Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. It allows users to access technology-based services from the internet without knowledge of, expertise with, or control over the technology infrastructure that supports them. Some key benefits of cloud computing include reduced costs, increased storage and computing power, and accessibility of data from any internet-connected device. While cloud computing provides advantages, concerns exist around data security, privacy, reliability, and lack of control over the infrastructure supporting the cloud.
The document discusses virtual worlds and how they are used in various contexts such as sales, branding, education, recruitment, collaboration, training, new employee orientation, simulation, development, and hybrid events. It provides examples of companies and organizations using virtual worlds for these purposes, both internally and publicly, and discusses some of the benefits and issues associated with virtual worlds. The document concludes by noting differing opinions on the current and future business potential of virtual worlds.
This document introduces Assem Abdel Hamied Mousa, the president of ASDF in Africa and an expert in e-commerce and cloud/IoT technologies. It discusses how technologies like the cloud of things (COT) can help address issues like climate change, poverty, and disease by connecting people, processes, and data. The document argues that Africa must adopt these technologies to solve its problems and that universal adoption of COT could change life worldwide by 2030. It concludes by inviting collaboration on global COT implementation strategies.
The document discusses alternative approaches to input and output devices, including assistive technologies. It then covers ubiquitous computing, which was coined in the 1990s to describe integrating computers seamlessly into the world. Key aspects of ubiquitous computing include pervasive computing, physical computing, ambient intelligence, and the internet of things. The document outlines some design considerations for ubiquitous computing products.
The document discusses a cloud multimedia platform and its applications. It begins with an agenda that covers cloud computing concepts, multimedia in the cloud, case studies, and a summary. Case studies include multimedia processing and metadata, social network analysis in the cloud, and mobile multimedia elastic cloud applications. The summary states that cloud computing provides on-demand scalability, drives new data processing systems, allows fast development of scalable multimedia services, and has benefits for multimedia systems by offloading heavy tasks to cloud services. It asks what types of tasks are reasonable to implement in the cloud.
Mobile Multimedia Cloud Computing and the WebDejan Kovachev
Mobile multimedia services are in high demand, but their development comes at high costs. The emergent computing paradigm cloud computing has great potential to embrace these issues. In fact, we are at the early stage of the coalescence of cloud computing, mobile multimedia and the Web. Motivated by the tremendous success story of the Web based on its simplicity principles, we argue for a comprehensive review on current practices of web and mobile multimedia cloud computing techniques for avoiding frictions. We draw on experience from the development of advanced collaborative multimedia web applications utilizing multimedia metadata standards like MPEG-7 and real-time communication protocols like XMPP. We propose our i5CLoud, a hybrid cloud architecture, which serves as a substrate for scalable and fast time-to-market mobile multimedia services. This paper demonstrates the applicability of emerging cloud computing concepts for mobile multimedia.
You know technology is truly functional when you don't need to get off the sofa, be that to change channels, make a call, order your daily bread or even earn your daily bread, and it looks like we're finally getting there. A keen chronicler of the changing times since he got his first programmable calculator in 1978, Philip Anthony, head of Co-Operative Systems, talks about his personal journey, daily battles with technology and where we might be headed. Often the results of applying technology are not as anticipated ...
This document discusses a presentation on cloud computing concepts, technologies, and business implications. It provides an outline of the talk including an introduction to cloud models like IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. It also discusses demonstrating cloud capabilities through examples and a case study of applying cloud computing to a real business application. The speakers' backgrounds in cloud computing are introduced and the document concludes with an introduction stating that cloud computing represents a new golden era in computing.
This document discusses cloud computing concepts, technologies, and business implications. It provides an introduction to cloud models including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). It also demonstrates cloud capabilities through examples of cloud models, data and computing models using MapReduce, and graph processing using Amazon Elastic MapReduce. The document discusses enabling cloud technologies including virtualization, multi-core architectures, and web services interfaces.
The document discusses virtual worlds and how they are used in various contexts such as sales, branding, education, recruitment, collaboration, training, new employee orientation, simulation, development, and hybrid events. It provides examples of companies and organizations using virtual worlds for these purposes, both internally and publicly, and discusses some of the benefits and issues associated with virtual worlds. The document concludes by noting differing opinions on the current and future business potential of virtual worlds.
This document introduces Assem Abdel Hamied Mousa, the president of ASDF in Africa and an expert in e-commerce and cloud/IoT technologies. It discusses how technologies like the cloud of things (COT) can help address issues like climate change, poverty, and disease by connecting people, processes, and data. The document argues that Africa must adopt these technologies to solve its problems and that universal adoption of COT could change life worldwide by 2030. It concludes by inviting collaboration on global COT implementation strategies.
The document discusses alternative approaches to input and output devices, including assistive technologies. It then covers ubiquitous computing, which was coined in the 1990s to describe integrating computers seamlessly into the world. Key aspects of ubiquitous computing include pervasive computing, physical computing, ambient intelligence, and the internet of things. The document outlines some design considerations for ubiquitous computing products.
The document discusses a cloud multimedia platform and its applications. It begins with an agenda that covers cloud computing concepts, multimedia in the cloud, case studies, and a summary. Case studies include multimedia processing and metadata, social network analysis in the cloud, and mobile multimedia elastic cloud applications. The summary states that cloud computing provides on-demand scalability, drives new data processing systems, allows fast development of scalable multimedia services, and has benefits for multimedia systems by offloading heavy tasks to cloud services. It asks what types of tasks are reasonable to implement in the cloud.
Mobile Multimedia Cloud Computing and the WebDejan Kovachev
Mobile multimedia services are in high demand, but their development comes at high costs. The emergent computing paradigm cloud computing has great potential to embrace these issues. In fact, we are at the early stage of the coalescence of cloud computing, mobile multimedia and the Web. Motivated by the tremendous success story of the Web based on its simplicity principles, we argue for a comprehensive review on current practices of web and mobile multimedia cloud computing techniques for avoiding frictions. We draw on experience from the development of advanced collaborative multimedia web applications utilizing multimedia metadata standards like MPEG-7 and real-time communication protocols like XMPP. We propose our i5CLoud, a hybrid cloud architecture, which serves as a substrate for scalable and fast time-to-market mobile multimedia services. This paper demonstrates the applicability of emerging cloud computing concepts for mobile multimedia.
You know technology is truly functional when you don't need to get off the sofa, be that to change channels, make a call, order your daily bread or even earn your daily bread, and it looks like we're finally getting there. A keen chronicler of the changing times since he got his first programmable calculator in 1978, Philip Anthony, head of Co-Operative Systems, talks about his personal journey, daily battles with technology and where we might be headed. Often the results of applying technology are not as anticipated ...
This document discusses a presentation on cloud computing concepts, technologies, and business implications. It provides an outline of the talk including an introduction to cloud models like IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. It also discusses demonstrating cloud capabilities through examples and a case study of applying cloud computing to a real business application. The speakers' backgrounds in cloud computing are introduced and the document concludes with an introduction stating that cloud computing represents a new golden era in computing.
This document discusses cloud computing concepts, technologies, and business implications. It provides an introduction to cloud models including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). It also demonstrates cloud capabilities through examples of cloud models, data and computing models using MapReduce, and graph processing using Amazon Elastic MapReduce. The document discusses enabling cloud technologies including virtualization, multi-core architectures, and web services interfaces.
Estuate helps major wireless telecom save tens of millionsEstuate, Inc.
