© IBM 2011 – All Rights Reserved
Cloud Computing Reference Architecture v2.0
Document: CCRA.IBMSubmission.02282011.doc Date: 2011-02
Version: V1.0
Status: Draft
Page: 8 of 36
SOA standards in The Open Group that can be applied to Cloud include:
The Open Service Integration Maturity Model – this model helps determine the level of service use
in an organization, these levels apply to the use of cloud services. Cloud computing can be seen as
the „Virtualized” and “Dynamically reconfigurable” levels.
The SOA Ontology defines service and SOA concepts which can be used as a basis for describing
cloud services, though extension Ontologies should be developed for cloud..
The SOA Reference Architecture defines the functional and cross cutting concerns and ABBs for
SOA, which also applies to Cloud. This standard has been used as a basis for the IBM CCRA.
The SOA Governance Framework defines a governance reference model and method that applies
to the development of cloud services and solution portfolio and lifecycle management. Best
practices for governance of Cloud solutions will need to be developed in addition to this standard.
Security for Cloud and SOA, a joint workgroup between SOA and Cloud Workgroups in The Open
Group, defines security considerations and ABBs for both Cloud and SOA.
SOCCI, another joint SOA and Cloud Workgroup in The Open Group defines the architecture for
exposing infrastructure as a service for both SOA and Cloud solutions.
Certainly functions that were optional for SOA solutions are now required for Cloud solutions, like
virtualization, security across business boundaries, and service management automation. New functions
and requirements are getting in focus with cloud driving experiences from the SOA world to the next level.
1.5. Using the SOA RA with the CCRA
The SOA RA
(http://www.opengroup.org/projects/soa-ref-arch/uploads/40/19713/soa-ra-public-050609.pdf),), as being
standardized by The Open Group, applies to Cloud architectures and is the underlying architecture for the
IBM CCRA.
The functional concerns: operational systems, service components, services, business processes and
consumer interfaces; all exist in and are relevant to functional concerns for cloud architecture‟s
For the Cloud architecture, there has been special focus on the:
Operational Layer: Infrastructure is part of the operational systems layer, but often highlighted in
Cloud architectures because Cloud imposes new requirements on infrastructure to enable broad
network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, virtualization and scalability.
Service Layer: The common cloud service types, *aaS, are identified in the services layer. These
cloud service types, like other services, use and sometimes expose assets in the Operational
systems layer. For cloud services, which assets are exposed is often the focus of the service type,
ie within operational systems, hardware infrastructure is exposed as IaaS, and middleware is
exposed as PaaS, and business process as BPaaS.
Business Process: Business processes participate in a Cloud solution much like they do in SOA
solutions, they can be provided as a service (BPaaS) or be the consumer of services (whether they
care cloud services or not). Additionally, business processes within a cloud provider organization
need to be restructured and streamlined in novel ways to meet much faster time-to-deliver,
time-to-change and cost objectives..
Consumer Layer: The consumer layer is more strictly and carefully separated from the services
and service provider to allow pooling and substitution of cloud services or providers.