2009 - The Open Cloud Manifesto Draft 1.0.9 - Autor desconocido

Texto

The Open Cloud Manifesto

A call to action for the worldwide cloud community

Introduction

The buzz around cloud computing has reached a fever pitch. Some believe it is a disruptive trend representing the next stage in the evolution of the internet. Others believe it is hype, as it uses long established computing technologies. As with any new trend in the IT world, organizations must figure out the benefits and risks of cloud computing and the best way to use this technology.

One thing is clear: The industry needs an objective, straightforward conversation about how this new computing paradigm will impact organizations, how it can be used with existing technologies, and the potential pitfalls of proprietary technologies that can lead to lock-in and limited choice.

This document 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. 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.

What is Cloud Computing and Why is it Important?

In order to understand the core principles of an open cloud, we need to first level set on some basic definitions and concepts of cloud computing itself. First, what is the cloud? The architecture and terminology of cloud computing is as clearly and precisely defined as, well, a cloud. Since cloud computing is really a culmination of many technologies such as grid computing, utility computing, SOA, Web 2.0, and other technologies, a precise definition is often debated.

While definitions, taxonomies and architectures are interesting, it is more important to understand the value propositions for cloud computing. We need to understand how suppliers of cloud technology will come together to deliver on the promise of cloud computing.

The key characteristics of the cloud are the ability to scale and provision computing power dynamically in a cost efficient way and the ability of the consumer (end user, organization or IT staff) to make the most of that power without having to manage the underlying complexity of the technology. The cloud architecture itself can be private (hosted within an organization’s firewall) or public (hosted on the Internet). These characteristics lead to a set of core value propositions:

- Scalability on Demand

All organizations have to deal with changes in their environments. The ability of cloud computing solutions to scale up and down is a major benefit. If an organization has periods of time in which their computing resource needs are much higher or lower than normal, cloud technologies (both private and public) can deal with those changes. The organization pays for the IT resources it actually uses; it does not have to maintain multiple sets of artificially high levels of resources to handle peak demands.

- Streamlining the Data Center

An organization of any size will have a substantial investment in its data center. That includes buying and maintaining the hardware and software, providing the facilities in which the hardware is housed and hiring the personnel who keep the data center running. An organization can streamline its data center by taking advantage of cloud technologies internally or by offloading workload into the public.

- Improving Business Processes

The cloud provides an infrastructure for improving business processes. An organization and its suppliers and partners can share data and applications in the cloud, allowing everyone involved to focus on the business process instead of the infrastructure that hosts it.

- Minimizing Startup Costs

For companies that are just starting out, organizations in emerging markets, or even “Skunk Works” groups in larger organizations, cloud computing greatly reduces startup costs. The new organization starts with an infrastructure already in place, so the time and other resources that would be spent on building a data center are borne by the cloud provider, whether the cloud is private or public.

Challenges and Barriers to Adoption

Although the cloud presents tremendous opportunity and value for organizations, the usual IT requirements (security, integration, and so forth) still apply. In addition, some new issues come about because of the multi-tenant nature (information from multiple companies may reside on the same physical hardware) of cloud computing, the merger of applications and data, and the fact that a company’s workloads might reside outside of their physical on-premise datacenter. This section examines five main challenges that cloud computing must address in order to deliver on its promise.

- Security

Many organizations are uncomfortable with storing their data and applications on systems they do not control. Migrating workloads to a shared infrastructure increases the potential for unauthorized exposure. Consistency around authentication, identity management, compliance, and access technologies will become increasingly important. To reassure their customers, cloud providers must offer a high degree of transparency into their operations.

- Data and Application Interoperability

It is important that both data and applications systems expose standard interfaces. Organizations will want the flexibility to create new solutions enabled by data and applications that interoperate with each other regardless of where they reside (public clouds, private clouds that reside within an organization’s firewall, traditional IT environments or some combination). Cloud providers need to support interoperability standards so that organizations can combine any cloud provider’s capabilities into their solutions.

- Data and Application Portability

Without standards, the ability to bring systems back in-house or choose another cloud provider will be limited by proprietary interfaces. Once an organization builds or ports a system to use a cloud provider’s offerings, bringing that system back in-house will be difficult and expensive.

- Governance and Management

As IT departments introduce cloud solutions in context of their traditional datacenter, new challenges arise. Standardized mechanisms for dealing with lifecycle management, licensing, and chargeback for shared cloud infrastructure are just some of the management and governance issues cloud providers must work together to resolve.

- Metering and Monitoring

Business leaders will want to use multiple cloud providers in their IT solutions and will need to monitor system performance across these solutions. Providers must supply consistent formats to monitor cloud applications and service performance and make them compatible with existing monitoring systems.

It is clear that the opportunity for those who effectively utilize cloud computing in their organizations is great. However, these opportunities are not without risks and barriers. It is our belief that the value of cloud computing can be fully realized only when cloud providers ensure that the cloud is open.