A major wireless telecom wanted to curb rising data storage costs. With the help of Estuate and IBM Optim solutions, the telecom implemented an enterprise data management strategy to archive old data and retire unused applications. This is expected to save tens of millions annually by minimizing hardware purchases and eliminating at least 1 petabyte of storage over the next few years. Estuate helped train the telecom's staff so it could independently manage its data going forward.
This document discusses how Mitel and VMware have united the worlds of data and voice by allowing real-time voice applications to run on virtualized infrastructures for the first time. Their breakthrough solution addresses latency issues through enhancements to VMware vSphere and Mitel Unified Communications technologies. Organizations can now run both data center and voice applications on a single virtualized infrastructure, providing benefits like reduced costs, improved disaster recovery, and increased efficiency.
From research to business: the Web of linked dataIrene Celino
The document summarizes Irene Celino's presentation titled "From research to business: the Web of linked data". The presentation discusses integrating data on the Web using linked data and semantic technologies. It provides examples of projects like Service-Finder that produce and manage linked data. The presentation outlines the challenges of linked data and highlights key innovations in projects that can help overcome issues with prior approaches to data integration and discovery.
21st Century Project Management to deliver a variety of Cloud Computing Proj...VSR *
Cloud computing enables providing affordable computing power to drive economic growth, improve industries and services like healthcare and education. It allows accessing computing resources like applications, platforms and infrastructure through the internet. Project management needs to adapt to challenges of cloud computing like security, availability and payment models. India aims to become a global leader in cloud computing through better delivery of related projects and programs. PMI commits to help through a council to influence policies and build resources for managing cloud computing projects.
IBM Global Financing can tailor financing solutions to your specific IT needs. For more information on great rates, flexible payment plans and loans, and asset buyback and disposal
This document provides an overview of computers and computing concepts. It defines what a network and the Internet are. It describes different types of personal computers like desktops, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones. It also discusses servers, software, and how programs are installed and used. The document outlines computer applications in various fields and discusses advantages and disadvantages as well as safety and ethical issues related to computer use.
Cloud computing provides on-demand access to shared computing resources like networks, servers, storage, applications and services over the internet. It has evolved from earlier concepts like grid computing, web services, and virtualization. Key characteristics of cloud computing include shared resources that are scalable and elastic, self-service access, and pay-per-use metering. While cloud computing provides opportunities for cost savings and innovation, concerns around security, lock-in, and reliability must be addressed for widespread adoption. Standards and interoperability between cloud platforms are still developing.
IT Agility: The Phenomenology of Virtualization, Consumerization, and Organiz...ted_love
The document discusses how IT departments need to respond with agility to organizational changes. It describes a thought experiment where shareholders demand changes to the business model, including a reduced budget. The document argues that IT should lead these changes, not just follow or get out of the way. It also discusses how the Phoenix Central School District transformed its IT operations through virtualization to reduce costs while improving management and support. Education is poised for significant changes driven by technology, and IT will need to adapt quickly to these changes through approaches like virtualization.
This document discusses the opportunities and considerations for using cloud computing in learning and development. It begins by defining cloud computing as a model that provides on-demand access to shared, configurable IT resources over the internet. The document then explores how cloud computing could impact L&D by enabling mobile, just-in-time learning and providing a richer, more personalized experience at a lower cost. However, the document also notes potential threats like data security and loss of control. It concludes by providing tips for developing a successful cloud-based L&D strategy.
This document provides an overview of cloud computing and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) from VrStorm. It discusses the value of cloud computing in reducing costs and improving utilization compared to traditional IT. IaaS allows users to access compute and storage resources on demand without large capital expenses. The document outlines VrStorm's services, including a customizable cloud interface and private or public cloud options using Red Hat virtualization for performance. It encourages organizations to develop a cloud adoption roadmap and start a pilot project.
The document discusses consumerization of IT, which refers to employees using their personal devices and internet services for work purposes. It summarizes research from a survey of 1,600 IT professionals on consumerization trends. Key findings include that about half of organizations now encourage, accept, or tolerate the use of personal equipment for work. The majority of employees, around 85%, are estimated to be using their own devices for work activities. Senior managers and executives are often early adopters. Personal smartphones, notebooks, and tablets are commonly used both officially and unofficially. Potential benefits discussed include improved productivity and job satisfaction.
The document defines basic computer concepts like data, information, and the information processing cycle. It describes the five main components of a computer: input devices, output devices, the system unit, storage devices, and communication devices. It discusses different categories of computers including personal computers, mobile devices, servers, mainframes, and embedded computers. It also summarizes how computers are used in many aspects of modern society like education, healthcare, science, and manufacturing.
This chapter introduces basic computer concepts such as defining computers and their components. It describes the five main components of a computer as the input, output, processing, storage, and communication devices. It discusses different categories of computers including personal computers, mobile devices, servers, mainframes, and embedded computers. It also outlines how computers are used in various fields of society such as education, healthcare, science, and manufacturing.
This document discusses cloud computing and OpenStack, an open source cloud computing platform. It provides definitions of cloud computing and describes how OpenStack uses virtualization to effectively share resources among users. The document also outlines different types of cloud computing users and services models, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). It discusses the benefits of cloud computing for end users, such as reduced costs from outsourcing hardware maintenance and access to applications from anywhere.
2011 special edition - converged infrastructureclansmandresin
This article discusses how three companies have benefited from deploying a converged infrastructure to manage their data centers. A converged infrastructure combines servers, storage, networking equipment, and management software into a single offering. This allows organizations to consolidate resources, improve efficiency, scale more easily, and gain security and disaster recovery benefits. The article profiles how Walz Group saw growth in data storage needs and deployed a converged infrastructure for better resource utilization. A university also improved utilization and simplified management. A healthcare provider reduced costs through consolidation and improved disaster recovery.
The document summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of using a utility computing model to understand cloud computing. While the utility model provides some useful insights, it is an overly simplistic analogy that risks missing key opportunities and challenges. Technically, cloud computing faces challenges around the rapid pace of innovation, scalability limits, and latency due to distance. Business-wise, cloud computing differs in its needs around complementarity with other innovations, issues of lock-in and interoperability between providers, and new security concerns. An accurate understanding of cloud computing requires moving beyond the utility analogy to address its technical and business complexities.
This document discusses using polynomial growth models to gauge startup growth trajectories. It provides examples of Amazon's revenue growth, which was polynomial rather than linear or exponential. The author explains that early growth should come from discovering and saturating different marketing channels. An example is given of their startup's growth from optimizing channels like AdWords, Facebook ads, content marketing, and SEO landing pages. The key takeaways are that marketing is difficult due to many failures, but the mechanics of polynomial growth are easy by testing channels and measuring results.
Email is Here to Stay (Baydin Defrag 2009)Alex Moore
Email allows for rich content, conversations, and controls compared to newer communication methods like Twitter. While technologies like Twitter have advantages in lowering barriers to entry and creating publicly searchable data, email is still widely used and will continue to be used in the future, though it may incorporate more aspects of social media platforms. The document examines usage statistics from email and Twitter datasets and considers how email could adopt features like public acknowledgement of useful messages as social media does to remain a relevant communication method.
The document discusses a proposed drug testing scheme in Hong Kong secondary schools. It notes that drug use among those under 21 has increased 57% in the last four years. The government has spent $2 million researching the feasibility of such a scheme. There are concerns about labeling effects on schools and students. The scheme could also damage trust between students and teachers or parents. Setting up drug testing centers rather than school-based testing could help address these issues by providing a more confidential testing environment and limiting teacher workload. For the scheme to be effective at the societal level, it must consider factors like benefits to citizens, service quality, and social fairness, not just efficiency. The proposal is that the scheme should be expanded to all secondary schools after
Estuate helps major wireless telecom save tens of millionsEstuate, Inc.
