CLOUD COMPUTING RESOURCE BROKER

• US 20100332262A1
• Filed: 06/26/2009
• Published: 12/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Calvo, Angel S., Cochrane, Harold L., Horvitz, Eric J., Vega, Rene A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,244,559 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Embodiments for interacting with cloud computing providers are disclosed. In accordance with at least one embodiment, a resource broker receives a request for a computing task that is to be performed from a customer. The resource broker selects one of the cloud computing providers to perform at least a part of the computing task. In turn, the resource broker may obtain a gain from performance of the at least one part of the computing task by the cloud computing provider.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

purchasing a first block of cloud computing service capability from a first cloud computing provider; and

selling at least the first block of cloud computing service capability to one or more customers for gain, the first block enabling a computing task to be processed via cloud computing.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising an instruction that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform an act of dividing the first block of the cloud computing service capability into a plurality of first portions, wherein the selling at least the first block includes selling the plurality of first portions to one or more customers for gain.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform further acts comprising:

obtaining a commitment from the first cloud computing provider that the first block of cloud computing service capability meets performance metrics for a time period;

obtaining actual performance of the first cloud computing provider during the time period;

providing an incentive to the first cloud computing provider when the actual performance meets or exceeds the performance metrics; and

receiving a compensation from the first cloud computing provider when the actual performance falls below the performance metrics.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform further acts comprising:

receiving consideration for providing a promise that the first block of service capability will meet performance metrics of at least one customer for a time period;

obtaining actual performance of the first cloud computing provider during the time period; and

providing compensation to the at least one customer when the actual performance fails to meet the performance metrics.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform further acts comprising:

purchasing a second block of cloud computing service capability from a second cloud computing provider; and

aggregating the first block and the second block of cloud computing service capability into a package,

wherein the selling include selling the package to one or customers for gain.

6. The computer readable of claim 1, further comprising instructions that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform further acts comprising:

purchasing a second block of cloud computing service capability from a second cloud computing provider;

dividing the second block of cloud computing service capability into a plurality of second portions; and

aggregating the first block and one of the plurality of second portions of cloud computing service capability into a package,

wherein the selling include selling the package to one or customers for gain.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising an instruction that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform an act of predicting a future computing cost for a cloud computing provider, wherein the purchasing a first block includes purchasing the first block of service capability when the further computing cost is expected to increase during a future time period.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform further acts comprising:

obtaining first performance attribute data on cloud computing service capability of the first cloud computing provider; and

analyzing cloud computing service capability of the first cloud computing provider using independent analytics to generate second performance attribute data,

wherein the purchasing includes purchasing a first block when the second performance attribute data indicates that a performance of the service capability is better than as indicated by the first performance attribute data.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform further acts comprising:

obtaining first performance attribute data on cloud computing service capability of the first cloud computing provider; and

analyzing cloud computing service capability of the first cloud computing provider using independent analytics to generate second performance attribute data,

providing the independent analytics to the first could computing provider for a gain when the second performance attribute data indicates that a performance of the service capability is superior to that indicated by the first performance attribute data.

10. A computer readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving a request for a computing task that is to be performed from a first customer;

selecting one of the cloud computing providers to perform at least one part of the computing task; and

obtaining a gain from performance of the at least one part of the computing task.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the obtaining a gain includes obtaining the gain from the difference between the first value paid by the first customer and a compensation provide to the selected one of the cloud computing provider for performance of the computing task.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the selecting includes:

soliciting bids for performance of the at least one part of the computing task from the cloud computing providers; and

providing the at least one part of the computing task to one of the cloud computing provider with the most advantageous bid for the first customer so that the computing task is performed; and

providing the result of the performed computing task to the first customer.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising an instruction that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform an act of providing the at least a portion of the computing task to one of the plurality of cloud computing providers based on prior performance or cost when no bids are received for performance of the computing task.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform further acts comprising:

storing results of the computing task performed by one of the plurality of cloud computing providers in a database; and

retrieving the results when the request for the computing task is received from a second customer.

15. The computer readable of claim 10, further comprising an instruction that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform an act of dividing the computing task into a plurality of sub computing tasks, wherein the selecting includes selecting the one of the cloud computing providers to perform a first of the sub computing tasks, and selecting another of the cloud computing providers to perform a second of the sub computing tasks, wherein the one and the another of the cloud computing providers uses data centers or personal computing devices to perform the first and second computing tasks.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one and the another of the cloud computing providers each having the most advantageous bid for the first customer.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising an instruction that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform an act of obtaining a second customer for the computing task that is to be performed, wherein the obtaining a gain includes obtaining the gain from the difference between the first and second values paid by the first and second customers and a compensation provide to the selected one of the cloud computing provider for performance of the computing task.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform further acts comprising:

monitoring a metric of a power utility that supplies power to the one of the cloud computing providers;

releasing at least a portion of the computing task for processing by the one of the cloud computing providers when the metric meet a requirement; and

suspending the processing of the computing task when the metric fails to meet the requirement,

the requirement including that a cost of power from the power utility is below a threshold, a minimum percentage of power from the power utility is from a green source, or the power utility complies with regulation.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions that when executed, cause one or more processors to perform further acts comprising:

purchasing insurance that from an insurance entity to insure that the one of the cloud computing providers is able to adequately perform the at least one part of the computing task; and

receiving compensation from the insurance entity when the one of the cloud computing entity is unable to adequately perform the at least one part of the computing task.

20. A computer readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving a computing task from a customer that is to be performed by a cloud computing provider;

soliciting one or more bids for performing the computing task from one or more computing resource brokers;

disbursing the computing task to one of resource brokers with the lowest bid for performance of the computing task; and

providing the results from performance of the computing task from the resource broker to the customer,

the one of the resource brokers passes the computing task to the cloud computing provider for the performance.