AECCloud Slump Test | Broad Access & Marketing Websites
Before I start to benchmark specific applications against the full NIST Cloud Definition, let me give a feel for how this will work using the Essential Characteristic of Broad Access and the marketing websites of a range of vendors. I picked marketing websites because they are anonymously accessible and there are no complicated debates over offline access or other intensive use cases. Visit any of the following sites (including our own) on a PC, Mac, Surface Tablet, iPad, Android or iPhone and you will see it determines the device you are on and appropriately displays the information in a digestible format. You do not need an App, you can use any of the major operating systems or OS based browsers, and it just works. No distracting downloads or need to think of what device you are using, you simply get work done. That's Broad Access.
Visit these sites and you will get an array of results depending on your device. You may have to download an app, get a plugin that may or may not work on your device, or be required to zoom and pinch around, all of which is inefficient to use and/or for them to build.
This should clearly illustrate what Broad Access means. From here you can start to think about what the pros/cons might be if this was your daily operational software. In the future I will use a broader spectrum of the NIST Cloud definition and also roll out a basic ranking indicator. Stay tuned.