Clouds introduce a new era of Openness

I've long been a big proponent of open source - supporting it at companies like Bluestone, HP, JBoss, Hyperic, and Spring.  I still am as witnessed by some of the open source RunSignUp is contributing like our mobile timing app and our Open API.

However, there is an important shift happening with the emergence of cloud services.  The new idea has two parts when it comes to cloud middleware, or PaaS:

  • Wiring together services to develop apps
  • Portability across PaaS so you don't get locked in
I wrote about this choice in 2011 and how CloudBees was going to approach it.  The graphic at the right is from that blog.

CloudBees has been following this methodology, and had an important announcement with Cloud Foundry today.  As GigaOm put it:
So you want to build your software in CloudBees but want to run it elsewhere? With new integration, you can put that application on Cloud Foundry (as well as Google App Engine.)
This is the basic mantra of the open movement.  If there is openness, then there is reduced effort by all parties, producing efficiency in the system.  Eliminating lock-in allows new markets to progress faster and gives customers more confidence to move forward.

The other important element to note about the CloudBees strategy is that we intend to run the business as meshed offerings.  This means we will take them to market together and separately.  We obviously have a huge investment in Jenkins, and to make that investment thrive we have to view it as something that is open to working with others and becoming part of other ecosystems.  You can see how it is important for Jenkins and Cloud Foundry to work together in their blog. As we grow in the future, you may see us continue this strategy by working closely with a technology or creating a new offering, but partnering with others to make sure that technology has a clear path to the market.

Congratulations to the CloudBees team for making this important step forward for PaaS openness.  It will help everyone - users, our competitors in the market and us!

Here's a demo:

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