Consortium members include EDS, Computer Associates, BEA, Tibco, Mercury Interactive, Micromuse, NetIQ, Marimba, Tripwire, Egenera, Akamai, Inkra, Centrata, Configuresoft, Consera, Ejasent, Inflow, Relicore, Alter Point, Blue Titan, Euclid and ITM Software.

The official website, www.DCML.org, proclaims the standard to be the “first vendor-neutral, open language to describe data center environments, dependencies between data center components and the policies governing management and construction of those environments.” Certainly, this is the most significant move so far by EDS into the utility computing space.

At the time of the launch, Jeff Kelly, VP of EDS Infrastructure Services commented, “clients want utility computing; reporters are writing about it, and [through DCML] EDS and Opsware are accelerating its progress.”

UC: Firstly, can you tell us, from a non-technical standpoint about DCML?

EDS: It is very much the vision of EDS to move in a utility computing direction and we see DCML as a cornerstone of that move. We wanted something that would harness all the existing components of a data centre and provide a common language that allows them to inter-operate. Ultimately DCML is the enabler of utility computing.

If you look at lot of different things coming down the pipe in this space, a lot of them are homogeneous in nature. They might look at, in the long run, solving similar problems in the data centre but from a vendor-to-vendor perspective, they take a vertical approach. Whether it be N1, GDT, autonomic computing, the method is to take care of the vendor’s own problems in the data centre before looking horizontally and solving the everyday problems of a heterogeneous environment.

Of course, if you’re an EDS you’re used to dealing with all sorts of different things in the data centre. So, from our perspective, having a utility computing approach that is designed for a mixed environment is vital. Without that, all that would happen is a re-creation of the same problem that already existed.

We saw DCML partly as an opportunity to open up to the industry a common standard and certainly EDS and our partners in this are basing our utility computing offerings around this.

UC: HP and IBM are two major players whose utility computing credentials are well established. At present, they are among some of the companies who are notable by their absence from the DCML partnership. How will you persuade them to be involved?

EDS: Ultimately that comes down to a combination of industry pressure – customer demand and press commentary. From the overwhelming reactions we’ve had so far, the industry sees a lot of credence in what DCML is trying to achieve.

Of course, with those companies, as OEM providers there’s a lot of risk for them to embrace something like this. That means they have a lot to think about but we ultimately believe they will come around. The larger vendors are traditionally late to embrace a standard.

UC: In the medium term that paints a picture of the DCML camp on the one hand with the larger vendors (and their sunk investment into their own way of working and a sheer market size) sat on the other.

EDS: I think at the surface level it’s viewed that way, but when you start to understand DCML and the other players involved, wide collaboration is probably closer than you think.

With the companies mentioned just now, their reaction to DCML from a technical perspective was very favourable. Their reservations only come from the repercussions to their own business strategy and about where they want to go.

This is an open language with no license or royalty fee and it’s all about trying to design a level playing field. It definitely has its threats from a competitive nature but also it raises the bar to on the value proposition of product functionality. That will always still stand on its own.

We now have various technologies from small and large vendors that can start to deliver on what utility computing has always promised. The critical mass is coming with many of the smaller players signing up. As the economy starts to turn, as spending increases, there’s enough there to warrant a very solid conversation with the other major players. Certainly, the conditions are much better now than 12 months ago.

What can you tell me about EDS definition of utility computing?

EDS: There are many differing definitions of course. Put simply, it’s the ability to transform fixed costs into variable costs.

One common objection to utility computing is the implication that enterprises need to refresh their entire technologies before they can take advantage of it. Refuting that is one of our primary points with DCML: a technology refresh is absolutely not going to be the initial option for the customer. I don’t think that radical shifts in IT strategy are going to be the message that sticks with the market. It’s going to be gradual shifts over a period of time that do.

At the moment, in most large-scale enterprises, there are silos of operation. With DCML we want to move that to cohesive operation.