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(MC2)2: A Generic Decision-Making Framework and its Application to Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a disruptive technology, representing a new model for information technology (IT) solution engineering and management that promises to introduce significant cost savings and other benefits. The adoption of Cloud computing requires a detailed comparison of infrastructure alternatives, taking a number of aspects into careful consideration. Existing methods of evaluation, however, limit decision making to the relative costs of cloud computing, but do not take a broader range of criteria into account. In this paper, we introduce a generic, multi-criteria-based decision framework and an application for Cloud Computing, the Multi-Criteria Comparison Method for Cloud Computing ((MC2)2). The framework and method allow organizations to determine what infrastructure best suits their needs by evaluating and ranking infrastructure alternatives using multiple criteria. Therefore, (MC2)2 offers a way to differentiate infrastructures not only by costs, but also in terms of benefits, opportunities and risks. (MC2)2 can be adapted to facilitate a wide array of decision-making scenarios within the domain of information technology infrastructures, depending on the criteria selected to support the framework.