As businesses expand, so does their use of cloud services, and with that comes the need for an intermediary organization that simplifies the relationship between a cloud provider and its customers. This is what cloud brokering is all about; brokers aggregate, integrate and customize services for business customers.

Cloud brokers work in two ways:

*Type 1 is a passive cloud aggregator and index of cloud providers based on cost and consumption characteristics. Matching end-user’s needs with ideal cloud providers.

*Type 2 is an active functional layer that sits above Type 1. It intelligently orchestrates and federates servers and workloads between cloud instances such as public, private or hybrid, based on the end-user’s requirements. This could include compliance, performance optimization, cost optimization or administration.

Type 1 & 2 combined matches cloud characteristic data with functional, automated and intelligent workload federation. Type 2 injects real time and historical server and workload characteristic data relative to specific clouds and pathways between them.

The business market needs cloud brokers because companies are looking for intelligently orchestrated and federated servers and workloads between public, private and hybrid clouds. Cloud brokers leverage data analytics into usable server and workload distribution and migration business intelligence. Any business or organization that wants to take full advantage of the cloud computing cost and resource consumption elasticity can benefit from cloud broker services Type 1 and Type 2.

*Type 1 point of authority can simplify the vast options of the cloud by categorizing features and benefits of each supplier to match the end user with the most ideal set of providers. Using more than one provider is becoming a useful strategy for companies. Certain parts of the business may be better suited for Cloud Provider A while others are geared more to Cloud Provider B.

*Type 2 is a functional platform that can actively broker server and workloads between multi provider and public or private cloud topologies. It enables control of servers and workload location and movement while providing a deeper layer of business intelligence and cloud analytics specific to the environment and how the server and workload operates within it.

So why are Infrastructure Providers poised to win?

IT organizations want their staff focused on unique, custom IT functions that provide the highest value to their companies while relying on service providers for what they perceive to be routine support functions. Cloud brokers help smooth the process by matching end user IT needs with ideal service providers and eliminating the need to use service provider templates or manual move methods. They do this by automating the migration from start to finish. In some cases a manual approach may be desired if significant changes are going to be made to the servers and workload being migrated. As-is becomes less the purpose of the move. Ideally, the cloud service provider is tapped into the RiverMeadow Cloud Migration SaaS, and is enabling their IaaS ecosystem with easy cost efficient migration.

RiverMeadow’s Cloud Migration SaaS is a perfect example of a cloud brokering platform. We automate the migration of server workloads into and between clouds. To learn more about RiverMeadow’s services contact us at info@rivermeadow.com.

Photo Credit: kevin dooley