Wibke Michalk

Cloud Computing – A Classification, Business Models, and Research Directions

Lately, a new computing paradigm has emerged: “Cloud Computing”. It seems to be promoted as heavily as the “Grid” was a few years ago, causing broad discussions on the differences between Grid and Cloud Computing. The first contribution of this paper is thus a detailed discussion about the different characteristics of Grid Computing and Cloud Computing. This technical classification allows for a well-founded discussion of the business opportunities of the Cloud Computing paradigm. To this end, this paper first presents a business model framework for Clouds. It subsequently reviews and classifies current Cloud offerings in the light of this framework. Finally, this paper discusses challenges that have to be mastered in order to make the Cloud vision come true and points to promising areas for future research.

Human–Computer Interaction and International Public Policymaking: A Framework for Understanding and Taking Future Actions

This monograph lays out a discussion framework for understanding the role of human–computer interaction HCI in public policymaking. We take an international view, discussing potential areas for research and application, and their potential for impact. Little has been written about the intersection of HCI and public policy; existing reports typically focus on one specific policy issue or incident. To date, there has been no overarching view of the areas of existing impact and potential impact. We have begun that analysis and argue here that such a global view is needed. Our aims are to provide a solid foundation for discussion, cooperation and collaborative interaction, and to outline future programs of activity. The five sections of this report provide relevant background along with a preliminary version of what we expect to be an evolving framework. Sections 1 and 2 provides an introduction to HCI and public policy. Section 3 discusses how HCI already informs public policy, with representative examples. Section 4 discusses how public policy influences HCI and provides representative public policy areas relevant to HCI, where HCI could have even more impact in the future: i laws, regulations, and guidelines for HCI research, ii HCI research assessments, iii research funding, iv laws for interface design — accessibility and language, v data privacy laws and regulations, vi intellectual property, and vii laws and regulations in specific sectors. There is a striking difference between where the HCI community has had impact Section 3 and the many areas of potential involvement Section 4. Section 5 a framework for action by the HCI community in public policy internationally. This monograph summarizes the observations and recommendations from a daylong workshop at the CHI 2013 conference in Paris, France. The workshop invited the communitys perspectives regarding the intersection of governmental policies, international and domestic standards, recent HCI research discoveries, and emergent considerations and challenges. It also incorporates contributions made after the workshop by workshop participants and by individuals who were unable to participate in the workshop but whose work and interests were highly related and relevant.This monograph lays out a discussion framework for understanding the role of human–computer interaction HCI in public policymaking. We take an international view, discussing potential areas for res...

Risk-Based Decision Support in Service Value Networks

The current trend towards dynamic and highly scalable service provisioning fosters the rise of Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms and so called Compute Clouds. The on-demand provisioning of services gains more and more influence. For offering enriched services that are capable of performing complex tasks, the dynamic composition of such services becomes important. In order to enable the collaboration between different service providers, technical and economic preliminaries have to be made. This work will cover economic considerations from the viewpoint of a service provider. Therefore, the concept of Service Value Networks is presented and an agreement network as underlying legal structure is illustrated. Finally, an approach that enables a service provider to select the risk-minimal combination of contracts is elaborated and discussed.

Business Aspects of Web Services

Driven by maturing Web service technologies and the wide acceptance of the service-oriented architecture paradigm, the software industrys traditional business models and strategies have begun to change: software vendors are turning into service providers. In addition, in the Web service market, a multitude of small and highly specialized providers offer modular services of almost any kind and economic value is created through the interplay of various distributed service providers that jointly contribute to form individualized and integrated solutions. This trend can be optimally catalyzed by universally accessible service orchestration platforms service value networks (SVNs) which are the underlying organizational form of the coordination mechanisms presented in this book.Here, the authors focus on providing comprehensive business-oriented insights into todays trends and challenges that stem from the transition to a service-led economy. They investigate current and future Web service business models and provide a framework for Web service value networks. Pricing mechanism basics are introduced and applied to the specific area of SVNs. Strategies for platform providers are analyzed from the viewpoint of a single provider, and so are pricing mechanisms in service value networks which are optimal from a network perspective. The extended concept of pricing Web service derivatives is also illustrated. The presentation concludes with a vision of how Web service markets in the future could be structured and what further developments can be expected to happen.This book will be of interest to researchers in business development and practitioners such as managers of SMEs in the service sector, as well as computer scientists familiar with Web technologies. The books comprehensive content provides readers with a thorough understanding of the organizational, economic and technical implications of dealing with Web services as the nucleus of modern business models, which can be applied to Web services in general and Web service value networks specifically..

