way in which IT resources and services are being provisioned is currently in flux. Advances in distributed systems technology have allowed for the provisioning of services on an unprecedented scale and with increasing flexibility. At the same time, business and academia have started to embrace a model wherein third-party services that can be acquired with minimal service provider interaction, replace or complement those that are managed internally. Organizations have only started to grasp the economic implications of this evolution. As a global market for infrastructure, platform and software services emerges, the need to understand and deal with these implications is quickly growing. In addition, a multitude of new challenges arise. These are inherently multi-disciplinary and relate to aspects such as the operation and structure of the service market, the alignment of cost, revenue and quality-related objectives when taking on a service consumer or provider role, and the creation of innovative business models and value chains.

The way in which IT resources and services are being provisioned is currently in flux. Advances in distributed systems technology have allowed for the provisioning of services on an unprecedented scale and with increasing flexibility. At the same time, business and academia have started to embrace a model wherein third-party services that can be acquired with minimal service provider interaction, replace or complement those that are managed internally. Organizations have only started to grasp the economic implications of this evolution. As a global market for infrastructure, platform and software services emerges, the need to understand and deal with these implications is quickly growing. In addition, a multitude of new challenges arise. These are inherently multi-disciplinary and relate to aspects such as the operation and structure of the service market, the alignment of cost, revenue and quality-related objectives when taking on a service consumer or provider role, and the creation of innovative business models and value chains. The GECON workshop invites researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to present and discuss economics-related issues and solutions associated with these developments and challenges. Contributed work can comprise extensions to existing technologies, successful deployments of technologies, economic analysis, and theoretical concepts. The purpose of this workshop is to gather original work and build a strong multi-disciplinary community in this increasingly important area of a future information economy.