Cloud computing APIs – who will be the winner?
It is no exaggeration, as David Linthicum at InfoWorld pointed out in a blog post,
that cloud computing APIs are going to determine the growth of cloud
computing and, eventually, the winners among cloud service providers
(CSPs). Today, CSPs either promote their own proprietary API flavor,
e.g. the Amazon API and Force.com API, or use an “open source” approach,
like some cloud platforms claim to be, such as the Eucalyptus Cloud API standards and the recent OpenStack open standards cloud.
According to API-hosting provider Mashery, APIs fall into three general categories:
Needless to say, with a more extensive and approachable API, more developers are going to extend and build add-on services to the core CSPs service – which can be crucial when users are about to select the best solution. For a long term solution, users prefer to adopt a solution that is widely supported by a legion of third-party developers that can provide value-added services and provide a long-term commitment to that particular CSP. In fact, with an extensive API, CSPs leverage their assets and promote further innovation, product development, market knowledge and revenues. The lack of API support has for example been suggested as a significant reason for the failure of Sun’s Network.com cloud platform. Developers did not have access to APIs for system configuration and controlling, causing them to skip or abandon the platform.
Although Amazon may be the industry leader, it is still premature to crown the Amazon API as the standard, both because it is too early into the game and perhaps too proprietary. Red Hat’s Deltacloud API is another attempt to provide an open source cloud standard - simplifying interoperability and enabling users to simultaneously connect and utilize multiple CSPs services without additional complexity. CSPs are encouraged to add their cloud to the Deltacloud common API. Deltacloud is currently being run as an incubator project at the Apache Software Foundation that provides support for the Apache community of open-source software projects.
Who, if any, will be the winner in terms of cloud API remains to be seen. Despite Amazon’s advantage of being the largest public cloud provider does not guarantee their supremacy in terms of cloud API. In fact, there seems to be a growing interest in establishing open standards that will become platform agnostic and enable users and developers to more easily approach and adopt their choice of services.
According to API-hosting provider Mashery, APIs fall into three general categories:
- Control APIs, which allow cloud infrastructure to be added, reconfigured, or removed in real time, either by human control or programmatically based on traffic, outages, or other factors
- Data APIs, which are the conduits through which data flows in and out of the cloud
- Application functionality APIs, which enable the functionality with which end-users interact, such as shopping carts, wikis, and widgets
Needless to say, with a more extensive and approachable API, more developers are going to extend and build add-on services to the core CSPs service – which can be crucial when users are about to select the best solution. For a long term solution, users prefer to adopt a solution that is widely supported by a legion of third-party developers that can provide value-added services and provide a long-term commitment to that particular CSP. In fact, with an extensive API, CSPs leverage their assets and promote further innovation, product development, market knowledge and revenues. The lack of API support has for example been suggested as a significant reason for the failure of Sun’s Network.com cloud platform. Developers did not have access to APIs for system configuration and controlling, causing them to skip or abandon the platform.
Although Amazon may be the industry leader, it is still premature to crown the Amazon API as the standard, both because it is too early into the game and perhaps too proprietary. Red Hat’s Deltacloud API is another attempt to provide an open source cloud standard - simplifying interoperability and enabling users to simultaneously connect and utilize multiple CSPs services without additional complexity. CSPs are encouraged to add their cloud to the Deltacloud common API. Deltacloud is currently being run as an incubator project at the Apache Software Foundation that provides support for the Apache community of open-source software projects.
Who, if any, will be the winner in terms of cloud API remains to be seen. Despite Amazon’s advantage of being the largest public cloud provider does not guarantee their supremacy in terms of cloud API. In fact, there seems to be a growing interest in establishing open standards that will become platform agnostic and enable users and developers to more easily approach and adopt their choice of services.
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CLOUD COMPUTING
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