Page 102 - Cloud Essentials

IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. Self-service web portals for provisioning and

deprovisioning virtual machines help manage virtualization, especially
with IaaS and PaaS.
Software libraries PaaS providers maintain and operate software
libraries for reuse by other applications. This increases the speed of
application development and reduces the time to market.

Software packages SaaS is packaged software delivered as a
service and optimized for remote use by a variety of devices.

Management software This is software for automating the running of
the cloud and provisioning virtual machines. This could be developed
by the cloud provider, or it could be third-party software.

Service Customers can take advantage of self-service where they
order their service from a web portal, or customer service can be very
elaborate to the point where the provider has dedicated staff for the
customer.

Broker Much like a mortgage broker, cloud brokers find and
potentially negotiate the best relationship and SLA between the cloud
customer and cloud provider.

Auditing Auditors conduct an independent assessment of cloud
services, information system operations, performance, and security.
Frequent third-party audits are one of the reasons public clouds are
considered very secure compared to private clouds.

Vendor and Provider Dependencies
Cloud computing creates new dependencies on vendors and service
providers. Ownership of some hardware and software assets, as well as

control over key design decisions, shifts away from the user to the provider.
Vendors differ from service providers in that vendors sell solutions that
customers can use even if the vendor goes out of business. Service
providers work on a continuous basis.
For cloud services, ownership is more of an issue than it is for hardware
and software assets. If a service provider stops operating, the consumer has

an immediate problem because access will be dropped instantly. If a
supplier of hardware or software goes out of business, there will be some
time left to find alternatives. In both cases, an alternative has to be found
sooner or later. This is what is called an exit strategy out of the relationship
with the vendor. Some call this Plan B or, more formally, a contingency
plan.

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