Cost-optimized configuration of computing instances for large sized cloud systems

Cloud computing services are becoming more popular for various reasons which include 'having no need for capital expenditure' and 'the ability to quickly meet business demands'. However, what seems to be an attractive option may become a substantial expenditure as more projects are moved into the cloud. Cloud service companies provide different pricing options to their customers that can potentially lower the customers' spending on the cloud. Choosing the right combination of pricing options can be formulated as a linear mixed integer programming problem, which can be solved using optimization.