SLA-Ready has addressed the current cloud SLA challenges with its dedicated tools and services:
The SLA Common Reference Model & SLA Readiness Index: We have demonstrated the value of a Common Reference Model (CRM) promoting a common understanding of SLAs and their attributes, encouraging the implementation of best practices within the industry and helping customers and resellers understand the crucial elements of a Cloud SLA, including minimum compliance levels and how to manage the complete service lifecycle.
As part of the SLA-Ready’s joint exploitation and sustainability plans, TUDA and Arthur’s Legal have already initiated long-term collaborative activities to cover tools development, SLA usage processes, and SLA-based trust quantification among others. These activities will continue beyond the SLA-READY’s lifetime to provide sustained advocacy of the approaches behind the CRM and the SLA-Readiness Index to the broad applications community spanning SMEs, CSPs, and policymakers.
SLA Ready Hub and SLA Marketplace: A barrier to the adoption of cloud computing by SMEs is knowledge. We have demonstrated the tangible benefits of using the SLA Aid and the SLA Repository. Adopting cloud services should not be viewed as a “no-brainer” but rather as an informed decision having scrutinised the contractual terms and SLAs, and making comparisons with other service offers.
As part of the SLA-Ready’s joint exploitation and sustainability plans, as partners in CloudWATCH2, Trust-IT and CSA will continue to promote the SLA-Ready Hub and SLA Marketplace, in particular the SLA-Aid and SLA Repository.
SME Workshop series: Our 4 SME workshops delivered in Y2 to EU SME associations have shown that SMEs and an increasing number of resellers lack expertise in 2 key areas: the ability to assess a provider’s security measures and understanding of the legal implications, including compliance with forthcoming EU regulations. We have identified a real need for practical hands-on workshops with an essential legal guide complemented by the SLA-Ready Hub and SLA Marketplace so SMEs know what to expect, what to do and what to trust when choosing a cloud service
Through CloudWATCH2 activities, Trust-IT will continue to promote the CRM and associated outputs at stakeholder workshops provided to SME associations.
SLA Standardisation: The emphasis on relevant standards for Cloud SLAs in the Common Reference Model contributes to standardisation as a cornerstone of the Digital Single Market. SLA-Ready has positioned itself as key contributor to ISO/IEC 19086-2 and ISO/IEC 19086-3. SLA-Ready has made 48 contributions to ISO/IEC 19086 Given the lifetime of relevant standardization activities, the consortium has also taken some initial set of actions to continue its engagement with SDOs like ISO/IEC through the EU H2020 CloudWATCH2 project. SLA-Ready also contributed to EC Catalogue of standards covering cloud SLAs.
