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Popular Cloud Acronyms

A

Access Control List (ACL)
A Cloud Access Control List (ACL) is a set of rules that define what actions are permitted or denied on cloud resources within a particular cloud environment. These resources can include virtual machines, storage buckets, databases, or any other service offered by a cloud provider.

Adaptive Enterprise
Adaptive Enterprise is a strategic approach to organizational design and management that emphasizes agility, flexibility, and resilience in response to change. Adaptive Enterprises are adept at navigating uncertainties and disruptions, whether they stem from technological advancements, market shifts, or other factors.

Amazon Certificate Manager (ACM)
Amazon Certificate Manager (ACM) is a service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables users to easily provision, manage, and deploy Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) certificates for use with AWS services and internal resources.

Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) is a pre-configured template used to create virtual machines (instances) within the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing environment. Essentially, an AMI serves as a blueprint for launching new instances, allowing users to quickly deploy virtual servers with specific configurations, software, and operating systems.

Amazon Resource Name (ARN)
An Amazon Resource Name (ARN) is a unique identifier assigned to each resource within Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is used to unambiguously identify resources across different AWS services and regions. ARNs are structured strings that follow a specific format and provide essential information about the resource they represent.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a comprehensive and widely used cloud computing platform offered by Amazon.com. It provides a range of cloud-based services, including computing power, storage, networking, databases, machine learning, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), security, and more. AWS enables businesses, organizations, and individuals to access these services on a pay-as-you-go basis, allowing them to scale resources up or down based on demand without the need to invest in and maintain physical infrastructure.

Application modernization
Application modernization refers to the process of updating or transforming legacy software applications to leverage modern technologies, architectures, and practices. The goal of application modernization is to improve the functionality, performance, agility, scalability, and security of existing applications, thereby enabling organizations to meet evolving business needs and remain competitive in the digital age.

Application Programming Interface (API)
An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of rules, protocols, and tools that allows different software applications to communicate with each other. APIs define the methods and data formats that applications can use to request and exchange information, enabling seamless integration and interaction between diverse systems and services. There are different types of APIs like REST, GraphQL, RPC, etc.

Application Refactoring
Application Refactoring, also known as code refactoring, is the process of restructuring existing source code without changing its external behaviour to improve its internal structure, readability, maintainability, and/or performance. The goal of application refactoring is to enhance the quality of the codebase, making it easier to understand, modify, and extend while minimizing the risk of introducing bugs or regressions. Here are some key aspects of application refactoring:

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. These tasks include learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, understanding natural language, and interacting with the environment. AI aims to create machines or systems that can mimic or simulate human-like cognitive abilities to varying degrees.

Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AIaaS)
Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AIaaS) refers to the provision of artificial intelligence capabilities and resources as cloud-based services. AIaaS offerings allow organizations to access and leverage advanced AI technologies without the need to invest in developing and maintaining their own AI infrastructure and expertise.

Augmented Reality (AR)
Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital information, such as images, videos, or 3D models, onto the real-world environment, thereby enhancing a user's perception and interaction with their surroundings. Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), which immerses users in entirely virtual environments, AR blends digital content with the physical world, allowing users to see and interact with both simultaneously.

Auto Scaling
Auto scaling is a cloud computing feature that automatically adjusts the number of cloud resources, such as virtual machines (VMs), containers, or servers, in response to changes in demand or workload. The goal of auto scaling is to ensure that applications have the right amount of resources at any given time to handle varying levels of traffic or workload without over-provisioning or under-provisioning. Scaling can happen Horizontally by adding or removing number of cloud resources from the same resource type (like virtual machine or can happen Vertically bu upgrading or downgrading the cloud resource to smaller or larger resource, for example during the scaling more CPU or Memory maybe added to a virtual machine being changed to a larger virtual machine to manage the demand.

Automated Speech Recognition (ASR)
Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), also known as speech-to-text or voice recognition, is a technology that allows a computer or machine to transcribe spoken language into text. ASR systems use algorithms to analyze audio input and convert it into written words. This technology is used in various applications, including virtual assistants, dictation software, voice-controlled devices, and automated customer service systems.

Availability Zone (AZ)
An Availability Zone (AZ) is a distinct location within an AWS Region, representing one or more discrete data centers, independent of each other and each with redundant power, networking, and connectivity, housed in separate facilities.

AWS GovCloud
AWS GovCloud is isolated regions of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing platform designed to meet the unique regulatory and compliance requirements of government agencies, educational institutions, and other customers in highly regulated industries, such as healthcare, finance, and defense. AWS GovCloud offers a separate and isolated environment that allows customers to run sensitive workloads and store data subject to strict security and compliance requirements.

