In this thesis, we propose architecture for a SaaS model in Cloud that would provide service to the financial investors who are not familiar with various mathematical models. Such finance models are used to evaluate financial instruments, for example, to price a derivative that is currently being traded before entering into a contact. An investor may approach CSP to price a particular derivative and specify the time, budget and accuracy constraints. Based on these constraints specified by investors, the service provider will compute the option value using our proposed FSM. To evaluate our proposed model, we compared pricing results with the classical model that provides a closed-form solution for option pricing to meet the accuracy constraints. After establishing the accuracy of our pricing results, we further ensured that the SLA between the FSP and the investors is honoured by meeting the constraints put forth by the investor who uses the Cloud service.

In this thesis, we propose architecture for a SaaS model in Cloud that would provide service to the financial investors who are not familiar with various mathematical models. Such finance models are used to evaluate financial instruments, for example, to price a derivative that is currently being traded before entering into a contact. An investor may approach CSP to price a particular derivative and specify the time, budget and accuracy constraints. Based on these constraints specified by investors, the service provider will compute the option value using our proposed FSM. To evaluate our proposed model, we compared pricing results with the classical model that provides a closed-form solution for option pricing to meet the accuracy constraints. After establishing the accuracy of our pricing results, we further ensured that the SLA between the FSP and the investors is honoured by meeting the constraints put forth by the investor who uses the Cloud service.

With the growth of the internet and exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, the allocation of IP addresses and routing between autonomous systems is an important factor on what paths are taken on the internet. Paths to different destinations are impacted by different neighbouring autonomous systems and their relations with eachother are important in order to find an optimal route from source to destination. In this thesis we look at a longitudinal change of IP observed on the internet that is owned by large organizations. To achieve this we build tools for extracting and parsing data from a dataset from iPlane where we then compare this to the largest domains and cloud providers. From our results we conclude that large domains and cloud providers are found more often as time has passed and they seem to not peer with eachother. We also find that the routing policies within different autonomous systems varies.

Cloud computing has a significant impact on information and communication technology (ICT) and is one of the most important technological drivers of the digitalization of enterprises. However, due to the increasing dissemination of cloud services and the growing number of cloud service providers (CSPs), the uncertainty and risks for user companies in adopting cloud services have also increased. In this paper, we address those aspects from the perspective of the CSPs. We identified relevant literature and studies and conducted interviews with business experts from 16 German CSPs. In our results, we present current customer requirements and barriers to using cloud services from a provider’s viewpoint and identify the actions of and obstacles for CSPs in meeting the needs and constraints of the customers. Finally, we identify current and future challenges for CSPs in dealing with customer requirements and barriers by addressing their root causes. One of the main challenges from the CSPs’ perspective is addressing customers appropriately and building relationships of trust. This also “forces” changes in the sales processes. In this process, the essential challenges can be identified as an increase in complexity and a simultaneous simplification of specific sales activities. Therefore, the necessity arises for the continuous support of business relationships through value-adding and additional services. However, this results in another challenge for the CSPs – Namely, to find the right balance between standardization and meeting customer-specific requirements. In our paper, we show that the perspective of the CSPs is rarely discussed in the literature. Nevertheless, understanding the perceptions of the providers and their actions and measures is essential for future research activities in the field of cloud service selection. Comparing the customers’ perspectives and viewpoints with the CSPs’ actions will enhance the development of a holistic selection approach for future cloud projects. Therefore, our paper’s contribution to research is also the identification of this missing integration.

There were many technical events held in 2017, like 2017 COMPUTEX, Google I/O, Microsoft Design Forum…etc., and Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most concerned and hottest topics in these events. There is no doubt that in the next few years, AI technology and its further developments will be the major focus in the science and technology industry. As AI technology brings in a lot of new applications and develops commercial values, for the server industry and corresponding supply chain, it will lead to a new wave and benefit the whole ecosystem. Although the growth rate of desktop and laptop computer slows down and smartphone market starts to saturate, the demand for data processing and computing continues to grow. Large datacenter, server hardware and cloud applications supported at the back-end could still keep their momentum of growth. Taiwan-based original design manufacturers (ODMs) maintain a stable growth rate in 90% of the worldwide server manufacturing and many new business models evolved in order to fulfill the demands brought by artificial intelligence (AI). The aim of this study is to analyze the positive and negative impacts of AI technology on server industry, and will focus on four major groups in the industry: datacenter customers, OEM, ODM and component suppliers.

