Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step ...

Defining the Information Model 89
Understanding Ontologies
When dealing with SOA using cloud computing, as you know by now, we are
dealing with much complexity. The notion of ontologies helps the enterprise
and cloud computing architect prepare generalizations that make the problem
domain more understandable. In contrast to abstraction, generalization
ignores many of the details and ends up with general ideas (see Figure 5.2).
Therefore, when generalizing, we start with a collection of types and analyze
commonalities to generalize them. Figure 5.3 provides a good visual example
of an ontology. Note how the nodes further define the general concepts.
Understand Ontologies
Ontologies
Figure 5.2 We use ontologies as a base for understanding. An ontology is used
here to create a macro view of our problem domain, starting with the general
concepts.
Animal
Vehicle
Dog
Car
Golden
Retriever
Saint
Bernard
Sports
Car
Police
Car
Figure 5.3 Ontologies provide better ways of organizing information and are a
great tool for defining data as part of an SOA using cloud computing project.