A Platform-as-a-Service API aggregator

Abstract

Cloud Computing has emerged as a new paradigm for services delivering over the Internet. In this growing market, PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) service model has been the subject of great interest from several organizations allowing a straightforward deployment of applications without the need for a dedicated infrastructure, dependencies installation or server configuration. However, each PaaS provider generates a lock-in to their proprietary features, technologies or APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). This paper focuses on the specification, development and test of an abstraction layer that aims to unify the management and information processes of applications and databases created in PaaS environments, in order to struggle the existing lock-in in the market. As result, PaaS users will have now the opportunity for selecting the most appropriate platform for an application, interacting seamlessly with any supported vendor, also having the opportunity to attain the portability of applications among distinct PaaS providers. As far as we know, this is the first work in this research area presenting a real implemented and tested system aggregating several PaaS offerings.