A major wireless telecom wanted to curb rising data storage costs. With the help of Estuate and IBM Optim solutions, the telecom implemented an enterprise data management strategy to archive old data and retire unused applications. This is expected to save tens of millions annually by minimizing hardware purchases and eliminating at least 1 petabyte of storage over the next few years. Estuate helped train the telecom's staff so it could independently manage its data going forward.
This document discusses how Mitel and VMware have united the worlds of data and voice by allowing real-time voice applications to run on virtualized infrastructures for the first time. Their breakthrough solution addresses latency issues through enhancements to VMware vSphere and Mitel Unified Communications technologies. Organizations can now run both data center and voice applications on a single virtualized infrastructure, providing benefits like reduced costs, improved disaster recovery, and increased efficiency.
From research to business: the Web of linked dataIrene Celino
The document summarizes Irene Celino's presentation titled "From research to business: the Web of linked data". The presentation discusses integrating data on the Web using linked data and semantic technologies. It provides examples of projects like Service-Finder that produce and manage linked data. The presentation outlines the challenges of linked data and highlights key innovations in projects that can help overcome issues with prior approaches to data integration and discovery.
21st Century Project Management to deliver a variety of Cloud Computing Proj...VSR *
Cloud computing enables providing affordable computing power to drive economic growth, improve industries and services like healthcare and education. It allows accessing computing resources like applications, platforms and infrastructure through the internet. Project management needs to adapt to challenges of cloud computing like security, availability and payment models. India aims to become a global leader in cloud computing through better delivery of related projects and programs. PMI commits to help through a council to influence policies and build resources for managing cloud computing projects.
IBM Global Financing can tailor financing solutions to your specific IT needs. For more information on great rates, flexible payment plans and loans, and asset buyback and disposal
This document provides an overview of computers and computing concepts. It defines what a network and the Internet are. It describes different types of personal computers like desktops, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones. It also discusses servers, software, and how programs are installed and used. The document outlines computer applications in various fields and discusses advantages and disadvantages as well as safety and ethical issues related to computer use.
Cloud computing provides on-demand access to shared computing resources like networks, servers, storage, applications and services over the internet. It has evolved from earlier concepts like grid computing, web services, and virtualization. Key characteristics of cloud computing include shared resources that are scalable and elastic, self-service access, and pay-per-use metering. While cloud computing provides opportunities for cost savings and innovation, concerns around security, lock-in, and reliability must be addressed for widespread adoption. Standards and interoperability between cloud platforms are still developing.
IT Agility: The Phenomenology of Virtualization, Consumerization, and Organiz...ted_love
The document discusses how IT departments need to respond with agility to organizational changes. It describes a thought experiment where shareholders demand changes to the business model, including a reduced budget. The document argues that IT should lead these changes, not just follow or get out of the way. It also discusses how the Phoenix Central School District transformed its IT operations through virtualization to reduce costs while improving management and support. Education is poised for significant changes driven by technology, and IT will need to adapt quickly to these changes through approaches like virtualization.
This document discusses the opportunities and considerations for using cloud computing in learning and development. It begins by defining cloud computing as a model that provides on-demand access to shared, configurable IT resources over the internet. The document then explores how cloud computing could impact L&D by enabling mobile, just-in-time learning and providing a richer, more personalized experience at a lower cost. However, the document also notes potential threats like data security and loss of control. It concludes by providing tips for developing a successful cloud-based L&D strategy.
This document provides an overview of cloud computing and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) from VrStorm. It discusses the value of cloud computing in reducing costs and improving utilization compared to traditional IT. IaaS allows users to access compute and storage resources on demand without large capital expenses. The document outlines VrStorm's services, including a customizable cloud interface and private or public cloud options using Red Hat virtualization for performance. It encourages organizations to develop a cloud adoption roadmap and start a pilot project.
The document discusses consumerization of IT, which refers to employees using their personal devices and internet services for work purposes. It summarizes research from a survey of 1,600 IT professionals on consumerization trends. Key findings include that about half of organizations now encourage, accept, or tolerate the use of personal equipment for work. The majority of employees, around 85%, are estimated to be using their own devices for work activities. Senior managers and executives are often early adopters. Personal smartphones, notebooks, and tablets are commonly used both officially and unofficially. Potential benefits discussed include improved productivity and job satisfaction.
The document defines basic computer concepts like data, information, and the information processing cycle. It describes the five main components of a computer: input devices, output devices, the system unit, storage devices, and communication devices. It discusses different categories of computers including personal computers, mobile devices, servers, mainframes, and embedded computers. It also summarizes how computers are used in many aspects of modern society like education, healthcare, science, and manufacturing.
This chapter introduces basic computer concepts such as defining computers and their components. It describes the five main components of a computer as the input, output, processing, storage, and communication devices. It discusses different categories of computers including personal computers, mobile devices, servers, mainframes, and embedded computers. It also outlines how computers are used in various fields of society such as education, healthcare, science, and manufacturing.
This document discusses cloud computing and OpenStack, an open source cloud computing platform. It provides definitions of cloud computing and describes how OpenStack uses virtualization to effectively share resources among users. The document also outlines different types of cloud computing users and services models, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). It discusses the benefits of cloud computing for end users, such as reduced costs from outsourcing hardware maintenance and access to applications from anywhere.
2011 special edition - converged infrastructureclansmandresin
This article discusses how three companies have benefited from deploying a converged infrastructure to manage their data centers. A converged infrastructure combines servers, storage, networking equipment, and management software into a single offering. This allows organizations to consolidate resources, improve efficiency, scale more easily, and gain security and disaster recovery benefits. The article profiles how Walz Group saw growth in data storage needs and deployed a converged infrastructure for better resource utilization. A university also improved utilization and simplified management. A healthcare provider reduced costs through consolidation and improved disaster recovery.
The document summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of using a utility computing model to understand cloud computing. While the utility model provides some useful insights, it is an overly simplistic analogy that risks missing key opportunities and challenges. Technically, cloud computing faces challenges around the rapid pace of innovation, scalability limits, and latency due to distance. Business-wise, cloud computing differs in its needs around complementarity with other innovations, issues of lock-in and interoperability between providers, and new security concerns. An accurate understanding of cloud computing requires moving beyond the utility analogy to address its technical and business complexities.
This document discusses using polynomial growth models to gauge startup growth trajectories. It provides examples of Amazon's revenue growth, which was polynomial rather than linear or exponential. The author explains that early growth should come from discovering and saturating different marketing channels. An example is given of their startup's growth from optimizing channels like AdWords, Facebook ads, content marketing, and SEO landing pages. The key takeaways are that marketing is difficult due to many failures, but the mechanics of polynomial growth are easy by testing channels and measuring results.
Email is Here to Stay (Baydin Defrag 2009)Alex Moore
Email allows for rich content, conversations, and controls compared to newer communication methods like Twitter. While technologies like Twitter have advantages in lowering barriers to entry and creating publicly searchable data, email is still widely used and will continue to be used in the future, though it may incorporate more aspects of social media platforms. The document examines usage statistics from email and Twitter datasets and considers how email could adopt features like public acknowledgement of useful messages as social media does to remain a relevant communication method.
