Cloud Standardization: From Open Systems to Closed Clouds?

Vendors are making massive investments into cloud computing, but beware... they are doing so for a reason. In many cases the reason is they see an opportunity to take a leading position which leads to larger lock-in and higher pricing power. Will the cloud lead us back to the time where powerful mega-vendors offered complete closed stacks - from hardware to applications? Or will it be an open competitive market with low switching cost as intended by Adam Smith. In this session we examine some risks that will play in the cloud and how current standardization efforts will improve competition.