Future cloud services are expected to increasingly involve and synthesize capabilities from multiple clouds. Applications from different organizations may establish collaborative relationships and share information dynamically in cloud computing. In this increasingly complex scenario, both consumers and service providers will face new challenges. For example, consumers will need to be able to identify the best service providers from a potentially huge pool, which could be computationally demanding. Service providers will need to be able to ensure the security and privacy of data shared among loosely connected subcontractors.
This project proposes a novel brokerage-based architecture to promote cost-effective cloud provisioning. Specifically, the PIs will devise efficient indexing structures to facilitate the management of massive information generated by a large number of service providers with a variety of properties. The PIs are developing necessary services to allow effective cloud-brokerage, such as service selection for consumers, service negotiation between consumers and their service providers, and service agreement delegation among service providers involved in a compound service. Along with the service development, the work will produce new policy analysis, composition and delegation techniques that accommodate the unique characteristics of the cloud.
The research in this project will help significantly streamline the selection and management of cloud computing services, and will open up new business opportunities by providing cloud brokerage services. Moreover, the proposed approach may also help reduce the vendor lock-in problem which is a long standing major concern among consumers.
