NEW YORK, June 12 — More than 50 IT leaders representing enterprise IT, cloud service providers, leading solution providers and standards organizations participated in Open Data Center Alliance Forecast 2012 to share their vision for emerging data center technologies and highlight significant momentum in cloud computing adoption. The event, featuring a diverse range of influencers from companies including BMW, Capgemini, Deutsche Bank, Lockheed Martin, National Australia Bank and UBS, included in-depth discussion and debate around critical issues shaping cloud deployments, ranging from security and regulation, to open standards and Big Data.

State of the Cloud

During their keynotes, Curt Aubley, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Cyber Security and NexGen Innovation for Lockheed Martin, and Andy Brown, UBS Group Chief Technology Officer and Client Facing Technologies Chief Information Officer, offered perspectives on some of the current challenges facing cloud adoption, and shared the extensive progress the Alliance has made over the past year. This includes the release of 14 usage models detailing top IT priorities and requirements that will drive widespread cloud adoption. These usage models are bolstered by the ODCA's delivery of PEAT (Performance Engine Assistant Tool), a tool for easy integration of ODCA requirements into member RFPs and purchasing processes. The Alliance is also driving collaborations with six leading cloud standards organizations and collaborates with solution provider members such as Citrix, Dell, HP and Red Hat, to enable interoperable cloud infrastructure and services.

"The Open Data Center Alliance has made unparalleled progress in defining requirements for cloud computing and putting these requirements into action through delivery of PEAT and facilitation of early solutions testing through member proof of concepts." said Curt Aubley. "This work lays the foundation for broad scale solution deployment starting in 2012 by our membership."

ODCA Accelerates Member Sharing

With sharing of key learning and best practices seen as a vital component of accelerated cloud adoption, the ODCA today announced the launch of the Member Engagement and Education Tool (MEET), which will enable networking and sharing among all members of the ODCA. MEET will complement the ODCA's PEAT purchasing enabling tool. Together, these tools will help accelerate member adoption of solutions based on ODCA requirements by providing a mechanism for inserting ODCA requirements in member purchasing processes and then sharing best practices and learning. Dozens of members have already begun MEET engagement with these numbers expected to scale with the tool's debut at ODCA Forecast 2012 today.

ODCA Usage Models: Real World Applications

Virtustream, a leading enterprise cloud software and service provider, and Trapezoid, a leading enterprise security software provider pioneering the field of trust data intelligence, also announced the launch of solutions based on ODCA usage models. Virtustream detailed services aligned with ODCA usage models that deliver platform integrity and trust through hardware based root of trust, reported and attested through industry standard TPM and open APIs. This delivery enables customers the flexibility of consistent security capabilities across private, virtual private, and enterprise public cloud solutions. Trapezoid discussed a solution framework for service providers and enterprise IT to build security assurance tiers aligned with ODCA requirements, and demonstrated a prototype Security Monitoring Portal that integrates a provider's existing security tools into one coherent view reflecting multiple ODCA security assurance levels for their enterprise clients.

The sessions and panels at ODCA Forecast 2012 provided attendees with a rare opportunity to gain critical knowledge about the impact of security, service transparency, industry standards and other top of mind requirements for cloud adoption. Panelists represented leading experts from across industries and areas of expertise and brought a unique opportunity for direct discussion and debate. Recordings of panel sessions will be available in the coming days on www.opendatacenteralliance.org

For more information on the Alliance, or to access archives of the ODCA Forecast 2012 event, visit www.opendatacenteralliance.org.

About The Open Data Center Alliance

The Open Data Center Alliance is an independent IT consortium comprised of global IT leaders who have come together to provide a unified customer vision for long-term data center requirements. The Alliance is led by a twelve member steering committee which includes IT leaders BMW, Capgemini, China Unicom, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, Inc., National Australia Bank, T-Systems, Terremark, Disney Technology Solutions and Services, and UBS. Intel serves as technical advisor to the Alliance.

In support of its mission, the Alliance has delivered the first customer requirements for cloud computing documented in eight Open Data Center Usage Models which identify member prioritized requirements to resolve the most pressing challenges facing cloud adoption. Find out more at www.opendatacenteralliance.org.

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Source: Open Data Center Alliance