From the Desktop to the Multi-clouds: The Case of ModelioSaaS

The advent of cloud computing is an opportunity to companies offering client-server services to migrate to a Software as a Service (SaaS) kind of business model. This kind of business model is based on having companies offering services on the cloud accessible by means of web interfaces and protocols. This comes in opposition to the traditional (client-server) model in which software packages need to be downloaded, installed and maintained directly by clients. Therefore, the SaaS could allow the definition of high level services, removing the burden of configuring and managing servers from clients. In the point of view of the service providers, this transition is not easy. Concerns such as vendor neutral design, scalability, (self-)adaptation and monitoring of running applications need to be dealt with. The MODAClouds FP7 EU project proposes to deal with all these challenges and it is going to use ModelioSaaS as a use case. ModelioSaaS is a software as a service product to be offered by SOFTEAM by means of the migration of its existing client-server based products. The main contributions of this paper are therefore providing an account, from the industrial point of view, of the context surrounding this migration and the constraints it needs to comply to. These constraints will be presented in the form of functional and non-functional requirements along with their rationale. This paper presents our current view of the architecture of ModelioSaaS that will enable this move and the gaps that we intend to fill be means of the MODAClouds platform.