Do cloud computing tools support the needs of virtual enterprises?

Abstract

Virtual Enterprise (VE) is a prominent strategy for leveraging new sustainable models to SMEs. A VE is as temporary network of enterprises that collaborate via the Internet towards achieving common goals, sharing assets, costs, risks and benefits. However, VE members do not use to share ICT assets and infrastructures in the collaboration. Cloud computing has emerged as option for that. Research works have developed prototypes and cloud-based environments to support very specific issues within given VE scenarios. However, it is important that SME managers have a broader perception about at which extent commercial cloud computing tools can indeed support the usual VE needs. This is the essential goal of this paper. The needs of VEs and performance indicators to evaluate cloud tools have been identified, and two commercial SaaS, PaaS and IaaS tools have been evaluated. Conclusions are provided in the end.