The Oracle White Paper "Architectural Strategies for Cloud Computing" takes readers through the process of considering the option of cloud computing. The 18-page PDF covers the basics of cloud computing all the way through the option of creating a private cloud.

Beginning with the evolution of the IT architecture and primary benefits as well as building blocks of cloud computing, the paper then moves into the different levels and architectures involved.

"Cloud computing is the convergence and evolution of several concepts from virtualization, distributed application design, grid and enterprise IT management to enable a more flexible approach for deploying and scaling applications," defines the authors, who also look at the variations in clouds - public, private, and hybrid.

"The public cloud concept allows customers to develop and deploy applications with tremendous speed and without the procurement and red-tape issues of dealing with potentially slow moving and costly IT departments," the authors write.

However, many IT enterprises have voiced concern about public clouds, particularly in regards to security, regulatory compliance, control over Quality of Service (QoS), vendor lock-in and long-term costs. For larger enterprises with "the economies of scale and strong IT competency," internal private clouds may be the right solution. The authors suggest private cloud development may make the best business and financial sense for larger IT enterprises.

"Architects in larger enterprises find that it may still be more cost effective to provide the desired services in-house in the form of 'private clouds' to minimize cost and maximize compatibility with internal standards and regulations," the paper offers. "If so, there are several options for future-state systems and technical architectures that architects should consider to find the right trade-off between cost and flexibility. Using an architectural framework will help architects evaluate these trade-offs within the context of the business architecture and design a system that accomplishes the business goal."

The paper proceeds through development considerations such an endeavor may demand, emphasizing an enterprise architecture framework can help with the trade-offs between lower/operational efficiency and greater flexibility.

Material covered in the piece include:

• IT Architecture Evolution

• Primary Benefits of Cloud Computing

• Cloud Building Blocks: Virtualized Infrastructure and Applications, Enterprise Management, Security and Identity Management, Development Tools

• Different Levels of Cloud Computing: Software, Platform, and Infrastructure as a Service

• Architecture Implications and Principles: Business, Application, Information, and Technology Architectures

• Organizational Considerations

• System Architecture Design Considerations: Performance, Clustering Options

• Implementing Cloud Computing: Public and Hybrid Clouds

• How to Get Started: Oracle Enterprise Architecture Framework

More Information

"Architectural Strategies for Cloud Computing"

Oracle and Cloud Computing [...read more...]

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