Service – A means of delivering value to consumers by facilitating outcomes that they want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs or risks.

vCloud – A model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable resources that can be provisioned rapidly and released with minimal management effort.

vCloud Service Provider (or Provider) – An entity that provides vCloud services to consumers.

Consumer or Customer – Someone who consumes vCloud services and defines or agrees to service-level targets.

Service-Level Target – A commitment that is documented in a service-level agreement. Service-level targets are based on service-level requirements and are needed so that the vCloud service design is fit for its purpose. Service-level targets should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time-bound) and are usually based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Service-Level Agreement (SLA) – An agreement between a service consumer and the service provider that measures the quality and performance of the available services. The SLA is the entire agreement that specifies what service is to be provided, how it is supported, time, locations, cost, performance, and responsibilities of the parties involved.

Service-Level Objective (SLO) – A negotiated document that defines the service to be delivered to the consumer, with one or more key performance indicators (KPIs). It provides a clear understanding of the nature of the service being offered, focusing on the contribution of the service to the business value chain. SLOs are specific, measurable characteristics of the SLA, such as availability, throughput, frequency, response time, or quality.

Operational-Level Agreement (OLA) – An agreement internal to the service provider that details the interdependent relationships among the internal support groups of an organization working to support an SLA.

VMware vCloud Suite – The suite of VMware technologies that provide the solution for vCloud computing.

VMware vCloud Services or vCloud Services – vCloud computing services built with the VMware vCloud Suite.