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Summary: Microservices architectures are becoming the defacto standard for building continuously deployed systems. At the same time, there is a substantial growth in the demand for migrating on‐premise legacy applications to the cloud. In this context, organizations tend to migrate their traditional architectures into cloud‐native architectures using microservices. This article reports a set of migration and rearchitecting design patterns that we have empirically identified and collected from industrial‐scale software migration projects. These migration patterns can help information technology organizations plan their migration projects toward microservices more efficiently and effectively. In addition, the proposed patterns facilitate the definition of migration plans by pattern composition. Qualitative empirical research is used to evaluate the validity of the proposed patterns. Our findings suggest that the proposed patterns are evident in other architectural refactoring and migration projects and strong candidates for effective patterns in system migrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud computing is rapidly changing the digital service landscape. A proliferation of Cloud providers has emerged, increasing the difficulty of consumer decisions. Trust issues have been identified as a factor holding back Cloud adoption. The risks and challenges inherent in the adoption of Cloud services are well recognised in the computing literature. In conjunction with these risks, the relative novelty of the online environment as a context for the provision of business services can increase consumer perceptions of uncertainty. This uncertainty is worsened in a Cloud context due to the lack of transparency, from the consumer perspective, into the service types, operational conditions and the quality of service offered by the diverse providers. Previous approaches failed to provide an appropriate medium for communicating trust and trustworthiness in Clouds. A new strategy is required to improve consumer confidence and trust in Cloud providers. This paper presents the operationalisation of a trust label system designed to communicate trust and trustworthiness in Cloud services. We describe the technical details and implementation of the trust label components. Based on a use case scenario, an initial evaluation was carried out to test its operations and its usefulness for increasing consumer trust in Cloud services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the factors which influence the business location decisions of start-ups, focusing in particular on the role of personal factors. Established explanations of industry location emphasize proximity to firms in the same or related industries and proximity to a wider set of business services, though recent research suggests that personal factors may play an important role in explanations of industry location—particularly in technology-enabled sectors. A survey of 97 new firms, founded between 2008 and 2012, in the Irish software services sector, shows that the business location decision is influenced by the personal motivation of entrepreneurs to attain a desired quality of life, and that this outweighs economic factors such as proximity to firms within the same or related industries, proximity to a broader set of supporting business services, infrastructure or the availability of government support schemes. Personal factors are particularly important to firms located outside the Dublin metropolitan area and to home-based businesses. This has important policy implications for national and regional governments seeking to encourage entrepreneurship in technology-enabled service sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigates resourcing of computer software companies that have adopted cloud computing for the development and delivery of application software. Use of this innovative technology potentially impacts firm financing because the initial infrastructure investment requirement is much lower than for packaged software, lead time to market is shorter and cloud computing supports instant scalability. We test these predictions by conducting in-depth interviews with founders of 18 independently owned nascent enterprises, of which three-quarters have adopted cloud computing. We identify particular bootstrapping methods used by start-ups in the computer software sector. Cloud computing enables firms to develop and launch products with minimal resources, reducing barriers to entry, with consequent increased competition. The primary business bootstrapping technique is foregoing wages, supplemented by small amounts of grant funding. Customers are a source of knowledge and expertise for product development, which occurs in an iterative process. Product bootstrapping techniques have changed in response to technological innovation, although methods to acquire tangible assets are identical over time. Astutely applied, financial bootstrapping is a resource management strategy essential to the growth and survival of high-technology firms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

High performance computing (HPC) is widely recognized as a key enabling technology for advancing scientific progress, industrial competitiveness, national and regional security, and the quality of human life. Notwithstanding this contribution, the large upfront investment and technical expertise required has limited the adoption of HPC to large organizations, government bodies, and third level institutions. Recent advances in cloud computing and telecommunications have the potential to overcome the historical issues associated with HPC through increased flexibility and efficiency, and reduced capital and operational expenditure. This study seeks to advance the literature on technology adoption and assimilation in the under-examined HPC context through a mixed methods approach. Firstly, the determinants of cloud computing adoption for HPC are examined through a survey of 121 HPC decision makers worldwide. Secondly, a