To bring some order to the fuzzy world of cloud computing, the U.S. government's National Institute of Standards and Technology has created a standard definition and a Cloud Computing Reference Architecture. Both are in the form of "Special Publications," which are not official U.S. government standards but are designed to provide guidance to specific communities of practitioners and researchers.
The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing, currently in draft form, is based on NIST-sponsored workshops and public comments. The single definition helps ensure that government workers, industry, and other groups are talking about the same thing when they use the same words.
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Author: SIMSON L. GARFINKEL
