In theory cloud computing should be a development playground for Actian’ partners and customers.  By its very nature open source and innovation should be at the heart of cloud computing, however in the past few months I have started to become concerned that actually the cloud could be “the mother of all lock-ins”.

That term came from a conversation with Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat’s CEO.  He is worried, as we at Actian are that enterprises could fall into the traps that proprietary monoliths lay to get them signed up to a technology infrastructure which has no easy way out, huge integration issues and low investments in development.

Our cloud announcement with Red Hat has therefore given me hope.  We hear from our ISV partners and customers that they want a cloud ‘stack’ that doesn’t compromise on the interoperability, open standards and innovation that they have come to expect, having worked with the likes of Actian and Red Hat for many years.

I am looking forward to seeing the cloud develop in a more open, standardised and innovative way, thanks to initiatives such as the Cloud Foundation.  We have hopefully dodged an industry bullet by partnering and sharing innovation to provide a cloud vision that enterprises thrive within.