Introducing the CSA

The evolution of cloud computing has created a demand for a new type of SA: a CSA. Cloud consumers eventually realized that cloud computing is more nuanced than on-premises. Architects made certain assumptions about the infrastructure when architecting on-premises solutions. For example, concepts such as network faults rarely got considered in solution design due to the infrequency of the faults happening. If a network outage, intermittent or not, made a database inaccessible, the client trying to connect to the database would try once and then fail. Transient network faults happen from time to time in the cloud, and architects need to design around these faults. The cloud has many other examples of different considerations, all of which have helped define the role of CSA.

A traditional SA focuses on on-premises solutions, while a CSA extends their role to the cloud. A CSA designs and develops platforms and applications for various organizations that use cloud...