The document discusses a proposed drug testing scheme in Hong Kong secondary schools. It notes that drug use among those under 21 has increased 57% in the last four years. The government has spent $2 million researching the feasibility of such a scheme. There are concerns about labeling effects on schools and students. The scheme could also damage trust between students and teachers or parents. Setting up drug testing centers rather than school-based testing could help address these issues by providing a more confidential testing environment and limiting teacher workload. For the scheme to be effective at the societal level, it must consider factors like benefits to citizens, service quality, and social fairness, not just efficiency. The proposal is that the scheme should be expanded to all secondary schools after
Adhaan Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is a leading provider of end-to-end HR solutions and event management services across India. Its mission is to continuously strengthen its service offerings to achieve long-term vision and deliver the highest quality solutions. It offers recruitment, temporary staffing, payroll management, and event planning services. Adhaan aims to be the top HR solutions company globally and deliver unparalleled quality and client satisfaction.
The document discusses strategies for keeping pace with rapid changes in mobile technology through the TAP (Technology and Practice) project. [1] The TAP project receives funding from the IMLS to create open-source tools for building mobile experiences in museums. [2] It aims to build support for the TourML metadata specification and successfully launch mobile experiences using these tools in partner museums. [3] The TAP project includes tools for authoring, managing, and validating mobile tour content using the TourML specification to represent stories and assets.
The document provides an overview of cloud computing. It defines cloud computing and discusses its history from the 1960s concept of computing as a utility to modern cloud platforms. The document outlines different cloud service models including Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). It discusses major cloud providers like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and IBM and different deployment models. The document notes both benefits of cloud computing like reduced costs, flexibility and drawbacks around security, internet dependence and transition challenges.
This document provides an introduction to cloud computing, including definitions, history, and key concepts. It discusses how cloud computing moves computing away from desktops and onto centralized servers accessed over the internet. The document outlines several industry definitions of cloud computing and discusses the evolution of computing models from distributed to centralized approaches. It also summarizes some of the main issues, opportunities, and technical aspects of cloud computing such as multi-tenancy, scalability, and service models.
Synopsis on cloud computing by Prashant uptaPrashant Gupta
This document provides an overview of cloud computing. It defines cloud computing as using shared computing resources over the internet rather than local servers or personal devices. The document outlines key aspects of cloud computing including cloud storage, architecture, types of clouds (public, private, hybrid), characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages. It concludes that cloud computing enables on-demand access to computing resources from any internet-connected device and is transforming how applications and businesses operate.
Cloud computing allows users to access applications, files, and data storage over the Internet rather than storing them locally. It provides access to shared computing resources like servers, databases, networks and software on demand. There are different service and deployment models for cloud computing including SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, private cloud, public cloud and hybrid cloud. While cloud computing provides benefits like flexibility, scalability and cost savings, it also poses security, privacy and reliability risks since data and applications are stored remotely on servers.
Faced with depressing predictions of looming budget cuts cloud computing has come to the fore of discussions to uncover relatively short-term economies in IT functions within the public sector. But how much of the cloud story is hype? How different are cloud architectures to the web-server farms that organizations have had the means to access for well over a decade? And how realistic is it that core business systems will move out of the data centre to the cloud?
Cloud Computing: Latest Buzzword or Glimpse of the Future?white paper
The document discusses cloud computing and its growing adoption. It provides differing definitions of cloud computing from various sources. While definitions vary, the key aspect is computing power accessed over the internet. Cloud computing offers benefits like lower costs, scalability, and flexibility compared to traditional on-premises IT models. However, some resistance to cloud computing may come from employees accustomed to familiar systems.
How Should I Prepare Your Enterprise For The Increased...Claudia Brown
The document discusses different types of processor architectures: RISC, CISC, mainframe, and vector processors. It notes that each architecture has evolved over the years for different applications and purposes. Network processors in particular have evolved for networking applications. The document suggests that a comparative study of these architectures would provide insights into their relative strengths and weaknesses for various uses.
This document outlines cloud computing, including its definition, history, services provided, architecture, behavior, advantages, and disadvantages. Cloud computing allows users to access software and store data over the internet rather than on a local computer. The concept originated in the 1960s and was enabled by developments in utility computing and grid computing. Major cloud services include SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Cloud architecture involves large data centers and dynamic allocation of resources. While providing cost savings and ease of use, security and connectivity issues present disadvantages.
IBM differentiates itself in cloud computing and data centers by optimizing workloads, or types of computing tasks, to specific hardware and software configurations. This improves efficiency and allows organizations to scale IT resources to match their needs. Examples include matching analytics workloads to high performance systems, and moving development/testing workloads to the cloud to reduce costs and speed up processes. Workload optimization is important for both traditional data centers and cloud computing, and allows clients like banks and schools to improve services while reducing IT expenses.
Cloud computing is an internet-based computing technology, where shared re-sources
such as software, platform, storage and information are provided to customers on demand.
Cloud computing is a computing platform for sharing resources that include infrastructures,
software, applications, and business processes. The exact definition of cloud computing is A
large-scale distributed computing paradigm that is driven by economies of scale, in which a
pool of abstracted, virtualized, dynamically scalable, managed computing power, storage,
platforms, and services are delivered on demand to external customers over the Internet .
Report on cloud computing by prashant guptaPrashant Gupta
The document is a technical seminar report submitted by Prashant Gupta on cloud computing. It includes an abstract, introduction, table of contents, and initial sections on the concept and history of cloud computing. The introduction provides a definition of cloud computing and discusses the shift from centralized to distributed computing models. It highlights the scalability and on-demand access to computing resources that cloud computing provides.
This document provides an overview of cloud computing, including its history, models, types, advantages and recent developments. Some key points:
1) Cloud computing originated from network diagrams depicting the internet as a cloud. Major companies like Amazon Web Services, Google, and IBM launched cloud services in the mid-2000s.
2) There are three main models: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). IaaS provides basic storage and computing resources, while PaaS and SaaS provide higher-level services.
3) The four main types of cloud are public, community, hybrid, and private clouds
Accenture 6 questions_executives_should_ask_about_cloud_computingNgy Ea
This document discusses six key questions that business executives should ask about cloud computing. The questions are: 1) What is it, and how does it work? 2) What specific benefits can clouds bring to my organization? 3) Can I depend on clouds to save my organization money? 4) How will clouds affect the way my organization competes? 5) What risks must my organization manage? By focusing on these questions, executives can evaluate cloud computing's opportunities and risks for their own organization in a timely and productive way.
The document discusses cloud computing, providing an overview of what it is, its history and evolution, characteristics, components, infrastructure models, commercial offerings, advantages, and disadvantages. Specifically, cloud computing is defined as a new class of network-based computing that takes place over the Internet, allowing users to access hardware and software services remotely via the web. The cloud's flexibility, scalability, and cost benefits are highlighted, though concerns around internet dependency, limited features, and data security are also summarized.
Cloud computing has evolved from mainframe computers running thin client applications on dumb terminals. Standardization of technologies like Ethernet and TCP/IP allowed hardware manufacturers to focus on building machines rather than developing their own protocols. As IT became more critical to businesses, the role of Chief Technology Officer emerged to manage increasingly complex systems. Cloud computing provides a way for organizations to access services remotely and overcome challenges of maintaining their own infrastructure, reducing costs and increasing flexibility. While cloud adoption continues, security and control issues remain hurdles.
