Simple Cloud API Seeks To Solve Vendor Lock-In

Zend Technologies is, according to InfoWorld, leading the charge to solve the issue of vendor lock-in through application portability across public clouds. The Simple API for Cloud Application Services Project, or Simple Cloud API, is an open source project led by Zend Technologies, a provider of PHP application development tools, and has the backing of major cloud players such as GoGrid, IBM, Microsoft, Nirvanix, and Rackspace. Amazon is said to be evaluating the project, though Amazon Web Services is getting support through community contributions.

The Simple Cloud API seeks to solve one of the sticking points related to wider adoption of cloud computing: vendor lock-in. The API will give developers the ability to write applications that would be portable and interoperable between cloud providers and not tied down by a particular vendor. Participants hope to speed the creation and evolution of the API by using the open source model and bringing major players into the process. Microsoft, IBM and Rackspace each have outlined initial offerings related to the API.

More specifically, according to the article:

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.

Additional details can be found at Simple Cloud API, including a reference implementation.