Method for facilitating network external computing assistance

Abstract

There is provided a method for providing pricing information about a potential migration of a network computing task. The method includes the step of providing a provider availability set, identifying a price qualified set for each cloud service provider, and displaying the information about each cloud service provider and its pricing via a user interface. The price qualified set includes each cloud service provider: (a) whose price for performing the task compiles with a price acceptability criteria or (b) that has a respective price proposal associated therewith reflecting a price for engaging the cloud service provider to perform the task in lieu of the task being performed by the network.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for providing pricing information about a potential migration of a network computing task, the method comprising:
 providing a provider availability set, wherein the set includes those cloud service providers who are deemed capable of performing the network computing task in lieu of the task being performed by the network;   with respect to those cloud service providers in the availability set, identifying a price qualified set each member of which is a cloud service provider: (a) whose price for performing the task complies with a price acceptability criteria or (b) that has a respective price proposal associated therewith reflecting a price for engaging the cloud service provider to perform the task in lieu of the task being performed by the network, the step of identifying a price qualified set including evaluating selected operational relationships between assets of the network to determine the scope and extent of computing services that would need to be provided by each cloud service provider in the availability set in the event that the respective cloud service provider were to perform the network computing task in lieu of the task being performed by the network; and   displaying the information about each cloud service provider and its pricing via a user interface.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of identifying a price qualified set includes determining the dependencies between those respective assets of the network that would be involved in handling the network computing task if the network computing task is not migrated to a cloud service provider and generating a respective price proposal for each cloud service provider that takes into account the necessary computing resources of the cloud service provider that need to be engaged to handle such computing work of these respective assets of the network. 
     
     
         3 . A method for providing information about a network, the network being operable to perform a resolution flexible task which is a task that could be performed via a given set of assets of the network or that could alternatively be performed via an alternative task performer external to the network, the method comprising:
 providing an availability set each member of which is an alternative task performer deemed capable of performing a resolution flexible task in lieu of the task being performed by the network;   with respect to those alternative task performers in the availability set, identifying a price qualified set each member of which is an alternative task performer (a) whose price for performing the task complies with a price acceptability criteria or (b) that has a respective price proposal associated therewith reflecting a price for engaging the alternative task performer to perform the task in lieu of the task being performed by the network, the step of identifying a price qualified set including evaluating selected operational relationships between assets of the network to determine the scope and extent of computing services that would need to be provided by each cloud service provider in the availability set in the event that the respective cloud service provider were to perform the network computing task in lieu of the task being performed by the network; and   at least one of communicating information via a user interface about the price qualified set or initiating the performance of the task by an alternative task performer in the price qualified set.   
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the step of providing an availability set includes designating a collection of assets of the network as the given set of assets and deeming the resolution flexible task to be the cumulative computing operations that have been performed by the given set of assets of the network in accomplishing tasks within the network. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein each alternative task performer of the availability set is a cloud computing resource. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the step of at least one of communicating information via a user interface about the price qualified set or initiating the performance of the task by an alternative task performer in the price qualified set includes communicating information about each alternative task performer in the price qualified set and its respective price proposal that reflects a price for engaging the alternative task performer to perform the task in lieu of the task being performed by the network. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein designating a collection of assets of the network as the given set of assets includes identifying a group of computing operations that are to be considered as suitable to be performed by an alternative task performer in lieu of being performed by the network and evaluating the assets of the network according to an evaluation criteria to determine if each such evaluated asset would be needed in the event that the network were to perform the identified group of computing operations. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein evaluating the assets of the network according to an evaluation criteria includes determining the existence of a dependency between an individual asset and another individual asset, wherein a dependency is deemed to exist if the cumulative computing operations performed by the given set of assets of the network could not be performed if the individual asset were not part of the given set of assets. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the availability set includes at least two alternative task performers and the step of identifying a price qualified set includes determining the respective price proposal of each alternative task performer of the availability set in compliance with a uniformly applied price work up protocol that is applied to all alternative task performers in the availability set. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the step of at least one of communicating information via a user interface about the price qualified set of initiating the performance of the task by an alternative task performer in the price qualified set includes displaying information about the price qualified set. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the step of providing an availability set includes deeming a set of assets less than the total assets of the network to be a first collection of assets of the network, deeming another set of assets less than the total assets of the network and comprising different a different set of assets than the first collection of assets of the network to be a second collection of assets of the network, and iteratively deeming the resolution flexible task to be the cumulative computing operations that have been performed by the first collection of assets of the network, designating the first collection of assets of the network to be the given set of assets of the network in accomplishing tasks within the network and generating a price qualified set based upon the first collection of assets of the network being designated as the given set of assets of the network, and deeming the resolution flexible task to be the cumulative computing operations that have been performed by the second collection of assets of the network, designating the second collection of assets of the network to be the given set of assets of the network in accomplishing tasks within the network, and generating a price qualified set based upon the second collection of assets of the network being designated as the given set of assets of the network, and providing information on the price qualified sets generated respectively based upon the first collection of assets of the network and based upon the second collection of assets of the network. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the step of providing information on the price qualified sets generated respectively based upon the first collection of assets of the network and based upon the second collection of assets of the network includes communicating a hierarchal listing of alternative task performers with the hierarchy being based upon a predetermined user preference criteria. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , wherein the step of communicating a hierarchal listing of alternative task performers includes communicating the hierarchal listing in a manner which gives preference in the hierarchal listing among the enumerated alternative task performers to those alternative task performers who meet a sponsorship criteria. 
     
