My views on “Classification of Cloud Computing Stakeholders”

NJVC Platform as a Service to Include Google Geospatial Services for NCOIC Geospatial Community Cloud Project in Support of Disaster Relief Efforts

By G C Network | July 9, 2013

CHANTILLY, Va., July 9, 2013 — NJVC® was selected by Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC) to provide the platform as a service (PaaS) element of a cloud-computing-based humanitarian assistance…

Fathers of Clouds – A Tribute

By G C Network | June 14, 2013

(A guest post from Mr. Ray Holloman, NJVC Digital Communications Manager ) For more than half a century, cloud computing has changed names more often than a Hollywood starlet. Utility…

CNBC Closing Bell: Bob Gourley on NSA Leaker

By G C Network | June 13, 2013

This is clearly off topic, but I couldn’t help myself!  Please take a moment to view this CNBC video where my good friend Bob Gourley addresses this important event. Good…

Guest Blog: Sequestration and the Cloud

By G C Network | May 30, 2013

(This post was provided by Praveen Asthana, Chief Marketing Office of Gravitant, a cloud service brokerage and management company) Sequestration burst out of obscurity and entered our household vocabulary in…

Join Me at the Gartner IT Infrastructure & Operations Management Summit

By G C Network | May 22, 2013

Please  join me at the Gartner IT Infrastructure & Operations Management Summit in Orlando, Florida, June 18-20, 2013, where my session topic will be “Cloud Service Integration: Increasing Business Value…

Five Years of Cloud Musings!!

By G C Network | May 14, 2013

https://kevinljackson.blogspot.com/2008/05/hello-world-april-18-2008.html  “Sunday, April 18, 2008 Hello World ! – April 18, 2008 I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a blog for about six months now. Initially I didn’t…

Global Interoperability Consortium’s Cloud Computing Project Detailed at NATO Conference

By G C Network | April 30, 2013

PRESS RELEASEApril 30, 2013, 2:30 p.m. ET Eric Vollmecke of the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium reports  the proliferation of geospatial information will pose problems for disaster  responders and describes…

IBM Debate Series – What’s Next in IT?

By G C Network | April 25, 2013

Next week I will be participating in the inaugural session of What’s Next in IT Debate Series, a  new program of authentic debates and conversations on key technology topics. Sponsored…

Lisbon Bound: NATO Network Enabled Capability Conference 2013

By G C Network | April 21, 2013

This week I will have the honor of attending the 2013 NNEC Conference  at the Corinthia Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal. The NNEC conference is an annual event which has been sponsored by HQ…

Demystifying PaaS for Federal Government

By G C Network | April 2, 2013

Join us on April 16, 2013 at 1 PM EDT to remove the mystery surrounding Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for Federal Government https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8966264786104832512 The PaaS market is plagued with confusion, and agencies…

In “Cloudy Times”, Markus Klems is having a good discussion on how cloud computing stakeholders classify the various infrastructure options. I then thought that it would be good for me to repeat my input here as well.

When asked this question, I first describe three layers:

  • Layer 1 – Hardware virtualization – This is the “bare metal” layer of storage and CPU virtualization
  • Layer 2 – Application virtualization – This is when you use web services or APIs to provide a specific function or capability.
  • Layer 3 – Process virtualization – This is when you string web services and APIs together to deliver value (function or capability) to an end user

Different infrastructure terms can then be used to describe how these layers are put together:

  • Layer 1 is grid computing, utility computing or IaaS. The specific descriptive term is a function of the business model used to deliver the capability
  • Layer 1 delivered with layer 2 is PaaS. A developer uses the platform services or APIs to create value for an end user
  • Layer 1 delivered with a software application is SaaS
  • When Layer 2 and Layer 3 are designed with web services and layered on top of a hardware infrastructure (virtualized or not), you have a Service Oriented Architecture
  • Layer 1, 2 and 3 delivered with services and/or APIs already organized in workflows and delivering value to an end user is Cloud Computing.

As always comments or suggestions for improvement are welcomed. The approach is admittedly simplistic, but it does help me sleep at night 🙂

(Update: Michael Sheehan expresses a similar view in Cloud Computing: Introducing the Cloud Pyramid )

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