Introduction:

ITU-T Focus Group on Cloud Computing (FG Cloud) was established further to ITU-T TSAG agreement at its meeting in Geneva, 8-11 February 2010 followed by ITU-T study groups and membership consultation.

The Focus Group will, from the standardization view points and within the competences of ITU-T, contribute with the telecommunication aspects, i.e., the transport via telecommunications networks, security aspects of telecommunications, service requirements, etc., in order to support services/applications of “cloud computing” making use of telecommunication networks; specifically:

• identify potential impacts on standards development and priorities for standards needed to promote and facilitate telecommunication/ICT support for cloud computing
• investigate the need for future study items for fixed and mobile networks in the scope of ITU-T
• analyze which components would benefit most from interoperability and standardization
• familiarize ITU-T and standardization communities with emerging attributes and challenges of telecommunication/ICT support for cloud computing
• analyze the rate of change for cloud computing attributes, functions and features for the purpose of assessing the appropriate timing of standardization of telecommunication/ICT in support of cloud computing

The Focus Group will collaborate with worldwide cloud computing communities (e.g., research institutes, forums, academia) including other SDOs and consortia.

ITU-T TSAG is the parent group of this Focus Group.

Next Meeting: The third meeting of the FG Cloud is scheduled to take place at the France Telecom Orange premises in Lannion, France, from 30 November to 3 December 2010 inclusive, at the kind invitation of France Telecom Orange, France.

The items for discussion at the meeting will be made available on the Focus Group web page:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/focusgroups/cloud/. Additional information related to the meeting as well as the contributions received will also be made available on the Focus Group web page.

The official meeting announcement, information and on line registration may be accessed from: 

http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/cloud/Pages/Default.aspx

Output documents from previous meeting:

Introduction to the cloud ecosystem: definitions, taxonomies, use cases, high level requirements and capabilities.

The scope of this deliverable is to provide an introduction to the Cloud ecosystems, focusing on integration and support of Cloud Computing model and technologies in telecommunication ecosystems. The major changes of this version include the addition of the value proposition and requirements and capabilities clauses according to the agreements reached in FG Cloud#2 meeting.

Functional requirements and reference architecture

The scope of this deliverable is to define the functional requirement and reference architecture of cloud computing, which includes the functional architecture, functional entities and reference points.

Overview of SDOs involved in cloud computing

The scope of this document is to provide an overview of SDOs; to map the FG cloud working group and output documents to these SDOs; and to be as a base to produce a gap analysis that will result in a unique areas that can be under the ITU-T purview, specifically from telecom perspective.

Cloud security, threat & requirements

Discussion of “Security Cloud” has started to review activities of other SDOs (CSA, DMTF, CloudAudit, NIST, GICTF, etc) which are related Cloud Security. After the reviews of the existing activities, the FG Cloud tentatively identified security threats from the standpoints of Cloud user and Cloud service provider. Considering the identified security threats, the FG Cloud also discussed security requirements to be considered for Cloud Computing Technology. The current security threats and requirements are not exhausted enough and further studies for threats and requirements are required based on the output (cloud-o-0013) from this meeting.

Infrastructure and network enabled cloud

Position existing network infrastructure capability is a unique opportunity for service providers to provide bundled offers combining Network and IT resources. In addition, service providers can leverage their network asset to address network availability and performance for secure end to end cloud services. Another opportunity for service providers is to evolve network resource allocation and control to more dynamic in order to meet the needs to provision on-demand cloud services. Major progress: A skeleton document is created per the scope, and some of the contributions are consolidated into the document.

FG Cloud work plan:

References:

ITU Cloud Computing Focus group and IEEE Cloud Computing Standards Study Group- will they fill the standards void?

https://techblog.comsoc.org/2010/05/28/itu-cloud-computing-focus-group-and-ieee-cloud-computing-standards-study-group-will-they-fill-the-standards-void

Cloud Computing: Impact on IT Architecture, Data Centers and the Network: July 14th IEEE ComSocSCV meeting
https://techblog.comsoc.org/2010/06/25/cloud-computing-impact-on-it-architecture-data-centers-and-the-network-july-14th-ieee-comsocscv-meeting

http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r6/scv/comsoc/ComSoc_2010_Presentations.php (scroll down to July 14 meeting for the pdfs from MSFT, Ericsson, VMWare and Juniper Networks)

Cloud Leadership Forum: IT Executives Share Experiences and Articulate What’s Needed for Cloud Computing Success
http://viodi.com/2010/06/18/cloud-leadership-forum-it-executives-share-experiences-and-articulate-whats-needed-for-cloud-computing-success/

The need for a Unified Set of Cloud Computing Standards within IEEE
https://techblog.comsoc.org/2010/03/26/the-need-for-a-unified-set-of-cloud-computing-standards-within-ieee

Top Coverage Highlights from Cloud Connect Conference (my article listed 3rd)
http://www.cloudconnectevent.com/2010/in-the-news.php

New ITU-T Focus Group May Set Framework for Cloud Computing
http://viodi.com/2010/05/25/new-itu-t-focus-group-may-set-framework-for-on-cloud-computing/
 
ACLU Northern CA: Cloud Computing- Storm Warning for Privacy
http://viodi.com/2009/02/13/aclu-northern-ca-cloud-computing-storm-warning-for-privacy/