Information Technology Reference
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a Broker) the selection of suitable hosting environments and the execution of proc-
esses that implement the deployment and configuration of application instances and
their exposure as a service. It has been provided with specialized management serv-
ices that the ASP uses for coordinating these processes and managing the operation
of the in-cloud application services it offers to its customers throughout their life-
time.
Fig. 8.10:
High level architecture of the (enhanced) Application Virtualization Capability
The virtualized application is exposed via an in-cloud service Gateway and the inte-
gration of any other value adding services (VAS) - potentially provided by third
parties - catering for the non-functional aspects of the application is transparent
to the application consumer (see fig. 8.10). The capability enables the ASP to use
standardised management services in order to govern the configuration of the virtu-
alised application, the underlying virtual service delivery platform and any third
party value adding services (VAS) such as SLA and security capabilities that have
been selected by the ASP to enrich the customer experience. The adoption of the
Gateway offers the necessary location and platform transparency while acting as an
integration point (i.e. a virtual service bus) to external value adding services.
In terms of business impact, this bundle of capabilities allows an ASP to offer
their applications as a service in a simple and manageable way without being
exposed to the detail of managing the enabling infrastructure. This increases flex-
ibility and allows a separation of concerns between application provisioning and
management, and facilitates their transition towards a SaaS model.
