The Open Group launches cloud computing guide to help businesses tackle challenge of vendor lock-in

The Open Group has announced the immediate availability of its cloud computing guide for portability and interoperability. The guide is aimed at providing businesses with recommendations on how best to achieve portability and interoperability when working with current cloud products and services. The publication is part of the ongoing work of The Open Group and represents the consensus of its member organizations.

Intended for a variety of corporate stakeholders — from the executive suite to business managers, the IT and marketing departments, as well as enterprise and business architects—the book reflects the combined experience of member companies of The Open Group and their collective understanding shared with the wider IT community as practical guidance for considering interoperability and portability issues in cloud computing. The guide explores the importance of interoperability and portability within cloud computing and provides practical advice for companies considering using the cloud.

“With cloud computing increasingly becoming an integral part of business, whether it is for storage, collaboration tools or applications, companies must be able to use it easily and efficiently,” said Dr. Chris Harding, Director, Interoperability, The Open Group. “It should be possible to buy cloud services “off the shelf” and integrate them with each other and with in-house services, with minimal effort. Lack of portability of and interoperability between components of cloud solutions could mean that the potential business benefits of cloud computing are not fulfilled.”

“The guide was written by The Open Group members to help enterprises of all sizes understand the issues involved with interoperability and portability and provide the expertise necessary to navigate its complexities. The Open Group and our member community are excited to release this guide, which pays special consideration to an organisation’s technical as well as business requirements, and aims to help readers gain the greatest value possible from their long-term cloud projects.”