Let´s Trade Futures! a Novel Approach for Cloud Computing Resource Planning and Management

Resource planning is the greatest challenge cloud computing service providers face, because it is difficult to predict future resource demands. Fluctuation in demand coupled with inadequate resource planning causes over-or under-utilization of many resources, resulting in a loss of revenue that has created the need for a more efficient market model. The creation of an Information Technology Exchange (ITE) is the long-awaited solution to the resource-utilization problem. Trading cloud resources as commodities-futures, forward, spot, and swap contracts-would allow service providers to predict consumption, meet future workload needs, and increase revenue. The prepackaged and/or atomic resource bundles, called Information Technology Exchange Traded Resources (IT-ETRs), are modeled after the Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) of the financial market. In the experiment described in this paper, the trading of cloud resources as commodities in an exchange improves utilization.