WHEN WE LAUNCHED THE CloudEthernet Forum (CEF) in 2013 I sounded a warning that the cloud could become the victim of its own success – a warning based on my company’s own experience of the rapid take-up of cloud technology, the realisation of enormous potential, but the lack of standards or agreement as to how best to realise that potential.
It was a bit like the discovery of a whole new continent, an unmapped, un-policed land rich in resources and ripe for exploitation. History tells us that this is a fruitful but dangerous time: a time of land grab, territorial battles and appalling waste, often burdening future generations with a heritage of arbitrary and divisive national boundaries. The risk here was that, unless some standards could be laid down fast enough, the cloud could fragment into islands of proprietary services. However good those services – and they were already developing fast – incompatible cloud services would not offer tomorrow’s enterprise customers the full advantages of an open cloud marketplace.
So we set out to develop standard implementations of existing technologies to enable highly scalable and adaptable cloud service infrastructures, optimised for performance, cost effectiveness and regulatory compliance. This was our initial focus, but we knew we needed to remain flexible and responsive in a fast evolving landscape.
This lead to last year’s launch of a radical new standards development process, the OpenCloud Project (OCP), built around iterative standards development on an evolving Cloud Reference Architecture.
There has been such a positive response to the OCP that the board and membership made two major decisions, that it was time to:
Change our name from CEF to
OpenCloud Connect (OCC)
Show the world what the Reference
Architecture was all about and what was
already being done in its current form
So, meet OpenCloud Connect (OCC)…
The original CEF label was influenced by our close ties with the MEF, and a greater initial focus on the transport layer. We still share significant common goals with the MEF, but the word “Ethernet” in the middle of the old title was growing less relevant. So, in discussion with the board and members over the past couple of months, we started looking for a new banner that would better reflect the aims of our collaboration.
The CEF’s initial aims were for automated, secure, end-to-end, vendor agnostic cloud service enablement. Since then, given the powerful response to the OCP, ‘Open-ness’ has moved to pole position as the cloud customers’ most immediate concern. Meanwhile ‘Cloud’ has supplanted Ethernet at the very heart of our banner, and the final ‘Connect’ reflects a double meaning: representing both literal connectivity and the bonds of shared purpose that bring such an apparently diverse membership into one cohesive whole. We are more than a forum: we are a movement. Hence the chosen new name: Open Cloud Connect (OCC).
The root cause of most enterprise cloud customers’ difficulties is that network service providers, cloud service providers, data center operators and enterprises all use different APIs and interfaces to communicate. That is why we put such an emphasis on evolving open standards, cloud interoperability and universal APIs for both service providers and enterprises.
So our mission statement, website and literature are being upgraded to reflect the new branding, and the renamed OCC website can now be accessed at www.OpenCloudConnect.org. Also available from the website is a free download of the OCC’s current Cloud Reference Architecture – both the full version and as an executive summary – that has been circulating among members and appropriate standards development bodies since February this year.
…and see the Cloud Reference Architecture in action at Interop
Amongst the changes has been the launch an Open Cloud Committee, under the wing of the OCC’s Technical Committee, to take responsibility for directing the Open Cloud Project under the chairmanship of Sebastien Jobert, Iometrix. The Committee’s first act was to call for members to participate in the OCP by contributing equipment or services to the project’s Test Bed.
Iometrix President, Bob Mandeville, is heading up our Open Cloud Project Test Bed where a whole spectrum of cloud service players are working together to evolve standard practices for cloud services. As Bob explained: “Cloud services draw on multiple new technologies all of which are in a constant state of development. Open Cloud is all about testing new implementations deployed in a real interconnected, environment; exploring and accelerating solutions to problems that directly impact the business of buying and selling cloud services.”
So how does this work? The best answer, for such a radical new standards development process, is to say: “come and see for yourself!” At Interop Las Vegas April 27th to May 1st OCC members will be connecting to the OCP Test Bed to provide a dynamic demonstration of Open Cloud service provision across multiple networks and equipment from many different vendors. This will be the first public demonstration of the Reference Architecture being put through its paces and a greqt opportunity to see the OCP in action.
OCC members will be there to answer questions, and to explain how you can become part of this project – whatever your stake in tomorrow’s cloud. It is every bit as important for us to know what cloud consumers need – and will want in the future – as it is to know what service providers can handle, or what technologies equipment vendors can offer.
So – see you in Las Vegas!
