lustratus REPAMA

Posts Tagged ‘definitions’

I was reading Robin Bloor’s blog entry from earlier in the year recently where he makes some interesting points. But I’m not sure that I agree with all of them…

Robin attempts to identify some of the defining characteristics of cloud computing but I get the feeling that he is starting from a slightly cynical stand point. And whilst I agree that vendor and service provider marketing tactics have created a great deal of hype, I feel others must also share some of the blame for the confusion in the space.

Anyway, his 10 Defining Points for Cloud Computing blog entry is here. I tried to post a comment but as it appears that it’s still awaiting moderation, I thought I’d reproduce it below.

An interesting read as ever Robin but I can’t help thinking that you’ve defined Cloud Computing more so by the things it is not, than what it is. But perhaps that is the place to start when defining something as nebulous as Cloud Computing.

Completely agree that cloud computing is a confused set of definitions and misunderstandings but whilst I acknowledge that the marketing tactics of vendors and providers should take some of the blame – so should the market analysts. The global IT analysts have resisted the temptation to coalesce around a series of definitions and market categories for reasons of vested interest. De facto market category definitions and market segmentations are still up for grabs. So for analysts it’s currently about land grab – attempting to be the firm that defines the broad Cloud Computing categories and drivers. Their attempts to define and steer the market on their terms simply further serves to confuse prospective Cloud Computing users.

I also agree that standards are currently few and far between. The upshot of this is that market analysts and vendors can afford to go in different directions without being restrained by common understanding and artificial technical limitations. Again the impact is on the potential Cloud Computing user who is left trying to find their way in a world that is not easy to define, classify and compare.

Finally the ease at which technology vendors can enter into a hosting agreement with someone and then rename a product line and voila – they become a Cloud Computing vendor, has made the Cloud Computing market incredibly crowded, incredibly quickly. Attrition and customer cynicism should account for the weakest vendors here leaving the candidates for success in the market categories in which they compete.

For what it’s worth I’ve tried to bring some sense to the categorisation of the various market categories and cloud computing vendors/providers in the Lustratus REPAMA market landscape, taxonomy and segmentation model. Instead of ploughing my own furrow, I stood on the shoulders of giants and worked from some of the best definitions I had found in the blogosphere and beyond.

I wondered if your readership my find this useful. This is discussed here.

http://www.lustratusrepama.com/go-to-market/a-market-landscape-for-cloud-computing/

My colleague Steve Craggs has also attempted to define cloud computing in lay-terms based on the categories above.Steve’s piece is discussed here.

http://www.lustratusrepama.com/marketing/cloud-computing-explained-without-the-hype/

Danny Goodall

My Lustratus Research colleague Steve Craggs has taken a step back from the hype surrounding Cloud Computing and has defined it for the layman.

Steve’s premise was that the Cloud Computing hype had reached fever pitch and that some of the claimed benefits had become pretty difficult to believe. He wanted to strip it down to the basics, define it and look dispassionately at the likely benefits and the trade-offs involved. Steve has also put some of the vendors and service providers in the space into the right context based on the Lustratus REPAMA Market Landscape / Taxonomy / Segmentation model.

The document is embedded below and can be downloaded from Scridb or the Lustratus web store.

Danny Goodall

As mentioned earlier in these pages I’m documenting my quest to arrive at a market segmentation model of the cloud computing market. This will allow me to perform a series of REPAMA competitive marketing studies into various vendors in the cloud computing space. I’m uncovering more and more interesting research as I go and one such piece is described below.

The smart people at NIST (The US Governmental agency responsible for something or other – standards I think) have released some interesting work on cloud computing. Aimed at reaching a common set of definitions around cloud computing and its use cases, but recognising that these will change over time, their work can be found here.

I’ve reproduced some sections below because I think they add something to my quest to segment the cloud computing market. That said, I think they’ve omitted, perhaps consciously, an important characteristic and that is the commercial arrangements around cloud computing – namely its pay per use nature.

Anyway here goes:

A Definition of Cloud Computing:

Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.

Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing

On-demand self-service. A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service’s provider.

Broad network access. Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling. The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. There is a sense of location independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter). Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, network bandwidth, and virtual machines.

Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured Service. Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models:

Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages and tools supported by the provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly application hosting environment configurations.

Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models:

Private cloud. The cloud infrastructure is operated solely for an organization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party and may exist on premise or off premise.

Community cloud. The cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third party and may exist on premise or off premise.

Public cloud. The cloud infrastructure is made available to the general public or a large industry group and is owned by an organization selling cloud services.

Hybrid cloud. The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more clouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load-balancing between clouds).

I think this is a really nice and compact definition of cloud computing it characteristics and use cases. I particularly like the notes on deployment models which I certainly want to incorporate into my cloud computing market segmentation.

Kudos to Peter Mell and Tim Grance of NIST!

Danny Goodall