OCI aims to support Open Cloud development
OCI aims to support Open Cloud development
A not-for-profit organisation has been launched with the aim of improving open standards in cloud computing.
The Open Cloud Initiative (OCI) was officially launched at the OSCON 2011 Open Source Convention, with the aim of offering a legal framework to facilitate the creation of a set of requirements for Open Cloud. It is hoped that this will be achieved by way of consensus between the greater cloud computing community of users and providers.
Sam Johnston, founder and president of the initiative, commented, “The primary purpose of the OCI is to define ‘Open Cloud’ by way of community consensus and advocate for universal adoption of Open Standard formats and interfaces.”
He added that the movement aims to find a “balance between protecting important user freedoms and enabling providers to build successful businesses." In attaining this goal, the initiative is focusing on interoperability, technical neutrality, a block on discrimination and the avoidance of barriers to entry or exit.
Shanley Kane, head of developer relations at Apigee and a board member with the initiative, observed, "We're at a tipping point where cloud adoption is growing much faster and people are adding more data to cloud services than we saw in the early days, so this is a critical moment for something like this to be formalised.”
The launch comes as a report has claimed the US government could help the development of cloud computing. Compiled by the TechAmerica Foundation, the paper urges the government to take action on cloud security standards by encouraging providers to allow data portability between them.
Jeff Sheaffer, president of Computer Sciences’ North American public sector group, explained that to boost cloud computing adoption it is “absolutely essential” to improve users’ trust in the service. “They have to be confident in the security, the privacy and the availability of service of the cloud,” he said.
Businesses looking to move services into the cloud should evaluate the performance of their existing network and consider setting up a leased line or MPLS network.
