If you have not yet read the previous two posts, catch up on The Cloud: Problem and Solution and Cloud Brokering and Market Place Functions.

Cloud abstraction and integration capabilities are essential for establishing a multi-Cloud or hybrid Cloud environment whereby multiple Cloud provider services can be accessed in a unified manner, via a set of abstracted Cloud APIs. Cloud abstraction and integration help provide a common development environment for application developers to build Cloud-based applications using abstracted APIs, which eliminate the need to work with vendor-specific APIs. Applications developed using this abstracted API model will be loosely coupled to Cloud provider APIs, which will allow Cloud services to be swapped without breaking the functionality of the business application. This helps insulate applications from technology, service, and SLA changes on the provider side.

A key requirement of a Cloud broker is its ability to integrate multiple Cloud providers, and their respective Cloud services, into a service catalog such that the collection of cloud services is aggregated into an integrated master service catalog. This capability is used to establish a multi-Cloud or hybrid Cloud marketplace. This service aggregation function is a key attribute of Cloud brokers.

Perhaps more critical is the abstraction capabilities of the broker to connect with multiple Cloud providers–both public and private–and allow their Cloud services to be accessed and consumed in a consistent way by developers without having to deal with the differences of providers and their respective Cloud management APIs. This functionality is referred to as a “Cloud abstraction layer.” The Cloud broker abstraction services will enable the developers to easily swap out backend Cloud services without disrupting front end applications based on functionality or price, in an arbitrage model. Cloud abstraction layers are developed and deployed to enable an enterprise to consume Cloud services from multiple Cloud service providers, irrespective of the differences in APIs used by provider to expose their Cloud services. The Cloud abstraction layer’s primary purpose is to abstract the API differences from various Cloud providers such that cloud solutions can be created in a multi-cloud environment.

A Cloud Broker platform essentially serves as the Cloud abstraction layer by virtue of integrating with multiple providers and private Cloud frameworks or stacks, thereby enabling a multi-Cloud environment to be established such that the provider APIs, although vastly different and incompatible, can be accessed in a common fashion via a Command Line Interface, management console, or user interface. There are many Cloud abstraction layers available in the Open Source community, as well as from Cloud vendors, such as Apache Libcloud, Apache Jclouds, Delta Cloud, and Simple Cloud. There are many others in this dynamic category of Cloud middleware technology.

It should also be noted that Cloud management platforms and technologies also offer the ability to implement a multi-Cloud abstraction layer in which vendor APIs are abstracted from consumers, enabling Cloud services to be consumed in a common orchestrated fashion without having to deal with provider-specific APIs and management consoles. Cloud abstraction layers, Cloud integration tools, and Cloud management platforms are converging in capabilities and functionality.

For more information on Cloud brokering strategy and philosophy, join the live webinar, Brokering Your Way to Cloud Computing Success, on Thursday, August 21:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/REGISTER/416594561

If you have not yet read the previous post, The Cloud: Problem and Solution, catch up here.

Cloud broker capability provides the functionality to establish and conduct Cloud marketplace activities, including providing a self-service portal, a Cloud service catalog, enabling pricing and comparisons of Cloud services, and facilitating the consumption of Cloud services by application developers and other Cloud consumers. The brokering and marketplace capabilities are centered on enabling Cloud resource consumption by current and potential consumers via permission or role-based access to various Cloud services by pre-established purchasing or buying limits. Creating such a multi-Cloud marketplace enables comparisons of more-or-less equivalent Cloud services by provider, by configuration and by technology such that consumers are empowered to select the Cloud services that best meet their business and technical needs.

