Using cloud brokering services for an opportunistic cloud offering

1. A method, comprising:

facilitating a first transaction for a first party, the first party configured as a consumer of a requested cloud-based computing service with respect to the first transaction, wherein facilitating the first transaction comprises:

publishing descriptions for a plurality of published services, the descriptions available from a plurality of publishing parties;

receiving, by a processor, a request to broker the first transaction from a requesting party, the request indicating the requested cloud-based computing service, the requested cloud-based computing service selected from the plurality of published services; and

associating the requested cloud-based computing service to one of the published services; and

the method further comprising facilitating a second transaction for the first party, the first party configured as a service provider of a custom cloud-based computing service with respect to the second transaction, the custom cloud-based computing service incorporating the requested cloud-based computing service.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first party corresponds to the requesting party with respect to the first transaction.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

calculating an account balance for the requesting party by:

determining whether the first transaction is a consumer transaction or a provider transaction of the requesting party;

if the first transaction is a consumer transaction, deducting the amount owed for the first transaction from the account balance; and

if the first transaction is a provider transaction, crediting the amount earned from the first transaction to the account balance.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating a fee for facilitating the transactions.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining whether the requesting party belongs to a consortium associated with a selected publishing party associated with the one of the published services; and

allowing the first transaction only if the requesting party belongs to the consortium associated with the selected publishing party.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising associating the requested cloud-based computing service to the one of the published services only if the one of the published services meets or exceeds a service level requested by the requesting party.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the plurality of published services comprises active services and dormant services and the requested cloud-based computing service comprises one of the dormant services; and

the facilitating the transaction for the one of the published services further comprises facilitating negotiations to activate the one of the dormant services.

8. A brokering system for cloud-based computing services, the system comprising:

one or more processors operable to:

publish descriptions for a plurality of published services, the descriptions available from a plurality of publishing parties; and

an interface comprising hardware and operable to:

receive a request to broker a first transaction from a requesting party, the request indicating a requested cloud-based computing service, the requested cloud-based computing service selected from the plurality of published services; and

the one or more processors further operable to:

associate the requested cloud-based computing service to one of the published services;

facilitate the first transaction for the one of the published services on behalf of a first party, the first party configured as a consumer of the requested cloud-based computing service with respect to the first transaction; and

facilitate, by the one or more processors, a second transaction for the first party, the first party configured as a service provider of a custom cloud-based computing service with respect to the second transaction, the custom cloud-based computing service incorporating the first-requested cloud-based computing service.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first party corresponds to one of the publishing parties with respect to the first transaction.

10. The system of claim 8 , the one or more processors further operable to:

calculate an account balance for the requesting party by:

determining whether the first transaction is a consumer transaction or a provider transaction of the requesting party;

if the first transaction is a consumer transaction, deducting the amount owed for the first transaction from the account balance;

if the first transaction is a provider transaction, crediting the amount earned from the first transaction to the account balance; and

applying a fee for facilitating the first transaction to the account balance.

11. The system of claim 8 , the one or more processors further operable to associate the requested cloud-based computing service to the one of the published services only if the one of the published services meets or exceeds a service level requested by the requesting party.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing logic when executed by a processor configured to:

facilitate a first transaction for a first party, the first party configured as a consumer of a requested cloud-based computing service with respect to the first transaction, wherein to facilitate the first transaction the logic is configured to:

publish descriptions for a plurality of published services, the descriptions available from a plurality of publishing parties;

receive a request to broker the first transaction from a requesting party, the request indicating the requested cloud-based computing service, the requested cloud-based computing service selected from the plurality of published services; and

associate the first-requested cloud-based computing service to one of the published services; and

the logic further configured to facilitate a second transaction for the first party, the first party configured as a service provider of a custom cloud-based computing service with respect to the second transaction, the custom cloud-based computing service incorporating the requested cloud-based computing service.

13. The logic of claim 12 , wherein the first party corresponds to the requesting party with respect to the first transaction.

14. The logic of claim 12 , further configured to:

calculate an account balance for the first party by:

determining that the first transaction is a consumer transaction and deducting the amount owed for the first transaction from the account balance;

determining that the second transaction is a provider transaction and crediting the amount earned from the second transaction to the account balance; and

applying a fee for facilitating the first transaction to the account balance.

15. The logic of claim 12 , further configured to associate the requested cloud-based computing service to the one of the published services only if the one of the published services meets or exceeds a service level requested by the requesting party.