Reza Sahandi

Critical analysis of vendor lock-in and its impact on cloud computing migration: a business perspective

Vendor lock-in is a major barrier to the adoption of cloud computing, due to the lack of standardization. Current solutions and efforts tackling the vendor lock-in problem are predominantly technology-oriented. Limited studies exist to analyse and highlight the complexity of vendor lock-in problem in the cloud environment. Consequently, most customers are unaware of proprietary standards which inhibit interoperability and portability of applications when taking services from vendors. This paper provides a critical analysis of the vendor lock-in problem, from a business perspective. A survey based on qualitative and quantitative approaches conducted in this study has identified the main risk factors that give rise to lock-in situations. The analysis of our survey of 114 participants shows that, as computing resources migrate from on-premise to the cloud, the vendor lock-in problem is exacerbated. Furthermore, the findings exemplify the importance of interoperability, portability and standards in cloud computing. A number of strategies are proposed on how to avoid and mitigate lock-in risks when migrating to cloud computing. The strategies relate to contracts, selection of vendors that support standardised formats and protocols regarding standard data structures and APIs, developing awareness of commonalities and dependencies among cloud-based solutions. We strongly believe that the implementation of these strategies has a great potential to reduce the risks of vendor lock-in.

Zigbee network for remote patient monitoring on general hospital wards

Availability of Zigbee-based sensor network technology with low-power consuming sensors has made their implementation in healthcare possible, particularly for remote patient monitoring. Two alternative approaches for the deployment of Zigbee-based Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) for remote patient monitoring on general wards are discussed and their performances evaluated in a simulation environment. In the first approach, a single WPAN is considered for gathering and transmitting physiological data from the patients on a ward. In the second approach, which is proposed in this paper, multiple WPANs are considered instead. In this approach, a WPAN will be allocated to each patient on the ward. The simulation results show that the multiple WPANs approach out-performed the single one in respect of efficiency and reliability for data transmission for the entire ward.

SMEs' Perception of Cloud Computing: Potential and Security

Cloud computing is a new paradigm for emerging technology in the computing and IT industries. Cloud computing offers a new pathway for business agility and supports a faster time to market by offering ready-to-consume cloud-based IT services. SMEs can wisely take advantage of the cloud computing services, without the need for upfront costs. The perception of cloud computing from an SME stance is explored. The potential and concerns surrounding the adoption of cloud computing are discussed. A survey of SMEs conducted in the UK by the authors shows SMEs interests in exploiting the cloud computing services, but there are still some concerns with regards to security and vendor lock-in. This could have affected the speed of cloud computing being adopted.

Interoperability in the Heterogeneous Cloud Environment: A Survey of Recent User-centric Approaches

Cloud computing provides users the ability to access shared, online computing resources. However, providers often offer their own proprietary applications, interfaces, APIs and infrastructures, resulting in a heterogeneous cloud environment. This heterogeneous environment makes it difficult for users to change cloud service providers; exploring capabilities to support the automated migration from one provider to another is an active, open research area. Many standards bodies (IEEE, NIST, DMTF and SNIA), industry (middleware) and academia have been pursuing approaches to reduce the impact of vendor lock-in by investigating the cloud migration problem at the level of the VM. However, the migration downtime, decoupling VM from underlying systems and security of live channels remain open issues. This paper focuses on analysing recently proposed live, cloud migration approaches for VMs at the infrastructure level in the cloud architecture. The analysis reveals issues with flexibility, performance, and security of the approaches, including additional loads to the CPU and disk I/O drivers of the physical machine where the VM initially resides. The next steps of this research are to develop and evaluate a new approach LibZam (Libya Zamzem) that will work towards addressing the identified limitations.

Channel Overlap Problems of ZigBee Networks for Remote Patient Monitoring on General Hospital Wards

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) provides an efficient method to improve patient care in hospitals. Zigbee network technology with low-power consuming sensors has the capability to provide enhanced mobility and comfort to patients. A single Zigbee based sensor network is unable supporting all the patients on a general ward. The allocation of a ZigBee sensor network to each patient can address this limitation. However a large number of ZigBee networks can generate channel overlap problems due to the limited number of channels used by ZigBee. In the presence of channel overlap, multiple Zigbee networks may experience problems when handling continuous transmission of vital signs in RPM. However the adoption of appropriate time intervals for transmission of vital signs from sensors can rectify this problem thereby providing reliable transmission of vital signs.

