Clouds are distributed technology platforms that leverage sophisticated technology innovations to provide highly scalable and resilient environments that can be remotely utilized by organizations in a multitude of powerful ways. To successfully build upon, integrate with, or even create a cloud environment requires an understanding of its common inner mechanics, architectural layers, and models, as well as an understanding of the business and economic factors that result from the adoption and real-world use of cloud-based services.
In Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture, Thomas Erl, one of the world's top-selling IT authors, teams up with cloud computing experts and researchers to break down proven and mature cloud computing technologies and practices into a series of well-defined concepts, models, technology mechanisms, and technology architectures, all from an industry-centric and vendor-neutral point of view. In doing so, the book establishes concrete, academic coverage with a focus on structure, clarity, and well-defined building blocks for mainstream cloud computing platforms and solutions.
Subsequent to technology-centric coverage, the book proceeds to establish business-centric models and metrics that allow for the financial assessment of cloud-based IT resources and their comparison to those hosted on traditional IT enterprise premises. Also provided are templates and formulas for calculating SLA-related quality-of-service values and numerous explorations of the SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS delivery models.
With more than 260 figures, 29 architectural models, and 20 mechanisms, this indispensable guide provides a comprehensive education of cloud computing essentials that will never leave your side.
Thomas Erl is a top-selling IT author, founder of Arcitura Education, editor of the Service Technology Magazine and series editor of the Prentice Hall Service Technology Series from Thomas Erl. With more than 175,000 copies in print world-wide, his books have become international bestsellers and have been formally endorsed by senior members of major IT organizations, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Intel, Accenture, IEEE, HL7, MITRE, SAP, CISCO, HP, and many others. As CEO of Arcitura Education Inc. and in cooperation with CloudSchool.com and SOASchool.com, Thomas has led the development of curricula for the internationally recognized Cloud Certified Professional (CCP) and SOA Certified Professional (SOACP) accreditation programs, which have established a series of formal, vendor-neutral industry certifications obtained by thousands of IT professionals around the world. Thomas has toured over 20 countries as a speaker and instructor and regularly participates in international conferences, including Service Technology Symposium and Gartner events. More than 100 articles and interviews by Thomas have been published in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal and CIO Magazine.
Dr. Zaigham Mahmood is a published author of six books, four of which are dedicated to cloud computing. He acts as a technology consultant at Debesis Education UK and a Researcher at the University of Derby, UK. He further holds positions as a foreign professor and professor extraordinaire with international educational institutions. Professor Mahmood is a certified cloud trainer and a regular speaker at the International SOA, Cloud + Service Technology Symposium, and he has published more than 100 articles. His specialized areas of research include distributed computing, project management, and e-government.
Professor Ricardo Puttini has 15 years of field experience as a senior IT consultant at major government organizations in Brazil. He has taught several undergraduate and graduate-level courses in service orientation, service-oriented architecture, and cloud computing. Ricardo was the general chair of the 4th International SOA Symposium and 3rd International Cloud Symposium that was held in the spring of 2011. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication Networks (2004) from the University of Brasilia, where he has taught in the Electrical Engineering department since 1998. Ricardo spent 18 months at the L'Ecole Superieure d'Electricite (Supelec) in Rennes, France, during his Ph.D., where he started researching distributed system architecture and security.
"Cloud computing, more than most disciplines in IT, suffers from too much talk and not enough practice. Thomas Erl has written a timely book that condenses the theory and buttresses it with real-world examples that demystify this important technology. An important guidebook for your journey into the cloud."
--Scott Morrison, Chief Technology Officer, Layer 7 Technologies
"An excellent, extremely well-written, lucid book that provides a comprehensive picture of cloud computing, covering multiple dimensions of the subject. The case studies presented in the book provide a real-world, practical perspective on leveraging cloud computing in an organization. The book covers a wide range of topics, from technology aspects to the business value provided by cloud computing. This is the best, most comprehensive book on the subject--a must-read for any cloud computing practitioner or anyone who wants to get an in-depth picture of cloud computing concepts and practical implementation."
--Suzanne D'Souza, SOA/BPM Practice Lead, KBACE Technologies
"This book offers a thorough and detailed description of cloud computing concepts, architectures, and technologies. It serves as a great reference for both newcomers and experts and is a must-read for any IT professional interested in cloud computing."
--Andre Tost, Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM Software Group
"This is a great book on the topic of cloud computing. It is impressive how the content spans from taxonomy, technology, and architectural concepts to important business considerations for cloud adoption. It really does provide a holistic view to this technology paradigm."
