SIENA Roadmap
“International standardisation efforts will also have a huge impact on cloud computing. Open specifications are a key in creating competitive and flourishing markets that deliver what customers need. Europe can play a big role here – building on, for example, the SIENA initiative and its development of a "standardisation roadmap for clouds and grids for e-Science and beyond".
Source: Brussels, 22 March 2011, SPEECH/11/199 “European Cloud Computing Strategy needs to aim high”, by Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Digital Agenda
The Distributed Computing Infrastructure (DCI) landscape has developed exponentially in recent years, with Grid computing continuing to be a prized component in large-scale computing for science. Meanwhile, the dynamic provisioning and scalability of Cloud computing is seeing rapid adoption in industry, with researchers looking at these benefits to adapt to their own resource-heavy needs. This diversity of technology, services, providers and users brings the need for their close collaboration. SIENA works with the DCI community and industry leaders to keep Europe’s scientific communities supported with the e-Infrastructures they need.
It is expected that a standards and policy framework for distributed computing will be defined over the next two to three years ensuring fair competition and, from a European perspective, adherence to the EC’s strategic priorities for e-Infrastructures full potential.
The development of the SIENA European Roadmap on Grid and Cloud Standards for e-Science and Beyond comes in a timely manner to support the Digital Agenda for Europe in working towards the delivery of a future e-Infrastructures roadmap that will be aligned with the needs of European and national initiatives.SIENA is supporting Europe’s Distributed Computing
SIENA Roadmap on Grid and Cloud Standards for e-Science and Beyond – First Iteration
 The first iteration of the SIENA European Roadmap on Grid and Cloud Standards for e-Science and Beyond was released at Cloudscape III, 15 - 16 March 2011, Brussels.
The document gives insight into e-Infrastructure requirements and technology, as well as the invaluable role that standardization and interoperability have for the successful application of distributed computing. The importance of international co-ordination is also highlighted with important links to the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) helping to build coordination on the development of standards for Cloud computing. Finally, the roadmap sets out a number of recommendations including the undertaking of determined and targeted efforts to discourage fragmentation, and to encourage and participate in the development of an adequate set of structures - both organizational (e.g. governance, single sign on, etc.) and technical (e.g. open standards, security, software, etc.) to ensure the interoperability of future European e-infrastructures for research and e-government.
The document also includes use cases and position papers collected for the Cloudscape III event, serving primarily as a sample of the cloud computing landscape. The challenges highlighted were discussed at Cloudscape III and will be fed into the second iteration of the Roadmap which will be released in October 2011. Direct download
After Cloudscape III: SIENA Roadmap moving forward
A SIENA “lighthouse implementation” has been officially launched to elaborate an intercompatibility and functionality reference setting specifically designed to provide illustrations of the value of the standards. The main objective will be to clarify the standards development process by providing clear, powerful proof-of-principle public demonstration for standards that are ready for near-term adoption.
In order to keep higher the momentum, some key steps have been identified:
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The profile of data and its associated 'use cases' within the roadmap should be raised. Many communities are already seeing that the strength of cloud is within this area - therefore Data Management should be one of the focus areas of the roadmap.
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A possible production cloud profile for research using input from already ratified/recommended standards that are relevant should be documented.
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Profile document of existing cloud standards. Standards should be selected on quality rather than prescriptions.
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