Implications of Integration and Interoperability for Enterprise Cloud-Based Applications

Enterprise’s adoption of cloud-based solutions is often hindered by problems associated with the integration of the cloud environment with on-premise systems. Currently, each cloud provider creates its proprietary application programming interfaces (APIs), which will complicate integration efforts for companies as they struggle to understand and manage these unique application interfaces in an interoperable way. This paper aims to address this challenge by providing recommendations to enterprises. The presented work is based on a quantitative study of 114 companies, which discuss current issues and future trends of integration and interoperability requirements for enterprise cloud application adoption and migration. The outcome of the discussion provides a guideline applicable to support decision makers, software architects and developers when considering to design and develop interoperable applications in order to avoid lock-in and integrate seamlessly into other cloud and on-premise systems.

Remote monitoring of lower-limb prosthetic socket fit using wireless technologies

Accurate fitting of a lower-limb prosthetic socket is the most important factor affecting amputee satisfaction and rehabilitation. The technology is now available to allow real-time monitoring of in-service pressure distribution of prosthetic limbs. This paper proposes a remote interfacial pressure monitoring system necessary for the assessment of fit. The suitability of a wireless ZigBee network due to its relevant technical specification is investigated. The system enables remote monitoring of a prosthetic socket and its fit under different operating conditions thereby improving design, efficiency and effectiveness. The data can be used by prosthetists and may also be recorded for future training or for patient progress monitoring. This can minimize the number of iterations by getting it right first time, thereby minimizing the number of replacement prostheses.

An exploration of the determinants for decision to migrate existing resources to cloud computing using an integrated TOE-DOI model

Migrating existing resources to cloud computing is a strategic organisational decision that can be difficult. It requires the consideration and evaluation of a wide range of technical and organisational aspects. Although a significant amount of attention has been paid by many industrialists and academics to aid migration decisions, the procedure remains difficult. This is mainly due to underestimation of the range of factors and characteristics affecting the decision for cloud migration. Further research is needed to investigate the level of effect these factors have on migration decisions and the overall complexity. This paper aims to explore the level of complexity of the decision to migrate the cloud. A research model based on the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory and the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework was developed. The model was tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The quantitative analysis shows the level of impact of the identified variables on the decision to migrate. Seven determinants that contribute to the complexity of the decisions are identified. They need to be taken into account to ensure successful migration. This result has expanded the collective knowledge about the complexity of the issues that have to be considered when making decisions to migrate to the cloud. It contributes to the literature that addresses the complex and multidimensional nature of migrating to the cloud.

Interactive illustration of collage for children with folktale e-book

It is always challenging to teach children foreign languages, due to the difficulty of learning and their short attention span. To address the challenge and take advantage of the popularity of touchable tablets and smartphones, we propose an educational folktale e-book (EFE-Book) application with an interactive illustratable tool. EFE-Book is developed to teach preschool children to learn foreign languages by telling folktales with illustrations. To encourage effective learning, EFE-Book provides an interactive collage tool that enables users to create collage-based illustrations by hand. We propose a Voronoi diagram based approach to model paper tiles for the development of EFE-Book. With EFE-Book, the user can create colored paper tiles and attach them to the predesigned sketch through touch interface, such as Apple iPad.Graphical abstract

A Holistic Decision Framework to Avoid Vendor Lock-in for Cloud SaaS Migration

Cloud computing offers an innovative business model to enterprise for IT services consumption and delivery. Software as a Service (SaaS) is one of the cloud offerings that attract organisations as a potential solution in reducing their IT cost. However, the vast diversity among the available cloud SaaS services makes it difficult for customers to decide whose vendor services to use or even to determine a valid basis for their selections. Moreover, this variety of cloud SaaS services has led to proprietary architectures and technologies being used by cloud vendors, increasing the risk of vendor lock-in for customers. Therefore, when enterprises interact with SaaS providers within the purview of the current cloud marketplace, they often encounter significant lock-in challenges to migrating and interconnecting cloud. Hence, the complexity and variety of cloud SaaS service offerings makes it imperative for businesses to use a clear and well understood decision process to procure, migrate and/or discontinue cloud services. To date, the expertise and technological solutions to simplify such transition and facilitate good decision making to avoid lock-in risks in the cloud are limited. Besides, little investigation has been carried out to provide a comprehensive decision framework to support enterprises on how to avoid lock-in risks when selecting and implementing cloud-based SaaS solutions within existing environments. Such decision framework is important to reduce complexity and variations in implementation patterns on the cloud provider side, while at the same time minimising potential switching cost for enterprises by resolving integration issues with existing IT infrastructures. This paper proposes a holistic 6-step decision framework that enables an enterprise to assess its current IT landscape for potential SaaS replacement, and provides effective strategies to mitigate vendor lock-in risks in cloud (SaaS) migration. The framework follows research findings and addresses the core requirements for choosing vendor-neutral interoperable and portable cloud services without the fear of vendor lock-in, and architectural decisions for secure SaaS migration. Therefore, the results of this research can help IT managers have a safe and effective migration to cloud computing SaaS environment.