Cloud brokering and marketplace capabilities are core functions that Cloud brokers are expected to provide out of the box to support the business and operating model of a brokered Cloud operating model. The following functionality is expected to be provided:

• Establish a Cloud computing marketplace and ecosystem that connects Cloud consumers and Cloud providers via a transparent, unified, aggregated service marketplace
• Provide a self-service portal for Cloud services
• Provide a service catalog that integrates / aggregates the Cloud services from multiple service providers
• Enable service comparisons, pricing comparisons, generation of IT bill of materials
• Enable service arbitrage by moving workloads from one provider to another provider’s equivalent service to reap cost savings
• Support reservation and spot buy modes of service consumption
• Support metering, billing and accounting, usage metrics, and financial accounting function
• Provide reporting, dashboard and metrics of service consumption, availability, and more

These requirements are all based on the necessary functionality to enable an organization to become a Cloud Broker or broker/provider to a target marketplace of Cloud consumers. These functional capabilities of the broker platform provide key business and market place functions that implement the desired Cloud business and operating model. For more information on Cloud brokering strategy and philosophy, join the live webinar, Brokering Your Way to Cloud Computing Success, on Thursday, August 21^st: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/416594561

Cloud computing adoption is accelerating as Cloud enablement technologies, Cloud management tools, and Cloud application development frameworks mature. As organizations consider their own Cloud adoption roadmaps, they must understand the various Cloud enablement technologies and how they enable different Cloud value propositions to be achieved. Private Cloud technologies, public Cloud services, and the integration and aggregation tools for both to enable hybrid Clouds or multi-Cloud deployments continue to rapidly evolve. However, Cloud management APIs are not converging, and industry standards are trailing industry innovation, making the multi-Cloud deployment the rule rather than the exception. Some organizations are turning to the concept of a Cloud broker to help navigate this dynamic Cloud computing environment.

The Cloud Problem: Consuming Multi-Cloud Services

The problem is not the Cloud delivery model, which is being quite well done by Amazon, Google, Rackspace, Microsoft and a host of others. The real problem is enabling business capabilities to be performed faster, better, and cheaper via the consumption of Cloud services. For certain business capabilities, this means being able to develop new business applications and new products and services faster, better and cheaper via the consumption of Cloud services. Enabling faster application development (Cloud services consumption) using Cloud services provided by multiple Cloud providers is a major driver of Cloud services consumption by today’s enterprises. That’s not to say the other strategic objectives from Cloud computing are not equally important, such as reducing IT costs, implementing an asset light IT infrastructure delivery model, and achieving business agility through Cloud services. However, it is becoming more common to implement a multi-Cloud strategy to achieve these objectives.

If you are only consuming Amazon Web services, Google Cloud services, or other Cloud services, your consumption challenges are most likely fairly minimal. You can use their services, their management tools, and their orchestration templates to build applications on their Cloud services and achieve most of your Cloud computing objectives. However, if your Cloud strategy is to consume services from multiple Cloud providers, then you will have to approach your Cloud strategy differently. More than likely, some form of Cloud brokering middleware will be necessary.

Cloud Broker Defined

A Cloud broker has two broad meanings: A Cloud broker on one hand is an organizational function, whereby an organizational entity provides intermediation services between Cloud providers and Cloud consumers such that there is added value in the brokering function. This is Cloud Broker with a capital “B.” A Cloud broker on the other hand is a class of enabling technologies that enable Cloud services to be accessed from multiple Cloud providers, via a brokering platform, such that Cloud services consumption is simplified by virtue of the Cloud brokering technology and capabilities. This is a Cloud broker with a lower case “b.” The illustration below conceptualizes the Cloud broker model as comprised equally of an organizational function and an enabling technology.

For more information on Cloud brokering strategy and philosophy, join the live webinar, Brokering Your Way to Cloud Computing Success, on Thursday, August 21^st: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/416594561  

This on-demand webinar will present a model for an efficient, effective, scalable and friction-free enterprise governance framework, which we call Event-Driven Governance. Event-Driven Governance is a new approach to enterprise governance based on principles of just-in-time, event-based policy enforcement, and virtual governance organizations that are triggered by governance necessities (as opposed to creating oversight committees or duplicate governance organizations).

Event-Driven Governance is a performance-based model, driven by metrics and processes, as opposed to a compliance-based model centered on policing conformance.

