For our purposes, the first age of computing was the 1970s when the focus was on big infrastructure. Green-screen terminals, in vogue back then, eventually evolved into personal computers. Networks went from a centralized, hierarchical design to a decentralized design. Decentralization moved the processing closer to the user meaning applications moved from thin client (processing on the server) to thick client (processing on the user/client side). Green screens were tightly coupled interfaces to the data-laden backend. Decentralization enabled developers to track process steps and state information on the server side while allowing client-side computers to do much more of the processing. The period was the birth of client-server architectures, which are central to today's modern technology-driven business.

With much of the processing moving closer...

This definition is the most widely quoted and used version globally. Many countries and industries have adopted it, and this is the highly recommended starting point for your organization's working definition for the cloud. This definition is so important that we should take a few minutes to review it in detail.

Cloud computing is a model. It is not a specific technology. You cannot go and buy a cloud computer. The term is used to describe an economic and operational...

When the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published the cloud computing definition, they also defined the essential characteristics of this new model. These have come to be more important than the definition in that the characteristics have helped to define and protect the marketplace against all the marketing hype that has accompanied the cloud.

The first characteristic of cloud computing is that it is an on-demand, typically self service model. On-demand, meaning that it can be purchased when needed, for as long as needed, and given back when finished. Self service refers to the consumer's ability to buy, deploy and shut down services without any assistance from the service provider. This speeds up the process controls cost and moves control to the consumer. (Refer back to earlier paragraphs...

There are many paths to the cloud. Each path is grouped based on how the services are offered, deployed, and consumed. The cloud is not a technology. A cloud layer does not exist. Each path to the cloud is a response to a requirement or set of needs based on the consumer's current situation, desired future state, available skills, and resources, as well as tolerance for risk. Cloud products and services often establish reusable and reoccurring architectural patterns (building blocks) used for designing, building, and managing applications and infrastructure.

There are primarily three cloud service models: Internet-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Deployed as needed, all three models require network connections to change resource pools that are measured in great detail, dynamically. However...

The different cloud service models are described here in the following sections.

Across the industry, hardware has been largely ignored for a very long time. Servers were not sexy. There was no glory for servers. Servers were just a support for the more important applications. Applications got all the credit for solving business challenges. Applications were the things that users interacted with directly. Servers got stuck in dark closets, forgotten and neglected until a problem occurred.

Because servers received no glory, very little to no maintenance and no budget for patching, upgrading, and so on, many servers are now well beyond their service life and prone to failure. Incredible...

Cloud washing is a term used to refer to the often deceptive attempt to rebrand an existing product or service by associating the buzzword cloud with it. Within a financial construct, there is a parallel that describes the practice of inflating financial results for a company's cloud business by redefining existing services and products as cloud services. A typical example of this is referring to access to any application or service over the internet through a browser as cloud computing, just because you are receiving the service over the internet.

Another example is the traditional application service provider (ASP) model where a third party offers individuals, and companies access over the internet to applications and services that would normally have been located in their own personal or enterprise computers. This is often marketed as a SaaS, but there are...

The cloud computing taxonomy was initially developed by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a tool for standardizing conversations around cloud architectures. Since then, this basic model has been enhanced by the community and broadly adopted to discuss basic concepts. The major taxonomy components are described here:

The service consumer is the entity (enterprise or end user) that actually uses the cloud service. Users will normally have multiple programming interfaces. These interfaces present themselves like any normal application and the user does not need to understand any cloud computing platform details. User interfaces can also provide administrative functions like virtual machine or storage management.

The cloud service provider (CSP) creates, manages, and delivers information technology services to the...

As you move forward in cloud conversations, please keep in mind the five characteristics of the cloud. These characteristics will help you stay focused on aligning technology, economics, and strategy. The cloud's big innovation was economic, not technical. Strategy changing economics are driving rapid transformation and digitization. There are many different services, different economic and deployment models along with many different strategies to use them. The cloud is another tool in the toolbox. It is not the answer for everything, but it is quickly becoming the foundation for everything.

The next chapter starts the conversation on governance and change management. You may think that a cloud solutions architect's success depends on the technology chosen. That thinking couldn't be further from the truth. While cloud computing is foundational to digital...