Where the Cloud Is Going and Why We Built OpenCloud to Lead

US Signal OpenCloud has been publicly available since September of 2024, and is quickly reaching rapid scale – with hundreds of workloads now running between our Auburn Hills, MI and Denver, CO data centers.   

One of the main questions we are asked is why we chose Open Source software to underpin the platform. This blog seeks to answer that core question. We’ll also explore what the future looks like given US Signals’ “open source first” mindset, and why we believe an open source cloud platform is the right answer..  

The truth is that we believe, as strategic partners of our customers’ business, it is our responsibility to look out for our mutual best interests – and we believe that in the long term, open source is the way. An open source cloud platform provides cost certainty, opportunity for innovation, and is backed by a worldwide community – this means no surprises ala VMWare changes in 2024. 

Cloud Certainty  

The genesis of OpenCloud was a general dissatisfaction with the primary enterprise hosting platforms, insofar as they did a great job running virtual machines but failed to provide cloud-like consumption that AWS and Azure have executed on so well (and our customers were yearning for). 

Then, in early 2024, Broadcom massively increased their pricing and continues to do so in 2025. If past performance is any indication of future results, we anticipate Broadcom to continue “streamlining” their partner ecosystem as they look to maximize shareholder value. Unfortunately, that leaves US Signal and our customers with a great deal of uncertainty – and uncertainty is bad when it comes to running critical enterprise applications supporting hospitals, manufacturing lines, banking systems, and more.  

We chose Apache CloudStack to front-end OpenCloud because it is mature, has a strong community, and is simpler to operate at scale than its competitors, translating into a better experience for our customers. To ensure the best customer experience possible, US Signal has partnered with ShapeBlue, who acts as our enterprise support for CloudStack, as well as working with us on consulting and integration projects to enhance the open source cloud platform.   

It’s where the puck is going  

There’s no doubt that VMWare has mastered the virtualization game, but what customers want is not virtualization-as-a-service – they want the flexibility to adapt their infrastructure needs as their business and application needs change. We believe that the CloudStack project provides this, with customers’ having the ability to dynamically provision compute, network, and storage resources on the fly – without ever having to call US Signal  – even bursting beyond their normal consumption if needed. PS, we will still answer your phone call if you’d like! 

The open source community is powerful  

CloudStack isn’t just a good piece of software — it’s backed by a vibrant, growing, open-source community. That means innovation doesn’t rely on a single vendor’s roadmap or profitability goals. Instead, development is driven by real-world use cases, contributors who are passionate about solving infrastructure challenges, and a commitment to openness and transparency. 

This also gives US Signal a direct line into the future of the open source cloud platform. We actively contribute to the CloudStack project and collaborate with community leaders to make sure the features our customers need most are prioritized. That level of influence — combined with the transparency that comes from open-source development — means our customers benefit from a platform that’s continuously evolving to meet modern enterprise demands. 

Built for what’s next 

We didn’t build OpenCloud to chase trends. We built it because our customers needed a better option — one that offered cloud agility without the vendor lock-in or spiraling costs. One that could grow with them as they expand workloads, experiment with AI, build hybrid strategies, and plan for long-term resilience. 

And we’re not stopping here. OpenCloud IaaS is just the beginning of a broader strategy to give our customers control and clarity in their cloud journey. What’s next? We’re building on top of the OpenCloud platform, launching desktop-as-a-service (DaaS), disaster-recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS), and GPU-as-a-service – all in the second half of 2025. 

Whether you’re repatriating from hyperscale, looking for more predictable economics, or simply tired of opaque pricing and support models, OpenCloud offers a refreshingly different path forward. 

Let’s build the path forward together 

As OpenCloud continues to scale, we’re excited to partner with customers and the broader CloudStack community to shape what’s next. Have ideas? Looking to migrate? Just want to see it in action? 

We’re here for all of that, and we’re building it with you in mind.