During this webinar you will learn the following concepts:

• Overview of Enterprise Governance and the Enterprise Governance Lifecycle™
• Symptoms of “typical” Governance Approaches
• Definition of Event-Driven Governance Framework
• Principles of Event-Driven Governance
• Overview of Policies and Policy Enforcement Events
• Description of Governance Events and Policy Threads
• Benefits of Event-Driven Governance

Click here to view on demand: http://agile-path.com/webinar-advanced-approach-to-enterprise-governance.php

In addition, in support of the webinar concepts, AgilePath will soon release a white paper entitled:

“A lean  Enterpise Governance Manifesto”  Improving Buinsee Perfomance with Event-Driven Governance™ …stay tuned!

In parallel with repositioning our practices, solutions and capabilities, we also wanted to refresh our logo and brand positioning. Thus you will experience www.agile-path.com with our new logo design, more contemporary flare, effortless navigation, and new content. In addition, AgilePath is now fully embracing social media marketing strategies to give our clients and visitors an opportunity to engage, communicate and network through outlets that you would expect, our new Blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  These social media channels will allow AgilePath to establish relationships and engage in market conversations in new ways, while we continue to develop compelling thought leadership, whitepaper, innovations and bring cutting edge IT solutions to market.

Listed below are some of the highlights of the new site:

New company logo: AgilePath’s new corporate logo is an evolution of elements found in our old design with a modern and contemporary feel.

Consulting Practices: AgilePath’s end-to-end IT capabilities are spearheaded by our industry-leading consulting practices. All of AgilePath’s practice areas feature industry thought leadership, robust and innovative methodologies, and insightful research, best practices and benchmark data drawn from our portfolio of Blue Chip clients.

Services: AgilePath’s core consulting practices are supported and enabled by our end-to-end IT services and full lifecycle capabilities, which enable AgilePath to be a long-term partner for both the IT vision, strategy, and architecture development. AgilePath’s full spectrum IT capabilities enable our clients to quickly exploit new technologies, as well as refresh and reinvigorate legacy solutions through the appropriate application of emerging technologies into operational baselines.

Thought Leadership: AgilePath offers fresh new industry related thought leadership content by a click of a button in downloading, whitepapers, articles, live and on-demand webinars.

Social Media: AgilePath will now be in this space to collaborate, share and interact with our clients to receive the latest AgilePath’s news.
AgilePath is extremely proud to showcase this new website, please do visit and don’t forget to follow, friend and share with us!

When AgilePath Corporation earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies the first year it was eligible, President and CEO Eric Marks was pleased but not surprised.

In 2009, AgilePath was ranked #723 on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s Fastest- Growing Private Companies.

After all, the Newburyport, Massachusetts based IT professional services firm, founded in 2003, had quickly made a name for itself as a thought leader in helping businesses and organizations take full advantage of emerging technologies such as Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Cloud computing. And Marks is the author or co-author of six cutting-edge books on how these technological breakthroughs can help companies of all sizes become more agile and achieve operational excellence. Cloud computing, he explains, allows users of computers and other devices to obtain shared resources, such as infrastructure, development platforms, and software and information on-demand, via the Internet, paying only for what they use. Technologies like SOA and Cloud computing are enabling business model innovation and enterprise agility, while driving cost and resource efficiencies in parallel.

AgilePath provides management, technology and systems engineering consulting to commercial and federal government customers, helping them make the best technology choices for their specific needs and realize their business objectives from those choices. For example, the firm was recently retained by a Department of Defense agency to develop a Cloud computing strategy, technical reference architecture and an implementation plan based on AgilePath’s Cloud Computing Playbook™ methodology.

“We’re vendor-neutral,” Marks stresses, “so we don’t re-sell software. Rather, we help our clients achieve their strategic goals through the adoption of emerging technologies.”

As for that Inc. ranking, Marks says AgilePath is on track to do even better this year. In fact, it is opening a new office, in Concord, California, to serve a growing West Coast clientele. “We’re growing rapidly, and we’re bullish on our future.”

