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Platform9 is a private cloud service that is revolutionizing how private infrastructures are deployed and managed. The platform is based on OpenStack and enables you to run many popular platforms, such as VMware, Docker, and KVM. Once it’s set up, you get all the benefits of a self-provisioning data center — but one you can call your very own.

For a long time, enterprise software has been synonymous with expensive and hard to use, and Platform9 is challenging the status quo with a focus on the user experience, not just functionality.

Platform9’s claim is that it’s cracked the operational obstacles to turning an arbitrary group of servers into a self-service private cloud. Such a cloud would be one way to combat the shadow IT that sprouts up when employees, craving agility and flexibility, go rogue to adopt public clouds such as Amazon Web Services.

At the recent Tech Field Day 10 event, I spoke with Platform9. They offer a managed OpenStack service that ties into your on-prem infrastructure.

Recent customer interactions have convinced me that virtualized data centers will be under increasing pressure to deliver AWS-like benefits – self-service, automation, and so on – or else. In other words, get automated or get eliminated. Do you agree?

This week’s announcement that cloud storage leader Box (NYSE:BOX) is deploying an OpenStack solution from startup Platform9 is a big win for both Platform9 and the OpenStack framework of open source cloud operating software.

A new generation of private cloud environments is being created now, ones where all the management is done via SaaS. This way, the heavy lifting is done by others, and you inherit an IT as a Service environment ready for you to add new workloads without worrying too much about upgrades, management constructs, or even, in some cases, security controls.

In 2015, enterprises will continue to pursue ways to combine the security and cost effectiveness of their private infrastructure resources with the agility of public clouds.