Shutterstock Cloud Managed Services & Outsourcing Tracking emerging IT standards Don Sheppard @DonSheppard Published: March 10th, 2016Last month I posted an update on ISO standards for cloud computing, and mentioned that other organizations are also involved in cloud standardization. In the next few posts, I will look more closely at these other organizations, and will expand the perspective to include the Internet of Things (IoT).As a first thought, the term “cloud computing” has now become so broad and open that a large number of IT standards could be included, even if they are not cloud-specific. These range from wiring and connectors at the bottom layer to security, application programming interfaces and governance at the top. No single list of all possible standards exists, nor are there any formal cloud computing conformance specifications (yet).IoT has complicated the standards landscape considerably. Is IoT a superset of cloud computing? Will IoT be an extension of the cloud reference model? How do IoT, mobility, cloud computing, the Internet, and software-defined systems relate for the purposes of standardization? And are any of these related to social networks? These are all tough questions for standards developers.In fact, the overall requirement for compatibility and integration among today’s emerging technologies is still an open question.ISO/IEC JTC1Last month I described the cloud computing work of ISO/IEC JTC1 SC38. The ISO is also starting to work on IoT standards. JTC1 established WG10 in 2014 to provide a focal point for IoT and to develop ISO/IEC 30141 — IoT Reference Architecture. WG9 has also been established to provide a similar focus on big data.ITU – TelecommunicationsIn the ITU-T SG13 has responsibility for cloud computing. It produces documents in the Y.3500 series, which currently includes:Y.3500 (Information technology — Cloud computing — Overview and vocabularyY.3501: Cloud computing framework and high-level requirementsY.3502: Information technology — Cloud computing — Reference architectureY.3503: Requirements for desktop as a serviceY.3510: Cloud computing infrastructure requirementsY.3510 (draft): Cloud computing infrastructure requirementsY.3511: Framework of inter-cloud computingY.3512: Cloud computing — Functional requirements of Network as a ServiceY.3513: Cloud computing — Functional requirements of Infrastructure as a ServiceY.3520: Cloud computing framework for end to end resource managementY.3521 (draft): Overview of end-to-end cloud computing managementY.3600: Big data — Cloud computing based requirements and capabilitiesITU-T is also moving forward with IoT standardization in SG20 (which is called IoT and its applications including smart cities and communities). In the current study period, the following questions are being addressed:Q1/20 — Research and emerging technologies including terminology and definitionsQ2/20 — Requirements and use cases for IoTQ3/20 — IoT functional architecture including signaling requirements and protocolsQ4/20 — IoT applications and services including end user networks and interworkingQ5/20 — Smart Cities and Communities — requirements, applications and servicesQ6/20 — Smart Cities and Communities — infrastructure and frameworkInstitute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)As I noted previously, the IEEE is another important standards organization. They are working on:P2301 — Guide for Cloud Portability and Interoperability Profiles (CPIP)P2302 — Standard for Intercloud Interoperability and Federation (SIIF)P2303 — Standard for Adaptive Management of Cloud Computing EnvironmentsThe IEEE, however, is also a leading developer of network standards such as Ethernet (IEEE802.3) and WiFi (802.11).The IEEE is also active in the IoT area with its conferences, publications, and a web presence. IEEE P2413 is a draft standard to define an architectural framework for IoT, including descriptions of various IoT domains, definitions of IoT domain abstractions, and identification of commonalities between different IoT domains. The details are available on the IEEE P2413 Working Group page.The standards dilemmaSo far, I’ve only described three different standards bodies. In future posts, I will look at the Open Group, DMTF (Distributed Management Task Force), OASIS, OGF (Open Grid Forum), and SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association). There are other organizations that are more specialized, such as the IETF, the NIST, and the TM Forum. On top of that are a wide range of open source projects that are pertinent to cloud computing.The obvious dilemma — too many standards to keep track of. And too much effort may be directed towards using standards as a competitive edge.This is what I think. Do you believe standards are critical to your success with cloud computing and IoT?Would you recommend this article?00 Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article! We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication. Click this link to send me a note →Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada Cloud, Managed Services & Outsourcing IEEE, Internet of Things, IoT, ISO, ITU-T, standards