Kevyt menetelmä ohjelmistojen pilviyhteensopivuuden arvioimiseen

Cloud services have gained popularity in the past few years, and many companies are offering their software as a service. Cloud environments offer scalability, and it is indeed easy to start using a cloud service instead of acquiring the required hardware. However, some architectural patterns are better in a cloud environment than others. Business critical software that has existed for a long time, such as the operations and business support systems (OSS/BSS) of telecommunication operators, may require extensive changes in order to stay competitive and gain the benefits of cloud environments. The number of mobile device and Internet users continues to grow, and the scalability provided by cloud environments could help OSS/BSS systems handle the growing load. This thesis focuses on the opportunities that cloud provides, and problems faced by companies looking for ways to move their mature products to a cloud environment. Moving software from customer premises to a cloud introduces security and latency problems, but would offer benefits with scalability, if the legacy software can be transformed to a cloud compatible architecture, such as microservices architecture. Such a transition also affects the way the software is developed and how it is deployed. The result of this thesis is a method for evaluating the cloud compatibility of a software product. The method was also used to evaluate the feasibility of deploying Comptel InstantLink to a cloud environment. The architecture of Comptel InstantLink requires changes so that it could be automatically scaled. However, cloud environments would provide value to the users of Comptel InstantLink. A private cloud environment deployed to the telecommunication operator's own infrastructure would be a suitable environment for Comptel InstantLink. The method created in this thesis proved to be a useful starting point for evaluating cloud compatibility, and helps detecting the main areas of concern in cloud migration