Bepari: A Cost-Aware Comprehensive Agent Architecture for Opaque Cloud Services

Cloud computing has become popular in various application domains based on infrastructure, platform, and software as a service model. Rapid deployment, high scalability, on-demand, and (theoretically) infinite resources have driven the industry towards the wide adoption of cloud computing services. However, the difficulty of cross-provider resource allocation and seamless resource transition is a major concern for such services. Therefore, the segregated cloud market forces its clients to use provider-specific and pre-configured options for their required resources and services. Thus, the overall market, even with the presence of multiple cloud service providers, operates as a direct service from the providers to the clients, and with non-negotiable pricing strategies for the cloud services. In this article, we propose Bepari, a cost-driven model for opaque service platforms for cloud computing. Bepari acts as a negotiation-based approach to deliver composite cross-provider cloud-based services to the end-users. Bepari provides a detailed service-oriented architecture for multiple cloud service providers to provide cross-platform and composite services. Furthermore, Bepari delivers a detailed cost model and comparison between establishing a cloud service vs. an opaque cloud service. Our empirical framework allows a Bepari service provider to analyze the profit model and create a market niche accordingly. Simulation results are provided, which validate the efficiency of a negotiated pricing strategy in terms of maximized resource utilization and profits for cloud service providers and cost reduction for the cloud users.