The discussion around open versus closed in the cloud is reaching fever pitch but what does it all mean? Many people have but the loosest understanding of what open cloud means and the differences between open source, open clouds and federated clouds.

I’m in the process of writing a paper about all of this and as a research project (and to trial a new way of getting content to the community) I’ll be hosting a Google+ hangout on the topic on Wednesday, September 12 at 11am Pacific Time. This format is something I’ve borrowed from my friend Krishnan Subramanian’s model of Open Conversations.

Joining me on the hangout will be Krishnan himself, founder of Rishidot Research an analyst focusing on open source and federated clouds. Also joining me will be Jonathan Bryce, founder of the Rackspace Cloud and an integral part of the OpenStack foundation. We’ll be streaming the hangout live, full details are below;

• What: A Conversation on Open Cloud
• When: 12th September 2012 (Wednesday) at 11:00 AM PST
• Where: Diversity YouTube Channel
• Who: Ben Kepes (Diversity Limited), Krishnan Subramanian (Rishidot Research), Jonathan Bryce (OpenStack foundation)

Please join us on the discussion and use #opencloudconvo as the hashtag to ask any questions.