February 14, 2011 : Appirio Introduces CloudSpokes, an Open Cross-Cloud Community and Marketplace That Helps Companies Find and Reward Top Talent for Participating in Development Challenges
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., February 14, 2011?Appirio today introduced CloudSpokes, a new crowdsourcing development community and marketplace that matches companies who need cloud development work with a worldwide community of cloud experts. It is the only community focused solely on multi-tenant public cloud platforms and applications, and the projects, topics and skills related to these different platforms. CloudSpokes offers a competitive and collaborative environment for contests, networking, discussions and jobs involving today's hottest cloud technologies. It's a place for companies to cost-effectively find and reward top talent, and for developers to get recognized for their expertise as well as learn new skills from like-minded peers.
CloudSpokes is an open community created by Appirio, a U.S.-based cloud services brokerage that has helped more than 200 enterprises move their IT systems to the public cloud and is disrupting the traditional global systems integrator model. Appirio will play a foundational role in managing CloudSpokes and is pledging at least $1M in contest prize money. Contests are already available related to platforms and technologies such as Force.com, Heroku, Twilio, Google Apps and AppEngine, Amazon Web Services and HTML5 with more coming soon.
"History has proven that crowdsourcing is one of the most effective ways to spur innovation," said Dave Messinger, chief architect and evangelist for CloudSpokes at Appirio. "There are already some great communities like 99Designs, Topcoder, oDesk and uTest for certain parts of the application lifecycle, but none focus solely on using public cloud platforms to build and deliver enterprise-class work product. The cloud's rapid growth and innovation has created a need for a community like CloudSpokes to complement these other sites." Messinger was chief architect and an early driver of Topcoder, who helped pioneer the contest model and grow that community to more than 280,000 members.
Here's how it works:
Companies who need cloud development work can sponsor a challenge on CloudSpokes, giving developers a way to earn cash rewards, test and prove their skills for badges and other recognition.
Challenges appear on a list visible to all developer members, along with the award amount and pre-defined success criteria so all participants are aware of how they'll be judged.
Submissions are scored by a peer review board and awarded to the best submission. Those participating in the challenge can then see other submissions and learn from their peers.
The developer members' public profile is updated to include challenge history, recommendations, and badges to build their profile inside the community and among potential employers.
"There are many crowdsourcing sites but only CloudSpokes had the foresight to target the rapidly expanding cloud arena across so many different providers," said Wes Nolte, a London-based award-winning cloud developer and author. "With CloudSpokes, you have an army of experts distributed across the world working to solve the same problems, with the same tool set, without the hassle of trying to set up shop and coordinate them. For us technology junkies, it's a chance to learn, to help others learn, and to compete."
"Developer communities will play an increasingly important role in helping cloud vendors provide a higher level of service to their enterprise customers," said Stephen Hendrick, group vice president of Application Development and Deployment research at IDC. "The ability to tap into cross-cloud communities can help companies access a broader array of talent that they may not have within their own ecosystems."
To sign up as a member of CloudSpokes or inquire about sponsoring a contest, visit www.cloudspokes.com. The first 500 new members that sign up will receive a $10 gift certificate to the CloudSpokes store on www.zazzle.com/cloudspokes. To hear more about CloudSpokes and upcoming contests, follow the community on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cloudspokes.
Useful Links:
CloudSpokes Community Site
CloudSpokes Blog
Intro video to CloudSpokes
About Appirio
Appirio (www.appirio.com) is a cloud solution provider that offers technology and professional services to help enterprises accelerate their adoption of public cloud applications and platforms. Appirio's innovation and expertise has been recognized by BusinessWeek as one of America's Most Promising Startups and by AlwaysOn as 2010 On-Demand Company of the Year. Appirio has helped more than 200 leading enterprises implement, build and manage mission critical cloud solutions using salesforce.com, Google, Workday and Amazon. We are proud to serve a wide range of customers such as Avago, the City of Los Angeles, Diversey, Dunkin Brands, Flextronics, Japan Post Network, Ltd., IMS Health, Motorola, Qualcomm, RehabCare, Safety Kleen, Starbucks and VMware. Founded in 2006, Appirio has offices in the U.S. and Japan, and is backed by Sequoia Capital and GGV Capital.