This document is a technical seminar report on cloud computing submitted in partial fulfillment of a Bachelor of Engineering degree. It introduces cloud computing as a concept where computing resources such as servers, storage, databases and networking are provided as standardized services over the Internet. The document discusses the history, characteristics, implementation and economics of cloud computing and provides examples of major companies involved in cloud services.
This document contains lecture notes on cloud computing from Jeppiaar Institute of Technology. It discusses the introduction to cloud computing, including definitions, evolution, and underlying principles. The key points covered are:
- Cloud computing allows for provisioning of computational resources over a network on-demand in a self-service model.
- It has evolved from earlier technologies like grid computing, utility computing, and virtualization. Hardware has progressed from vacuum tubes to integrated circuits.
- Cloud computing is built on distributed computing principles and delivers IT services through virtual servers over the internet. Resources can be dynamically scaled based on need.
This document provides an overview of cloud computing as an emerging technology. It defines cloud computing, explains the key components and models, identifies major players, and discusses the evolution and potential of the technology. Some of the main points covered include:
- Cloud computing delivers IT capabilities and services over the internet on a flexible, on-demand basis.
- Major players include Amazon, Google, Microsoft, IBM and startups.
- While limitations around security, control and reliability exist, cloud computing offers benefits like reduced costs, faster deployment, and scalability.
- The technology has evolved from earlier distributed computing concepts and is poised to further transform how businesses access technology resources.
1. By Cara Erenben eSN Special Report
March 2009 eSCHOOL NEWS • 13
Why this paradigm
shift in IT isn’t just
lofty thinking
Cloud Computing:
The Economic Imperative
What is cloud computing? There is an amusing video It seems cloud computing is still an abstraction. But the
on YouTube.com that tries to answer that very question. term itself isn’t new. Anyone who has ever seen a
The video’s author, an employee of a cloud-computing network diagram has probably seen a cloud with arrows
company called Joyent Inc., asked that question to pointing to and from it. The cloud represents the
several top tech editors and CEOs at the Web 2.0 Expo network—either a local intranet, or the internet at large—
last May and pieced together their responses in a short, and all the resources available on it. Instead of having
comical video. software that is stored and run on an individual PC, the
One interviewee quipped that cloud computing is when user taps into this “cloud” for his or her computing needs.
you’re using your laptop in an airplane at 40,000 feet. The These days, cloud computing relates to the way IT
amusing, and rather telling, aspect of the video is that all professionals design, build, deploy, and run applications
the interview subjects said something different. that operate in a virtualized environment.
See Cloud Computing, page 14
A former eSchool News editor, Cara Erenben is now a freelance This eSchool News Special Report is made possible with financial support from IBM.
writer who frequently covers education and technology. www.ibm.com/education
2. eSN Special Report
14 • eSCHOOL NEWS March 2009
Cloud Computing ...
630 servers, one machine: continued from page 13
“IT as a service … is what cloud computing is all
Cloud computing on a mainframe about,” said Hagen Wenzek, a senior strategist at IBM.
In the same way a utility company delivers electrici-
An upstate New York college sees great eco- Transparency ty, natural gas, or water—you sign up, then don’t have to
nomic advantage by running cloud computing on a think about it any more—cloud computing delivers IT
mainframe. Like all clouds, the technology behind Marist’s services to the end user. Advocates of this service mod-
On one mainframe, Marist College in interface is transparent. Students at Marist College el say it’s simpler, faster, and cheaper for organizations—
Poughkeepsie, N.Y., runs 630 virtual servers. Some don’t think to themselves, “I’m logging into a cloud” and the experience for the end user is also superior.
of them are dedicated to computer sciences, some for when they use their secure login. Concepts such as on-demand resources, utility com-
web sites, and some for client and/or partner organi- Anything students or faculty would do on a tra- puting, virtualization, Software as a Service (SaaS),
zations. The end users don’t know they are on a main- ditional computer, they can do online through the and Desktop as a Service are integral parts of cloud
frame; they think they have their own server. cloud, and usually with much greater convenience, computing.
“The advantage of using a mainframe is tremen- at any time of the day, Thirsk said. “All of these bits and pieces are now finding their
dous,” said Bill Thirsk, chief information officer at They can register, take a course, look up grades, pay way into a more comprehensive story that explains how
Marist College. “One of the applications that we use bills, search the library catalog, collaborate online for IT is being delivered and consumed as a service,”
for managing the school … requires 10 large servers team projects, go back and forth in asynchronous con- Wenzek said.
to run the entire suite of programs. We didn’t buy versation, post documents and presentations, and ac- Characteristically, cloud computing is efficient,
10 machines; we simply put it on our mainframe, cess social-networking sites like Facebook. automated, and delivers standardized resources—all of
which pre-existed.” “They are not [aware] that they are on a cloud, which can result in significant cost savings. Several
A mainframe is highly efficient as far as the pow- or a cloud configuration,” Thirsk said. “They are U.S. colleges, universities, and K-12 school districts
er, cooling, and floor space needed. [aware] that they log in with their login, and there, are already reaping the benefits of switching to a cloud-
through our portal, is everything they are allowed computing model.
to access.” The current economic crisis in the United States and
Marist College has some low-cost, thin-client de- worldwide is pushing businesses and institutions to
vices from DevonIT Inc. installed in its student ser- adopt this new way of running technology. In the pri-
vices office and some research labs. These next- vate sector, spending on IT cloud services will grow al-
generation thin-client devices don’t have a hard most threefold, reaching $42 billion by 2012, accord-
drive; the processing power and software is deliv- ing to research firm IDC.
ered from the mainframe.
“The user doesn’t know [he’s] not using the desk-
top. It looks like Windows, it behaves like Windows, ‘The cloud model offers a much
but there are no data stored there,” Thirsk said. “It
[requires] very, very low power usage, but you get cheaper way for businesses to
all the functionality, network connectivity, band-
width, and everything you get from a very large acquire and use IT,’ said IDC
computer. And, they are cheap.”
analyst and senior VP Frank Gens.
Extra security
Cloud computing offers an extra layer of secu-
‘In an economic downturn, the
rity, Thirsk said, because data are not stored on lo- appeal of that cost advantage will
cal machines. If someone steals a laptop or com-
“My data center is only 2,000 square feet,” Thirsk puter, the thief will not get any data. be greatly magnified.’
said, “yet I have in total probably 630 servers run- “Where we worry is if someone sticks a thumb
ning in there. It takes your computing room, your drive in it and tries to download data—[but] we have
heating and cooling, your power requirement, and routines to protect that,” Thirsk said. “The cloud model offers a much cheaper way for
your processing requirement and puts them into what Marist College has up to 7,000 people within the col- businesses to acquire and use IT,” said Frank Gens,
I call an extremely high-density services model.” lege using the network. Overall, Marist manages 130,000 senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC, in a state-
A mainframe that is virtualized into many small- eMail accounts; however, not everyone logs in at once. ment. “In an economic downturn, the appeal of that cost
er servers does not need network switches, cables, “The worst thing that could happen is the inter- advantage will be greatly magnified.”
additional electrical outlets, more UPS capacity, net connection could go down through some The investment in technology infrastructure since
racks, or any other additional equipment, Thirsk provider. And that does happen from time to time,” the turn of the century is also driving the trend toward
said. It’s infinitely scalable, too. Thirsk said. “If you are a cloud provider or cloud cloud computing: As school and business networks
“The price tag is expensive. However, it’s much user, and someone’s network goes down or their in- have become faster and more robust, the capacity to
less than buying server, server, server, server,” ternet connection gets cut, you are out of business deliver software and IT services through these networks
Thirsk said. “The return on that asset is consider- for a while until it comes back up.” to users on demand has increased.