B

Backend as a Service (BaaS)
Backend as a Service (BaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides developers with pre-built backend infrastructure and services to support the development, deployment, and management of web and mobile applications. BaaS platforms abstract away the complexity of building and maintaining backend components, such as servers, databases, authentication, and storage, allowing developers to focus on building the frontend and application logic.

Backend Database
A backend database, also known simply as a backend or server-side database, refers to the database system that stores and manages data for an application's backend or server-side components. In a client-server architecture, the backend database resides on the server side and is accessed by the application's frontend or client-side components, such as web browsers, mobile apps, or desktop applications.

Big Data
Big data refers to large volumes of structured, semi-structured, or unstructured data that inundates businesses on a day-to-day basis. It encompasses data from various sources, including but not limited to social media, sensors, mobile devices, websites, transactions, and other digital interactions. The key characteristics of big data, often referred to as the "3Vs," are volume, velocity, and variety. In addition to the "3Vs," big data is also sometimes associated with two additional Vs: Variability and Veracity.

Big Data as a Service
Big Data as a Service (BDaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides organizations with access to big data processing and analytics capabilities through cloud-based platforms and services. BDaaS offerings abstract away the complexities of managing and scaling big data infrastructure, allowing organizations to focus on extracting insights and value from their data without the need for extensive expertise or upfront investments in hardware and software.

Big Data as a Service
Big data refers to large volumes of structured, semi-structured, or unstructured data that inundates businesses on a day-to-day basis. It encompasses data from various sources, including but not limited to social media, sensors, mobile devices, websites, transactions, and other digital interactions. The key characteristics of big data, often referred to as the "3Vs," are volume, velocity, and variety

Business Continuity (BC)
Business continuity is an organization's ability to continue operating and delivering its products or services during and after disruptive events or emergencies. These disruptive events can include natural disasters, technological failures, cyber attacks, pandemics, or other unforeseen incidents that could impact normal business operations.

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR)
Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) are closely related concepts aimed at ensuring the resilience and continuity of business operations in the face of disruptive events. While they are related, they serve slightly different purposes:
Business Continuity (BC): Business continuity focuses on maintaining essential business functions and processes during and after disruptive events.
Disaster Recovery (DR): Disaster recovery focuses on the steps and procedures required to restore IT infrastructure, systems, and data following a disruptive event.

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a standardized exterior gateway protocol designed to exchange routing information between different autonomous systems (ASes) on the Internet.

BGP ASN (Autonomous System Number)
Border Gateway Protocol Autonomous System Number is a unique identifier assigned to an autonomous system (AS) that participates in the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing. An autonomous system is a collection of IP networks and routers under the control of a single organization that presents a common routing policy to the internet.

Bring Your Own License (BYOL)
Bring Your Own License (BYOL) in the context of cloud computing refers to a model where customers can use their existing software licenses to deploy and run software applications on cloud infrastructure. In a BYOL model, customers retain ownership of their software licenses and are responsible for ensuring compliance with licensing terms and conditions.

C

Central Processing Unit (CPU)
The CPU, or Central Processing Unit, is essentially the brain of a computer. It's a hardware component responsible for executing instructions and performing calculations for various tasks. Think of it as the command center that coordinates and manages all operations within a computer system.

Certificate Authority (CA)
A Certificate Authority (CA) is a trusted entity that issues digital certificates used to verify the identity of individuals, organizations, or entities in electronic communication. These digital certificates serve as a form of authentication and are used to establish secure communication channels over the internet, such as SSL/TLS connections for websites, email encryption, and digital signatures.

Cloud Access Control List (ACL)
A Cloud ACL (Access Control List) is a security feature that controls network traffic by allowing or denying access to resources based on specified rules. Cloud ACLs are commonly used in cloud environments to control traffic flow to and from cloud hosted resources like virtual machines, containers, databases, storage, or other network resources deployed within a cloud infrastructure.

Cloud Application
A cloud application, often referred to as a cloud-based application, is a software program that operates in the cloud rather than on a local computer or server. It utilizes remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process data, as well as to execute its functions.

Cloud Architect
A cloud architect is a professional responsible for designing and implementing cloud-based solutions for organizations. They assess an organization's requirements, select appropriate cloud services and technologies, and create architectural designs that optimize performance, scalability, security, and cost-effectiveness. Cloud architects typically have expertise in cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform, as well as knowledge of networking, security, and application development principles tailored to the cloud environment. Their goal is to leverage cloud technologies to enable businesses to achieve their objectives efficiently and effectively.

