Re: [clouds] What are we doing here? -- Portability

Hi Nathaniel,

On the topic of avoiding cloud SP lock-in (portability of cloud applications):

- On the business front, the TM Forum Cloud Services Initiative is focusing on this topic, in large measure, and has formed the Enterprise Cloud Leadership Council (ECLC) to address it specifically.  (See http://www.tmforum.org/EnablingCloudServices/8006/home.html)

- On the technical front, the DMTF's Open Virtualization Format and other aspects of its Virtualization Management Initiative provide elements of a workable foundation ... not complete by a long shot, but good work to extend, in my judgment.  (http://www.dmtf.org/standards/mgmt/vman/)

Just noting two initiatives that a related IETF effort could draw on, in any of a variety of ways.

Cheers,
BobN

-----Original Message-----
From: clouds-bounces@ietf.org [mailto:clouds-bounces@ietf.org] On Behalf Of Nathaniel Borenstein
Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2010 9:01 PM
To: Paul Unbehagen
Cc: Sam Johnston; clouds@ietf.org; Fargano, Michael
Subject: [clouds] What are we doing here?

I missed the BoF, so please excuse me if this is clear to everyone but me, however...

What are we trying to accomplish?

Standards efforts tend to be most successful if there are clear goals in mind.  What I'm seeing is a bunch of people who are excited about the general idea of cloud standards, each with a few particular ideas in mind.  Things like reference architectures can be very useful in the context of a well-developed set of technologies and goals -- Dave Crocker's email architecture document comes to mind.  But they don't do much to help focus on goals in the way that is  almost a prerequisite to a successful WG.

So, I suggest that in the interest of getting somewhere, we might think about the kind of goals suitable for WG creation.  Examples of such goals might be:

-- Making X portable across cloud vendors, where X might be virtual machines, storage grids, email archives, etc.

-- Enhancing security of cloud services by doing Y, where Y might be enhancements to authentication, specification of best practices, etc.  

-- Standardizing interface Z,  where Z might be video streaming, VPN extensions, etc.

I think there are enough goals here for a dozen WG's, but probably not enough people.  Is there a goal or two that enough of us share to give us critical mass?

For my part, I'm most enthused about the first category of goals -- standards to ensure that users aren't locked in to a single vendor.   What are other folks enthused about?  -- Nathaniel

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