What's an "Open Cloud," Anyway? Red Hat Says It's Not VMware
An open cloud? During a webcast today, Crenshaw put forward what looks to me like a pretty good definition. He says an open cloud has seven properties: Open source Viable, independent community Based on open standards Unencumbered by patents and other IP restrictions Lets you deploy to your choice of infrastructure Pluggable, extensible and open API Enables portability across cloudsIt's a pretty clear definition, but one that very few vendors live up to. Many cloud providers give an open API or let you deploy the software to your choice of infrastructure. Very few are without patent restrictions or other IP gotchas, and only a handful are open source. And portability across clouds is rarer than chicken teeth.
Naturally, Red Hat's offerings do fit the definition pretty closely. (Not very surprising, since they're setting the definition.) But the "open cloud computing strategic alliance" that was announced today by VMware and EMC? When asked towards the end of the call whether VMware fit the bill, Crenshaw tried to be diplomatic but said the "baby steps" VMware is taking don't make it open. "VMware will be open the day they open source" their cloud products, says Crenshaw.
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