This literature review seeks to identify the major security issues and their solutions in cloud computing security as well as identifying areas for future research. Utilising a modified version of the approach suggested by Okoli and Schabram (2010) 52 articles were considered for the review, of which 26 were included in the final product. Although many security issues and solutions were identified it has become apparent that much of the research being done only relates to the theoretical side. Thus this review shows that while plenty of issues have been identified future research should focus more on the practical implications of these security risks. / Denna litteraturundersökning identifierar de huvudsakliga säkerhetsbristerna och de lösningar som åtfinns inom litteraturen om datormolnsäkerhet. Undersökningen använder sig av en modifierad version av metoden för litteraturundersökningar som skrivits av Okoli och Schabram (2010). Efter en första litteratursökning identifierades 52 artiklar som relevanta för undersökningen, av dessa 52 användes 26 i slutprodukten. Trots att flera olika säkerhetsbrister och lösningar för dessa identifierades var det uppenbart att mycket av forskningen enbart har teoretiska svar på bristerna. Undersökningen visar således att även om många hot har upptäckts av forskare saknas det forskning av de praktiska konsekvenserna av dessa brister.

When it comes to cloud services, security has many a times been the hot topic. This has been especially relevant within the payment card industry and the secure handling of payment card data. The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (the council) was formed in order to ensure a global enhancement of payment card data. The council has issued requirements that all companies that handle payment card data are obliged to follow. However, the council has become much more strict as of recently, creating an urgency to become compliant. Thus, cloud service providers (CSP) have constructed standardized, PCI DSS compliant products so as to relief such customers. Since this emerging market is somewhat new, this thesis has researched how CSPs should relate to products within that market and the potential customer base. The case study for this research was conducted at Tieto, an IT service company, and its standardized, PCI DSS compliant product TiCC. The study collected empirical data in the form of qualitative interviews as well as quantitative telephone interviews with companies within the payment card industry. The study came to the conclusion that there is a demand that is not being met within the payment card industry related to products that aid organizations to become PCI DSS compliant. Standardized products have been constructed so as to fit financial customers while overlooking the demand of another large customer base, retail. Additionally, the products are being tweaked and features are being added, thus providing customization. CSPs are striving for both standardization as well as customization, something that has been considered counterproductive. The existing demand is thus not met with the current supply in the market, which has both multiple competitors and heterogeneity in market demand. The above mentioned thus leaves room for market seizure, to create own rules and thus making all competitors irrelevant. A potential way of doing that is through mass customization by standardizing higher levels of cloud computing.

This thesis addresses the issue of adopting cloud computing in two aspects. The first being the procedure of choosing a commonality that constitutes the base of comparing the most appropriate cloud platform from identified parameters. The second being to find constraints of adopting cloud computing related to the commonality. This commonality was identified in form of a process that portrayed characteristics which made it suitable for identifying parameters and comparing two cloud platforms (Azure and AWS). The comparison of platforms based on the parameters; lock-in, standardization and data security led to conclusive remarks that discouraged any further effort on comparing cloud platforms. Lack of standards and lock-in that cannot be avoided are traits of the unfitting environment the cloud platforms constitute. Furthermore, it was concluded that the adoption constraints are first priority when it comes to adopting cloud computing. Instead of choosing the cloud platform with least amount of constraints, it is recommended to firstly focus on the adoption constraints. / Avhandlingen tar upp frågan om att införa molntjänster i två aspekter. Den första är proceduren att välja en gemensam nämnare som utgör basen för jämförelse av den lämpligaste moln plattformen. Den andra är att hitta begränsningar relaterat till införandet av molntjänster i samband med den gemensamma nämnaren. Denna gemensamma nämnare identifierades i form av en process inom en IT-avdelning som skildrar egenskaper vilket gjorde den lämplig för att hitta parametrar och jämföra två molnplattformar (Azure och AWS). Jämförelsen av plattformar baserades på parametrarna; lock-in, standardisering och datasäkerhet. Brist på standarder och lock-in som inte kan undvikas är egenskaper av den opassande miljön som molnplattformarna utgör. Dessutom drogs slutsatsen att de nämnda begränsningar är av första prioritet när det gäller att införa molntjänster. Istället för att välja en molnplattform med minsta möjliga begränsningar, är rekommendationen att först fokusera på begränsningarna.

