Taking value-networks to the cloud services: security services, semantics and service level agreements

Cloud services have become an emerging solution for organizations striving to address today’s need for agility, but little research has addressed transitioning multiple, collaborating organizations to what can be referred to as a “value-network cloud.” We know that organizations adopting cloud services to execute business processes must concomitantly reconfigure their security solutions for their integrated intra- and inter-organizational collaborations. We address the question, “What is needed to make it possible for an entire value-network to take secure, collaborative business process executions to the cloud?” Future value-network cloud solutions will require completely new security approaches that will leverage contracted brokering solutions operating as part of the cloud solution. We view value-network cloud security service provisioning as a bundle decision characterized by a mix of communication patterns relevant to intra- and inter-enterprise collaboration. We propose a cloud service broker model—using semantics and SLA based middleware—to serve as a trusted interface between the enterprise, cloud service providers and other organizations collaborating in a value-network. The approach enables IT governance for value-network cloud services. The architectural requirements adapt design principles for infrastructure management tailored from approaches to how business cartels historically conducted secure business dealings.