One of the things I hate is the buzzword du jour, be it virtualization, “devops” or “the cloud“. It’s not that there isn’t some nugget of truth in all of the press surrounding such things, but one of the reasons I got into open source in the first place was its focus on results and not fluff.

With a commercial software product it is very difficult to determine if it is the right solution to a particular problem without buying it. With open source software, there is no licensing cost and thus it is possible to easily try it out before making a commitment to use it. Thus the focus is on usefulness and not a flyer saying “we’re the best”.

This isn’t to say that the open source world is completely free of fluff and posturing. With the prevalence of venture-backed open core companies, their ultimate goal is not the proliferation of robust open source code but to be purchased for a large multiplier. The best way for them to create perceived value is to latch on to the latest buzzword, as if to say “hey – you need a piece of this – better hurry up and buy us,” and it is a strategy that has worked well in a number of cases. I just don’t like calling it open source.

So I have been pretty quiet on the use of OpenNMS in “the cloud”. This isn’t to say that we don’t manage cloud resources, but the management challenges of cloud-based services aren’t much different than “normal” ones. The power and flexibility of OpenNMS make it as useful in the cloud as elsewhere.

In fact, one of the major players in cloud computing, Rackspace, uses OpenNMS to manage its Cloud Files system.

We are happy to announce that we are working with another major company BT (British Telecom Group) in developing a trusted cloud management platform called the Cloud Service Broker. In the words of John Gillam, Programme Director, BT Global Services:

The Cloud Service Broker TM Forum Catalyst provides an excellent opportunity to address the barriers to cloud adoption for enterprise customers. Whilst enterprises wish to lever value from the cloud, they are apprehensive over losing control, citing areas of concern such as IT Governance, application performance, runaway costs, inadequate security and technology lock-in. The CSB addresses this by matching cloud services to each enterprise’s needs, enforcing the right policies, and then showing how this can be backed up by an ongoing service level agreement. We believe developments of this nature will be of primary importance in future cloud services.

We will be presenting our work at the TMForum’s Management World conference in Nice, France, this May. In addition to BT’s offering, we will be demonstrating integration with products from Comptel, Square Hoop and Infonova in order to deliver a complete cloud services platform.