User-defined cloud

Since its creation, cloud computing has always taken a provider-dictated approach, where cloud providers define and manage the cloud to accommodate the user needs they deem important. We propose "User-Defined Cloud", or UDC, a new cloud scheme that allows users to define their own "clouds", by defining hardware resource needs, system software features, and security requirements of their applications, and to do so without the need to build or manage low-level systems.