Cloud computing is expected to be the next big deployment platform for software solutions. In this presentation, we will first discuss the main properties of cloud computing, such as pay for use, scalability and elasticity, and give an overview of three main kinds of cloud personalities: application, development, and infrastructure clouds. We will then go into details on the infrastructure cloud personality, which is characterized by providing a set of virtual machine instances. This is the most flexible form of cloud computing allowing all types of software to be run, from elastic Web 2.0 applications to legacy Windows applications to remote desktops.

The cloud paradigm provides a new set of challenges and opportunities for software architects. Moving to cloud computing means much more than your software is running in a virtual machine in a remote location. As a software architect, you will literally have an unlimited supply of hardware that can be acquired and discarded at near-zero cost and in near instant time. This enables an entire new set of software development practices. We will introduce the notion of smart VM packaging, location-independent computing, and dynamic runtime integration, where the software is packaged with policies that governs aspects such as performance, availability, security, backup, and much more. Finally, we will discuss the Open Virtualization Format industry standard initiative, providing a common way of packaging software for the cloud.