Cloud Computing Model - My Open Group Presentation in July 2013

Cloud Computing Model as Service Oriented Architecture

Yan Zhao, President, ArchiTech Consulting LLC, US

This presentation will discuss cloud computing from the evolution of service orientation point of view. It will discuss cloud computing models, the prior-arts, and the evolution path in federal government from Federal Enterprise Architecture, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), and Service Oriented Infrastructure (SOI) or Federal Infrastructure Optimization Initiative, to Cloud Computing. It will also discuss the current trend of the new generation IT operating model, as well as the related business impact. While cloud computing is contributing to the enterprise evolution towards service orientation and shared services, appropriate business management and operation mechanisms must be in place in order to practice successfully, e.g. suitable business models, service models, service structure, funding models, operation models, operation structure, as well as lifecycle and governance. This presentation intends to provide a holistic view for the cloud computing evolution and shared service adoption in Federal Government.Key takeaways:

1. Cloud computing is an effort of continuous evolution in Federal Government towards service orientation and shared services, with efforts from Federal Enterprise Architecture, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), and Federal Infrastructure Optimization Initiative.

 2. Cloud computing is a conceptual evolution from many of our past efforts, such as grid computing, utility computing, virtualization, distributed computing, SOA, SOI, Web Service, Application Service Provider (ASP), Internet Service Provider (ISP), etc. New technologies and solutions will add more efficiency during marching in the direction.

 3. Appropriate business management and operation mechanisms (e.g. suitable business models, service models, funding models, operation models) must be in place in order to practice cloud computing and shared services successfully.

 4. Shared service domain is a sub-domain in an enterprise, which should be appropriately identified and implemented

http://www.opengroup.org/events/timetable/1548

Solution for Enterprise System Modernization

The demands for enterprise system modernization are driven by mainly two reasons: 1) many systems are aging, and cannot meet current e-business and e-government requirements; and 2) most enterprise architecture (EA) products are created in the business layer and at a high-level in the system and technology layers, which need to be carried over to system implementation. Gaps exist in most organizations between enterprise architecture and system level modernization efforts. Our Enterprise System Modernization service is to help organizations in developing solutions to close the gaps between bottom-up system modernization efforts and top-down EA endeavors.

Relationship to Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise system modernization is a continuation of enterprise architecture development. It is also complementary to enterprise architecture development in terms of scope refinement, more detail coverage, and carry through conceptual models to practical implementation in a continuous operation environment. The combined efforts of enterprise architecture development and legacy system modernization can assist an organization to reach its new-age enterprise modernization goals with high efficiency and high productivity, and in a practical manner.

Architecture .vs. Engineering

During my recent conversations with many folks, this topic keeps coming: architect .vs. engineer, or architecture .vs. engineering. I think I’d like to share some of my views in this topic, and to make it clear and simple. My views presented here is also consistent with my other writings and presentations.

Engineering usually follows certain established disciplines, methodologies, and workflow, which is repeatable and process driven. With a mature process in place, the difference an engineer make can be minimized, which is good for production purpose, and is also the motivation for the popular CMMI adoption.

Architecture is a creative art for operation; it is more conceptual oriented, with emphasis on vision, insight, and creativity. Therefore, the difference made by architects can be enormous, while engineering is the next step to follow. I am not ignoring that the architecture creation/development process also need discipline and skills that can be trained to support the talent and creativity that generate ideas and concepts.

In my old days working for high-tech companies in Silicon Valley, there is a saying: behind each successful product, there is a super-star architect. I believe this is applicable to architects in any other arenas as well, e.g. the famous architects for buildings. The architect hiring should not be a “body shopping”.

A Platform on Cloud for Education on Demand

– A R&D Project from the ArchiTech Consulting LLC

This project is a cloud computing based common service platform for Distance Learning and Online Learning on Demand. It will shift the technical implementation and operation burden from individual education organizations to a common high-quality professional service place, so to reduce the duplicated efforts and costs and to achieve better performance. The education service providers, either organizations (e.g. professional education institutions, the corporate training organizations, universities, colleges, secondary education organizations) or individuals, can open their teaching service on the platform, and can select and customize their services based on their specific needs. The user selectable services will be implemented in the form of multi-tenant enabled Software as a Service (SaaS), instead of stand-along applications that we have today.

System for Decision Making to Save USA

Triggered by the fact of current inefficient gridlock meetings in federal government, which caused negative results to our country, I’m thinking about the critical help that government really need: a smart system to help the leadership functioning appropriately and to make better decisions.