Nirvana in the cloud world, as in the ability to easily move from cloud service to cloud service without vendor lock-in, might be on its way for application developers.
Tackling portability issues in cloud deployments, Zend Technologies, backed by heavyweights IBM and Microsoft, is launching an open source project Tuesday to provide an API for developers to implement cloud services amongst multiple platforms.
[ InfoWorld's David Linthicum reveals the truth about lock-in and cloud computing. | Find out what's different about developing apps for the cloud. ]
The Simple API for Cloud Application Services project, or Simple Cloud API, is intended to let developers use common application services in the cloud and access value-added features from individual providers, said Zend, which is best known as a provider of tools for PHP application development. Developers would be able to build cloud applications accessing all major cloud platforms. IBM, Microsoft, Nirvanix, Rackspace, and GoGrid serve as co-founding contributors to the community project. Cloud leader Amazon Web Services is among the platforms supported, although Amazon is not now a participant in the effort.
"What the simple Cloud API does is offer one API, one API with interfaces to these different kinds of services so that you only have to write your application to this API and you can deploy across these services with just configuration changes," and move to different clouds, said Wil Sinclair, cloud strategist for Zend.
Initially functioning with PHP, the API was designed for translation to any object-oriented language for the Web, Zend said. "We have talked with people in Java, Python, and the Perl community and they're interested in collaborating," to support the API in these languages, Sinclair said.
Initial deliverables include interfaces for file storage, document databases, and simple queue services from platforms like Amazon Web Services, Windows Azure, Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network, and Rackspace Cloud Files. Developers can deploy applications accessing services in these environments without having to make changes to source code.
Future services might be supported such as mail or authentication, said Dirk Nicol, director of emerging technology at IBM.
"What we'll do is we'll launch this [project] with some early code for the community so they understand the concept and from there, they will take it to the next level," Nicol said.
The PHP implementation of Simple Cloud API will be available as a component in the open source Zend Framework, to be called Zend Cloud. PHP developers can use the component to access existing libraries in the framework.
Industry observers offered varied perspectives on Simple Cloud API, citing similarity to ODBC database technology and noting an application orientation.
Read more about developer world in InfoWorld's Developer World Channel.
Get the independent advice and expertise you need to support a virtual workforce.
The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.
Download now »
Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.
Download now »
A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.
Download now »
Sign up to receive InfoWorld Resource Alerts
16 Recommendations