The Goals of an Open Cloud

Customers expect that the cloud services they use will be as open as the rest of their IT choices. As mentioned earlier, there are significant barriers to the adoption of cloud computing. As cloud providers ask their potential customers to accept a loss of control over their resources, hiding vendor lock-in behind the benefits of cloud computing will lead to long-term damage to the cloud computing industry. As an open cloud becomes a reality, business leaders will benefit in several ways.

- Choice

As an organization chooses a provider or architecture or usage model, an open cloud will make it easy for them to use a different provider or architecture as the business environment changes. If the organization needs to change providers because of new partnerships, acquisition, customer requests or government regulations, they can do so easily. If the organization deploys a private cloud, they can choose between providers as they extend their capacity and/or functional capabilities. Resources that would have been spent on a difficult migration can instead be spent on innovation.

- Flexibility

No matter which cloud provider and architecture an organization uses, an open cloud makes it easy for them to work with other groups, even if those other groups choose different providers and architectures. An open cloud will make it easy for organizations to interoperate between different cloud providers.

- Speed and Agility

One of the value propositions of cloud computing is the ability to scale hardware and software as needed. Using open interfaces allows organizations to build new solutions that integrate public clouds, private clouds and current IT systems. As the conditions of the organization change, an open cloud lets the organization respond with speed and agility.

- Skills

A side effect of an open cloud is the availability of skilled professionals. If there are many proprietary programming models, a given IT professional is unlikely to know more than a few of them. In an open cloud, there is a small set of new technologies to learn (especially when existing technologies are utilized), greatly enhancing the chances that the organization can find someone with the necessary skills.

Principles of an Open Cloud

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.

Conclusion

This document is meant to begin the conversation, not define it. Many details (taxonomies, definitions and scenarios, for example) will be filled in as the cloud computing community comes together.

We have outlined the challenges facing organizations that want to use the cloud. These issues lead to a call to action for the IT industry around a vision of an open cloud. We as industry participants must work together to ensure that the cloud remains as open as all other IT technologies. Some might argue that it is too early to discuss topics such as standards, interoperability, integration and portability. Although this is a time of great innovation for the cloud computing community, that innovation should be guided by the principles of openness outlined in this document. We argue that it is exactly the right time to begin the work to build the open cloud.

Companies that support the open cloud manifesto are listed at www.opencloudmanifesto.org.

List of supporters

Abiquo Corp.

Accario Inc.

2. Advanced Millennium Technologies
4. Akamai
6. Altic
8. AMD
10. Aptana
12. Appistry
14. Arista Networks
16. ASPgems
18. AT&T Corp.
20. Averiware
22. BakBone Software
24. Barcelona Supercomputing Center
26. Blend digital
28. BlueLock
30. Bluescreen Network
32. Boomi
34. Business Logic
36. Cast lron
38. Cellopoint
40. Cisco
42. Clarified Networks
44. CloudVu
46. Cloudsoft Corporation
48. CORAID
50. Crescendo Networks
52. CSC
54. Dilgenter
56. The Eclipse Foundation
58. Elastra
60. EMC
62. Engine Yard
64. Enomaly
66. enStratus
68. F5
70. Fireworks Software
72. Fulcrum Microsystems
74. Global Media Solutions
76. GoGrid
78. Heroku
80. Hyperic
82. IBM
84. In Cloud Company S.L.
86. ISRAGRID - Israeli National Grid and Cloud Infrastructure
88. Juniper Networks
90. LanCord Systems, Inc.
92. Logica
94. LongJump
96. Luminis Innovation Consulting
98. ManualsMania
100. Metadot
102. MyCube9.com
104. Network Gulf Information Technology
106. newScale, Inc.
108. Northwest A&F University -- Shanxi, China
110. North Carolina State University
112. Nirvanix
114. Novell
116. Object Management Group (OMG)
118. Okuri Ventures
120. Open Cloud Consortium (OCC)
122. Open-Xchange
124. OpSource
126. Pentaho
128. Platinum Solutions
130. Prgmr.com
132. Process Maverick Limited
134. PointStar
136. QuadraForte LLC
138. Rackspace
140. Rails Machine
142. RB Consulting
144. Red Hat
146. Rhinofly
148. RightScale
150. rPath
152. Saasmania
154. S3 Graphics
156. Sambam Internetwerken
158. SAP
160. Sevaa Group, Inc .
162. Schaurer & Störger
164. SOASTA
166. Software AG
168. Sogeti
170. Sun Microsystems
172. SWI Consultants
174. Synapses
176. Technical University of Catalonia (UPC)
178. Telefónica
180. Tech4Quant
182. Terremark Worldwide
184. The Hot Air Channel
186. The Israeli Association of Grid Technologies (IGT)
188. The Open Group
190. The Reservoir Project
192. The Wikibon Project
194. Trend Micro
196. Troxo
198. umc.global GmbH & Co KG
200. VALUE5
202. Velneo S.A.
204. Venue Software
206. Veredas
208. Vivat Consulting
210. Voltage Security
212. W2P Limited
214. VMWare
216. Voxeo
218. VPS.NET
220. Zenoss