--Kapil Bakshi, Architecture and Strategy, Cisco Systems Inc.
"I have read every book written by Thomas Erl and Cloud Computing is another excellent publication and demonstration of Thomas Erl's rare ability to take the most complex topics and provide critical core concepts and technical information in a logical and understandable way."
--Melanie A. Allison, Principal, Healthcare Technology Practice, Integrated Consulting Services
"Companies looking to migrate applications or infrastructure to the cloud are often misled by buzzwords and industry hype. This work cuts through the hype and provides a detailed look, from investigation to contract to implementation to termination, at what it takes for an organization to engage with cloud service providers. This book really lays out the benefits and struggles with getting a company to an IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS solution."
--Kevin Davis, Ph.D., Solutions Architect
"Thomas, in his own distinct and erudite style, provides a comprehensive and a definitive book on cloud computing. Just like his previous masterpiece, Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design, this book is sure to engage CxOs, cloud architects, and the developer community involved in delivering software assets on the cloud. Thomas and his authoring team have taken great pains in providing great clarity and detail in documenting cloud architectures, cloud delivery models, cloud governance, and economics of cloud, without forgetting to explain the core of cloud computing that revolves around Internet architecture and virtualization. As a reviewer for this outstanding book, I must admit I have learned quite a lot while reviewing the material. A 'must have' book that should adorn everybody's desk!"
--Vijay Srinivasan, Chief Architect - Technology, Cognizant Technology Solutions
"This book provides comprehensive and descriptive vendor-neutral coverage of cloud computing technology, from both technical and business aspects. It provides a deep-down analysis of cloud architectures and mechanisms that capture the real-world moving parts of cloud platforms. Business aspects are elaborated on to give readers a broader perspective on choosing and defining basic cloud computing business models. Thomas Erl's Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture is an excellent source of knowledge of fundamental and in-depth coverage of cloud computing."
--Masykur Marhendra Sukmanegara, Communication Media & Technology, Consulting Workforce Accenture
"The richness and depth of the topics discussed are incredibly impressive. The depth and breadth of the subject matter are such that a reader could become an expert in a short amount of time."
--Jamie Ryan, Solutions Architect, Layer 7 Technologies
"Demystification, rationalization, and structuring of implementation approaches have always been strong parts in each and every one of Thomas Erl's books. This book is no exception. It provides the definitive, essential coverage of cloud computing and, most importantly, presents this content in a very comprehensive manner. Best of all, this book follows the conventions of the previous service technology series titles, making it read like a natural extension of the library. I strongly believe that this will be another bestseller from one of the top-selling IT authors of the past decade."
--Sergey Popov, Senior Enterprise Architect SOA/Security, Liberty Global International
"A must-read for anyone involved in cloud design and decision making! This insightful book provides in-depth, objective, vendor-neutral coverage of cloud computing concepts, architecture models, and technologies. It will prove very valuable to anyone who needs to gain a solid understanding of how cloud environments work and how to design and migrate solutions to clouds."
--Gijs in 't Veld, Chief Architect, Motion10
"A reference book covering a wide range of aspects related to cloud providers and cloud consumers. If you would like to provide or consume a cloud service and need to know how, this is your book. The book has a clear structure to facilitate a good understanding of the various concepts of cloud."
--Roger Stoffers, Solution Architect
"Cloud computing has been around for a few years, yet there is still a lot of confusion around the term and what it can bring to developers and deployers alike. This book is a great way of finding out what's behind the cloud, and not in an abstract or high-level manner: It dives into all of the details that you'd need to know in order to plan for developing applications on cloud and what to look for when using applications or services hosted on a cloud. There are very few books that manage to capture this level of detail about the evolving cloud paradigm as this one does. It's a must for architects and developers alike."
--Dr. Mark Little, Vice President, Red Hat
"This book provides a comprehensive exploration of the concepts and mechanics behind clouds. It's written for anyone interested in delving into the details of how cloud environments function, how they are architected, and how they can impact business. This is the book for any organization seriously considering adopting cloud computing. It will pave the way to establishing your cloud computing roadmap."
--Damian Maschek, SOA Architect, Deutsche Bahn
"One of the best books on cloud computing I have ever read. It is complete yet vendor technology neutral and successfully explains the major concepts in a well-structured and disciplined way. It goes through all the definitions and provides many hints for organizations or professionals who are approaching and/or assessing cloud solutions. This book gives a complete list of topics playing fundamental roles in the cloud computing discipline. It goes through a full list of definitions very clearly stated. Diagrams are simple to understand and self-contained. Readers with different skill sets, expertise, and backgrounds will be able to understand the concepts seamlessly."
