Resources management architecture and algorithms for virtualized IVR applications in cloud environment

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) applications are ubiquitous nowadays. IVR is a telephony technology that allows interactions with a wide range of automated information systems via a telephone keypad or voice commands. Cloud computing is a newly emerging paradigm that hosts and provides services over the Internet with many inherent benefits. It has three major service models: Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Cloud computing is based on the virtualization technology that enables the co-existence of entities in general on the same substrates. These entities may be operating systems co-existing on the same hardware, applications co-existing on the same operating system, or even full-blown networks co-existing on the same routers. The key benefit is efficiency through the sharing of physical resources. Several multimedia applications are provided in cloud environments nowadays. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no architecture that creates and manages IVR applications in cloud environment. Therefore, we propose to develop a new virtualized architecture that can create, deploy and manage IVR applications in cloud environment. We also propose two new algorithms for resources management and task scheduling as an essential part of resource sharing in such environment

Web service composition : architecture, frameworks, and techniques

OASIS defines Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) as a paradigm for organizing and utilizing distributed capabilities that may be under the control of different ownership domains. One approach to realize SOA is Web services. A Web service is a software system that has a machine processable Web Services Description Language (WSDL) interface; other systems interact with it using SOAP messages in a manner prescribed by its description. Descriptions enable Web services to be discovered, used by other Web services, and composed into new Web services. Composition is a mechanism for rapid creation of new Web services by reusing existing ones. Web services have functional, behavioral, semantic, and non-functional characteristics. These characteristics have to be considered for composition, as they provide essential information about the services. In order to compose Web services with these characteristics, they have to be described appropriately. However, the existing techniques do not consider all these aspects together for description and composition. This thesis proposes a business model, also referred to as architecture, a description framework, and a composition framework for Web service composition. Techniques for matching, categorizing, and assembling the composite services are also proposed as a part of the composition framework. The architecture, frameworks, and techniques describe, discover, manipulate, and compose Web services by taking into account all their characteristics. The standard Web service business model is extended by the proposed business model to support Web service composition. In the model, based on their demand, the requested Web services are composed by the Web service composer. In the proposed architecture, Web services are described using the description framework languages. The proposed framework combines Semantic Annotations for WSDL and XML Schema (SAWSDL) for functional and semantic description, Message Sequence Charts (MSC) for behavioral description, and a simple and new Non Functional Specification Language (NFSL) for the non-functional properties description of Web services. It uses Higher Order Logic (HOL) for formalizing and integrating the three languages. The role of Web service composer in the architecture is realized by the composition framework. It essentially defines the architecture of the composer. In this framework, matchmaking, categorization, and assembly techniques are used to create the requested composite service. These techniques manipulate the Web services at HOL-level. The formal matchmaking technique discovers the primitive Web services by using a HOL theorem prover. The categorization and the assembly techniques manipulate the matched services and orchestrate the composite service. The concepts of the model, frameworks, and techniques are implemented, and their working is illustrated using case studies. Prototypes of the model's components (extended registry and extended requester) and the composition framework are developed, and their performance is analyzed. Case studies to illustrate the description and the composition frameworks are also presente

Business models: An empirical approach to firm structures and organisational change

Popular though poorly-defined, the business model construct has generated a fragmented and non-accretive research literature. Despite prominence in the practice community for scholarly research has yet to converge on construct boundaries or establish a research framework in organizational theory. This study develops an integrative approach to business models and identifies business model formation and change processes. Prior studies address business models within the strategy discourse of competitive positioning. The failure to disentangle business models and strategy has limited theoretical and practical research. A quasi-systematic review of the academic literature combined with a discourse analysis of the business model in practice yields an empirical assessment of business model language. Managers use business models to address opportunities rather than position the firm for competitive advantage. This anchors an integrative definition for the business model as the design of organizational structures to enact an opportunity. Building on this framework, an analysis of structured interviews with 556 large firm CEOs establishes the links between organizational structures and strategic flexibility. Working within a capabilities and structural framework, the study extends research on strategic flexibility firms engaged in business model innovation in a global, cross-industry context. Creative culture enables strategic flexibility while partner dependence inhibits it. In addition, firms that focus managerial attention without giving up non-core activities achieve flexible outcomes. Finally, a case-based study of innovative entrepreneurial firms unpacks characteristics of business model formation and change processes. In contrast to theories of outward-facing strategic fit with environment, entrepreneurial firms undergo an internallydriven process towards business model coherence. The case studies reveal a self-evolving narrative process operating at multiple levels within the firm. The application of a narrative framework facilitates a novel sense-making approach to theories of change at entrepreneurial firms

Individual Mobile Communication Services and Tariffs

Individual services and tariffs existed briefly in the beginning of telecommunications history 150 years ago but faded away over time. Service provisioning evolved into the current supplier-centric situation which has many limitations and disadvantages. This thesis re-embraces the user-centric service provisioning and tariffing philosophy and applies it to current mobile communication services setting, which differs significantly in scale and scope from the historical practices. A design methodology and tool for the determination of individualized mobile services and tariffs is provided, and benefits to both the user and the supplier are evaluated. The design has three aspects. The first involves the construction of a conceptual framework consisting of the behavioral models of the user and the supplier (firm) and a game theoretical negotiation mechanism to determine individual services and tariffs. Second is the operationalization of the conceptual framework in a computational design with methods, computational models, negotiation algorithms, risk metrics and a prototype implementation. Third is the extension of the individual services and tariffs concept to a community setting via a proposed community business model. Two evaluations are performed. First, for the firm-based design, a user survey is conducted and computational cases, that address value-added mobile services and generic mobile service bundles, are developed. The numerical analyses show that the users always achieve gains in utility. The benefits to the supplier include adjustable risk-profit equilibrium points, increased network traffic and reduced churn. Second, two case studies on communities are conducted. The results demonstrate that the proposed business model of community-based individual service provisioning and tariffing can meet the demands of their members precisely and address both affordability and sustainability issues. Last, a specific engineering implementation and integration of the individualized service and tariff design tools into the existing infrastructure of the communication services suppliers is proposed. Further research issues are pointed out