April 2014
Review
AutomatedBuildings.com

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Open Cloud Definitions

Understand and take ownership of your data and insure "cloud openness" which is yet to be clearly defined.

Publisher AutomatedBuildings.com

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I am concerned about companies providing Proprietary Cloud to gain control. The term "Proprietary Cloud" is not normally used because of the negative connotation but words like ‘closed vendor’ cloud or ‘managed cloud’ are used to politely describe my concern.

See definitions of the various flavours of cloud below.

Cloud Standards or flavours are not well understood, or specified or requested, and this allows vendors to build fences around your data and who can control it and your web services. The very thing pitched to set you free may trap you. Understand and take ownership of your data and insure "cloud openness" which is yet to be clearly defined.

From my Classification of what ‘things’ are called. - One of the key components of keeping the cloud open is controlling what things are called and understanding the meaning of the data they produce.

Conclusion: If we are to keep the cloud open and as useful as possible you can not allow unstructured naming of anything, you must take ownership of your classification or what ‘things’ are called.

The dangerous potential trend to a proprietary cloud is fueled by overall security concerns and the instant value of included web services in the proposed Proprietary Cloud.

How do we avoid Proprietary Cloud while still involving our clients and the many vendors and our new and existing web services?

How do we build “Open Cloud” that allows us to mix and match web services to our Corporate enterprise goals?

Our past open progress could be lost in a cloud.  If we do not heed our past experience of 30 years we may be giving up control rather than gaining it while we move to the IOT.

If the industry could help me define these cloud flavours and others that may exist it would greatly help Owner/Clients create the correct relationship with their web services and keep the cloud open.

RAV PANCHALINGAM | Director of Research & Development  website: www.vaegroup.com.au provides us these definitions;

There are many levels to ‘open’..

Here’s my definitions, in the context of our industry:

An ‘open source’ cloud would be a platform of web services where the code is shared for everyone to contribute and develop further… highly unlikely to take off in a commercial reality, more for independent and/or hobbyist movements

An ‘open vendor’ or ‘open API’ cloud allows anyone to build their own connectors and push/pull the data into any system(s). There is a fee payable to the cloud provider and this goes toward maintaining/developing the platform architecture. Bitpool is at this level.

A ‘closed vendor’ cloud is where you begin to tread into murky waters. These are platforms that only work with a particular system and details of the web services for connectivity are often sketchy or half-complete. A fee is paid for use of the cloud platform after already having purchased a particular hardware/software package. Many solar invertor vendors use this model.

A ‘managed cloud’ is where a system uses cloud services internally as part of its solution, but doesn’t actually offer access to customers. In these cases you’ll find data ownership is to the system provider and not the customer. A fee is paid for the solution + professional services leveraging the cloud. This level is where most enterprise automation companies live.

Rav

[an error occurred while processing this directive]Some more of Rav thoughts;

A Cloud Data Collection Platform for All Some people just want the burger, without the fries and fancy toy. - Rav Panchalingam, Director of Research & Development, Bitpool

Yes, we want to ‘own’ your data too… and here’s why - Rav Panchalingam, Director of Research & Development, Bitpool

Other Industry thoughts on cloud;

IoT Opens to Mobile Messaging Standards  the Direction is toward Open Standards - Therese Sullivan, Principal, www.buildingcontext.me

Disruptive Innovation makes Cloud Era Possible  The world lacks a building automation and control ontology - Therese Sullivan, Principal, www.buildingcontext.me

Getting Over the Internet of Things  It’s time to get over the Internet of Things (IoT). - Toby Considine, TC9 Inc

Therese adds these comments; I think Toby is right, and he's captured a big thought that incorporates both what's going on with iBeacon, MQTT, and other light protocols.  I have one more datapoint regarding my reporting on MQTT and what I learned at the Eclipse Conference. John Butcher from PrismTech commented on my Pub/Sub post that he fully "agreed that the pub/sub style of communication is best suited for the dynamic and flexible nature of the Internet of Things; but MQTT is just one protocol..." He recommended that I also look at Data Distribution Service (DDS). PrismTech was part of this big announcement  last week: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/consortium-wants-standards-for-iot

OBIX, Smart TVs, and the Commercial Building  OBIX is a generic web service interface for control systems. - Toby Considine, TC9 Inc

Humanizing Your Cloud  Your cloud provides a lofty anywhere, any device, view of you and your corporate’s connected services. - Ken Sinclair, AutomatedBuildings

The Future of Cloud Connectivity for BAS  It is clear that cloud computing has the potential for the BAS to seamlessly integrate with other business services to provide a user friendly, cost effective and in depth solution to the client, transparent of the underlining technology.  Nirosha Munasinghe MBusIT BSc BE (Hons) (Melb), Product Development Manager, Open General

Web Application into the Cloud Architecture  “We are getting data from the cloud”. - Nirosha Munasinghe, Product Development Manager, Open General


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