--Antonio Bruno, Infrastructure and Estate Manager, UBS AG
"Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture is a comprehensive book that focuses on what cloud computing is really all about.... This book will become the foundation on which many organizations will build successful cloud adoption projects. It is a must-read reference for both IT infrastructure and application architects interested in cloud computing or involved in cloud adoption projects. It contains extremely useful and comprehensive information for those who need to build cloud-based architectures or need to explain it to customers thinking about adopting cloud computing technology in their organization."
--Johan Kumps, SOA Architect, RealDolmen
"This book defines the basic terminology and patterns for the topic--a useful reference for the cloud practitioner. Concepts from multitenancy to hypervisor are presented in a succinct and clear manner. The underlying case studies provide wonderful real-worldness."
--Dr. Thomas Rischbeck, Principal Architect, ipt
"The book provides a good foundation to cloud services and issues in cloud service design. Chapters highlight key issues that need to be considered in learning how to think in cloud technology terms; this is highly important in today's business and technology environments where cloud computing plays a central role in connecting user services with virtualized resources and applications."
--Mark Skilton, Director, Office of Strategy and Technology, Global Infrastructure Services, Capgemini
"The book is well organized and covers basic concepts, technologies, and business models about cloud computing. It defines and explains a comprehensive list of terminologies and glossaries about cloud computing so cloud computing experts can speak and communicate with the same set of standardized language. The book is easy to understand and consistent with early published books from Thomas Erl.... It is a must-read for both beginners and experienced professionals."
--Jian "Jeff" Zhong, Chief Technology Officer (Acting) and Chief Architect for SOA and Cloud Computing, Futrend Technology Inc.
"Students of the related specialties can fulfill their educational process with very easily understood materials that are broadly illustrated and clearly described. Professors of different disciplines, from business analysis to IT implementation--even legal and financial monitoring--can use the book as an on-table lecturing manual. IT specialists of all ranks and fields of application will find the book as a practical and useful support for sketching solutions unbound to any particular vendor or brand."
--Alexander Gromoff, Director of Science & Education, Center of Information Control Technologies, Chairman of BPM Chair in Business Informatics Department, National Research University "Higher School of Economics"
"Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture is a comprehensive compendium of all the relevant information about the transformative cloud technology. Erl's latest title concisely and clearly illustrates the origins and positioning of the cloud paradigm as the next-generation computing model. All the chapters are carefully written and arranged in an easy-to-understand manner. This book will be immeasurably beneficial for business and IT professionals. It is set to shake up and help organize the world of cloud computing."
--Pethuru Raj, Ph.D., Enterprise Architecture Consultant, Wipro
"A cloud computing book that will stand out and survive the test of time, even in one of the fastest evolving areas of technology. This book does a great job breaking down the high level of complexity of cloud computing into easy-to-understand pieces. It goes beyond the basic, often repeated, explanations. It examines the fundamental concepts and the components, as well as the mechanisms and architectures that make up cloud computing environments. The approach gradually builds the reader's understanding from the ground up.
"In a rapidly evolving area like cloud computing, it's easy to focus on details and miss the big picture. The focus on concepts and architectural models instead of vendor-specific details allows readers to quickly gain essential knowledge of complex topics. The concepts come together in the last part of the book, which should be required reading for any decision maker evaluating when and how to start a transition to cloud computing. Its thorough, comprehensive coverage of fundamentals and advanced topics makes the book a valuable resource to keep on your desk or your eBook reader, regardless if you're new to the topic or you already have cloud experience.
"I highly recommend the book to those looking to implement or evaluate cloud environments, or simply looking to educate themselves in a field that will shape IT over the next decade."
--Christoph Schittko, Principal Technology Strategist & Cloud Solution Director, Microsoft
"Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture is an excellent resource for IT professionals and managers who want to learn and understand cloud computing, and who need to select or build cloud systems and solutions. It lays the foundation for cloud concepts, models, technologies, and mechanisms. As the book is vendor-neutral, it will remain valid for many years. We will recommend this book to Oracle customers, partners, and users for their journey toward cloud computing. This book has the potential to become the basis for a cloud computing manifesto, comparable to what was accomplished with the SOA manifesto."
--Jurgen Kress, Fusion Middleware Partner Adoption, Oracle EMEA
