Is enterprise architecture really ready for cloud computing? So is cloud computing really suitable for enterprise architecture? The emergence of cloud computing does bring about some different ways of thinking, but in fact these "new" ideas are not that new.

enterprise architecture really ready to embrace cloud computing ? So is cloud computing really suitable for enterprise architecture? The emergence of cloud computing does bring about some different ways of thinking, but in fact these "new" ideas are not that new.

Chris Bruzzi and Nick Hamm from Appirio, an IT and cloud computing consulting service provider, once published an article in which the two shared some personal experiences with CIOs about cloud application development. They pointed out in the article that during application development and deployment, executives should pay attention to changing their inherent habits in five aspects in order to better implement cloud computing for the enterprise. Today, these ideas still apply.

For architects and developers with experience working in the field of SOA ( service-oriented architecture ), most of the most successful practice cases are very similar. However, Bruzzi and Hamm believe that the past SOA architecture has great limitations because it is always blocked by the overall enterprise architecture. However, as more and more enterprise IT begins to turn to cloud computing, people should really reconsider the "service-oriented" thinking:

　1. Use a componentized approach to design architectural solutions: first consider clearly what the needs of the enterprise are. what, and then design a solution composed of multiple loosely coupled components to meet the overall needs of the enterprise. Doing so will indeed increase the workload upfront, but the rewards later will be much greater than the effort.

2. Look beyond application development languages ​​to API interfaces: 10 years ago, the so-called IT companies were either Java stores or .NET stores. Cloud computing has shifted the focus from applications to application development languages ​​and service delivery platforms. This means that cloud computing architects also need to shift their focus from technologies or development languages ​​to the architectural services and API interfaces used to use these technologies and languages.

　3. Reuse components as much as possible: The components in these cloud computing plans may already work effectively, whether they are from within the company's own library or from an external cloud computing provider, such as Salesfroce .com and Amazon Web Services ( Amazon Web Services), both can be reused.

　4. Expand the team through outsourcing: Pay attention to developer communities, such as CloudSpokes or 99Designs, and look for new components there. The advantage of this is that the application construction speed will be greatly accelerated, while avoiding being limited by the overall technical capabilities of the team. Many creative solutions have been devised in this context.

　5. Evaluate internal enterprise applications: In cloud computing solutions, there is a large amount of available data on the configuration, coding, quality, etc. of internal enterprise applications for evaluation. Some cloud computing solution providers also collect these benchmark values, but they certainly don't provide all the information, so it is necessary for the architect to do the collection work themselves.