Cloud Automation
Cloud automation involves the use of software tools and processes to streamline and automate the management, deployment, and operation of cloud infrastructure and services. It encompasses tasks such as provisioning virtual machines, configuring network resources, scaling resources up or down based on demand, and managing application deployments. By automating these tasks, organizations can improve efficiency, reduce human error, and achieve greater consistency in their cloud operations. Additionally, cloud automation enables organizations to respond quickly to changes in demand and optimize resource utilization, ultimately driving cost savings and enhancing agility in the cloud environment.

Cloud Backup
Cloud backup is a method of storing copies of important and critical data and services in cloud. The source of data and services could be on-premises or in same, different, or multiple clouds. Cloud Backup involves transferring data over the internet to a secure off-site location, where it is stored redundantly and reliably by leveraging Cloud’s key capabilities like scalability, cloud storages’ durability and pay per use and other feature to protect your data and service against data loss due to events like hardware failures, natural disasters, or cyberattacks.

Cloud Backup
Cloud backup is a method of storing copies of important and critical data and services in cloud. The source of data and services could be on-premises or in same, different, or multiple clouds. Cloud Backup involves transferring data over the internet to a secure off-site location, where it is stored redundantly and reliably by leveraging Cloud’s key capabilities like scalability, cloud storages’ durability and pay per use and other feature to protect your data and service against data loss due to events like hardware failures, natural disasters, or cyberattacks.

Cloud Browser
A cloud browser, sometimes referred to as a web browser or browser-based operating system, is a type of web browser that runs entirely in the cloud, meaning that all processing and rendering tasks are performed on remote servers rather than on the user's device.

In a traditional web browser like Chrome or Firefox, the browser software is installed and runs directly on the user's device, accessing web content and rendering it locally. However, in a cloud browser, the browser interface is accessed through a web interface or application, and all web content is processed remotely on powerful servers in data centers.

Cloud Bursting
Cloud bursting is a hybrid cloud computing model that enables organizations to handle sudden spikes in demand for computational resources by dynamically scaling their workload between their private infrastructure and a public cloud environment. In a cloud bursting scenario, a company typically operates its primary workloads on its private cloud or on-premises data centers. However, during periods of high demand, such as seasonal peaks or unexpected traffic spikes, the organization can "burst" or temporarily offload excess workloads to a public cloud provider. This allows the organization to leverage additional resources from the public cloud on-demand, ensuring that they can meet their performance requirements without over-provisioning their own infrastructure.

Cloud Cartography
Cloud Cartography refers to the process of mapping out an organization's entire cloud infrastructure to gain insights into its architecture, dependencies, and relationships between various components. This mapping helps organizations understand and visualize their cloud environment, which is essential for optimizing performance, enhancing security, and managing costs effectively.
It can facilitate decision-making processes related to cloud migration, expansion, or restructuring by providing a clear understanding of the existing architecture and its implications.

Cloud Compliance
Cloud compliance refers to adhering to regulations, standards, and best practices related to data security, privacy, and governance in cloud computing environments. As organizations increasingly move their data and workloads to the cloud, ensuring compliance with relevant laws and industry regulations becomes paramount to mitigate risks and protect sensitive information.
Key aspects of cloud compliance include: Data Privacy, Security Standards, Data Resiliency, Audit and Compliance Reporting, Contractual Obligations, and Continuous Monitoring and Remediation.

Cloud Consumer
A cloud consumer refers to an individual or organization that utilizes cloud computing services and resources provided by a cloud service provider (CSP). Cloud consumers leverage the infrastructure, platforms, or software offered by CSPs to host applications, store data, and perform computing tasks without needing to invest in and manage physical infrastructure themselves.

Cloud Economics
Cloud economics refers to the financial considerations and cost structures associated with utilizing cloud computing services. It encompasses the analysis, optimization, and management of costs related to deploying and operating workloads in the cloud.
Key aspects of cloud economics include: Pay-Per-Use, Economies of Scale, Cost Transparency, Resource Optimisation, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Analysis, Cost Management Tools.

Cloud Environment
A cloud environment refers to the infrastructure, platforms, and services provided by cloud computing providers to deliver computing resources over the internet. It encompasses the physical, virtualized resources, networking capabilities, and management tools that enable organizations to deploy, manage, and scale their IT workloads in a flexible and cost-effective manner.

Cloud Foundry
Cloud Foundry is an open-source platform-as-a-service (PaaS) that provides a cloud-native application platform for deploying, running, and managing applications. It offers developers a streamlined way to build, deploy, and scale applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

Cloud Governance
Cloud governance refers to the set of policies, processes, and controls that organizations establish to ensure the effective and responsible use of cloud computing services while aligning with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and security standards. It encompasses various aspects of cloud management, including resource provisioning, access control, data protection, compliance, and cost optimization.