modified Delphi method was conducted with 13 experts to identify and prioritize critical issues in the adoption of cloud computing for HPC. Results from the quantitative phase suggest that only organizational and human factors significantly influence cloud computing adoption decisions for HPC. While security was not identified as a significant influencer in adoption decisions, qualitative research findings suggest that data privacy and security issues are an immediate and long-term concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been significant advancement in resource management mechanisms for cloud computing infrastructure performance in terms of cost, quality of service (QoS) and energy consumption. The emergence of the Internet of Things has led to the development of infrastructure that extends beyond centralised data centers from the cloud to the edge, the so-called cloud-to-thing continuum (C2T). This infrastructure is characterised by extreme heterogeneity, geographic distribution, and complexity, where the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the traditional model of cloud computing may no longer apply in the same way. Existing resource management mechanisms may not be suitable for such complex environments and therefore require thorough testing, validation and evaluation before even being considered for live system implementation. Similarly, previously discounted resource management proposals may be more relevant and worthy of revisiting. Simulation is a widely used technique in the development and evaluation of resource management mechanisms for cloud computing but is a relatively nascent research area for new C2T computing paradigms such as fog and edge computing. We present a methodical literature analysis of C2T resource management research using simulation software tools to assist researchers in identifying suitable methods, algorithms, and simulation approaches for future research. We analyse 35 research articles from a total collection of 317 journal articles published from January 2009 to March 2019. We present our descriptive and synthetic analysis from a variety of perspectives including resource management, C2T layer, and simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth industrial revolution heralds a paradigm shift in how people, processes, things, data and networks communicate and connect with each other. Conventional computing infrastructures are struggling to satisfy dramatic growth in demand from a deluge of connected heterogeneous end points located at the edge of networks while, at the same time, meeting quality of service levels. The complexity of computing at the edge makes it increasingly difficult for infrastructure providers to plan for and provision resources to meet this demand. While simulation frameworks are used extensively in the modelling of cloud computing environments in order to test and validate technical solutions, they are at a nascent stage of development and adoption for fog and edge computing. This paper provides an overview of challenges posed by fog and edge computing in relation to simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Virtualization and cloud computing are being used by Communication Service Providers to deploy and utilize virtual Content Distribution Networks (vCDNs) to reduce costs and increase elasticity thereby avoiding performance, quality, reliability and availability limitations that characterize traditional CDNs. As cache placement is based on both the content type and geographic location of a user request, it has a significant impact on service delivery and network congestion. To study the effectiveness of cache placements and hierarchical network architectures composed of sites, a novel parallel simulation framework is proposed utilizing a discrete-time approach. Unlike other simulation approaches, the proposed simulation framework can update, in parallel, the state of sites and their resource utilization with respect to incoming requests in a significantly faster manner at hyperscale. It allows for simulations with multiple types of content, different virtual machine distributions, probabilistic caching, and forwarding of requests. In addition, power consumption models allow the estimation of energy consumption of the physical resources that host virtual machines. The results of simulations conducted to assess the performance and applicability of the proposed simulation framework are presented. Results are promising for the potential of this simulation framework in the study of vCDNs and optimization of network infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient management of Cloud infrastructure and deployments is a topic that is currently attracting significant interest. Complex Cloud deployments can result in an intricate layered structure. Understanding the behaviour of these hierarchical systems and how to manage them optimally are challenging tasks that can be facilitated by pervasive monitoring. Monitoring tools and techniques have an important role to play in this area by gathering the information required to make informed decisions. A broad variety of monitoring tools are available, from general-purpose infrastructure monitoring tools that predate Cloud computing, to high-level application monitoring services that are themselves hosted in the Cloud. Surveying the capabilities of monitoring tools can identify the fitness of these tools in serving certain objectives. Monitoring tools are essential components to deal with various objectives of both Cloud providers and consumers in different Cloud operational areas. We have identified the practical capabilities that an ideal monitoring tool should possess to serve the objectives in these operational areas. Based on these identified capabilities, we present a taxonomy and analyse the monitoring tools to determine their strength and weaknesses. In conclusion, we present our reflections on the analysis, discuss challenges and identify future research trends in the area of Cloud monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]