By Telecom Lead Team: The
Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) has set up a Joint
Coordination Activity on cloud computing (JCA-Cloud).
The work of the ITU-T Focus Group on Cloud Computing (FG
Cloud) will be progressed through a number of ITU Study Groups with the JCA
acting as a mechanism to coordinate the many dimensions of the study of cloud
computing.
FG Cloud was formed following a request by CTOs to
investigate the standardization landscape in the cloud computing market and
pursue standards to lead to further commoditization and interoperability of
clouds.
The group is looking at a cloud computing ecosystem where
interoperability facilitates secure information exchange across platforms. FG
Cloud, in operation since May 2010, has mapped this landscape, established
official liaisons with other standards developers and, as one of its
deliverables, produced a technical report providing the first comprehensive
view of the end-to-end architecture of a cloud computing system.
The objectives of JCA-Cloud will be to allocate FG
Cloud’s deliverables to study groups with associated domains of competence, and
to ensure that the ITU-T standardization work on cloud computing progresses in
a well-coordinated manner across all the relevant study groups.
TSAG decided that ITU-T Study Group 13 be designated the
lead study group on cloud computing.
Taking up an external collaboration role, JCA-Cloud will
analyze the cloud computing work taking place in regional and national
standards development organizations (SDOs), and will act as a point of contact
for external bodies seeking to coordinate or collate their cloud computing
standardization work with that of ITU-T.