Performance evaluation of cloud computing platforms using statistical methods

Cloud computing is a very attractive research topic. Many studies have examined the infrastructure as a service and software as a service aspects of cloud computing; however, few studies have focused on platform as a service (PaaS). According to recent reports, demand for enterprise PaaS solutions will increase continuously. However, different sectors require different types of PaaS applications and computing resources. Therefore, an evaluation and ranking framework for PaaS solutions according to application needs is required. To address this need, this study presents the most essential aspects of PaaS solutions and provides a framework for evaluating the performance of PaaS providers. It also proposes a suitable set of benchmarking algorithms that can help determine the most appropriate PaaS provider based on different resource needs and application requirements. Performance evaluations of three well-known cloud computing PaaS providers were conducted using the analytic hierarchy process and the logic scoring of preference methods. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.