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a Cloud service. Infrastructure providers are the technical backbone of
Cloud computing.
2.
Platform Provider:
Offers an environment capable to deploy Cloud
applications. Acts as a kind of catalog seller who is bundling services
offered by different service providers.
3.
Software Providers:
Develop and operate software‐services that are
offered and deployed on Cloud computing platforms, services that
provide access to IT‐resources of infrastructure providers. They offer
added value to the enterprise customer as well as to the aggregate
services provider.
4.
Network Services Providers (NSP):
A company that provides backbone
services to Internet service providers (ISPs), a company that most Web
users and enterprise customers use for the access to the Internet.
5.
Aggregate Services Providers:
Offer Cloud‐solutions aggregating
different types of Cloud‐services from Service Aggregators (specialised
on aggregating different platform‐ and software‐services) and Data
Integrators (specialised on integrating data from different sources like
ERP, CRM systems and so on).
6.
Consulting:
Serves as interim people resource for support for the
selection and implementation of relevant Cloud‐services that create an
added value in the business model of the enterprise customer.
7.
Enterprise Customer:
ultimate buyer and user of the Cloud services.
The real‐life Cloud computing value chain may be far more complex, more of
a Cloud computing value network. In the ecosystem of the Cloud services
industry there are more and more strategic partnerships, technical alliances,
reseller relationships, arrangements of original equipment manufacturer
(
OEM) and independent software vendors (ISV) leading to a consortium
membership between different companies of the ecosystem.
Role of the Network
There will be many different approaches to Cloud computing, but the
network (for storage and data) is the glue that binds it all together. Cloud
computing is less about which services are provided, but about making
everything work together. This is where the network comes in, linking
platforms and services in the “interCloud”. The network will be the means of
aggregating individual, highly disparate services and creating a logical
abstraction that appears to the user as a seamless set of resources and