Cloud IDE
A Cloud IDE, or Integrated Development Environment, is a web-based platform that allows developers to write, debug, and deploy code entirely in the cloud, without the need to install and configure traditional desktop-based development tools. Cloud IDEs provide a convenient and collaborative environment for software development, offering features such as code editing, version control, build automation, debugging, and deployment, all accessible through a web browser.

Some popular Cloud IDEs include: AWS Cloud9, Google Cloud Shell, Microsoft Visual Studio Online, GitPod, CloudSandbox, Eclipse Che and Repl.it

Cloud Insurance
Cloud insurance, also known as cloud computing insurance or cyber insurance, is a type of insurance policy designed to mitigate financial losses and liabilities associated with cloud computing services and cyber threats. As businesses increasingly rely on cloud-based infrastructure and services for critical operations, the need for insurance coverage to protect against potential risks has grown.

Some key aspects of cloud insurance include: Coverage for Data Breaches, Business Interruption Coverage, Third-Party Liability Protection, Regulatory Compliance Coverage, Cyber Extortion and Ransomware Protection, Cyber Incident Response Services.

Cloud Integration
Cloud integration refers to the process of connecting different cloud-based applications, services, and data sources to enable seamless communication, data sharing, and workflow automation across distributed environments. It involves integrating cloud-based systems with each other, as well as with on-premises systems and external third-party services, to create a unified and interconnected ecosystem.

Key aspects of Cloud Integration include: API Integration, Data Integration, Event-Driven Architecture, Workflow Automation, Hybrid Integration, Identity and Access Management (IAM) integration, Monitoring and Management, Compliance and Security.

Cloud Load Balancing
Cloud load balancing is a technique used to distribute incoming network traffic across multiple servers or resources in a cloud environment to ensure optimal resource utilization, maximize availability, and improve performance. It plays a crucial role in scaling applications, managing traffic spikes, and enhancing the reliability and responsiveness of cloud-based services.

Cloud Load balancing can be used to achieve different goals including Traffic Distribution, Efficient Resource utilisation, High Availability, Scalability, and Global Load Balancing or Geo Distribution of load and traffic.

Cloud Manageability
Cloud manageability refers to the ease with which organizations can monitor, control, and optimize their cloud computing resources and services to meet business objectives effectively. It encompasses various aspects of managing cloud environments, including provisioning, configuration, monitoring, automation, optimization, and governance.

Key components of Cloud Managability icnlude: Provisioning and Deployment, Configuration Management, Monitoring and Performance Management, Automation and Orchestration, Cost Management, Security and Compliance, Governance and Policy Enforcement.

Cloud Management Platform (CMP)
A Cloud Management Platform (CMP) is a software solution or suite of tools designed to manage and orchestrate cloud infrastructure and services across multiple cloud environments, including public clouds, private clouds, and hybrid clouds. CMPs provide a centralized management interface and set of capabilities that enable organizations to provision, monitor, optimize, and govern their cloud resources effectively.

Cloud Marketplace
A Cloud Marketplace is an online platform that provides a curated collection of cloud-based software applications, services, and solutions from various vendors. These marketplaces allow customers to discover, purchase, deploy, and manage third-party applications and services directly from their cloud provider's platform.

An example of this can be AWS Marketplace where AWS Partners can publish their services and applications for AWS customers to explore, find, and subscribe to or purchase.

Cloud Maturity Model (CMM)
The Cloud Maturity Model (CMM) is a framework used to assess an organization's readiness and progress in adopting cloud computing technologies and practices. Similar to other maturity models, such as the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), the CMM provides a structured approach for evaluating an organization's capabilities across different dimensions related to cloud adoption.

The Cloud Maturity Model provides organizations with a roadmap for progressing through different levels of maturity, identifying gaps, and prioritizing investments and initiatives to advance their cloud adoption journey. By assessing their maturity level and aligning with best practices and benchmarks, organizations can effectively plan, execute, and optimize their cloud strategies to achieve their business objectives.

