Cloud Broker and Procurement System and Method

A system comprising:

• a plurality of providers, wherein each of the providers is operable to:
• transmit an offer of a computing resource associated with a respective provider;
• an optimizer operable to:
• receive, from each of the plurality of providers, a service level agreement associated with each respective offered computing resource;
• normalize each of the service level agreements associated with the offered computing resources;
• select, based at least in part on the normalized service level agreements, one of the plurality of providers to provide the requested computing resource;
• transmit a service match indicator to the client, wherein the service match indicator indicates a time at which the offered computing resource will be utilized;
• and
• a client operable to:
• transmit a request for a computing resource;
• and
• utilize the computing resource on the selected provider.

A computer readable storage medium encoded with logic, the logic operable, when executed on a processor, to:

• receive, from each of a plurality of providers, an offer of a computing resource;
• receive, from each of the plurality of providers, a service level agreement associated with each respective offered computing resource;
• normalize each of the service level agreements associated with the offered computing resources;
• select, based at least in part on the normalized service level agreements, one of the plurality of providers to provide the requested computing resource;
• and
• to facilitate utilization of the computing resource on the selected provider by the client, transmit a service match indicator to the client, wherein the service match indicator indicates a time at which the offered computing resource will be utilized.

A system comprising:

• means for receiving an offer of a computing resource from each of a plurality of providers;
• means for receiving, from each of the plurality of providers, a service level agreement associated with each respective offered computing resource;
• means for normalizing each of the service level agreements associated with the offered computing resources;
• means for receiving a request from a requesting computer for a computing resource;
• means for selecting, based at least in part on the normalized service level agreements, one of the providers to provide the requested computing resource;
• means for transmitting a service match indicator to the client, wherein the service match indicator indicates a time at which the offered computing resource will be utilized;
• and
• means for utilizing the computing resource on the selected provider.