Client-Aware Cloud
IT departments must deliver cloud services to many types of clients with the expectation of high security, performance, and manageability. Intel believes that it is essential for cloud architectures to incorporate clients if they are to deliver on these expectations—and provide the user experience and the IT flexibility needed to make widespread cloud adoption feasible. This is why one of the three tenets of our cloud computing vision—called Intel’s Cloud 2015 Vision (intel.com/content/www/us/en/cloud-computing/intel-s-cloudcomputing-vision.html)—is that clouds must become “client aware.” When a cloud is client aware, the solutions delivered over the cloud can make realtime decisions about how to optimally execute a given task based on what they detect about the capabilities of individual clients. For example, if the application detects that the end point is a smart phone, it can choose to run tasks entirely from the cloudbased server. But if the same application detects a PC capable of meeting security policy requirements, it can choose to push execution of that task to the client. A client-aware cloud infrastructure benefits both IT and users. For users, it delivers better responsiveness and productivity—both essential to delivering a quality user experience. For IT, it improves application delivery and provides a more flexible architecture. Ultimately, we believe that a client-aware cloud is essential for achieving a “balanced compute model.” The balanced compute model uses the strengths of both cloud and client to deliver the optimal cloud environment: secure, manageable, and offering a high-quality user experience.
Balanced Compute Model
Capitalizing on the capabilities of the cloud and the client.
Public or Private Cloud
Cloud Attributes Device, location, policy, and connection aware Optimized application delivery Enhanced flexibility
Client Attributes Intelligent performance Data and device security Optimized experience
Notebook
Home PC
Desktop
Netbook
Smart Phone
14 Intel IT Center Planning Guide | Client Computing in the Cloud