SYSTEMS AND/OR METHODS FOR SUPPORTING A GENERIC FRAMEWORK FOR INTEGRATION OF ON-PREMISES AND SaaS APPLICATIONS WITH SECURITY, SERVICE MEDIATION, ADMINISTRATIVE, AND/OR MONITORING CAPABILITIES

A client device configured to transparently access one or more cloud-based applications managed by one or more respective cloud providers, the client device comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• an interface to connector services administered by a computer system, the computer system being configured to coordinate at least:
• a plurality of metadata handlers, each said metadata handler being an implementation of an interface for accessing at least one of the cloud providers in accordance with a data model with which the associated at least one cloud provider communicates;
• an exporter module configured to generate, for each said metadata handler implementation, connector descriptors that define services offered by the associated at least one cloud provider;
• and
• a plurality of connection factory instances implemented separate, and being different, from the plurality of metadata handlers, each said connection factory instance specifying client transport layer details for interacting with one or more of the cloud providers and/or cloud applications;
• and
• wherein the connector services are generated by the computer system based on input from the connection factory instances and matching connector descriptors.

A first cloud provider in a system including a plurality of cloud providers that manage one or more cloud-based applications, wherein the cloud providers are transparently accessible by one or more client devices through connector services administered by a server, the first cloud provider comprising:

• processing resources, including at least one processor, a memory, and/or non-transitory storage, that are accessible by the one or more client devices via the server, the server being configured to coordinate at least:
• a plurality of metadata handlers, each said metadata handler being an implementation of an interface for accessing at least one of the cloud providers in accordance with a data model with which the associated at least one cloud provider communicates;
• an exporter module configured to generate, for each said metadata handler implementation, connector descriptors that define services offered by the associated at least one cloud provider;
• and
• a plurality of connection factory instances implemented separate from the plurality of metadata handlers, each said connection factory instance specifying client transport layer details for interacting with one or more of the cloud providers and/or cloud applications;
• and
• wherein the connector services are generated based on input from the connection factory instances and matching connector descriptors.

A method of configuring a computer system that enables clients to transparently access one or more cloud-based applications managed by one or more respective cloud providers through connector services administered by the computer system, the method comprising:

• defining a plurality of metadata handlers, each said metadata handler being an implementation of an interface for accessing at least one of the cloud providers in accordance with a data model with which the associated at least one cloud provider communicates;
• generating, in connection with an exporter module, for each said metadata handler implementation, connector descriptors that define services offered by the associated at least one cloud provider;
• and
• specifying client transport layer details for interacting with one or more of the cloud providers and/or cloud applications in connection with a plurality of connection factory instances that are implemented separate from the plurality of metadata handlers;
• and
• generating, in connection with at least one processor, the connector services based on input from the connection factory instances and matching connector descriptors.