“AgilePath has emerged from the economic downturn in a position of strength, and we
are executing our next phase of growth,” stated AgilePath CEO Eric Marks.
“Establishing a West Coast presence is crucial to our expansion, as is tapping into the
technology talent base in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. We are very pleased to bring
Kevin King onboard to support our growth objectives.”

“I’m very excited to be a part of such a well-established, respected firm that is
recognized for its exceptional thought leadership in the IT consulting industry.
I’m pleased with the opportunity to contribute to the success of AgilePath,
specifically in the areas of Enterprise Governance, SOA and Cloud computing,
and to help shape the future of technology leadership across many domains ,”
stated Mr. King.

In addition, AgilePath announced the promotion of Mr. Mark Ferrara to Director of DoD
Programs. Mr. Ferrarra will oversee major DoD programs and client relationships for the
U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy, as well as special programs as they arise.

“This promotion serves as recognition of Mark Ferrarra’s significant contributions to
AgilePath and our Clients,” stated Eric Marks, AgilePath CEO. “We are pleased to give
Mark new opportunities to grow professionally and personally with AgilePath in this
expanded role.”

“I am thrilled to take on the responsibilities of this position and very much look forward
to new challenges that I will take on with great commitment,” stated Mr. Ferrara.

NEWBURYPORT, MA – (May 3, 2010) – AgilePath Corporation, a leading management
consulting firm and Appistry, the enterprise cloud platform leader today announced the
release of the book “Executive’s Guide to Cloud Computing,” published by John Wiley &
Sons, and co-authored by Mr. Eric Marks, president and CEO of AgilePath, and Mr. Bob
Lozano, founder and advisor of Appistry.

“Business and technology executives have demanded an insightful guidebook that explains
cloud computing and provides tools such as the Cloud Adoption Model, a pragmatic Cloud
Computing Reference Model, as well as a series of adoption approaches to help organizations
get started applying cloud computing to their business and mission challenges,” said Marks.
“This book will be a valuable desktop reference for those executives.”

“We created this book and have assembled this webinar series because there is surprisingly
little information available about cloud computing from the enterprise IT executive
perspective,” said Lozano. “With the enterprise emerging as the next battleground for the
cloud, we hope for this book to service as the go-to resource covering the steps for tackling
the issues and concerns specific to the enterprise.”

Executive’s Guide to Cloud Computing provides the critical information that business and
technology executives need to understand cloud computing, and then to plan, invest,
and deploy cloud computing solutions to achieve targeted business results.

AgilePath and Appistry have developed a proven partnership in providing cloud
computing solutions and services leveraging AgilePath’s Cloud Computing Playbook™,
Cloud Computing Reference Model, and CloudSprint™ Methodology, as well as Appistry’s
best-in-class solution, Appistry CloudIQ Platform.

To support the release of Executive’s Guide to Cloud Computing, AgilePath and Appistry
announced a series of joint Webinars to focus on key themes from the book, such as
the compelling value proposition of cloud computing, how to get started, and how to
achieve agility, scalability and efficiency with both private and public clouds. These will
be scheduled during May – August 2010, and focus on the following topics:

*Strategic Implementation of Cloud: May 4
*The Cloud Adoption Lifecycle: June 17
*Cloud Architecture, Modeling and Design: July 15
*The Move Towards Big Data: Aug 12

Attendees are eligible to win a copy of Executive Guide to Cloud Computing. To view
the Cloud Computing Webinar schedule, visit www.agile-path.com.

About AgilePath Corporation

AgilePath Corporation is a leading IT management consulting firm focused on Cloud
computing, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Business Process Management
(BPM), Enterprise Governance and Technology Acquisition. Founded in 2003, AgilePath
leverages its industry thought leadership and supporting Playbook™ methodologies to
deliver rapid sustainable business results through the rapid and successful adoption of
emerging technologies. For more information visit www.agile-path.com.

