Chapter 15

Question 1

marginal costs

Answer 1

The costs associated with each additional unit produced.

Question 2

vertical niches

Answer 2

Sometimes referred to as vertical markets. Products and services designed to target a specific industry (e.g., pharmaceutical, legal, apparel retail).

Question 3

cloudbursting

Answer 3

Describes the use of cloud computing to provide excess capacity during periods of spiking demand. Cloudbursting is a scalability solution that is usually provided as an overflow service, kicking in as needed.

Question 4

black swans

Answer 4

Unpredicted, but highly impactful events. Scalable computing resources can help a firm deal with spiking impact from black swan events. The phrase entered the managerial lexicon from the 2007 book of the same name by Nassim Taleb.

Question 5

platform as a service (PaaS)

Answer 5

Where cloud providers offer services that include the hardware, operating system, development tools, testing, and hosting (i.e., the platform) that its customers use to build their own applications on the provider’s infrastructure. In this scenario, the cloud firm usually manages the platform (hosting, hardware, and supporting software), while the client has control over the creation and deployment of its application.

Question 6

server farm

Answer 6

A massive network of computer servers running software to coordinate their collective use. Server farms provide the infrastructure backbone to SaaS and hardware cloud efforts, as well as many large-scale Internet services.

Question 7

open source software (OSS)

Answer 7

Software that is free and where anyone can look at and potentially modify the code.

Question 8

utility computing

Answer 8

A form of cloud computing where a firm develops its own software, and then runs it over the Internet on a service provider’s computers.

Question 9

service level agreement (SLA)

Answer 9

A negotiated agreement between the customer and the vendor. The SLA may specify the levels of availability, serviceability, performance, operation, or other commitment requirements.

Question 10

scalability

Answer 10

Ability to either handle increasing workloads or to be easily expanded to manage workload increases. In a software context, systems that aren’t scalable often require significant rewrites or the purchase or development of entirely new systems.

Question 11

infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

Answer 11

Where cloud providers offer services that include running the remote hardware, storage, and networking (i.e., the infrastructure), but client firms can choose software used (which may include operating systems, programming languages, databases, and other software packages). In this scenario, the cloud firm usually manages the infrastructure (keeping the hardware and networking running), while the client has control over most other things (operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and perhaps even security and networking features like firewalls and security systems).

Question 12

LAMP

Answer 12

LAMP An acronym standing for
Linux, the Apache Web server software, the MySQL database, and any of several programming languages that start with
P(e.g., Perl, Python, or PHP).

Question 13

virtual desktops

Answer 13

When a firm runs an instance of a PC’s software on another machine and simply delivers the image of what’s executing to the remote device. Using virtualization, a single server can run dozens of PCs, simplifying backup, upgrade, security, and administration.

Question 14

virtualization

Answer 14

A type of software that allows a single computer (or cluster of connected computers) to function as if it were several different computers, each running its own operating system and software. Virtualization software underpins most cloud computing efforts, and can make computing more efficient, cost-effective, and scalable.

Question 15

Linux

Answer 15

An open source software operating system.

Question 16

total cost of ownership

Answer 16

An economic measure of the full cost of owning a product (typically computing hardware and/or software). TCO includes direct costs such as purchase price, plus indirect costs such as training, support, and maintenance.

Question 17

security-focused

Answer 17

Also known as “hardened.” Term used to describe technology products that contain particularly strong security features.

Question 18

n00b

Answer 18

Written with two zeros, pronounced “newb.” Geek-slang (leet speak), derogatory term for an uninformed or unskilled person.

Question 19

software as a service (SaaS)

Answer 19

A form of cloud computing where a firm subscribes to a third-party software and receives a service that is delivered online.

Question 20

containers

Answer 20

A type of virtualization that allows for shared operating systems for more resource savings and faster execution. However, containers still isolate applications so they execute and move to different computing hardware, just like conventional virtualization.

Question 21

cloud computing

Answer 21

Replacing computing resources—either an organization’s or individual’s hardware or software—with services provided over the Internet.