CDN
A system consisting of multiple computers that contain copies of data, which are located in different places on the network so clients can access the copy closest to them.
Cloud Service Architecture (CSA)
A term coined by Jeff Barr, chief evangelist at Amazon Web Services. The term describes an architecture in which applications and application components act as services on the cloud, which serve other applications within the same cloud environment.
Chaordic
A system that blends characteristics of chaos and order. The term was coined by Dee Hock, founder of Visa. The mix of chaos and order is often described as a harmonious coexistence displaying characteristics of both, with neither chaotic nor ordered behavior dominating. Some hold that nature is largely organized in such a manner; in particular, living organisms and the evolutionary process by which they arose are often described as chaordic in nature.
Cloud Sourcing
Outsourcing storage or taking advantage of some other type of cloud service.
Cloud
A metaphor for a global network, first used in reference to the telephone network and now commonly used to represent the Internet.
Cloud Standards
A standard is an agreed-upon approach for doing something. Cloud standards ensure interoperability, so you can take tools, applications, virtual images, and more, and use them in another cloud environment without having to do any rework. Portability lets you take one application or instance running on one vendor’s implementation and deploy it on another vendor’s implementation.
Cloud Application
A software application that is never installed on a local machine — it’s always accessed over the Internet. The “top” layer of the Cloud Pyramid where “applications” are run and interacted with via a web-browser. Cloud Applications are tightly controlled, leaving little room for modification. Examples include: Gmail or SalesForce.com.
Cloud Storage
A service that allows customers to save data by transferring it over the Internet or another network to an offsite storage system maintained by a third party.
Cloud Arcs
Short for cloud architectures. Designs for software applications that can be accessed and used over the Internet. (Cloud-chitecture is just too hard to pronounce.)
