Dedicated to the belief that the cloud should be open

open cloud manifesto

their particular platforms and limit their choice of providers.

3.

Cloud providers must use and adopt existing standards wherever

appropriate. The IT industry has invested heavily in existing standards and

standards organizations; there is no need to duplicate or reinvent them.

4.

When new standards (or adjustments to existing standards) are needed, we

must be judicious and pragmatic to avoid creating too many standards. We

must ensure that standards promote innovation and do not inhibit it. 

5.

Any community effort around the open cloud should be driven by customer

needs, not merely the technical needs of cloud providers, and should be

tested or verified against real customer requirements.

6.

Cloud computing standards organizations, advocacy groups, and

communities should work together and stay coordinated, making sure that

This document is meant to begin the conversation, not define it. Many details

(taxonomies, definitions and scenarios, for example) will be filled in as the cloud

computing community comes together.

We have outlined the challenges facing organizations that want to take advantage

of the cloud. These issues lead to a call to action for the IT industry around a vision

of an open cloud. We as industry participants must work together to ensure that

the cloud remains as open as all other IT technologies. Some might argue that it is

too early to discuss topics such as standards, interoperability, integration and

portability. Although this is a time of great innovation for the cloud computing

community, that innovation should be guided by the principles of openness

outlined in this document. We argue that it is exactly the right time to begin the

Companies and organizations that support the open cloud manifesto are listed at: