Don't get locked in the cloud

You can get cloud computing services from a number of companies--IBM, Sun Microsystems, Savvis, Microsoft, Amazon and many others. But if, say, you have business or technical reasons that compel you to switch providers, how easy is it to move your applications and data from one service to another?

Not very, say advocates of standardization of cloud computing. Once you sign up for one cloud vendor today, you are risking lock in.

In fact, for a recent feature story I've written for Computerworld on how the government is using cloud computing and SaaS resources, I learned that after security concerns, vendor lock-in was the next major problem government IT pros have with cloud services.

"You need standards to avoid vendor lock-in," says Winston Bumpus, president of the Distributed Management Task Force, a vendor-run standards body based in Portland, Ore.

That's why this week the DMTF announced its three-pronged effort to standardize parts of the cloud infrastructure.

First on this list is a standard method to move virtual machines among cloud resources. That is, if you create a VM in Xen, you should be able to move it in and out of a VMware environment in the cloud. The DMTF will be looking at its existing Open Virtual Format standard to see if it needs modification for cloud computing.

Next, the DMTF will work with service suppliers to define common APIs for resource management. The hope here is that if the new APIs are defined and implemented, you'll be able to manage and monitor your cloud resources from the same console that you oversee your in-house data center operations.

Finally, the DMTF will tackle the security issues raised by cloud-based services. Bumpus tells me that will include defining best practices as well as technologies ideally suited for protecting resources in the cloud.

But will the DMTF succeed?

If anyone can, it will. To begin with, the vendors understand it's in their best interests to embrace standards to grow the overall cloud infrastructure market. Without standards some users, particularly in government, won't adopt the new services. Also, the DMTF has a track record of success, having rolled out a handful of common standards in its time, such as WS-Management in the Web Services world and Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH), which is widely supported in the industry by vendors from Hitachi and Hewlett-Packard to Microsoft and Dell.

Bumpus expects the definition process to take about 12 months and then another six to 12 months for vendors to implement the standard.

Assuming smooth sailing for the DMTF's Cloud Computing Incubator, as they call the effort, the market will gather even more steam, as if that's possible, by late next year.