ably higher than doing one server at a time, one Marist College has two internet connections, one Moore’s Law has borne out for so long that we’ve
switch at a time.” primary and one backup, and it’s also a member of moved into an age of digital abundance, where the cost
Internet2. During outages, the college implements of technology devices for end users is fairly low, said
iLearn speed restrictions for traffic going over the differ- Michael King, IBM’s vice president of global educa-
Marist College developed its own version of the ent secondary routes. For security purposes, Marist tion industry.
open-source education platform Sakai, which it calls College also monitors its network traffic. That fact has shifted IT managers’ focus from the
iLearn. Through its cloud, Marist runs iLearn in- “We worry about natural disasters, of course,” initial cost of purchasing technology to the total cost
ternally and distributes it to partner organizations. Thirsk said. “What would we do if there is a flood, of ownership (TCO) for operating and maintaining
“We started to see that, very much so, we were of- or an earthquake or tornado, or things like that— the technology, King said. What’s important now to
fering Software as a Service through our instructional and that’s just a [function] of good data-center man- schools is, how much electricity will it consume? How
technology,” Thirsk said. “We developed it so not agement and organizational readiness.” many maintenance technicians will be needed?
only could a student sign up and take courses on- Marist College shares a data center in Syracuse, “It’s not the technology itself any longer, it’s the stuff
line, but we could also host [the software] for other N.Y., called NYSERNet, with a number of other that goes around the technology [that is most important]—
[organizations], where we simply create them an in- colleges and nonprofit organizations. It also has one and I think that’s an economic driver toward cloud com-
stance and provide them access to our mainframe.” main data center at the college and is building a sec- puting,” King said. “Cloud computing is ultimately go-
Marist College often helps other schools and col- ondary data center in a new technology building, ing to enable a significant transformation of education
leges teach courses online, do online collabora- Thirsk said. The college has three electrical grids to increase quality, increase access to educational re-
tion, and set up virtualization. “We are very much on campus, so if one goes down, users can come sources, and at the same time lower costs. It’s a very
a hub,” Thirsk said. up on another grid.—C.E.
See Cloud Computing, page 16
This eSchool News Special Report is made possible with financial support from IBM.
www.ibm.com/education
4. eSN Special Report
16 • eSCHOOL NEWS March 2009
Cloud Computing ...
continued from page 14
fundamental shift, on the order of the shift toward the
PC computing model a couple of decades ago.”
How it works
Cloud computing takes the complexity off the desk-
top—the software, operating system, and processing
power—and moves it into the cloud, which is a central
location.
The experience is transparent to the end user, who is
not aware that the computing power is not coming from
his or her desktop computer. The servers at the cloud cen-
ter dole out whatever the user requests, whether it’s the
internet, software applications, his or her personal files,
or even supercomputing capabilities.
There are multiple ways to implement cloud com-
puting.
A school or institution can build and run its own data
center to power the cloud on campus. Or, if the school Schools can host cloud services themselves—or outsource these functions to an IT provider.
can’t afford a mainframe computer or large server farm,
it can outsource that function to a hosting company and technology, SaaS … is very, very attractive,” said Bill to decide how you are going to scale that,” he said.
sign up for services delivered over the internet—elim- Thirsk, chief information officer at Marist College. Cloud computing can be highly energy-efficient,
inating the need to invest in robust hardware or install “Instead of having to buy hardware and software li- Wenzek said. Because software runs in the “cloud,” end
software. censes and pay for maintenance, [the school] can pay users don’t need powerful machines with lots of pro-
Kentucky’s Pike County Schools subscribes to an out- some company or some organization a usage fee and cessing power or memory. And scaled-down machines
side company for server capacity, software, and IT services. get the functionality of a system [without having] to use less energy than operating the equivalent number
North Carolina State University (NCSU) runs its own com- own it.” of desktop computers.
puting cloud on a server farm consisting of 2,000 blade For institutions that choose to construct their own Efficiency also comes because a data center cen-
computers from IBM. Marist College in Poughkeepsie, data center, this requires a big investment in staffing, tralizes resources in just a few locations; the resources
N.Y., runs cloud computing on a mainframe. building space, and equipment—but the return on their are standardized, meaning they consist of “like” com-
“Marist decided to go for the very optimized, big investment is significant, Thirsk said. ponents with the lowest possible number of variations,
mainframe that can slice and dice highly efficient com- “The interesting thing about cloud computing is it’s and the processes are automated.
puting resources,” Wenzek said, “while N.C. State has not hard to develop a cloud. You take all your pieces “Every manual step leads to increased complexity,
massive amounts of simple, cheap servers.” and parts, you interconnect them, and you make them
“For a college that is not high-tech or invested in work together as an information system. Then you have See Cloud Computing, page 18
Virtual Computing Laboratory delivers IT resources on demand
At North Carolina State University (NCSU), re- lar characteristics, or would you like application soft- which also results in a huge cost savings.
questing IT services couldn’t be simpler, thanks to ware? Or, would you just like to do calculations? “With cloud computing, because of the way it’s
cloud computing. “It really depends on how the end user wishes to organized and centralized in roughly a few places,
If, every Monday at 10 a.m., a professor needs 20 use it,” Vouk said. you can actually manage, with one person, thousands
computers that have Windows, Microsoft Office, and The software also keeps track of who has asked for and thousands of machines without any problem at
SolidWorks on them, for instance, the professor simply what resources, how long the reservations are for, all,” Vouk said.
goes to a web page and chooses from a menu to make whether there is enough capacity to fulfill requests, and NCSU has two to three full-time equivalents man-
group reservations that repeat throughout the semester. whether there are any conflicts—in which case, one par- aging 2,000 blade servers and 30,000 student and fac-
Using the same web page, a faculty researcher ty gets a message to make the reservation in the future. ulty accounts, which is considerably less than the
could ask for a combination of an Apache server, a NCSU has 30,000 students and faculty. “Half of our school would need to manage software on desktop
database server, and an application server. Or, he or customers might be doing high-performance comput- machines and in computer labs. Vouk estimates
she could ask for a computational cluster or even a ing jobs for our researchers or some other researchers NCSU would need at least 10 to 15 full-time equiv-
low-end supercomputer. in the States, and the other half might be doing what alents in that case.
“That can all be done in a very smooth way by we call single-seat or multi-seat,” Vouk said. “We don’t get rid of people, we simply have the
essentially going to the web,” said Mladen Vouk, head NCSU’s data center is made up of 2,000 IBM blade same IT staff do the next advanced things that we
of computer science and associate vice president for servers, plus some other components to VCL that use want to do,” Vouk said.
information technology at NCSU. “For the end users, HP or Sun machines. The data center is distributed Having a strong network is crucial to the success
it’s very easy to use.” across four places in Research Triangle Park, N.C. of cloud computing. NCSU has strong security and
Faculty can pick applications, a platform or groups “It’s not limited to blades, but we have found authorization and monitors its network regularly.
of platforms, or whatever they need for IT resources, blades to be very, very efficient and cost-effective,” “We have not had a single security incident,” Vouk
and request them either right now or for some time Vouk said. He estimates that one blade server can said. “Someone may have accidentally infected [their
in the future. The options presented in the menu vary serve 25 students at a time. machine]—but they next time they reload the image,
based on a user’s privileges. Compared to a traditional computer lab, the they are clean.”
