The concept is similar to VMware’s , which is designed to aggregate all the virtualized x86 components of the data center into large computing pools. But Platform Computing says its new software, called Platform ISF, works with any type of hypervisor, and even hardware that has not been virtualized. VMware’s vSphere requires customers to use the VMware virtualization platform in order to build private clouds. (See slideshow, ")

“Cloud management software cannot make any of these assumptions [about what technologies are used in customer data centers],” says Platform CEO Songnian Zhou. “It has to support and integrate with all these different hypervisors, operating systems and servers.”

According to Forrester analyst James Staten, Platform ISF meets all the requirements needed in a cloud management product: a workload distribution engine; an infrastructure aggregation layer; a self-service portal for IT administrators; metering and monitoring; and robust APIs for integration with third-party tools.

Cloud management platforms have popped up from vendors such as 3tera, Elastra, Enomaly, and Zimory, and the open source . But according to Staten, most cloud vendors other than Platform Computing are missing at least one of the key components that Forrester believes are necessary to build a cloud.

“We believe [Platform ISF] is perhaps the most complete internal cloud software solution we’ve seen so far,” Staten says.