Group proposes cloud management standard

The Distributed Management Task Force announced it had formed a group to tackle management and interoperability issues that will arise in virtualized cloud computing environments.

With companies such as Cisco, Citrix, HP, IBM, Microsoft and VMware residing on the board, the Open Cloud Standards Incubator will work to develop specifications for cloud resource management, according to the DMTF. The group plans to focus on facilitating operations between private clouds within enterprises and other private, public or hybrid clouds by “improving the interoperability between platforms through open cloud resource management,” the DMTF states.

“Cloud computing will have a major impact on IT management,” said Winston Bumpus, DMTF president, in a statement. “This Open Cloud Standards Incubator provides an ideal setting for initiating work on specifications to enable interoperable cloud management.”

Coupled with virtualization, cloud computing will challenge existing approaches to managing UR environments, the DMTF says. The group has 13 vendors represented on the board and working group members aim to develop specifications to enable “cloud service portability and provide management consistency across cloud and enterprise platforms,” according to the DMTF. The group plans to develop cloud resource management protocols, packaging formats and security mechanisms all that facilitate interoperability.

The DMTF effort is latest in a series of attempts by industry to ensure cloud computing succeeds. The Cloud Security Alliance and the Jericho Forum recently released best practices campaigns focused on cloud security.