reference architecture definition

“…Building an enterprise cloud based on a reference architecture without considerable work defining business objectives and system requirements would only be an exercise in frustration. ” – Beth Cohen

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is reference architecture.  In project management, it’s a resource comprised of documentation from past projects. The idea is that you can “go shopping” for ideas of how something was built in the past and either copy it, avoid it or adopt it.

Vendors are using the term today to sell their converged infrastructure products, providing potential customers with a “reference architecture” for possible ways to buy/use their products. In a worst-case scenario,  you can simply substitute the words “hypothetical implementation” for the much more real “reference architecture.”