Risk in agreement networks

The current trend towards dynamic and highly scalable service provisioning fosters the rise of Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms and manifests the need for dynamic composition of services. In order to enable the combination of services and hence, the collaboration between different service providers, technical challenges like the compatibility of interfaces have to be dealt with. Additionally, economic issues concerning profit, reliability and risk have to be taken into consideration. This work covers economic considerations from the viewpoint of a service intermediary that offers complex services to customers and purchases services from supplying providers. The intermediary has to decide, which SLAs to offer to consumers and which SLAs have to be established with supplying providers. The decision support for the intermediary that is presented throughout this paper is an adaptation of security portfolio optimization stemming from finance. It is based on monitoring data of SLAs that the intermediary had established in the past with consumers and with supplying providers. Finally, the decision support is exemplified in a case-study.

Integrated Modeling of Technical and Business Aspects in Service Networks

The current trend towards a global services economy provides significant opportunities and challenges. For establishing complex services and delivering competitive advantages, several service providers have to work together. This collaboration creates a service network as an organizational form to be managed by a so-called service integrator. Within a service network, multiple dependencies between the resulting service and the contributions of the various service providers exist, on both technical and business aspects. In addition to the functional aspects, the non-functional service properties and respective service levels are of great importance. Successful joint management of the technical and business dependencies is a key prerequisite for the successful management of service networks.

Service Level Management for Service Value Networks

The ongoing trend towards a global services economy creates considerable market opportunities for various stakeholders. A service intermediary who offers complex services to customers and consumes services from suppliers and thus creates a service value network, faces the challenge of adhering to agreed service levels while minimizing associated costs, risks and potential penalties. Starting from a lifecycle model for service value networks, this paper identifies the service level management tasks to be performed by a service intermediary. For each of these tasks, supporting software tools have been developed. Together, they form an integrated tool chain which provides effective support for service level management of service intermediaries. The tools have been evaluated in case studies and industrial settings. The paper contributes the first study of an end-to-end service level management for service value networks.

Incentives in Service Level Agreement establishment the case of economic and social aspects

The Web has changed remarkably over the last years. From sharing data and computational power, these days, a trend towards social networks that allow for recognizing social context can be observed. Social aspects impose new challenges on collaborations over the internet and the affected parties. Currently, in the context of service provisioning over the internet, so called Service Level Agreements (SLAs) enforce the adherence to an agreed level of quality by means of penalties. In the context of social networks, different aspects than just monetary incentives need to be considered when designing penalties. Therefore, this paper investigates on the difference between common economic settings and settings with a social context and finally, requirements on the negotiation of agreements in social networks are derived. Hence, this papers main contribution is to identify differences between purely economic and socio-economic aspects of agreements and to derive further research directions from the identified gaps.

Towards the Dynamic Relocation of Ambulances in Germany: The Risk of Being Too Late

This article gives an introduction to models for the dynamic relocation of ambulances. Furthermore, differences between the German and the Anglo-American System of ambulance location models are highlighted. In a thorough literature review, factors that influence the risk of violating legally fixed maximum response times are identified and a method that allows the validation of these factors for the German emergency medical service (EMS) is presented.

Services vs. Web Services

Without doubts, services have become the major driver of value creation in the last decades. This manifests in official statistics showing that services make up the largest part of the gross domestic product (GDP) in industrialized countries. In 2009, the share of the GDP within the European Union amounted to 71.9% and in the United States to 76.9% increasing steadily over last years. This trend is further amplified by the “servicification” of traditional products in many industries. According to Vargo and Lusch (2004), the major shift towards a service-centered view is driven by changes in society and markets that lead to exchanges of services rather than goods. It is not only stagnant product demand in many domains, but also the customers’ demand for customized and sophisticated goods which has pushed economic value downstream – away from manufacturing and toward the offering of services, both in preparing and customizing sales and in aftersales (Baumgartner and Wise 1999; Oliva and Kallenberg 2003). Driven by advancing Web service technologies, servicification in the software industry is a fundamental trend that tremendously changes the companies’ strategies and business models: software vendors become service providers (Dubey and Wagle 2007). The growing importance of automated service provision over the Web is impressively documented by the rise of platforms like Salesforce.