Cloud Ecosystem

A cloud ecosystem is a dynamic system of interdependent elements, all of which work together

to make cloud services possible. In nature, an ecosystem consists of objects that are linked and

work together that are living and non-living. The ecosystem consists of hardware and software in

cloud computing, as well as cloud clients, cloud developers, consultants, integrators, and

collaborators.

Studying the cloud ecosystem will help you determine the environment of the cloud system. The

environment consists of interrelated components. These components work in collaboration to

facilitate cloud services. The services offered by the cloud ecosystem include infrastructure

(IaaS), platform (PaaS), and software (SaaS).

However, the cloud ecosystem is not simple. Instead, it is a complex system that describes each and
every entity within the environment. Also the interaction between these entities. The system also
details about the stakeholders like:

 Cloud engineers that resolve your cloud issues.

 Cloud customers that consume the cloud services.

 Third parties

 Integrators

 Partners, etc.

Content: Cloud Ecosystem

1. How Does Cloud Ecosystem Work?

2. Actors of Cloud Ecosystem

3. Examples

4. Benefits

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 1. How Does Cloud Ecosystem Work?

The core of the cloud ecosystem is the public cloud service provider. It can either be an

infrastructure provider (IaaS) such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). It can be a software

provider (SaaS) such as Salesforce, Microsoft, etc.

Working of Cloud Ecosystem

The outer of the ecosystem are the high-tech software companies that use the anchor platform of

the service providers. Such as Engine Yard, Google Cloud, etc. The outer of the cloud ecosystem

also includes consultants or companies that form a strategic alliance with the anchor platform

provider.

The companies in the ecosystem keep on overlapping each other so there is no vendor lock-in

condition in the cloud ecosystem. For example, consider Amazon Web Services which has its

own ecosystem that provides infrastructure services. Now it is also part of the Salesforce

ecosystem. As we know salesforce provides software services, but the maximum of these

services runs on AWS.

The cloud ecosystem is so powerful that its customer can easily purchase business applications to

cope up with the changing business requirement. In case the service that the customer wants to

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purchase is sold out then the customer can view the catalogue of different vendors whose

services are verified and reviewed for the factors such as security, risk and cost.

2. Actors of Cloud Ecosystem

The actors of this ecosystem can either be one who is providing the cloud services or the one

who is consuming the cloud service. The sections below will provide you with the detail of every

actor in the system.

Cloud Service Users (CSUs)

The actors in the ecosystem who consumes the cloud services are cloud service user. Now it can

either be an individual or the whole enterprise. The enterprises can either be private or

governmental. The cloud service users can even be the intermediary agents that further deliver

the cloud services to the end-users that are provided to them by cloud service providers. The end-

user of the cloud services could be a person, application or instead a machine.

Cloud Service Providers (CSPs)

A cloud service provider is actually an organization that delivers cloud services to cloud service

users. CSPs are also responsible for maintaining and managing cloud services.

Cloud Service Partners (CSNs)

The cloud service partners can either be individual. Or instead, an organization that supports

building the services that the cloud service providers offer. The CSNs could either be application

developers, system integrators, software or hardware provider or auditor etc.

The figure below shows you the actors of cloud computing and their interaction with each other.

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 3. Examples

Example 1

If you observe around yourself there are several examples of cloud ecosystems. One such

example is a popular cloud accounting solution, Tally. It provides software as a solution that

assists in accounting and integrating payroll solutions. The ecosystem of Tally can even

collaborate with the third-party CSPs that offer additional features to this accounting software

such as:

 Reporting tools

 Dashboards

 Work paper

 Workflow

 Project management

 Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

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Example 2

Even Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the most popular and evolving cloud ecosystems.

It provides infrastructure as a service. AWS is composed of several cloud management vendors.

Using this great ecosystem, evolving companies can build new business models.

Example 3

IBM is also the most know cloud ecosystem. It offers the services such as IaaS, PaaS and SaaS

through the public, private and hybrid cloud delivery models.

4. Benefits

Aggregating data and evaluating how each component of the system influences the other

component is often easier to aggregate. For instance, it becomes possible to analyze trends across

an entire patient population if an environment consists of patient records, smart device logs and

healthcare provider records. Cloud deployment model analysis is a cloud environment can be

established and recorded, resulting in a deliverable series.

1. To define the deployment analysis is used to deployment model type.

2. Cloud readiness evaluation - evaluating the skills to handle and organize the

implementation of cloud-enabled solutions

3. The vision of cloud adoption, outlining our governance plan, planned market

performance, and business cases that highlight projected advantages. To construct a step-

by-step plan to frame the cloud expedition in an ideal sequence. Developing sustainable

guidance system will initiate and guide a transformative cloud strategy.

4. Use cases building a set of case studies and scenarios to guide the analysis, selection and

prioritization of candidate workloads "cloud-friendly

5. Architectural considerations - evaluating the architecture of knowledge (data, structure

and deployment standards) and application architecture (applications, structure and

development standards).