Fujitsu Submits Cloud API Specification to DMTF and Joins Leadership Board of Open Cloud Standards Incubator

Tokyo, November 19, 2009

Fujitsu today announced that it and Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. have submitted their cloud API specification to the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)⁽¹⁾, and that Fujitsu has joined the leadership board of the DMTF Open Cloud Standards Incubator⁽²⁾. Fujitsu will actively participate in further standardization work in DMTF and implement this specification on its next generation IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) platform, which will be made available in the second half of 2010 in Japan.

Fujitsu's next generation IaaS platform, Trusted-Service Platform, will provide capabilities that enable customers to create, configure, expand, and delete a user's virtual ICT (Information and Communication Technology) system dynamically in a self-serve manner via the Internet. Operations can be directed either by the actual user through the web browser or by software through a "cloud API⁽³⁾." Using the cloud API, an adaptive and flexible system can be developed, such as a system which increases or decreases the number of deployed virtual servers corresponding to the system load.

Over the next few years, along with the increasing demand for cloud services, several service providers including Fujitsu will offer IaaS. A standardized cloud API greatly reduces customer dependency on one particular cloud provider thus allowing them to switch to a provider with the optimal service level without the need for changing their applications. The same cloud API is applicable to an "enterprise cloud," which is an enterprise system owned by customers and operated privately using cloud technologies. Customers can choose to run the same application system either on the cloud providers' IaaS or on the customer's own datacenter depending on business requirements such as capital expenditure, operational cost, and compliance.

"Fujitsu is determined to promote open standards for cloud interoperability and we are certain that our submission of our cloud API to the DMTF will further accelerate establishment of a common cloud API for benefits of customers," said Chiseki Sagawa, the President of the Service-oriented Platform Strategy and Development Office, Fujitsu Limited. "With cloud interoperability, customers can freely choose the most suitable cloud services from public cloud service vendors or decide to develop their own cloud infrastructures on their premises. Fujitsu's long-term expertise in enterprise ICT business has been reflected in the specifications of its cloud API. With the submission of our API specification and through participation in standardization activities, we will contribute to develop a common cloud API that is enterprise-ready."

In Japan, Fujitsu has rolled out SaaS in February 2008, unified datacenter services in April 2009, followed by enterprise cloud platform products in October 2009.

A number of standards development organizations have started standardization work on cloud API specifications. DMTF has focused on the management of systems distributed in a network and has standardized widely adopted technologies such as the Common Information Model (CIM) and Configuration Management Database Federation (CMDBf) of which Fujitsu is a major contributor. DMTF established the Open Cloud Standards Incubator in April 2009 to initiate cloud standardization work, including the cloud API. Fujitsu has submitted the specification of its own cloud API, which is being developed for its next generation cloud service platform. In addition to this submission, Fujitsu has joined the leadership board of the Open Cloud Standards Incubator. Fujitsu will actively be participating in the work activities of the Incubator and will contribute to the standardization of a highly interoperable cloud API.

"DMTF is pleased to receive Fujitsu's submission of its cloud API specification to the Open Cloud Standards Incubator, and we look forward to their continued input as new members of the Incubator leadership board," said Winston Bumpus, DMTF president. "Contributions from industry leaders, like Fujitsu, will help pave the way for the establishment of open standards in the cloud computing industry."

In order to grow the new cloud market, Fujitsu will support the development of new cloud applications by participating in global standardization activities and by offering an IaaS, which implements the open cloud API.