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1. An Open Platform for Delivering Applications and Services
at Eye-Popping Scale
Posted by Paul Parker-Johnson
The most intriguing development in cloud service architectures in the past several
months to me (beyond the continuing innovations in the OpenStack cloud management
suite) is introduction of the Intercloud vision. Remarkably elegant, Intercloud has the
potential to create an open and highly elastic environment for cloud-based applications
and services. Among the cloud service delivery platforms I have explored, none has the
potential for enabling the versatility of offerings and the reach of federation across an
open fabric that the Intercloud envisions. In the way that the Internet is a network of
networks, the Intercloud has the potential to become a cloud of many clouds, at global
scale.
At its basic level the Intercloud enables businesses to build hybrid cloud solutions in a
variety of scenarios. These range from enterprises and operators using the Intercloud
hybrid solution itself to enterprises accessing other providers such as Amazon, Google
or Microsoft via gateways to their environments included in the Intercloud
solution. Beyond the hybrid cloud deployments, Intercloud enables cloud providers to
extend their own service offerings in efficient, innovative ways. For example if an
operator wants to increase its capacity, reach more locations or add additional services
to its catalogue without making the full investment themselves, Intercloud can be used
to extend the operator’s offerings on a white label basis for the operator’s own brand, or
as a Cisco branded extension to the operator’s catalogue for applications the operator
may want to add (such as hosted collaboration). Early adopter Telstra envisions just
these kinds of use cases in expanding its services into Asian and more distant markets,
and into incremental application areas.
Beyond these uses, the most inspiring aspect of the Intercloud platform to me is its
potential for growing into a highly elastic cloud of clouds at remarkable scale. Beyond
providing IaaS and SaaS in any geography in which the operator can arrive at favorable
commercial terms (via federation and branding agreements) imagine what the
Intercloud could enable for developers looking for global reach for applications in the
Internet of Everything, or for other applications that have meaningful potential in distant
global markets. The Intercloud has the potential to reduce or eliminate barriers to entry
for service innovations and delivery in many markets, enabling participants to complete

2. on a more open, level and scalable playing field than has been present to date in other
cloud service delivery environments. Its inherently federated and API-driven
architecture for cloud interconnections reflects the same openness that has made the
Internet the global force for innovation that it is, leveraging mechanisms such as BGP
and HTTP to accomplish its results. Is the Intercloud the platform that will finally allow
any operator or developer to compete at scale with organizations previously considered
to have unconquerable advantages in service and application delivery (OTT and ‘web
scale’ providers)?
Time will tell. But for now the chance to start realizing the opportunities has begun to
materialize, and proof points of the mechanisms for enabling them have been brought
into public domain by the early ecosystem partners in the Intercloud solution who are
testing their viability. Kudos to Cisco and its partners developing the vision and
pursuing the potential of cloud-based services at such an eye-popping scale.
About the Author
Follow Park Parker-Johnson on Twitter @pj4cloud