**1. Introduction**

Cloud computing is a ubiquitous model for enabling network users' on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released to the client without direct service provider interaction [1]. A cloud service provider is a party that makes cloud services available. Cloud computing technology is a new solution giving users the option to access software and information and communication technology (ICT) resources with the desired flexibility and modularity and at very competitive prices. In 2010, 80% of the US economy was driven by the service industry. But while there is more flexibility available in the cloud, there is a risk you can become dependent on the products and services from particular providers. Cloud computing benefits the service industry the most and advances business computing with a new paradigm. As pointed out by Brynjolfsson et al. [2], the real strength of cloud computing is that it is a catalyst for more innovation. To assist corporations to adopt cloud computing services, Sahandi et al. [3] affirm that much research on cloud computing has concentrated on two broad areas: (i) business agility and (ii) catalysts for more innovation. The focus of this writing is to study both high-performance computing (HPC) for scientific computing and high-throughput computing (HTC) systems for business computing. Although many of the concepts do not appear to be new, the real innovation of cloud computing lies in the way it provides computing services to customers [3]. Further, this research examines clusters, massively parallel processors (MPP), grids, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and internet clouds. These systems are distinguished by their platform architectures, operating system (OS) platforms, processing algorithms, communication protocols, security demands and service models applied. The study emphasises scalability, performance, availability, security, energy-efficiency, workload outsourcing, data centre protection, etc. The surge of interest when installing virtual machines (VMs) has widened the scope of system applications and upgraded computer performance and efficiency in recent years. An internet cloud of resources can be either a centralised or a distributed computing system. Cloud computing architecture relies on virtualisation techniques that create multiple virtual environments [3]. Parallel, distributed or both types of computing are used in the cloud. Clouds can be constructed using real or virtualised resources over sizeable, distributed or centralised data centres. A sort of utility computing or service computing, according to some authors [4, 5], is cloud computing. Cloud computing is used to equip virtual machines as central storage and processors to avoid ICT equipment costs in organisations or homes.

For example, using a cloud provider to manage your storage lifecycle might lead to lock-in, and it will reduce the work required to manage your service. Accepting some lock-in brings advantages that seem counter-intuitive, but one should balance this benefit of cloud lock-in against potential risks, so one can get the best value and reduce the burden of future legacy technology. By designing them as virtual resources over automated hardware, databases, user interfaces and application environments, clouds hope to power the next generation of data centres. In this way, the ambition to create better data centres through automated provisioning gives rise to clouds. ICT infrastructure is now shifting from locally managed software-enabled platforms and physical hardware to outsourced virtual infrastructure managed by cloud service providers [6]. But risks concerning security, privacy, financial aspects and the wider organisation are vital and require serious consideration before a cloud migration. In order to efficiently come to the correct decision about cloud migration with respect to business needs (as per lock-in avoidance), an organisation should be able to objectively consider the aggregated risks of cloud adoption. According to Khajeh-Hosseini et al. [7], it is emphasised that there is a need for guidelines and decision support tools for enterprises that are considering migrating their ICT systems to the cloud. The necessity of a comprehensive migration framework to support organisations through the migration decision cannot be overemphasised [8]. The process of cloud migration is therefore a complex undertaking, depending on many factors that contribute both for and against a decision to migrate.

Cloud technology has resulted in a variety of implementations and solutions where each vendor defines their own interfaces and approaches for similar products and services, which has resulted in heterogeneity application platform infrastructure (APIs) and libraries. These APIs complicate integration efforts for companies of all sizes and locations as they struggle to understand and then manage these unique

#### *Perspective Chapter: Cloud Lock-in Parameters – Service Adoption and Migration DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109601*

application interfaces in an interoperable way, and integrate applications from cloud to cloud and cloud to on-premise systems [9]. The concept of cloud computing has evolved from cluster, grid and utility computing. Cluster and grid computing leverage the use of many computers in parallel to solve problems of any size. In order to offer a wide variety of services to end users, cloud computing makes use of dynamic resources. A big data centre or server farm serves as the infrastructure in the cloud computing high-throughput computing (HTC) paradigm. Through a linked device, users can share access to resources at any time and from any location thanks to the cloud model. According to Foster et al. [10], cloud computing leverages multitasking to achieve higher throughput by serving heterogeneous applications, large or small, simultaneously. From another perspective, the cloud computing environment assigns due importance to good governance and the integrity of systems and data. While research confirms the widespread adoption and usage of cloud computing services across enterprises, arguably it should be said primarily of cloud computing as a business phenomenon rather than a technological one [11]. Moreover, a corporation can benefit from cloud computing in two different ways: directly through lower expenses and indirectly by being able to concentrate more emphasis on key business tasks. Cloud computing is a promising endeavour with the potential to offer financial benefits to an organisation [12].

The rest of this chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 reviews the state of the art in the domain of cloud computing lock-in solutions. Through this review, a set of guidelines are extracted that a vendor-neutral cloud service should follow in order to mitigate lock-in risks. Section 3 introduces parameters and discusses its core dimensions. Section 4 confirms the set of guidelines to follow for a successful intra-cloud migration with low switching costs (customizability). Section 5 summarises good practices and guidelines for building a standardised infrastructure, portable data structures and interoperable platforms. Finally, Section 6 concludes this chapter by discussing the research findings and future work.
