RELIABILITY PAPER Reliability and Availability analysis of a cloud computing transition system under multiple failures Monika Manglik Department of Mathematics, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India Nitesh Rawat Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Graphic Era Deemed to be University, Dehradun, India, and Mangey Ram Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering, Graphic Era Deemed to be University, Dehradun, India Abstract Purpose – To analyze the performance of multistate cloud computing transition system through the various reliability measures is the purpose of this paper. Design/methodology/approach – In this article, a mathematical model for a multistate cloud computing transition system with various types of failures has been analyzed by using the Markov process, supplementary variable technique and Laplace transformation. Findings – Various reliability measures such that reliability, availability, mean time to failure (MTTF), mean time to repair and cost analysis have also been analyzed. This article presents some geographic illustrations for the practical utility of the model. Originality/value – The authors developed a mathematical model to analyze the reliability of the cloud computing transition system by considering the possible failures. Keywords Cloud computing, Reliability, Availability, Mean time to failure, Cost analysis Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction Cloud computing is a computing standard in which many systems are connected by private or public networks to provide dynamically scalable infrastructure for application, data and file storage. This technology is useful in reducing the computation cost, application hosting content storage and delivery. Currently, we are using various online services such as sending emails, storing pictures, editing documents, etc. which are possible only by using cloud computing. It is one of today’s most sensational technologies because of its capacity to decrease the costs associated with computing, while increasing flexibility and scalability for computer processing. During the past few years, it has grown from being a promising business idea to one of the fastest-growing sectors in the information technology (IT) industry. Many reasons are available for which the organizations are using cloud computing services, for example, cloud computing eliminates the expenses of buying hardware and software. A huge amount of computing resources can be provided in minutes. Cloud computing can be used to deliver the right amount of IT resources. Besides, it can be used for productivity, performance and security purposes. On the other hand, IT organizations have expressed concerns about critical issues such as security, in particular, which is one of the most debated issue in the field Cloud computing transition system The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/0265-671X.htm Received 5 August 2019 Revised 6 January 2020 6 April 2020 23 May 2020 20 June 2020 Accepted 21 June 2020 International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management © Emerald Publishing Limited 0265-671X DOI 10.1108/IJQRM-08-2019-0254