What's new in the European research and development area? Cloud computing is a provision model where whatever computing resource that can be thought of (machines, network, software solutions, applications) is provided as a service. This new paradigm has changed the center of gravity of computing in both the academic and industry environments, but despite the considerable efforts and investments, there are critical problems that are not yet solved. The research and development community involved in distributed computing is searching for viable solutions that will increase the adoption of the...

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This book summarizes work being undertaken within the collaborative MODAClouds research project, which aims to facilitate interoperability between heterogeneous Cloud platforms and remove the constraints of deployment, portability, and reversibility for end users of Cloud services. Experts involved in the project provide a clear overview of the MODAClouds approach and explain how it operates in a variety of applications.

While the wide spectrum of available Clouds constitutes a vibrant technical environment, many early-stage...