Management of Multi-cloud Computing

Cloud computing can be considered a form of information technology outsourcing (ITO). However, it is more flexible than traditional ITO because no service volumes and no long contract periods need to be fixed. Companies that employ cloud computing may use several cloud service suppliers at the same time. Similarly, many companies that employ traditional ITO have contracts with several vendors. If the rendered services need to be coordinated, additional efforts are needed to manage this multi-sourcing environment. We find that the coordination arrangements known in multi-sourcing also occur in multi-cloud computing, but that significant differences exist in the actual coordination implementation. Based on the technology applied in cloud computing, new software has been developed to automate the integration tasks. In addition, many new players who offer coordination of multiple clouds as a service have entered the market.