Hybrid Cloud For Dummies

Categories of Cloud-Related Standards

Cloud standards are still in the process of being developed and implemented. Some are coming along, but watching the development of these standards can be frustrating to many, from cloud providers to cloud consumers. New standard bodies emerge, whereas others seem to flounder. Some of the current challenges in achieving widely adopted hybrid cloud standards include the following:

The cloud is still undergoing considerable innovation. The rate and pace of technology innovation is outpacing the rate at which technology can be standardized. Creating standards is difficult if the technology is constantly evolving.

Hundreds of technology standards organizations are out there. Many have or are working on creating cloud standards. Some of these groups work together; however, with so many standards bodies, overlapping standards can emerge. Additionally, some lose steam — or more importantly, funding — and simply fizzle out.

Not all standards are created or established equally. For a standard to truly succeed, it needs to be

• Broadly adopted by vendors

• Broadly adopted and required by consumers

• Open source (eventually)

If these criteria are not ...