CDN - Content Delivery Network

CDN - Content Delivery Network

CDN - Content Delivery Network

CI/CD - Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery

CLI - Command Line Interface

CMK- Custom Master Key

CORS- Cross-Origin Resource Sharing

CPU- Central Processing Unit

CSP- Cloud Service Provider

CV- Computer Vision

D

DB - Database

DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

DKIM - Domain Keys Identified Mail

DMS - Database Migration Services

DNS - Domain Name System

DR - Disaster Recovery

CORS- Cross-Origin Resource Sharing

CPU- Central Processing Unit

CSP- Cloud Service Provider

CV- Computer Vision

E

EBS - Certificate Authority

EC2 - Elastic Compute Cloud

ECR - Elastic Container Registry

ECS - Elastic Container Service

ECS - Elastic Container Service

EFS - Elastic File System

EIP - Elastic IP

EKS - Elastic Kubernetes Service

ELB - Elastic Load Balancer

EMP - End-of-Service Migration Program

EMR - Elastic Map Reduce

ENI - Elastic Network Interface

ETL - Extract, Transform, and Load

F

FIM - Federated Identity Management

FIS - Fault Injection Simulator

FTP - File Transfer Protocol

SFTP - Secure File Transfer Protocol

G

GB - Gigabyte

GPU - Graphic Processing Unit

H

HA - High Availability

HIPPA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

HMAC - Hash-Based Message Authentication Code

HPC - High Performance Computing

HRNN - Hierarchical Recurrent Neural Network

HSM - Hardware Security Module

HTML - HyperText Markup Language

HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol

HTTPS - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure

HVM - Hardware Virtual Machine

I

IaaS - Infrastructure as a Service

IAM - Identity and Access Management

IDE - Integrated Development Environment

Idp - Identity Provider

IOPS - Input/Output Operations Per Second

IoT - Internet of Things

IP - Internet Protocol

IPSec - Internet Protocol Security

ISP - Internet Service Provider

ISV - Independent Software Vendor

IT - Information Technology

ITSM - IT Service Management

J

JSON - JavaScript Object Notation

K

KDM - Kinesis Data Stream

KMS - Key Management Service

L

KDM - Kinesis Data Stream

M

Mac - Media Access Control ( Mac Address )

MAC - Message Authentication Code

MAP - Migration Acceleration Program

MFA - Multi-Factor Authentication

MIME - Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

ML - Machine Learning

MSP - Managed Service Provider

MTA - Mail Transfer Agent

MWAA - Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow

N

NACL - Network Access Control List

NAT - Network Address Translation

NLP - Natural Language Processing

O

OCR - Optical Character Recognition

OLAP - Online Analytical Processing

OLTP - Online Transaction Processing

OU - Organizational Unit

P

PaaS - Platform as a Service

PAT - Port Address Translation

PoC - Proof of Concept

Q

QLDB - Quantum Ledger Database

R

RAM - Resource Access Manager

RDS - Relational Database Service

REST - Representational State Transfer

RTMP - Real Time Messaging Protocol

S

S3 - Simple Storage Service

SaaS - Software as a Service

SAM - Serverless Application Model

SAML - Security Assertion Markup Language

SCP - Secure Copy Protocol

SCP - Service Control Policy

SCT - Scheme Conversion Tool

SDK - Software Development Kit

SES - Simple Email Service

SFTP - Secure File Transfer Protocol

SG - Security Group

SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm

SLA - Service Level Agreement

SMC - Simple Notification Service

SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

SNS - Simple Notification Service

SOAP - Simple Object Access Protocol

SOC - Service Organization Control

SOC2 - Service Organization Control 2

SoW - Statement of Work

SPF - Sender Policy Framework

SPICE - Super-fast, Parallel, In-memory Calculation Engine

SQL - Structured Query Language

SQS - Simple Queue Service

SSE - Server-Side Encryption

SSH - Secure Shell

SSL - Secure Sockets Layer

SSO - Single Sign-On

SSP - Supply Side Platform

STS - Security Token Service

SWF - Simple Workflow Service

T

TCO - Total Cost of Ownership

TCP - Transmission Control Protocol

TLS - Transport Layer Security

TTS - Text-to-Speech

TTL - Time to Live

U

UDP - User Datagram Protocol

URI - Uniform Resource Identifier

URL - Uniform Resource Locator

V

VERP - Variable Envelope Return Path

VGW (VPG) - Virtual Private Gateway

VM - Virtual Machine

VPC - Virtual Private Cloud

VPN - Virtual Private Network

VR - Virtual Reality

W

WAF- Web Application Firewall

WAM - WorkSpaces Application Manager

WAR - Well-Architectured Review

WSDL - Web Services Description Language

X

XML- Extensible Markup Language

Y

XML- Extensible Markup Language

B

BC - Business Continuity

BCDR - Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery

BGP - Border Gateway Protocol

BGP ASN - Border Gateway Protocol Autonomous System Number

BYOD - Bring Your Own Device

BYOL - Bring Your Own License

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