The Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA) today welcomed T-Systems, corporate customer arm of Deutsche Telekom, to the organization’s steering committee, as well as Cloudera, Hortonworks, Lenovo, Link4Dev , MapR, SAS and Symantec as solutions provider members. The membership of the Alliance continues to grow as companies recognize the need for a common voice in the expansion and development of cloud computing requirements. The ODCA also announced a call for papers for ODCA Forecast 2012 Poster Chat and Birds of a Feather discussions. Held on June 12, in conjunction with the 10th International Cloud Expo in New York City, ODCA Forecast 2012 will bring together hundreds of members of the Alliance, industry experts and leading technology companies to showcase how ODCA usage model adoption can accelerate ROI for businesses deploying cloud solutions and services.

The addition of T-Systems to the steering committee represents the company’s strong commitment to an open and standard cloud across geographies and adds to the strong European representation in the organization’s leadership. T-Systems, corporate customer arm of Deutsche Telekom, operates information and communication technology (ICT) systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions around the world. Participation in the ODCA steering committee will help T-Systems reconcile the need to assess and apply new technologies as they relate to the cloud with the unique requirements of its customers. With T-Systems, the ODCA now has 13 steering committee members, representing industries ranging from automotive to telecom.

“We are thrilled to welcome T-Systems as the newest member of the ODCA’s steering committee. Based on their extensive knowledge and experience in delivering cloud and data solutions to their customers, T-Systems will play a valuable role in helping the ODCA develop standard requirements for cloud computing,” said Marvin Wheeler, chairman of the Open Data Center Alliance. “Furthermore, T-Systems also reflects our goal to represent numerous different industries on the steering committee.”

“T-Systems has a long history of developing and delivering technology solutions to multinational companies across a broad range of industries,” said Jürgen Urbanski, Vice President Cloud Technologies at T-Systems and member of Deutsche Telekom’s Cloud Leadership Team. “Joining the ODCA as a steering committee member will allow us to bring the voice of our customers to the table as we move toward widespread cloud adoption based on open standard solutions.”

The Alliance also announced a number of new solutions provider members. As new solutions provider members of the ODCA, Cloudera, Hortonworks, Lenovo, Link4Dev, MapR, SAS and Symantec will play a key role in shaping, developing and implementing new usage models. Their work will help enhance solution delivery to the enterprise requirements dictated by ODCA usage model publications.

The Alliance has announced a call for papers for the upcoming ODCA Forecast 2012 event aimed to enable members the ability to contribute to the agenda in the form of a Poster Chat session or Birds of a Feather discussion. These sessions are aimed to provide unique viewpoints from members on the evolution of cloud and provide a great opportunity to share member concepts with Forecast attendees. Interested companies are encouraged to visit www.opendatacenteralliance.org/forecast2012 to learn more about the event and submit interest to admin@opendatacenteralliance.org.

Forecast 2012 sponsors include Gold Sponsors Dell, Hewlett Packard and Intel Corp, silver sponsor Red Hat, Pavilion Sponsor Citrix and McAfee and breakfast sponsor Champion Solutions Group. Media and collaborating organization sponsors include Cloud Computing Magazine, Cloud Security Alliance, CloudTimes, the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), the Green Grid, InformationWeek, Open Compute Project, Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), SecurityStockWatch.com and Tabor Communications.

All Forecast attendees will also receive a complimentary pass to International Cloud Expo as part of their ODCA Forecast 2012 registration representing a tremendous value for Forecast attendees. For more information on the Alliance and the new steering committee members, or to register for ODCA Forecast 2012, please visit www.opendatacenteralliance.org.

About The Open Data Center Alliance

The Open Data Center Alliance℠ is an independent IT consortium comprised of global IT leaders who have come together to provide a unified customer vision for long-term data center requirements. The Alliance is led by a twelve member steering committee which includes IT leaders BMW, Capgemini, China Life, China Unicom, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International, Inc., National Australia Bank, Terremark, Disney Technology Solutions and Services, and UBS. Intel serves as technical advisor to the Alliance.

In support of its mission, the Alliance has delivered the first customer requirements for cloud computing documented in eight Open Data Center Usage Models which identify member prioritized requirements to resolve the most pressing challenges facing cloud adoption. Find out more at www.opendatacenteralliance.org.