There was some great discussion on this when the list was first launched, but at the time, I don't think the answer was clear, and the group went on with the practical tasks of actually making things work. That's a decent, functional response, but as we embark on a bigger strategic plan, we need a more clear definition of our scope. (Then we can start talking about desired outcomes within that scope, various stakeholders, and so on.)

The embryonic Fedora Cloud Guide¹ says

Pardon the pun, but "the cloud" is a nebulous term. When well-meaning people talk about cloud computing, they are often talking about one of many difference scenarios.

I've put a little jar by my desk, and I'm putting quarters into it every time I say "nebulous", or "hazy", or anything like that. Clearly, "Cloud" is a marketing term *and* a business buzzword, neither of which lend themselves to clarity. But it's also a *very real* change in the computing landscape, and Fedora should take a leadership position in that transition and in the new tech world. Using a clear framework for our scope will help us through the fog. (*Plink* — there goes 25¢)

Our Cloud Guide goes on to list Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. That's an important lens, but it's also jumping ahead a bit. The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently published an official definition², and while "government-committee definition" may light up some alarms, this is actually straightforward and fuctional. Once you get past the preamble, there's really only two pages to it.

I like this definition because while it's still broad, it focuses on essential characteristics which distinguish cloud computing from datacenter virtualization in general and from "it's on the Internet!"

If I haven't lost you already, I encourage you to read the definition. Really, it's short. But if you're hanging on by an attention-span thread, the essentials are:

- On demand self-service. - Broad network access. - Resource pooling. - Rapid elasticity. - Measured service.

And then it goes on with service models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) and deployment models (private, community, public, hybrid).

I suggest that Fedora adopt this as our definition, and as the basis for the scope of this SIG. I think this is uncontroversial, but I would like to hear your feedback.

Of particular note, work here so far has focused on two primary areas: "JEOS" images³ for Amazon EC2 (and elsewhere), and on software stacks for deploying cloud infrastructure (Eucalyptus, OpenStack) as a cloud provider. This has been great so far, but I also want to open up the SIG to some broader areas as well — those use areas and constituent groups being the topic of future discussion.

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1. http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora_Draft_Documentation/0.1/html-sing... 2. http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf 3. That's "Just Enough Operating System", if you haven't heard the term.