cloud portability [English]

InterPARES Definition

n. ~ The ability to move or replicate applications and data among different cloud providers by minimizing the dependencies on vendor-specific technologies.

General Notes

OpenStack and CloudStack are two initiatives to support interoperability among cloud providers.

Other Definitions

  • Shinder 2014 (†526 ): The ability to move applications and data from one cloud provider to another. See also Vendor lock-in.

Citations

  • ActiveState 2012 (†864 p. 2): Cloud portability is about being able to migrate from one cloud environment to another with minimum integration effort and minimal reengineering. But taking your applications from one cloud service provider to another isn’t as easy as it sounds: Building and deploying applications to clouds that have proprietary deployment or technology stacks can create cross-platform issues. ¶ In the cloud era, it’s a challenge to minimize your dependence on specific clouds, but what you really want to do is preserve your options when developing and deploying your applications. The ideal scenario in moving from one cloud service provider to another is a seamless service experience. By increasing service and application portability in a neutral and standardized cloud vendor ecosystem, portable deployment to any cloud becomes possible. ¶ The key to mitigating this risk of vendor lock-in is ensuring that your application is built on open standards and is portable to any cloud operating platform. This is the Holy Grail of application portability in the cloud: the smooth migration of existing application. (†2598)
  • Emison 2013 (†630 p.20): Standards for cloud portability ideally will enable IT to port applications and data from one provider to another. There are three potential components of portability: data (for all cloud services), configuration (for most cloud services), and images (for IaaS services). (†1428)
  • Techopedia (†411 ): Cloud portability is applicable to all service models of cloud computing - SaaS, PaaS, IaaS and hybrid - regardless of whether they are public or private. However, most cloud portability scenarios occur in public-to-public or public-to-private cloud transfer. ¶ Cloud portability depends on the level of interoperability a cloud service or vendor provides in their offerings. A cloud solution built on non-proprietary and open standards is most likely to be easily portable among any similar cloud vendors or architecture. OpenStack and CloudStack are among the initiatives that fosters cloud solutions, which are highly interoperable among supporting vendors. (†2597)