Cloud Service Brokerage Platform Cross-Provider Security Key Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional cloud management models face challenges such as disparate billing, payment, and service-level agreement compliance across cloud service providers, leading to inefficient management and potential vendor lock-in for cloud service consumers.
Innovation Solution
A cloud service brokerage (CSB) platform that enables centralized management of cloud services, providing a unified interface for designing, ordering, provisioning, and controlling cloud services across multiple providers, thereby aggregating resources, managing costs, and ensuring SLA compliance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If cloud service consumers directly manage multiple cloud service providers, then service provisioning flexibility is improved, but management complexity and operational difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a cloud service brokerage platform as an intermediary between cloud service consumers and multiple cloud service providers. The brokerage platform aggregates services from multiple providers, standardizes interfaces, and manages provisioning workflows, thereby maintaining service flexibility while reducing management complexity for consumers.
Solution Approach 2:
The brokerage platform provides universal service management capabilities that work across multiple cloud service providers. It implements a unified service catalog, standardized provisioning interfaces, and common billing mechanisms, allowing consumers to manage diverse cloud services through a single multi-functional platform.
2Adaptability or versatility
If cloud service consumers use multiple cloud service providers, then service variety and choice are improved, but billing and payment management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The brokerage platform merges billing and payment operations from multiple cloud service providers into a unified system. It consolidates service catalogs, aggregates charges, and processes payments through a single interface, transforming complex multi-provider billing into a simplified unified billing experience while preserving access to diverse services.
3Ease of operation
If cloud service consumers directly manage cloud services without brokerage, then operational control is improved, but vendor lock-in risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The brokerage platform segments the relationship between consumers and providers by introducing an intermediate management layer. It abstracts provider-specific interfaces through standardized service catalogs and provisioning workflows, allowing consumers to maintain operational control while reducing direct dependency on any single vendor's proprietary systems.
4Adaptability or versatility
If cloud service providers use disparate billing and payment systems, then provider autonomy is improved, but service integration and compliance management deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The brokerage platform implements universal billing and payment management mechanisms that work across multiple autonomous providers. It standardizes service catalogs, uniform billing formats, and common payment processing while allowing providers to maintain their operational autonomy and pricing strategies.
Data Source
AI summary
Implementation of cross provider security in accordance with the disclosures made herein enables users of a system (e.g., a cloud services brokerage platform) in a cloud environment provides for system-managed provisioning and management of keys to cloud resources thereby allowing the user to manage data security and enable secured access to their cloud resources. To this end, cross provider security management functionality in accordance with the disclosures made herein can include provisioning system-generated keys across different regions in a provider, provisioning cloud brokerage system-generated keys across different providers; and associating (i.e., managing) the keys from the system to a hardware security module. The keys can be managed by/though a variety of different resources (e.g., brokering system, VDC, user group concepts, etc).