This past February, CompatibleOne, a cloud-service broker, launched CompatibleOne Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) in support of the world’s first open source Cloud Service Brokerage platform.
“Based on the feedback we get from customers, we identify a clear need for more transparency, security and interoperability in the cloud. Therefore the existence of an open source broker such as CompatibleOne compliant with open standards is strategic.” said Stephan Hilby, EMEA Cloud provider Manager at Intel in a press release.
The high level of demand for cloud service brokers from small, medium and large enterprises is a huge reason why the market is expected to post a whopping CAGR of 45.9 percent for the 2013-2018 period.
As an open source and open standards based software, CompatibleOne “enables intermediation, aggregation and arbitrage. As organisations are moving to adopt the cloud, Cloud Service Brokerage Platforms are providing an opportunity to capitalise on this new paradigm with simplicity and velocity.”
So what exactly is a Cloud Service Broker?
A cloud service broker acts as an intermediary between cloud service providers and enterprises. They integrate their infrastructures with cloud-computing platforms and provide management and maintenance services. Cloud brokers understand the requirements of enterprises and provide them with a set of vendors that can provide the required services.
Cloud brokers also provide consulting services and assistance for the selection of the right vendor. After the procurement of could solutions, cloud brokers provide help with the integration of the applications with existing computing infrastructure. Along with installation and maintenance, cloud service brokers also deliver security, deduplication, and data protection services to the enterprises.
Jean-Pierre Laisné, the lead of CompatibleOne, said in an interview that “interoperability and portability will be provided by cloud-service brokers who will construct the right interface, provide the right libraries, and establish the right protocol. As a result, we think open standards will eventually mature. Without interoperability and portability, cloud- service providers will continue to work in silos or remain in isolation within their own closed ecosystems.
“As a result, players in these ecosystems will still be linked to specific Intellectual Property Rights, based on a mix of patents and commercial contracts. That means that service providers will not be able to interconnect easily with other providers. So when people speak about the benefits of a utility model the reality is that we are not there yet,” Laisné continued.
Although CompatibleOne is the first open source cloud brokerage platform, traditional cloud service brokerage vendors like Capgemini, Dell, IBM, Jamcracker, and Liaison Technologies have offered cloud services brokerage solutions to enterprises since the evolution of the Cloud Computing market.
Every cloud service broker has partnered with various computing platform providers, virtualization vendors, and application providers to procure the right solutions and to customize applications to meet end-user computing requirements. The top vendors have a wide portfolio of services that include both cloud enablement and cloud brokerage services.
CompatibleOne and many other vendors presented their cloud service brokerage platforms at the Cloud Expo 2014 in London.
For more information, view our 2014-2018 Global Cloud Service Brokerage Market report.
