A comparison of on-premise to cloud migration approaches

While cloud computing has certainly gained attention, the potential for increased uptake of the technology is still large. As a consequence, how to move and migrate to the cloud is an unanswered question for many organisations. Gaining an understanding of cloud migration processes from on-premise architectures is our aim here. For this purpose, we look at three provider-driven case studies based on the common three layers of cloud computing: Infrastructure (IaaS), platform (PaaS) and software (SaaS) as a service. These shall be complemented by a fourth, independent systems integration perspective. We extract common migration process activities for the layer-specific processes and discuss commonalities, differences and open issues. The results presented are based on expert interviews and focus groups held with major international cloud solution providers and independent consultants.