New Cloud Commons Community Helps IT Pros Learn, Engage with Peers

Cloud Commons - a collaborative community and website for IT professionals, which will help them figure out how to best use cloud computing - has been unveiled by CA (News - Alert) Technologies.

Among the website's many features is an initiative, led by two Carnegie Mellon University researchers, for an industry-wide, globally accepted measure for calculating the benefits and risks of cloud-computing services. 

'We are helping to develop a set of business-centric measures, mixing quantitative and qualitative data, that will provide chief information officers with a standardized method for comparing cloud services from internal or external providers,' Jane Siegel and Jeff Perdue, both senior scientists at Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley, said in a statement.

The researchers are seeking industry involvement via a consortium being formed with researchers from other educational institutions, end user organizations and technology providers, who have expertise in measuring and managing IT-enabled services. This initiative will develop a Service Measurement Index, SMI, which will be available for use by members of the Cloud Commons.

CA Technologies, a software company, is a founding member of the consortium and is hosting the inaugural meeting of this group at its CA World 2010 Customer Conference in Las Vegas, May 16 - 20. 

Other foundational members of the Cloud Commons initiative include: Carnegie Mellon University, TM Forum, Red Hat (News - Alert) and Insight Investments, which is hosting the site.

'Demand for cloud services holds significant potential for the technology and communications industries, but many barriers still exist to widespread adoption at an enterprise level,' said Martin Creaner, president, TM Forum (News - Alert). 'We are fully supportive of this type of initiative to improve the uptake and development of a vibrant and open cloud services market.'

Among the key components of the site will be:

• A marketplace of cloud computing service offerings. This marketplace is expected to include vendor service ratings to enable participants to compare service options. 
• An area that will allow participants to provide feedback on their experience with third-party cloud services.
• Features that will encourage: peer collaboration and networking, commentary on content posted on the site, and the sharing of cloud best practices.
• Articles from industry analysts and subject matter experts, blog feeds from industry leaders, as well as white papers and stories on experiences from IT professionals.

'Today, there is no comprehensive, unbiased source that solicits and aggregates the most current and relevant knowledge about cloud computing and the accumulated, actual experiences that organizations are having with the cloud,' said David Hodgson, senior vice president of the Cloud Products & Solutions business line at CA Technologies. 'Cloud Commons will address this need - providing IT professionals with situational awareness and visibility into what is possible with the cloud.'

In a related matter, CA Technologies recently introduced three new products in its virtualization management portfolio. The products provide virtualization management capabilities for administrators.