The cloud-computing software, or platform, that school’s virtual computing resources and software NCSU offers pilot accounts to others who might be
allows this functionality is NSCU’s Virtual get more use, because they can be used 24-7. interested in looking into VCL, Vouk said. Interested
Computing Laboratory (VCL). Software as a Service “You can use it anytime; you can use it from home, parties can go to http://vcl.ncsu.edu to read more about
(SaaS) is only a fraction of what VCL is capable of. you can use it much later, you don’t have to physi- VCL and to send a request for a test account.
“The platform we use … allows you to construct cally show up in the lab,” Vouk said, “so you increase At NCSU, cloud computing has increased access
any type of cloud you wish,” Vouk said. “You can the efficiency and usage.” to computing resources for all students. It’s easier and
construct what we call a high-end terabyte cloud, IT staff can buy software licenses based on actu- more flexible, Vouk said.
which is different, for instance, from an application al usage, not the number of computers sitting in a lab. “It really increases the productivity of both the
cloud or something else.” “In our case, if we know there are no more than five students and the information technology personnel
VCL is a general solution that asks: What would you people using a particular piece of software at a time, considerably. We have seen … both educational ben-
like to use? Would you like a physical environment, then we only need to buy five licenses,” Vouk said. efits and technological benefits, in terms of savings,”
would you like a virtual environment that has particu- Managing a cloud system requires fewer staff, too, he said.—C.E.
This eSchool News Special Report is made possible with financial support from IBM.
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6. eSN Special Report
18 • eSCHOOL NEWS March 2009
happening out there,” Wenzek said. simplicity of the system also results in less maintenance,
Cloud Computing ... Most students and faculty just want to use technol- especially if cloud computing is outsourced. That means
continued from page 16 ogy tools and resources; they don’t care where these re- fewer IT staff members are needed.
sources are located or who is delivering them. Cloud Another advantage to cloud computing is being able
increased cost, and slower response time—all work- computing makes it easy for them to do so. Faculty to buy software licenses based on actual usage, not on
ing against the notion of simpler, faster, cheaper,” members simply go to the web to request the IT ser- the number of computers you have.
Wenzek said. vices they need for themselves or their students. From Typically, cloud computing supports all types of de-
On top of the servers in a cloud center, you install a menu, they can choose the operating system, the soft- vices. It is operating system agnostic and supports open-
cloud management software, which does everything ware applications, and the server capacity they need, source applications. In the case of Pike County Schools
from configuring and rationing resources to authenti- and then they can schedule this request to repeat for the in Kentucky, the district used cloud computing to trans-
cating users and cleaning up “dumb” terminals so the entire semester, or as needed. form 1,400 old computers that were ready for surplus
computers in a lab are ready for the next user. “You look at that catalog, and you select what you into fully functioning virtual machines. (See side sto-
NCSU developed its own cloud-computing man- want, and you press a button—and whoop, it’s there. ry, page XX.)
agement software, called the Virtual Computing Lab. It’s up and running,” Wenzek said. “I have my dis-
(See side story, page 16.) IBM’s cloud-computing so- tance learning course. I have my administration sys- Instant supercomputing power,
lution consists of Blue Cloud software running on tem. I can run my payroll. All of that without even fuss- on demand
iDataPlex servers. ing with the IT department—that’s a fundamental shift Most students and faculty are already familiar with
“iDataPlex is basically a super-simple, very, very for how you are using IT.” public clouds, or consumer-based cloud services such
dense rack with a lot of blade servers in there,” Wenzek Often, when someone needs additional server ca- as those offered by Amazon, Google, Adobe, Expedia,
said. “That is one of the most efficient ways to build in- pacity, it can take weeks or months to fulfill the request. or Facebook. These clouds give users a login and ac-
frastructure for a cloud.” You have to fill out procurement forms, place an or- cess to specific software.
der, wait for shipping, and then set up and configure the “Someone is giving you software, they are running
Public and private clouds machine. all their own servers, you get an account, and those ser-
Public computing clouds are open to anyone who Cloud computing can fulfill that same request with- vices are delivered to you. It’s a very low-cost way for
wants to sign up and use them. Private clouds typical- in minutes. It provides a highly scalable, near-instan- companies to deliver very high-valued services for
ly sit behind the firewall of an enterprise or university, taneous way to deliver computing power or resources you,” Thirsk said.
and only people within that organization have permis- on demand. You just go to the web, choose what you Amazon resells its idle computing capacity, outside
sion to access the cloud and its resources. want from a menu of available services, and then that of the holiday rush, to computer users. Individuals can
“There’s also something in the middle,” Wenzek server is allocated as a virtual machine almost imme- go onto Amazon’s web service, called the Amazon
said. IBM, for example, operates a cloud data center for diately. Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), sign up for
its customers. Multiple customers share the same in- “That’s just a huge, huge difference from what we server space, and pay by credit card. Amazon charges
frastructure, but each customer’s cloud is secure and had before,” Wenzek said. “It’s a very different way of 10 cents per gigabyte, per month, plus transmission fees.
separated as though behind its own firewall. buying servers. You don’t ship the server anymore. Users can terminate the service at any time.
“It brings you the value of more efficiency,” Wenzek Someone just automatically allocates capacity to you “You can get it very fast, and you can get rid of it
said, “because we are able to share the same infrastruc- that is equivalent to what you were ordering as a serv- very fast,” Wenzek said. A service like this would be
ture with many other customers, and therefore it’s more er, out of a huge data center that provides IT like a util- useful for meeting temporary, high-capacity comput-
efficient. If you had your own small little cloud, [it] can ity provides electricity.” ing needs—such as executing research algorithms or
never be as efficient as a huge pool of IT resources.” “Any time you streamline and standardize within testing software—but it might be too costly or generic
your organization, whether it be in computers or for most educational uses, he said.
Simpler, faster, cheaper processes, you are going to save money,” Thirsk said. The advantage of this kind of service is that you can
“The overall experience of being able to stop fuss- Cost savings come from centralizing and standard-
ing around with IT is one of the biggest shifts that is izing computer resources and drawing less power. The See Cloud Computing, page 19
Advocates of cloud computing say it’s a secure, easily scalable way to deliver IT resources to students and teachers on demand.
This eSchool News Special Report is made possible with financial support from IBM.
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7. March 2009 eSCHOOL NEWS • 19
Cloud Computing ...
continued from page 18 Subscription-based cloud helps
sign up for a thousand servers for just a few hours to run
an algorithm, without having to buy them and scrap them
Pike County extend computers
afterward. “Here, [the servers are] automatically allo-
cated to somebody else, and you just buy them for the
to more students
time you are using them,” Wenzek said. Through a subscription-based cloud-computing processing power, the operating system, the software,
model, Kentucky’s Pike County Schools brought its and the user’s files and data. All the user needs is a
Regulatory issues … student-to-computer ratio down to 2 to 1 without screen, a keyboard, and a communication device—such
and other concerns spending millions of dollars. as a laptop, PC, mobile telephone, or some type of hand-
“We were running into a case of [having a] lim- held device—to access the virtualized desktop.
