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Appendix B - Glossary

Authentication Credential.  Something that an entity is, has, or knows that allows an entity to prove its identity to a system.

Cloud-subscriber.  An authenticated person that accesses a cloud system over a network.  A cloud-subscriber may possess administrative privileges, such as the ability to manage virtual machines, or the ability to regulate access by users to cloud resources the cloud-subscriber controls.

Data Object.  A logical container of data, that can be accessed over a network.  E.g., a blob.  May be an archive, such as specified by the TAR format.

Physical Data Container.  A storage device physically suitable for transferring data between cloud-subscribers and clouds.  E.g., a hard disk.  There has to be a standard format that the Provider supports (e.g., EIDE, IDE, SCSI).  The physical data container must be formatted with a standard logical organization, such as FAT32, ufs, etc.

Provider.  An organization that offers a network service that satisfies the definition of cloud computing given in Section

SLA.  A document explaining expected quality of service and legal guarantees.  Contains at least the following data fields:

CloseDelay:  the minimum latency, expressed in a common time unit, for a cloud provider to respond to a user's request to close an account.

User.  A person or computer that accesses a cloud system over a network.  A user may be authenticated but can also be anonymous.  A user does not have administrative privileges on a cloud system.