The Open Cloud Manifesto is now available for viewing on Scribd, laying out a set of goals for cloud computing, and folks are wondering what all the hubbub is about.
The much-discussed
Open Cloud
Manifesto is now available for viewing, and folks are wondering what all
the hubbub is about.
The document, which features the tag line, "A call to action for the
worldwide cloud community," says it "is intended to initiate a
conversation that will bring together the emerging cloud computing community
(both cloud users and cloud providers) around a core set of principles."
The document, which is supported by the Object Management Group,
IBM
and several other companies, states:
We believe that these core
principles are rooted in the belief that cloud computing should be as open as
all other IT technologies. This document does not intend to define a final
taxonomy of cloud computing or to charter a new standards effort. Nor does it
try to be an exhaustive thesis on cloud architecture and design. Rather, this
document speaks to CIOs, governments, IT users and business leaders who intend
to use cloud computing and to establish a set of core principles for cloud
providers. Cloud computing is still in its early stages, with much to learn and
more experimentation to come. However, the time is right for the members of the
emerging cloud computing community to come together around the notion of an
open cloud.
Indeed, more than once the manifesto document says its goal is to begin a
conversation around the principles needed to support the growth of cloud
computing in the industry, rather than to define the conversation. A core goal
of the document is to "level set" some of the basic definitions and
concepts of cloud computing. And the goals of an open cloud listed in the
document are: choice, flexibility, speed and agility, and skills.
The manifesto also states that the set of core value propositions for cloud
computing includes scalability on demand, streamlining the data center,
improving business processes and minimizing startup costs.
Although the
opencloudmanifesto.org site that will list the companies
supporting the manifesto is not live yet-the manifesto will officially be
unveiled on March 30-other companies supporting the document include Enomaly
and GigaSpaces, whose general manager of cloud computing, Geva Perry, is listed
as having uploaded Draft Version 1.0.9 of the document to Scribd.
However, Microsoft and Amazon.com have both said they are not ready to
support the manifesto. It was
Microsoft's
Steven Martin, the company's senior director of developer platform
management, who
raised
a concern about the manifesto, calling it biased. Now folks are asking why.
Perhaps Martin's concerns lie in the section of the
Open
Cloud Manifesto document on the principles of cloud computing. That section
reads:
Of course, many clouds will continue
to be different in a number of important ways, providing unique value for
organizations. It is not our intention to form standards for every capability
in the cloud and create a single homogeneous cloud environment. Rather, as
cloud computing matures, there are several key principles that must be followed
to ensure the cloud is open and delivers the choice, flexibility and agility
organizations demand:
1. Cloud providers must work together
to ensure that the challenges to cloud adoption (security, integration,
portability, interoperability, governance/management, metering/monitoring) are
addressed through open collaboration and the appropriate use of standards.
2. Cloud providers must not use their
market position to lock customers into their particular platforms and limiting
their choice of providers.
3. Cloud providers must use and adopt
existing standards wherever appropriate. The IT industry has invested heavily
in existing standards and standards organizations; there is no need to
duplicate or reinvent them.
4. When new standards (or adjustments
to existing standards) are needed, we must be judicious and pragmatic to avoid
creating too many standards. We must ensure that standards promote innovation
and do not inhibit it.
5. Any community effort around the
open cloud should be driven by customer needs, not merely the technical needs
of cloud providers, and should be tested or verified against real customer
requirements.
6. Cloud computing standards
organizations, advocacy groups, and communities should work together and stay
coordinated, making sure that efforts do not conflict or overlap.
Said one backer of the manifesto: "When you read the document you can't
help but wonder what all the furor is about."
There will no doubt be more on that after the opencloudmanifesto.org launch
on March 30.
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