Contexto

The Open Cloud Manifesto se publicó en 2009 en la página web www.opencloudmanifesto.org/ en formatos html y pdf con el propósito de exponer las características, propuestas y desafíos de la adopción de la computación en nube (cloud computing) y, por otra parte, de detallar las metas y principios del Open Cloud, uno de ellos, la filosofía de que la computación en nube debe ser abierta y de ninguna manera propietaria (1). Aunque el manifiesto fue ampliamente apoyado por grandes compañías que firmaron la iniciativa, éste destacó por la ausencia de empresas como , Salesforce.com, Amazon, Google y Microsoft (2). Aunque ninguna de estas empresas, salvo Salesforce, se pronunciaron respecto al documento directamente3(3), Steven Martin, gerente de productos de Microsoft, externo su descontento hacía las declaraciones a través de un post (4).

En la publicación, Steve Martin opinaba lo siguiente: "Nos parece que una empresa, o sólo unas pocas, preferirían controlar la evolución del cloud computing, en lugar de llegar a un consenso entre los principales grupos de interés (incluidos los usuarios de la nube) a través de un proceso "abierto". Un Manifiesto abierto que emerge de un proceso cerrado es algo ligeramente irónico". En su respuesta, el gerente de productos de Microsoft, también proponía que las ideas que proponía el manifiesto fueran tratadas de manera abierta a través de un Wiki que permitiera su debate público con la finalidad de que el proyecto fuera transparente y completo, todo a través de una licencia Creative Commons (5).

Por su parte, Salesforce.com dijeron tener opiniones positivas hacía el manifiesto. "Apoyamos los objetivos de interoperabilidad de la nube y esperamos trabajar con los firmantes, así como seguir trabajando con socios como Google, Amazon y Facebook. Creemos que las plataformas en nube son y deben ser siempre más abiertas que sus antecedentes cliente-servidor heredados, porque eso es lo mejor para los clientes y para todo el ecosistema de nube (4). El Manifiesto cuenta con el apoyo de muchas empresas, entre ellas: Akamai, AMD, AT&T, Cisco, The Eclipse Foundation, EMC, IBM, Juniper Networks, Novell, Open Cloud Consortium, Red Hat, SAP, Software AG, Sun, VMware, entre otras (1).

Autoras

No hay claridad de quienes fueron los escritores del manifiesto, sin embargo Reuven Cohen, fundador de Enomaly, un proveedor de soluciones de cloud computing, rechazó ser el autor del documento y refirió que este estaba creado por un grupo más amplio de partidarios y coautores. Otros especialistas han atribuido la autoría a IBM y han calificado al manifiesto como un intento de esta empresa para hacer tropezar a Microsoft con su plataforma de cloud computing Windows Azure (6). El manifiesto cuenta con el apoyo de más 100 firmantes de todo el mundo entre empresas, universidades y organizaciones, entre ellas: Akamai, AMD, AT&T, Cisco, The Eclipse Foundation, EMC, IBM, Juniper Networks, Novell, Open Cloud Consortium, Red Hat, SAP, Software AG, Sun, VMware, etc. (1).

Archivo

Documento filtrado por Geva Perry en una entrada de su blog el 27 de marzo de 2009. Archivo:Open.pdf

Fuentes

(1) https://web.archive.org/web/20101108145156/https://www.opencloudmanifesto.org/

(2) Staten, J. (2009). The Open Cloud Manifesto. En Forrester . Disponible en: https://go.forrester.com/blogs/09-04-02-the_open_cloud_manifesto/

(3) Arcos, E. (2009). Los seis principios del Open Cloud Manifiesto. En Hipertextual . Disponible en: https://hipertextual.com/2009/03/los-seis-principios-del-open-cloud-manifiesto

(4) Avram, A. (2009). The Open Cloud Manifesto. En Info Q. Disponible en: https://www.infoq.com/news/2009/04/The-Open-Cloud-Manifesto

(5) Martin, S. (2009). Moving Toward an Open Process on Cloud Computing Interoperability. En Microsoft . Recuperado de: https://web.archive.org/web/20180304202219/https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/stevemar/2009/03/25/moving-toward-an-open-process-on-cloud-computing-interoperability/

(6) Kurt, M. (2009). DOA: The Open Cloud Manifesto. En Campus Technology . Disponible en: https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/03/31/DOA-The-Open-Cloud-Manifesto.aspx

Enlaces

Primera edición:

URL: http://www.opencloudmanifesto.org/, http://gevaperry.typepad.com/Open%20Cloud%20Manifesto%20v1.0.9.pdf

Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20160313043331/http://gevaperry.typepad.com/Open%20Cloud%20Manifesto%20v1.0.9.pdf, http://web.archive.org/web/20091115000000*/http://www.opencloudmanifesto.org

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Computing_Manifesto

Ver también:

• Reuven Cohen (et al.) (2009) Open Cloud Manifesto.
• Reuven Cohen, Steve Martin, Sam Johnston (2009) Cloud Computing Manifesto.
• Sam Johnston, James Urquhart, Rich Wellner (2009) Cloud Computing Bill of Rights.