Paper Info
Title
Identifying Potential Risks and Benefits of Using Cloud in Distributed Software Development.
Abstract
Cloud-based infrastructure has been increasingly adopted by the industry in distributed software development (DSD) environments. Its proponents claim that its several benefits include reduced cost, increased speed and greater productivity in software development. Empirical evaluations, however, are in the nascent stage of examining both the benefits and the risks of cloud-based infrastructure. The objective of this paper is to identify potential benefits and risks of using cloud in a DSD project conducted by teams based in Helsinki and Madrid. A cross-case qualitative analysis is performed based on focus groups conducted at the Helsinki and Madrid sites. Participants' observations are used to supplement the analysis. The results of the analysis indicated that the main benefits of using cloud are rapid development, continuous integration, cost savings, code sharing, and faster ramp-up. The key risks determined by the project are dependencies, unavailability of access to the cloud, code commitment and integration, technical debt, and additional support costs. The results revealed that if such environments are not planned and set up carefully, the benefits of using cloud in DSD projects might be overshadowed by the risks associated with it.
Year
DOI
Venue
2013
10.1007/978-3-642-39259-7_19
LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
Keywords
DocType
Volume
cloud-based software development,distributed software development,DSD,global software development,case study,empirical software engineering,offshore software development,cloud computing,benefits and risks of using cloud
Conference
7983
ISSN
Citations 
PageRank 
0302-9743
6
0.41
References 
Authors
11
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Nilay Oza1724.87
Jürgen Münch21286147.27
Juan Garbajosa328031.62
Agustín Yagüe46810.56
Eloy González Ortega560.41