Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Andago can then initiate the creation of a Virtual Organisation (VO) that allows
Andago to create instances of a game title from the Game Application Provider on
the Game services offered by Sunny Data Centres. Andago use Sunny computa-
tional resources in Spain in order to offer collaborative on-line games to Andago's
gamer communities. As Andago's customer base expands they decide to expand
their VO by amending their contract with the operator (BEMOL) and introducing
more game servers this time offered by Saygah. Their decision to expand may be
in reaction to surge of use or it may reflect a customer base expansion in the UK, a
region for which Saygah Data Centres can offer better QoS than Sunny.
As Andago's customer base expands, they also need to enhance the business intel-
ligence of their network-centric application. Andago may choose to use advanced
identity management services offered to the VHE by CHOIR and distributed access
management services offered by BEMOL Security. These are network-hosted serv-
ices that allow Andago to define their own profiles of standards-compliant identity
assertions and access control policies. Other business partners of Andago (such as
Saygah Data Centres) may choose to use other identity providers (say BEMOL
Security) depending on their preferences. The VHE infrastructure ensures compat-
ibility between the different infrastructure services in place. In addition to security
services, Andago may want to set-up an SLA framework to measure the QoS that
Sunny and Saygah are delivering. It therefore invites ARPEGGIO Quality Services
which will deliver a set of SLA monitors and an SLA evaluator to be used as VAS
in the VHE.
Different customer relationships over the VHE may be more appropriate for
different charging models. For example, Saygah Data Centres and Sunny Data
Centres may be charging Andago following a “pay-per-use” model. CHOIR, on
the other hand, as an Identity Provider may be charging Andago on the basis of the
size or duration of the VO. Finally BEMOL, as a VHE operator, may be charging
Andago on a “pay-as-you-grow” fashion based on the portfolio of VHE capabilities
that are made available to Andago, while BEMOL may be charging Sunny Data
Centres and Saygah Data Centres based on a percentage of their resource utilisa-
tion via the VHE and CHOIR a flat fee on the number of customers gained. Such
dynamics require very flexible accounting mechanisms offered by the VHE infra-
structure in order to allow the various stakeholders to retrieve and correlate charge-
able events accurately.
This is a major shift from current state-of-the-art solutions where an online games
provider such as Andago would have to invest in hardware and other infrastructure,
architect its security and billing solutions, in addition to providing the end-user
interfaces, web portals and communities. By delegating hosting issues to specialized
providers (Sunny and Saygah), and by delegating security and SLA needs to third-
party VAS providers (BEMOL Security, CHOIR, ARPEGGIO Quality Services),
Andago can focus on its core business: the provision of an appealing user gaming
platform.
