Will IBM’s adoption of OpenStack mean portable cloud applications ?


OpenStack is an open source cloud computing platform for public and private clouds. The project aims to deliver solutions for all types of clouds by being open, simple to implement, and massively scalable.  The OpenStack Foundation was founded by Rackspace Hosting and NASA.

Last week IBM announced that all of its cloud offerings would be built around OpenStack.  But this could be more important than just an open platform for private cloud management.  IBM seems to be interested  in cloud portability, making applications portable between cloud vendors and avoiding cloud lock-in.  Right now if you develop an application on Amazon Web Services, for example, it is not an easy matter to port it to run on Rackspace.  IBM says that its objective is to make OpenStack a ubiquitous, open source infrastructure-as-a-service layer, analogous to what Apache represents in serving http.  When you recollect what IBM’s support of the Apache Foundation, the Eclipse Foundation, and Linux led to, this could have major implications for the future of cloud computing.

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.

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