A Characterization of Cloud Computing Adoption based on Literature Evidence

Context:The cloud computing paradigm has received increasing attention because of its claimed financial and functional benefits. This paradigm is based on a customizable and resourceful platform to deploy software. A number of competing providers can support organizations to access computing services without owning the corresponding infrastructure. However, the migration of information systems and the adoption of this paradigm is not a trivial task. For this reason, evidence from the literature reporting and analyzing experiences in this migration should be widely disseminated and organized to be used by companies and by the research community. Goal:Characterize main strategies and methodologies reported in the literature to describe and analyze the adoption and migration to cloud computing Method: The characterization followed a four-phase approach having as a start point the selection of studies published in conferences and journals. Results: Data gathered from these studies reveal a tendency for companies to choose the public deployment model, the IaaS service model, the amazon platform, and how the most important characteristics in the cloud adoption decision are cost, performance, and security and privacy. Conclusion: Due to the variety of strategies, approaches and tools reported in the primary studies, it is expected that the results in this characterization study would help in establishing knowledge on how the companies should adopt and migrate to the cloud. These findings can be a useful reference to develop guidelines for an effective use of cloud computing.