs for sustainable growth, improved customer retention, and a competitive edge in the IaaS cloud computing landscape.
ShapeBlue Partners Unlock Enterprise-Grade Services for Open-Source
Managed Service Providers that want to capitalise on the growing demand for open-source cloud services don’t need to make the journey alone. As the leading global specialist in Apache CloudStack, ShapeBlue helps MSPs design, build, and operate profitable cloud services with proven best practices, expert engineering support, and commercial guidance. By partnering with ShapeBlue, you gain a trusted advisor that reduces risk, accelerates time-to-market, and enables your teams to confidently deliver high-value cloud services your customers will rely on, based on open-source. Now is the time to embrace open-source cloud — and ShapeBlue is the partner to help you turn CloudStack into a sustainable, scalable revenue engine for your business.
Ivet Petrova is the Marketing Director of ShapeBlue. She is responsible for strengthening ShapeBlue’s global brand and market awareness of ShapeBlue’s services. Specifically, Ivet’s team is responsible for brand, advertising, content and digital marketing, social media, and media relations.
Ivet is also an active member of the CloudStack community, working on increasing the awareness of the technology and showing its benefits to a wider market.
Ivet has 13+ years of experience in marketing for IT service providers including a number of cloud and hosting providers, storage companies, SaaS providers and software development companies. She holds a Masters degree in Marketing.
Away from work, Ivet is passionate about travelling around the world and exploring new cultures.
