Providing information technology resiliency in a cloud-based services marketplace

Abstract

A system for providing a cloud-based service includes a processor and a computer readable storage medium that stores instructions which, when executed, cause the processor to perform operations including: receiving information from a customer of the cloud-based service over a conversational interface, the information identifying a requirement of the customer related to a resiliency of the service, and identifying at least one service provider who provides the cloud-based service in a manner that satisfies the requirement of the customer. Another embodiment of a system for providing a cloud-based service includes a conversational interface for receiving information from a customer of the cloud-based service, the information identifying a requirement of the customer related to a resiliency of the service and a resiliency analysis engine for identifying at least one service provider who provides the cloud-based service in a manner that satisfies the requirement of the customer.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for providing a cloud-based service, the system comprising:
 a processor; and   a computer readable storage medium that stores instructions which, when executed, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 receiving information from a customer of the cloud-based service over a conversational interface, the information identifying a requirement of the customer related to a resiliency of the service; and 
 identifying at least one service provider who provides the cloud-based service in a manner that satisfies the requirement of the customer. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the requirement of the customer is specified using natural language. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying comprises:
 matching the requirement of the customer to a service descriptor that describes a resiliency attribute of the at least one service provider.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the service descriptor is a standardized representation of the resiliency attribute. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the standardized representation is indexed within an ontology-based organizational framework that indexes a plurality of standardized representations describing respective resiliency attributes of a plurality of different service providers including the at least one service provider. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein each of the plurality of standardized representations is associated with at least one concept in the organizational framework. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the at least one concept is one of: a metric associated with the cloud-based service, a domain associated with the cloud-based service, a function associated with the cloud-based service, or a source of failure associated with the cloud-based service. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the metric is a measure of at least one of: an availability of the cloud-based service, a reliability of the cloud-based service, an integrity of the cloud-based service, a maintainability of the cloud-based service, or a confidentiality of the cloud-based service. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the domain is at least one of: a network domain, a systems domain, a middleware domain, a service domain, or a business domain. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the function is at least one of: a monitoring function, an incident or error management function, a security function, a governance function, or a compliance function. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the source of failure is at least one of: a human, a machine, or a disaster. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the matching comprises:
 querying a database that stores service descriptors for a plurality of service providers including the at least one service provider.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the querying comprises:
 excluding from consideration those of the plurality of service providers whose service descriptors fail to match the requirement of the customer; and   selecting the at least one service provider from among those of the plurality of service providers that are not excluded.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the querying further comprises:
 selecting at least one alternative to the at least one service provider; and   generating a list in which the at least one service provider and the at least one alternative are ranked according to a metric.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the metric assigns weight to a plurality of criteria. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the querying further comprises:
 periodically repeating the querying, without prompting from the customer, in order to update the list.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein service descriptor exactly matches the requirement of the customer. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein service descriptor matches the requirement of the customer within a specified tolerance. 
     
     
         19 . A system for providing a cloud-based service, the system comprising:
 a conversational interface for receiving information from a customer of the cloud-based service, the information identifying a requirement of the customer related to a resiliency of the service; and   a resiliency analysis engine for identifying at least one service provider who provides the cloud-based service in a manner that satisfies the requirement of the customer.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 a database for storing a first model that represents the requirement of the customer and for storing a plurality of service descriptors that represent resiliency attributes of a plurality of service providers including the at least one service provider.