Optimal Location of Data Centers and Software Components in Cloud Computing Network Design

Given Cloud Computing geographical distribution on multiple regions, the location of data centers, servers and software components and the way information is routed are fundamental issues in system performance. This article presents the Cloud Location and Routing Problem (CLRP), a mathematical problem aiming at solving all those issues in a multi-layer and integrated fashion through a convex integer programming formulation. The results underline the importance of location and routing when offering content to the whole Internet in an efficient way, showing that the budget and the number of data centers opened have a critical impact in overall network performance.