Distributed Cloud and Edge Computing: A Cheat Sheet for IT Leaders
When developers and their business counterparts read, write, and speak the same cloud language, it’s easier to plan and discuss how a cloud re-architecture initiative can benefit their organizations and their customers.
Here are some helpful high-level definitions for commonly used terms in distributed cloud computing to help facilitate cloud discussions and projects in your organization.
Commonly used terms
Distributed cloud. The approach of decentralizing your cloud resources and services to be physically closer to the data source or user while still being managed centrally
Platform-centric. An approach by some cloud providers that requires you to develop and deploy your workloads using their services and building within their ecosystem
Cloud-native. An approach that enables you to decide where to deploy and move workloads, taking advantage of portability and open, standards-based tools
Portability. The ability to seamlessly migrate your applications, workloads, data, and other resources among different cloud environments or cloud providers
Containerization. The process of packaging your application and its dependencies into a lightweight, self-contained, and portable unit that you can run anywhere
Microservices. A style of software architecture that structures your application as a collection of loosely coupled services to ease flexibility and limit points of failure
Serverless computing. A development pattern that allows developers to focus on writing and deploying code while your cloud provider manages the underlying infrastructure
Function as a service. A key element of serverless computing, FaaS lets your developers run code or containers without managing the infrastructure needed to run that code
Edge computing. A method to process your data locally, close to users and devices, which saves bandwidth, reduces latency, and delivers high-speed digital experiences
Edge-native. Applications that you specifically design to take advantage of edge computing capabilities and to push experiences and data closer to your users
Cloud computing primitives. The core capabilities provided by your cloud platform, including processing power, storage, memory, networking, and bandwidth or transfer
Multicloud. The use of cloud services from two or more providers, where your organization is contracting with several separate cloud vendors
Cloud optimization. The process of choosing and assigning cloud resources for your workloads and apps to cost-effectively improve performance while eliminating waste
Cloud waste. The money spent unnecessarily on unused, underused, or ineffectively used cloud services offered by public cloud service providers
Cloud lock-in. A situation that occurs when an organization finds it difficult and expensive to move apps and data from one cloud provider’s platform to another provider’s platform
Every cloud term contains nuances. Once you have a grounding in these commonly used expressions, you can build on that knowledge to better understand the meaning of a cloud phrase within the specific context of its use.
Further reading
Learning Glossary
Check out our regularly updated Learning Glossary, which offers informational articles and guides to help you learn more about topics in cloud computing.
Gecko
Find out how Akamai is expanding its cloud horizons with our Gecko initiative.
Distributed cloud computing series
The blog post you’ve just read is one in our series about distributed cloud computing, which also includes:
