The Reality of AI and Cloud Adoption

When you want to understand where technology is really heading, look past the headlines and listen to the practitioners. The recent Apache Cassandra® user survey offers exactly that kind of ground truth, with 144 power users sharing insights that cut through the market noise about AI adoption and cloud transformation.

What makes these results particularly compelling is how they align with what we're seeing from major enterprises in production environments. This isn't speculative—it's happening now, and it's happening at scale.

The cloud-native evolution is real

The most striking finding is that 85% of Cassandra users are either in the cloud or actively moving there. This isn't just about lift-and-shift—it represents a fundamental transformation in how organizations approach their data infrastructure.

Consider Bud Financial’s journey. Bud, a platform used by global banks to turn transactional financial data into valuable insights, moved from managing their own Cassandra infrastructure to a cloud-native approach. The shift was as much about rapidly enabling innovation as it was about reducing operational overhead; it allowed the company to use AI to unlock insights from transactional data. 

This pattern repeats across industries. The survey shows a decisive shift from traditional deployment methods to Kubernetes and cloud-native architectures. It's reminiscent of the e-commerce transformation in the late 1990s: once organizations figured out the secure payment piece, everyone needed an e-commerce site. Today, once companies see how cloud-native architecture can accelerate their business, there's no looking back.

Production AI: Beyond the hype

A particularly compelling finding is the projected 350% increase in AI use cases for Cassandra over the next year. But what's really interesting isn't just the growth rate - it's the fact that over 50% of respondents say they already have generative AI use cases in production.

This mirrors what we're seeing in the market. Companies aren't just experimenting anymore; they're building and deploying AI-powered features that directly impact their bottom line. Healthcare data platform provider Skypoint, for example, built a new, agent-based system using vector search that transforms huge amounts of unstructured data into actionable data intelligence for the senior living market. 

This isn't the kind of AI that makes headlines. It's the kind that makes money. It's about using AI to solve specific business problems, whether that's improving search relevance, personalizing recommendations, or streamlining operations. The survey suggests this practical approach to AI is becoming the norm rather than the exception.

The modernization imperative

The survey reveals that 62% of users plan to upgrade to Cassandra 5.0 in the next 12 months. This high adoption intent isn't just about staying current with technology; it's about being ready for what's next.

Real business needs drive this modernization imperative. This is why modernization matters. It's not about the technology itself—it's about having the capability to adapt quickly to market changes and customer needs. The survey suggests that Cassandra users understand this deeply.

Looking ahead: 2024 and beyond

The survey data points to 2024 being the year when AI moves definitively from experimentation to production, with 2025 shaping up as the year of AI transformation. This isn't just optimistic forecasting. It's backed by the concrete plans and projects already underway at organizations worldwide.

What's particularly encouraging is how the open source community continues to drive innovation in this space. DataStax's contributions to Cassandra 5.0, particularly in areas that enhance AI and cloud-native capabilities, demonstrate the vital role that open source plays in enabling this transformation.

The path forward

For organizations looking at these trends and wondering about their own path forward, the message is clear: the future of data infrastructure is cloud-native and AI-ready. Whether you're running Cassandra in a traditional data center, moving to Kubernetes, or looking at fully managed services, the key is to start preparing for this future now.

The survey shows that the Cassandra community isn't just surviving these transformational shifts—it's thriving. Users are actively embracing new capabilities, modernizing their infrastructure, and building the foundation for AI-powered applications. This isn't happening in isolation; it's part of a broader movement toward more flexible, scalable, and intelligent systems.

As we move through 2024, the question isn't whether to embrace these changes, but how to implement them in a way that drives real business value. The experiences of power users and major enterprises like Priceline show that with the right approach and technology choices, organizations can successfully navigate this transformation and emerge stronger.

The key is to start where you are, but keep moving forward. Whether that means beginning your cloud journey, exploring AI capabilities, or modernizing your existing Cassandra deployment, the important thing is to take that next step. The future’s already here, and it's being built on open source innovation and enterprise-grade reliability.