What is the difference between a software architect and a cloud architect?

Supposing from a traditional standpoint, both have been around for a long time. Take the case of the old-school large enterprise, IT required centralized computing resources, accessed from dumb terminals (expensive mainframes). Cloud computing is the true evolution of software architecture whereby a software architect can, with modern cloud computing architecture base their designs or solutions by drawing upon an ever growing and vast array of readily available components or resources in the Cloud –itself a loosely termed collective of both hardware and software building blocks, with great cost efficiency. The chief role of cloud architect is to provide the ‘factory’ powering other software or solutions. If one was to place software architect vs cloud architect into a technical architect hierarchy, using automobiles as a metaphor –then cloud architecture would be providing the raw materials, engines, gearboxes, flywheels, seats, gasoline ­(infrastructure) whereby the software architect would be placing the orders to the cloud architect in order to produce the automobiles delivered to end users. So let’s say for cloud architecture, the main goal is in providing the building blocks and micro or macro infrastructure to one or many software architectures. Clearly, Software architecture vs Cloud architecture remains distinct and complementary, as software by definition is something that can be abstracted, broken into components, not dependent on being cloud or non-cloud, yet serving a definitive end function or purpose wherever they are running. For cloud architecture, we must look upon it with much wider scope to be the infrastructure and factory for powering the overall technology architecture.

Sincerely yours,

APAsia.tech