Blockchain-based decentralized cloud/fog solutions: Challenges, opportunities, and standards

Smart contracts and blockchain have the potential to change the current shape of cloud markets by enabling the development of completely decentralized cloud/fog solutions, which lower costs and enforce predictable results without requiring any intermediary. In this article, we survey three of these solutions, namely Golem, iExec, and SONM, compare them, and identify some of the problems they leave unsolved. Moreover, we consider existing standards for the development of interoperable decentralized cloud solutions that would allow such systems to compete with large providers and would prevent vendor lock-in. We believe that our study contributes to the evolution of cloud systems not only by pointing out incompatibilities among projects and possible solutions for research problems in the area, but also by reviewing the existing standards and suggesting new standardization opportunities. © 2017 IEEE.