  Cloud computing is a disruptive technology, representing a new model for
information technology (IT) solution engineering and management that promises
to introduce significant cost savings and other benefits. The adoption of Cloud
computing requires a detailed comparison of infrastructure alternatives, taking
a number of aspects into careful consideration. Existing methods of evaluation,
however, limit decision making to the relative costs of cloud computing, but do
not take a broader range of criteria into account. In this paper, we introduce
a generic, multi-criteria-based decision framework and an application for Cloud
Computing, the Multi-Criteria Comparison Method for Cloud Computing ((MC2)2).
The framework and method allow organizations to determine what infrastructure
best suits their needs by evaluating and ranking infrastructure alternatives
using multiple criteria. Therefore, (MC2)2 offers a way to differentiate
infrastructures not only by costs, but also in terms of benefits, opportunities
and risks. (MC2)2 can be adapted to facilitate a wide array of decision-making
scenarios within the domain of information technology infrastructures,
depending on the criteria selected to support the framework.