     
         14 . A tangible computer-readable medium for storing instructions for controlling a computing device to generate an output, the instructions controlling the computing device to perform steps comprising:
 accessing information about a network that is operable to perform a resolution flexible task which is a task that could be performed via a given set of assets of the network or that could alternatively be performed via an alternative task performer external to the network;   accessing an availability set each member of which is an alternative task performer deemed capable of performing a resolution flexible task in lieu of the task being performed by the network;   with respect to those alternative task performers in the availability set, identifying a price qualified set each member of which is an alternative task performer: (a) whose price for performing the task complies with a price acceptability criteria or (b) that has a respective price proposal associated therewith reflecting a price for engaging the alternative task performer to perform the task in lieu of the task being performed by the network, the step of identifying a price qualified set including evaluating selected operational relationships between assets of the network to determine the scope and extent of computing services that would need to be provided by each cloud service provider in the availability set in the event that the respective cloud service provider were to perform the network computing task in lieu of the task being performed by the network; and   at least one of generating an output with a content about the price qualified set, whereby a display device can display a presentation based upon the transmitted content about the price qualified set, or initiating the performance of the task by an alternative task performer in the price qualified set.   
     
     
         15 . The tangible computer-readable medium according to  claim 14 , wherein the step of accessing an availability set includes accessing data concerning a collection of assets of the network that have been designated as the given set of assets and deeming the resolution flexible task to be the cumulative computing operations that have been performed by the given set of assets of the network in accomplishing tasks within the network. 
     
     
         16 . The tangible computer-readable medium according to  claim 15 , wherein each the alternative task performer of the availability set is a cloud computing resource. 
     
     
         17 . The tangible computer-readable medium according to  claim 16 , wherein at least one of generating a signal with a content about the price qualified set or initiating the performance of the task by an alternative task performer in the price qualified set includes generating an output that causes a display device to communicate information about each alternative task performer in the price qualified set and its respective price proposal that reflects a price for engaging the alternative task performer to perform the task in lieu of the task being performed by the network. 
     
     
         18 . The tangible computer-readable medium according to  claim 17 , wherein the collection of assets of the network that have been designated as the given set of assets includes assets of the network that have been selected via a process of identifying a group of computing operations that are to be considered for performance by an alternative task performer in lieu of the network and evaluating the assets of the network according to an evaluation criteria to determine if each such evaluated asset would be needed in the event that the network were to perform the identified group of computing operations. 
     
     
         19 . The tangible computer-readable medium according to  claim 18 , wherein evaluating the assets of the network according to an evaluation criteria includes determining the existence of a dependency between an individual asset and another individual asset, wherein a dependency is deemed to exist if the cumulative computing operations performed by the given set of assets of the network could not be performed if the individual asset were not part of the given set of assets. 
     
     
         20 . The tangible computer-readable medium according to  claim 14 , wherein the availability set includes at least two alternative task performers and the step of identifying a price qualified set includes determining the respective price proposal of each alternative task performer of the availability set in compliance with a uniformly applied price work up protocol that is applied to all alternative task performers in the availability set.