Unavoidable Trends : From Merchant Lock-in to the Meta Cloud

Abstract

The cloud computing paradigm has achieved widespread adoption in recent years. Its success is due largely to customers’ ability to use services on demand with a pay-as-you go pricing model, which has proved convenient in many respects. Low costs and high flexibility make migrating to the cloud compelling. Despite its obvious advantages, however, many companies hesitate to “move to the cloud,” mainly because of concerns related to service availability, data lock-in, and legal uncertainties.