Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2023.  Read them in this 15th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

The Open Source Data Layer Accelerates

By Anil Inamdar, VP & Head of Data Solutions at Instaclustr, part of Spot by NetApp

Over the next year, open source data layer technologies will become increasingly important-and prominent-across the enterprise landscape. This push will be driven by the cost advantages of using the free-to-use versions of key open source software (against an uncertain economy) and the latest advances to some of the most popular open source data technologies. Here are three predictions for the open source data layer space in 2023:

Data-layer Prediction #1: With budgets tighter, pure open source technologies become increasingly appealing to enterprises looking for cost-effective options that still deliver.

Expect budget constraints to push more enterprises to deploy 100% open source data-layer technologies in 2023. The adoption of enterprise-grade, production-ready open source data technologies has been the future for some time, driven by mature open source solutions like Apache Cassandra, Apache Kafka, Postgres and Redis that thrive in data-intensive environments.

But expect enterprises that have thus far been slower to adopt this trend to accelerate their open source options in 2023 as budgets tighten. This shift will also continue to erode the deployment of "open core" solutions (software where the core is open source but with additional proprietary features-not true open source software). Open core vendors have marketed the belief that paying more for something means it has more value. In the case of open source software, the opposite is often true: open core options are generally expensive and often designed to trap enterprises with vendor and technical lock-in. In 2023, I expect that limited budgets will make enterprises question open core even more, and steer them towards open source alternatives of data-layer technologies that are just as scalable and performant-but without the cost and lock-in.

Data-layer Prediction #2: Apache Cassandra lands in even more mission-critical use cases.

Apache Cassandra 4.0 was released in 2021, but many companies were hesitant to upgrade due to the lack of support tools that would later be added to the NoSQL database, like Cassandra Reaper. With support for these tools now added, Cassandra 4.0 has become an even more appealing option for enterprises looking for improved performance-particularly with faster indexing. Additionally, Cassandra 4.0 offers enhanced reliability, support for Java 11, improved security and auditing logs, and virtual tables that give insight into Cassandra's performance. Now a year after its release, the reliability of Cassandra 4.0 is no longer in doubt, which will make the database a popular choice in 2023. (Some enterprises will also now take advantage of Cassandra 4.1, which was recently released with even more features and usability improvements.)

I also expect Cassandra is going to have an outsized role in database migrations within certain industries-perhaps most notably banking and utility companies. Financial institutions and other businesses that prioritize security are increasingly turning to Cassandra 4.0 for its strict auditing capabilities and support for security policy enforcement and regulatory compliance. Power distribution companies and other utilities are also embracing Cassandra 4.0 for its high availability and strong write performance, allowing for high-scale data collection across large smart meter infrastructure without the risk of expensive downtime or data bottlenecks. As Cassandra 4.0 improves with easier installation and operational management, there will be a rapid increase in deployments in these industries in 2023.

Data-layer Prediction #3: Apache Kafka advances spur adoption.

Get ready for Apache Kafka to see even more adoption in 2023 as the data stream-processing platform separates Kafka compute from data storage. This change will allow Kafka to handle data collection from hot and cold storage sources, freeing it from issues related to data replication and consistency. By introducing a separate, fast, and accessible data layer for Kafka brokers, Kafka will more easily adapt to workloads and serve as a conduit for consumers and producers to access the data layer. This is a crucial evolution of the open source technology that will attract even more enterprises in 2023.

There's no better time than 2023 for enterprises to take a look at how far open source data technologies-in their fully open source versions-have come, and I think that's exactly what will happen.

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