A study on open source cloud computing platforms

Cloud computing is the convergence and evolution of several concepts from virtualization, distributed application design, grid, and enterprise IT management to enable a more flexible approach for deploying and scaling applications. Cloud Computing, as a utility, has the potential to transform the IT industry by providing software as a service and revolutionizing the way, IT hardware is designed and purchased. Several Cloud computing platforms have been launched in the last few years. With the advent of several Open Source Cloud computing platforms, guaranteeing performance and uptime it is not easy for a non-expert users to choose from the different platforms without comprehending the characteristics and advantages of each of these platform. This paper analyses the characteristics, architecture and applications of some of the most popular open source cloud computing platforms like EUCALYPTUS, OpenStack, Nimbus and OpenNebula to facilitate novice user to select from the different cloud platforms.