Some state laws say it’s necessary to keep certain data, ited budget, and still not wanting to cut back on Pike County has 10,200 students and is the
such as health or employment records, inside a single ju- our goals for our students as far as technology is largest county geographically in Kentucky, cover-
risdiction. With a subscription-based cloud computing concerned,” said Maritta Horne, the district’s chief ing 700 square miles. The district has 27 K-12
model, the user doesn’t always know where the data cen- information officer and director of technology. schools, including two “day” treatment facilities and
ter is located. Many data centers are being built in loca- “Purchasing machines was a problem,” Horne three vocational and technical facilities. Sixty per-
tions that offer the best return on investment. said. “If I were to purchase 1,400 machines, it would cent of classrooms have “smart” classroom tools,
“Iceland or Greenland is a fantastic location for a be well in excess of $1 million for my district. It’s including interactive whiteboards, projection de-
data center, because it’s cold and you have great inter- just not feasible at this time.” vices, and document cameras.
net access, you have geothermal power,” Wenzek said, With cloud-computing software from Desktone With its cloud, Pike County serves up about 5,000
explaining that data centers generate a lot of heat and Inc., the district transformed its relic computers that desktop images. Every student who logs onto the serv-
use a great deal of energy to cool. “You need to make were ready for the scrap heap into fast, fully func- er gets a separate image, consisting of whatever they
sure that whatever you do is actually complying with tioning virtual machines. are working on or requesting from the server.
those laws.” The district could revive these old machines be- Students have access to Microsoft Office, por-
A powerful, secure, and reliable data center and net- cause cloud computing eliminates the need for a tals for education software, and storage space for
work are essential to the success of cloud computing. hard drive on the local computer. In a cloud envi- their work. Teachers have attendance, grade re-
“There is a very important role for companies, IT de- ronment, the processing happens at the server lev- porting, and lesson planning software as well.
partments, and the like to guarantee that experience, el, not locally at the desktop. The desktop machine Everyone has a secure login.
or else people will become disappointed,” Wenzek said. is simply a conduit, or dumb terminal, that receives The district connects to its cloud, which is host-
Cloud computing might not be the right solution for processing power and software delivered from the ed by ICC Technology Partners, a subcontractor of
all schools. Some IT directors might have concerns server, or the “cloud.” IBM, via a direct fiber connection. “We don’t have
about data security, while others might worry what will bottleneck issues,” Horne said. In fact, she said, this
happen if they lose their network connection. is the best solution she’s encountered so far. There
IBM’s King says this latter concern is becoming less Students have access to Microsoft is no degradation between systems, and the end user
of an issue, however, as schools build redundancies into doesn’t experience any problems.
their network infrastructure. Office, portals for education “We’ve had students simultaneously sitting to-
gether,” Horne said, by way of example. “One
Moving forward software, and storage space for would be on a virtual machine, and one would be
King said the education community should consid- on a Pentium dual-core processing machine with a
er leveraging public service clouds and build their own
their work. Teachers have [gigabyte] of RAM or whatever. There is no differ-
private cloud services to keep students and faculty en- attendance, grade reporting, and ence in the state of connectivity,” she said.
gaged, to keep their institutions relevant, and to keep “At one point, we noticed we had 2,500 of our
costs down. lesson planning software as well. students online at one time … to this particular serv-
“There are things people should do today that can er, and we didn’t have a problem,” Horne said.
be done. Things like moving the desktop into the cloud. Everyone has a secure login. Before settling on its current cloud-computing
It is something that is very green. It immediately gen- solution, Pike County used a thin-client setup with
erates cost savings, and it is something that the tech- “With this process, it doesn’t even matter if they Citrix Systems and the open-source Linux operating
nology—and, for the most part, the people—can do to- don’t have a hard drive,” Horne said of the ma- system for years, but neither met the district’s needs.
day,” he said. chines. “As long as the CD-ROM works or the USB With Citrix, she said, students had problems
“I think the next two to three years will really be works, we can get them on the network.” printing their files. The software also needed to use
about developing shared services, exploiting cloud- Pike County’s technology staff carry a boot im- some of each computer’s processing power, and
computing models, and really driving fundamental age, on either a CD or a USB key, which tells the some of the machines were too slow, Horne said.
transformation in how we organize education and de- machine how to access the district’s cloud. If a com- Linux offered limited applications and lacked
liver value to students and the education community.” puter is too old or too costly to fix, they simply pop support for specific drivers. Also, some of the ap-
in the CD and make it work. plications would slow down the system, Horne said.
LINKS: Not only has the district saved money by reusing In addition, Pike County encountered problems with
its old computers, but maintenance costs have gone audio and with students saving work to their port-
Joyent Inc.’s “What is Cloud Computing”
down tremendously, too. folios using Linux.
http://www.youtube.com/ “Typically, we would have between 150 and 200 “This year, we are able to do all of that,” Horne
watch?v=6PNuQHUiV3Q work orders a month with a regular system,” Horne said. “The audio is not an issue. The directories for
said, “and now we are down to a fraction of that, a students to save their work to are now visible to all
quarter of that.” students.”
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2)
Because Pike County uses a subscription-based One of the biggest advantages to cloud comput-
http://aws.amazon.com/ec2 model for its cloud computing, its IT staff members ing for Pike County is having enough computers on
don’t have to worry about server maintenance or location to do computer-based formative assess-
North Carolina State University configuration. “That’s a major savings for me. Not ment. Periodically, Pike County students are as-
only do I not have to have the expertise on site for sessed online, and then they’re assigned remedial
http://www.ncsu.edu my staff, but I don’t have to maintain [the servers], or enrichment work as needed through software
either,” Horne said. from American Education Corp.
Pike County Schools Electricity consumption has decreased as well. “We didn’t have enough machines capable of do-
The computers no longer draw as much power, be- ing this, so when we would go out to test our stu-
http://www.pike.k12.ky.us
cause the hard drives are not running. dents, and set up testing, we’d actually have to phys-
In this model of cloud computing, also known as ically bring equipment in to do that,” Horne said.
Marist College Desktop as a Service (DaaS), everything needed on a “We got it done, but it took us two months to test
http://www.marist.edu traditional desktop computer resides on the server: the all of our students.”—C.E.
This eSchool News Special Report is made possible with financial support from IBM.
www.ibm.com/education
8. A mandate for change is a mandate for smart.
The world is ready for change — that much is clear. poultry and other items from the farm to the super-
market shelf.
For leaders of all kinds, this moment presents a rare
opportunity. Our planet is not just getting smaller and Smart healthcare systems are helping to lower the
flatter. It is also becoming smarter. And that means cost of therapy by as much as 90%.
we have the potential to change the way the world
The list is long, and the transformation is just beginning.
literally works.
Its benefits will be reaped not only by large enterprises,
Computational power is now being put into things we but also by mid-sized and small companies — the
wouldn’t recognize as computers — cars, appliances, engines of economic growth everywhere — and by
cameras, roadways…even pharmaceuticals and individuals and communities around the world.
livestock. We are interconnecting all of this through
Imagine how a smarter planet will transform all the
the Internet, which has come of age. And we are
things we seek. The ways we pursue economic
applying powerful new systems and sophisticated
growth, societal progress, environmental sustainability
analytics to turn oceans of data into insight, knowledge
and cures for disease. The way we interact with each
and intelligence.
other and with the world.
Consider the changes already under way.
The opportunity is before us, and the moment will not
Smart traffic systems are helping to reduce gridlock last forever. Will we seize it? As we look to stimulate
by 20%, cutting pollution and increasing ridership on our economies and rebuild our infrastructure, will we
public transit. simply repair what’s broken? Or will we prepare for a
smarter future?
Smart food systems based on RFID technology
embedded into supply chains are monitoring meat, Join us at ibm.com/think
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