Cloud computing brought flexibility, scalability, and capital cost savings to the IT industry. As more companies turn to cloud solutions, securing cloud based services becomes increasingly important, because for many organizations, the final barrier to adopting cloud computing is whether it is sufficiently secure. More users rely on cloud storage as it is mainly because cloud storage is available to be used by multiple devices (e.g. smart phones, tablets, notebooks, etc.) at the same time. These services often offer adequate protection to user's private data. However, there were cases where user's private data was accessible to other users, since this data is stored in a multi-tenant environment. These incidents reduce the trust of cloud storage service providers, hence there is a need to securely migrate data from one cloud storage provider to another. This thesis proposes a design of a service for providing Security as a Service for cloud brokers in a federated cloud. This scheme allows customers to securely migrate from one provider to another. To enable the design of this scheme, possible security and privacy risks of a cloud storage service were analysed and identified. Moreover, in order to successfully protect private data, data protection requirements (for data retention, sanitization, and processing) were analysed. The proposed service scheme utilizes various encryption techniques and also includes identity and key management mechanisms, such as "federated identity management". While our proposed design meets most of the defined security and privacy requirements, it is still unknown how to properly handle data sanitization, to meet data protection requirements, and provide users data recovery capabilities (backups, versioning, etc.). / Cloud computing erbjuder flexibilitet, skalbarhet, och kapital kostnadsbesparingar till IT-industrin. Eftersom fler företag vänder sig till moln lösningar, trygga molntjänster blir allt viktigare, eftersom det för många organisationer, det slutliga hindret att anta cloud computing är om det är tillräckligt säkert. Fler användare förlita sig påmoln lagring som det är främst pågrund moln lagring är tillgängligt att användas av flera enheter (t.ex. smarta telefoner, tabletter, bärbara datorer, etc.) påsamtidigt. Dessa tjänster erbjuder ofta tillräckligt skydd för användarens privata data. Men det fanns fall där användarens privata uppgifter var tillgängliga för andra användare, eftersom denna data lagras i en flera hyresgäster miljö. Dessa händelser minskar förtroende molnleverantörer lagring tjänsteleverantörer, därför finns det ett behov av att säkert migrera data från en moln lagring till en annan. Denna avhandling föreslår en utformning av en tjänst för att erbjuda säkerhet som tjänst för molnmäklare i en federativ moln. Detta system gör det möjligt för kunderna att säkert flytta från en leverantör till en annan. För att möjliggöra utformningen av detta system, möjliga säkerhet och risker integritet av ett moln lagring tjänst har analyserats och identifierats. Dessutom att man framgångsrikt skydda privata uppgifter, dataskydd krav (för data retention, sanering och bearbetning) analyserades. Den föreslagna tjänsten systemet utnyttjar olika krypteringsteknik och även inkluderar identitet och nyckelhantering mekanismer, såsom "federerad identitetshantering". Även om vår föreslagna utformningen uppfyller de flesta av den definierade säkerhet och integritet krav, är det fortfarande okänt hur korrekt hantera data sanering, för att uppfyller kraven för dataskydd och ge användarna data recovery kapacitet (säkerhetskopior, versionshantering osv.)

Cloud computing has a significant impact on information and communication technology (ICT) and is one of the most important technological drivers of the digitalization of enterprises. However, due to the increasing dissemination of cloud services and the growing number of cloud service providers (CSPs), the uncertainty and risks for user companies in adopting cloud services have also increased. In this paper, we address those aspects from the perspective of the CSPs. We identified relevant literature and studies and conducted interviews with business experts from 16 German CSPs. In our results, we present current customer requirements and barriers to using cloud services from a provider’s viewpoint and identify the actions of and obstacles for CSPs in meeting the needs and constraints of the customers. Finally, we identify current and future challenges for CSPs in dealing with customer requirements and barriers by addressing their root causes. One of the main challenges from the CSPs’ perspective is addressing customers appropriately and building relationships of trust. This also “forces” changes in the sales processes. In this process, the essential challenges can be identified as an increase in complexity and a simultaneous simplification of specific sales activities. Therefore, the necessity arises for the continuous support of business relationships through value-adding and additional services. However, this results in another challenge for the CSPs – Namely, to find the right balance between standardization and meeting customer-specific requirements. In our paper, we show that the perspective of the CSPs is rarely discussed in the literature. Nevertheless, understanding the perceptions of the providers and their actions and measures is essential for future research activities in the field of cloud service selection. Comparing the customers’ perspectives and viewpoints with the CSPs’ actions will enhance the development of a holistic selection approach for future cloud projects. Therefore, our paper’s contribution to research is also the identification of this missing integration.