I just attended the AGC national conference.  That being as good a beginning as any to the 2013 conference season, we are off to another promising year of the AEC Industry adopting many new technologies.  As buyers, vendors, consultants and industry pros sharpen their knowledge and plans of attack on each other, the NIST Cloud definition is always a good and often humbling tool to have handy. Since the 2008 time frame I have yet to be in a discussion where consensus on what cloud is has been reached much less if we want to go there.  With the NIST Cloud definition as a base, there is no question we want to go there...it's more an issue of how fast and what's stopping us.

While the NIST Cloud definition was first published in 2009, it was not until 2011 that I started to see it referenced in keynotes by the likes of Oracle, Microsoft, Apple and other major technology companies.  I picked it up in 2010 some time and without a doubt, in every case I have experienced, a fundamental understanding of this definition gives all stakeholders a common baseline to have informed discussions about where we all want to go.

Whether it's Architects, Engineers, Contractors or Owners looking to get ahead of Application Management, Integration and Business Intelligence trends or simply improve, Financial, Project, Scheduling or Enterprise Content Management  solutions, there is no doubt the NIST Definition helps us all make better choices about creating, buying and implementing the myriad of options.

As usual I have a boat load of topics to cover with this definition as the basis, but for now, I'll part by saying all technology panels should start with this definition being handed out on a little card as if it were the ground rules for engagement and cutting through the vapor.  Until then, below you can find links to the simplified interpretation used by my company and the full NIST publication which that is based on.

The Cram Group Business IT & Cloud Definition

NIST Cloud Definition Full Publication