Patent ID: 8676981
Filing Date: 2014-03-18
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for providing a federated virtual cloud service at the lowest actual cost comprising: maintaining of a virtual resource pool comprised of transactional units by an optimal transaction handler component of a federated virtual service cloud, wherein each transactional unit represents a service application deployed to a supporting cloud service provided by a cloud service provider that the federated virtual service cloud subscribes, wherein the cloud service provider utilizes a usage-based service cost model to provide cloud services, wherein said usage-based service cost model allows for the transactional unit to be placed in at least one of an active state and an inactive state, wherein transactional units in the inactive state are considered to be unused in terms of the usage-based service cost model, and, therefore, incur no cost beyond an initial subscription cost, wherein maintaining the virtual resource pool comprises: continuously capturing operational metrics data from cloud service providers hosting the transactional units of the virtual resource pool; and in response to a received service request for a service provided by the federated virtual service cloud, determining the transactional unit that meets fulfillment requirements of the received service request and incurs a lowest actual cost for the federated virtual service cloud, wherein said determination is based upon a plurality of cost factors derived from the captured operational metrics data, the usage-based service cost model of the cloud service provider, and a current usage state of the virtual resource pool; and routing the received service request to the determined transactional unit for performance of the service.