BDM Architecture Principle 9: Principle: Cloud First. Statement: Cloud First. BDM will leverage cloud where appropriate and available. Rationale: Cloud computing means providing infrastructure services and application services on demand. This is made possible through a high level of virtualization of hardware components by way of infrastructure service software. The result is highly scalable, elastic, available and programmable infrastructure. All these characteristics are of great importance to BDM. Implications: • BDM will leverage cloud where applicable, available and where it meets BDM security requirements. • All cloud deployment options (including SaaS) will be explored and evaluated as part of the solution design. • BDM will ensure that requirements for performance, availability, and scalability (including peak traffic periods) are met by all BDM solutions and components (new and legacy) and the hosting infrastructure.