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Consortium Cloud

Architecture Cloud computing

A frame work for collaborating business consortium

to take the benefit cloud computing is presented.

M S Prasad

7/15/2011



CONSORTIUM -- Cloud Architecture

M S Prasad ( [email protected])

Cloud computing , a new scalable cost effective technology is expected to grow to a largebusiness in 2011 -13. As per survey by various organization , a large number of enterprises ,

SME are going to take the cover of cloud computing to reduce their OPEX & CAPEX on IT and

focus on the main business stream.

The cloud architecture to choose are : Public cloud , Private cloud or Hybrid . While Public

cloud architecture suffers from inherent problem of data security in Cloud , Compliance

issues , SLA and DR mechanism , the Private cloud which is enterprise specifics lowers the

CAPEX & OPEX to some extent due to efficient use of technology . However the private

cloud needs to be build by the enterprise and maintain it.

A new Cloud architecture which is most amenable with respect to Security , focused

business use , is suggested named as “ Consortium Cloud “

Consortium Cloud :

Consortium Cloud is a cloud which is created by a consortium of enterprises to serve their

business needs. The consortium cloud could be :

a. Homogenous : That is a group of similar functioning enterprise could form a

consortium e.g. Banking & financial sectors , Health care ,

b. Heterogeneous : In this , the business focus of consortium members may not be

same but the IT requirements are almost about same.

Homogenous Consortium cloud .

A homogenous cloud consortium could be found by coming together of the enterprise

with common business goals or focus. The best suited would be Financial institutions ,

Banking , Hospitality sector , and Health care. This type of cloud consortium is also

advisable for Communication providers such as Mobile or Wi Max.

Cloud Architecture :

In such system the architecture would be based on :-

a. Uniform acceptable or laid down Identity management for all

b. Partitioned and secure data storage for all members

c. Provisioned Virtual system ( always available ) and capacity to provide as per

need.

d. Application security and data in motion security.

e. Defined SLA

f. DR mechanism



Cost Sharing : The consortium shares the total capital expenditure to set up such

consortium Cloud . The cloud after setting up could be outsourced for day to day

operation and maintenance .The Operational cost sharing could be equally divided or in

case of asymmetric use by members , it could be on pro rata basis.

Operational Model .

The cloud consortium design and fielding will be based on requirement of the consortium

and usage. It would provide secure data storage without data loss /leakage to other

member. The operation could be done under the consortium control also but to make it

simpler it can be out sourced to agencies capable of maintaining it. The OPEX revenue

need to be shared by all. For this a guideline could be Cloud usage (average) and then

expenditure to be distributed among users based on this. Since this cloud concept is as

good as private cloud hence better operational control can be exercised by the consortium .

The out sourced agency will maintain the system and provide the services as per SLA.

Initially it may appear to be costly , but in longer this would be a cost effective solution in

comparison to each consortium member having its own Private cloud and associated OPEX

cost.

The use case could be like consortium of Banks , Hospitals and other financial institutions .

Even educational institutes can fro m a consortium cloud.

Heterogeneous Consortium

This type of consortium could be formed with Exec level understanding of IT expenditure

optimization and maintenance although their business & product focus may be different .

For example , most of the enterprise/SME use CRM and ERP or SAP , data base etc.

irrespective of the product or business focus. They also could form a consortium and have a

heterogeneous cloud .

This type of cloud consortium architecture would be application delivery specifics with

provision for multiple applications running. The biggest advantage is that enterprise could

use the application in future which he is not using and being used by other’s if the business

demands. In this architecture storage requirements and Back up recovery mechanism

needs to be well engineered catering for low volume to high volume of data.

The use cases could be SME manufacturing unit and its retailers. It is evident that this

model of cloud would be more suitable for utilization of technology and security as well

by a group of collaborating communities.

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About author : An accomplished network security expert with special emphasis on Cloud data security and design.

Author has 25 years plus experience in Research & Development of defence critical & secure software , encryption

and networks. He has 20 publications in journals & conference proceedings.

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