Recently, we have witnessed unprecedented use of cloud computing and its services. It is influencing the way software is built, as well as company’ resources such as servers, workstations or generally hardware are used. This paper aims to examine the benefits of cloud usage to support real-time service systems, using the Salesforce platform. First, we explore the meaning and the role of cloud computing for the real-time service systems efficient functioning. Then, we build a service management platform for the Polish Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA), based on a real-time system located in the cloud. This way, PBSA managers are able to complete their tasks in this system on-demand. Moreover, it is set up as a private cloud to grant access only to the snooker organization employees.

The traveling salesman problem (TSP) consists of finding the shortest way between cities, which passes through all cities and returns to the starting point, given the distance between cities. The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is the issue of defining the assumptions and limitations in mapping routes for vehicles performing certain operational activities. It is a major problem in logistics transportation. In specific areas of business, where transportation can be perceived as added value to the product, it is estimated that its optimization can lower costs up to 25% in total. The economic benefits for more open markets are a key point for VRP. This paper discusses the metaheuristics usage for solving the vehicle routing problem with special attention toward Genetic Algorithms (GAs). Metaheuristic algorithms are selected to solve the vehicle routing problem, where GA is implemented as our primary metaheuristic algorithm. GA belongs to the evolutionary algorithm (EA) family, which works on a “survival of the fittest” mechanism. This paper presents the idea of implementing different genetic operators, modified for usage with the VRP, and performs experiments to determine the best combination of genetic operators for solving the VRP and to find optimal solutions for large-scale real-life examples of the VRP.

Microservices, Continuous Integration and Delivery, Docker, DevOps, Infrastructure as Code—these are the current trends and buzzwords in the technological world of 2020. A popular tool which can facilitate the deployment and maintenance of microservices is Kubernetes. Kubernetes is a platform for running containerized applications, for example microservices. There are two main questions which answer was important for us: how to deploy Kubernetes itself and how to ensure that the deployment fulfils the needs of a production environment. Our research concentrates on the analysis and evaluation of Kubernetes cluster as the software production environment. However, firstly it is necessary to determine and evaluate the requirements of production environment. The paper presents the determination and analysis of such requirements and their evaluation in the case of Kubernetes cluster. Next, the paper compares two methods of deploying a Kubernetes cluster: kops and eksctl. Both of the methods concern the AWS cloud, which was chosen mainly because of its wide popularity and the range of provided services. Besides the two chosen methods of deployment, there are many more, including the DIY method and deploying on-premises.