 - In general, provisioning means "providing" or making something available. The term is used in a variety of contexts in IT. For example, in grid computing, to provision is to activate a grid component, such as a server, array, or switch, so that it is available for use. In a storage area network (SAN), storage provisioning is the process of assigning storage to optimize performance. In telecommunications terminology, provisioning means providing a product or service, such as wiring or bandwidth. Provisioning means slightly different things in different aspects of telecommunications:
1) Providing telecommunications service to a user, including everything necessary to set up the service, such as equipment, wiring, and transmission. 2) Used as a synonym for configuring, as in "Telecommunications lines must be correctly provisioned to work with the customer's equipment and enabled for various options the customer has chosen." 3) In a traditional telecommunications environment, there are three separate types of provisioning: circuit provisioning, service provisioning, and switch provisioning. 4) In a wireless environment, provisioning refers to service activation and involves programming various network databases with the customer's information. 5) In a slightly different sense, network provisioning systems are intermediary systems that are used to provide customer services, log transactions, carry out requests, and update files. 6) Provisioning is the fourth step of the telecommunications sequence called OAM&P: Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning. 7) According to the technical group that created the Services Provisioning Markup Language (SPML), provisioning is "the automation of all the steps required to manage (setup, amend, and revoke) user or system access entitlements or data relative to electronically published services."
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Learn more about Cloud/Grid computing and virtualization for SOA |
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| Review of protocols for cloud services - Part 1: A discussion of the wide range of protocols and architecture in grid/cloud/distributed computing is in order. Bill Brogden discusses some of them in order of increasing complexity. |
| At PDC: Microsoft unveils Azure cloud computing platform, discloses "Dallas" online marketplace for data: Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie said Azure will be released in January, 2010. Microsoft also announced the preview of its new Data as a Service offering, codenamed Dallas. |
| Salesforce embraces challange from Oracle: When Oracle said it would get involved with cloud computing, Salesforce.com welcomed the competition. |
| Protocols for cloud services - Part 2: This article takes a look at JavaSpace and Hadoop, two different technologies that distribute computing jobs to cloud computing resources, manage it, and get results back. |
| BPM, SOA, and cloud trends with Richard Soley, CEO of OMG: Richard Soley, CEO of the Object Management Group, discusses trends in BPM, SOA, cloud computing and enterprise architecture in this videocast. |
| Development with the Force.com Platform: In Development with the Force.com Platform, author Joe Oulette describes how to use the Force.com platform to create business applications in the cloud. Read a free excerpt here. |
| Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: Read a free excerpt from "Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise," by David Linthicum. The book is a step-by-step guide on how to leverage cloud computing and SOA. |
| Get into the grid: Grid computing ties distributed computing resources via a local or wide area network making them appear as one large virtual computing system to an end user or application. |
| Grid Computing: Whatis.com says according to IBM's John Patrick, "the next big thing will be grid computing." |
| LAST UPDATED: |
20 Apr 2006
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