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3
PART
III: C
LOUD
C
OMPUTING
D
ETAILS
3.1
Technical background, keywords and buzzwords
3.1.1
Why is it worth reading this chapter?
As already described in Part I of this book, today, the term Cloud is used in
almost any IT product announcement, new product description and in most
IT related advertising, making it difficult to ignore. This chapter attempts to
systematise (categorise and define) the technical terms used in the Cloud
arena. Why are we calling this an attempt? Many terms that have been
developed in the Cloud are not definitions in the technical sense, but
marketing designations which claim properties for a product which do not
exist in a strictly technical sense. From a technology point of view, we will be
looking at different areas concerning Cloud, the client devices, network
connections and so on.
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3.1.2
Cloud computing – an attempted definition
Cloud computing is currently omnipresent and many vendors claim to have
invented it, or to have their own genuine implementation. This is how the
topic presents itself to the interested observer. The aim is to provide IT
services in a cheaper and more efficient way, with a maximum degree of
automation and a high level of flexibility. Computer capacity in the "Cloud"
is analogous to a power grid. You choose a provider and consume its
offerings with the desired quality level for a certain period of time. Payment
is effected on the basis of individually measured consumption. The use of
the word Cloud points to two important concepts; abstraction and
virtualisation. The former hides system implementation details from the
user, while the latter allows transparent grouping or splitting of computer
resources. The generally accepted definition by the US standardisation
office, NIST
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expresses this as follows:
“
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
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An expanded version of this chapter can be found under
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