About Appistry

Cloud computing promises a new level of enterprise competitiveness, and Appistry
CloudIQ Platform makes that vision a reality. Appistry CloudIQ Platform enables a new
generation of highly scalable, extremely reliable, data-centric applications to be delivered
at a fraction of the time, cost and complexity of traditional approaches. Reinventing the
enterprise application platform for private, public and hybrid clouds, Appistry is delivering
next-generation platform-as-a-service, today. With the most comprehensive platform
and the most successful customers, Appistry is the leading provider of enterprise PaaS
software and services. Appistry customers include global leaders like FedEx, State Street
Bank, and Northrop Grumman, and multiple U.S. Government agencies.

AgilePath Corporation Ranks No. 723 on the 2008 Inc. 5,000
With Three-Year Sales Growth of 395.7%

NEW YORK, August 12, 2009 – Inc. today ranked AgilePath Corporation No. 723 on its annual
ranking of the 5000 fastest-growing private companies in the country. The list is the most
comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy – America’s independentminded
entrepreneurs. Taken as a whole, these companies represent the backbone of the U.S.
economy.

“Our second annual Inc. 5000 continues the most ambitious project in business journalism,” said
Inc. 5000 Project Manager Jim Melloan. “The Inc. 5000 gives an unrivalled portrait of young,
underreported companies across all industries doing fascinating things with cutting-edge
business models, as well as older companies that are still showing impressive growth.”

AgilePath Corporation is an IT services firm focused on applying emerging technologies such as
SOA and Cloud computing to help firms achieve greater enterprise agility, faster time to market,
and superior return on IT investments. AgilePath’s practices and solutions focus on serviceoriented
architecture (SOA), Cloud computing, enterprise governance, enterprise architecture
and solution delivery for Commercial F1000 and Federal Government agencies.

“AgilePath is pleased to make this impressive list in our first year of eligibility,” stated CEO Eric
Marks. “Our Inc 5000 recognition is a testimonial to the men and women of AgilePath who have
worked hard for our clients to support this growth. Of course, this is just a beginning, and we
will use this ranking as motivation to improve our performance in the years to come.”

The 5000 companies that made the list reported aggregate revenue of $185 billion and median
three-year growth of 147 percent. Most important, the 2008 Inc. 5000 companies were engines
of job growth, having created more than 826,033 jobs since those companies were founded.
Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and a list of the fastest-growing
companies that can be sorted by industry and region can be found at www.inc5000.com.

Hottest Regions for Fastest-Growing Companies

The New York metro area tops the Inc. 5000 list with the most companies of any city with 355.
Washington, D.C. comes in a close second with 300 companies on the list; Los Angeles comes
in third with 244 companies, and Atlanta (194 companies) and Chicago (189 companies) round
out the top five. Interestingly, only 62 companies on the Inc. 5000 are not based in metropolitan
areas.

Grand Rapids, Mich. leads the list with the highest median revenue of any metro area ($26.2
million, 16 companies), followed by San Antonio, Texas ($21.3 million, 25 companies), Baton
Rouge, La. ($18.8 million, 14 companies), Houston ($17.1 million, 97 companies), and Kansas
City, Mo.-Kan. ($16.5 million, 39 companies).

Hottest Industries for Fastest-Growing Businesses

The most notable median growth categories among the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing businesses
are in the Energy category (which grew by 298%), followed by Government Services (which
grew by 220%), Security (200% growth), IT Services and Software (both grew by 187%), and
Consulting (which grew by 182% on average).

The largest business category is IT Services, with 579 Inc. 5000 companies. Business Services
(532 companies), Construction (459), Manufacturing (405), and Advertising & Marketing (361)
complete the top five industries ranked on the 2008 Inc. 5000.

Industries reporting the highest median revenue are Travel ($38.8 million), Financial Services
($16.3 million), Logistics ($15.4 million) Government Services ($14.2 million), and Energy ($14.2
million).