The Systemic Risk of Consolidation in the Cloud Computing Industry

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of consolidation within the cloud computing industry related to the reliability and availability of computing resources. This dissertation begins by assessing the scale and scope of the cloud computing industry leader, Amazon Web Services. Included in this assessment are a collection of case studies that reveal some of the unique transactions between actors in this industry. The next section uses a bowtie analysis to frame for discussion the key risks related to cloud computing. This framework is used to analyze how the economic risks of compromise and unavailability have changed with a shift from on premise computing to cloud computing. A normative systems analysis examines the policy considerations for addressing the consolidation in the cloud computing industry, and the social fabric matrix is applied to discuss the unique deliveries among processing institutions and between processing institutions and authorizing institutions. On the basis of the normative systems analysis, several policy implications are examined, including the extent to which government spending reinforces consolidation of power and risk within the cloud computing industry.