One of the more persistent challenges facing cloud computing in the coming months will be finding ways to tease workloads apart from one another in order to move between cloud service providers and from (or to, for that matter) an existing data center on location. This has been a major issue for companies like Terremark, for instance, as they realize their customers want to have flexibility with their data. For instance, enterprises are worried about “lock in” which means that once their data is one cloud (or even type of cloud) they will be unable to move it around with ease. Organizations working out standards, including the Open Virtualization Format will need to work with cloud providers and the providers themselves must be able to collaborate on this initiative.
Application Portability in Cloud Computing a Work in Progress
April 30, 2010