Understanding the Complexity Surrounding Multitenancy in Cloud Computing

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and complexity of multi-tenancy issues that have emerged though the development and adoption of cloud computing. The paper will focus specifically around cloud deployment and data storage, in particular relation to privacy concerns due to multi-tenancy. The reason for this lies with the identification of Software as a Service (SaaS) as the most likely adopted service model, particularly for those who are teleworking, as this relies on the service provider adopting a multi-tenancy environment within the data centre. The paper takes the perspective that, for both legal reasons and as part of shared obligation, it is necessary for users to recognise the need for common standards of policy and procedure. For example, this may be in levels of protection to prevent data protection and privacy laws being compromised. Both cloud service providers and legislative bodies need to acknowledge the impact that multi-tenancy can have on user privacy and act accordingly in regulatory steps and in encouraging a culture of adhering to common user standards. Such matters must be addressed at the earliest levels of growth in user demand to be optimally effective, especially when scalability is a fundamental driver for the adoption of cloud computing.