CloudPASS

Project Description

There is a significant variability from over-performance to under-performance in the QoS delivered by cloud platforms. Service consumers often perceive they are receiving a lower SLA than they have signed up for, as they have grown used to receiving a higher than specified SLA. An integrated system that monitors, controls and validates SLAs will greatly enhance the trust & dependability end users have in the cloud, especially in multi-vendors, multi-layer cloud stacks.

Problem statement

Cloud computing represents a large significant opportunity for Europe with a projected potential contribution of €250b to EU GDP and 3.8m jobs by 2020. Studies consistently highlight that issues related to the perceived trustworthiness of cloud computing services are real barriers to enterprise, public sector and consumer adoption. This has resulted in calls for action to increase trustworthiness as recently highlighted by the European Commission which identified the need for “a chain of confidence-building steps to create trust in cloud solutions.” Conventional information systems assurance have been subject to criticism for being (i) largely reliant on human intervention (with limited capacity), (ii) limited in scope, (iii) passive, periodical and retrospective, (iv) lacking transparency due to reliance on internal monitoring, (v) lacking warranties and (vi) subject to co-optation risk.

Propose Solutions

CloudPASS seeks to address the shortfalls of accountability, assurance and trustmarks as discrete solutions for trustworthiness issues in cloud computing by designing, developing, delivering and showcasing an innovative, powerful, flexible and integrated service architecture for cloud service assurance and accountability that enables cloud service providers communicate their trustworthiness and dependability to the market using a cloud-specific trustmark. Specifically, CloudPASS generates a dynamic trustmark across multiple trust signal data points combining QoS, legal and business requirements.