Title: Dynamic negotiation of cloud computing services in market-oriented environments

Authors: Timothy O'Sullivan; Bob Wood

Addresses: School of Informatics, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, M15 6PB, UK ' School of Informatics, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, M15 6PB, UK

Abstract: An aspiring vision of cloud computing is that it will facilitate the realisation of computing as a fifth utility. Previous research has shown that inadequate support for dynamic negotiation of SLAs is a major obstacle preventing the continued growth and ubiquity of cloud computing frameworks. This paper proposes adoption of an agent-based communication protocol to coordinate a dynamic negotiation process between trading parties within a cloud computing market-oriented environment. The motivation of this research proposal is that adoption of such a technique would have profound implications for the pay-for-use model encapsulated within cloud computing service provision. The paper additionally proposes the realisation of agent-based virtual communities of practice amongst consumers, enabling them to become better informed regarding the service quality of cloud computing providers. The paper appraises the benefits and repercussions of the proposed strategy for both service providers and end users through the construction of a simulation test bed.

Keywords: cloud computing; dynamic negotiation; agent-oriented technology; virtual CoP; communities of practice; communication networks; distributed systems; virtual communities; online communities; web based communities; SLAs; service level agreements; agent-based systems; multi-agent systems; MAS; market-oriented environment; service quality; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCNDS.2013.056224

International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems, 2013 Vol.11 No.3, pp.280 - 296

Published online: 28 Feb 2014 *

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