General Cloud
Environment
Introduction
Cloud computing
refers to the storing and accessing data and programs over the internet rather
than on the computer’s hard drive (Badger,
Grance, Patt-Corner & Voas, 2012). It is the delivery of computing
services over the internet and allowing network access to computing resources,
webmail, social networking sites, online file storage and online businesses,
shared by a group of people. Cloud computing provides a common and shared pool
of resources such as corporate and user applications, networks, and storage
space. Many organizations are adopting the computing technology as a way of
providing network-computing resources to their customers over a network.
Through cloud
computing, an organization can get access to on-demand self-service computing
capabilities like network storage and server time whenever they need. There is
also access to resources based on different platforms such as personal digital
assistants (PDAs), on their laptops or mobile phones through broad network
access. The computing resources from the provider are pooled to be able to
serve various consumers through a multi-tenant model. In this approach,
consumers are assigned and reassigned different virtual and physical resources.
The allocation of resources is according to their demand where they are advised
to specify the institution or data center from which they request resources
since they are not in control of the virtual machines providing the resources.
The consumer can
also access cloud capabilities instantly and elastically therefore allowing
them to control the services. Cloud systems are capable of optimizing and
controlling resources by measured service capacity and thus ideal for controlling
and monitoring usage of resources hence assuring transparency for both the
subscriber and provider (Badger, Grance,
Patt-Corner & Voas, 2012). By pooling the computing resources, a
public deployment model is, therefore, applicable where the cloud computing
infrastructure is available to a large number of consumers as well as the large
organizations.
Terms of
Services
The consumer and
the provider have a legally binding agreement that defines terms of service for
a cloud infrastructure categorized into two parts. First is the service
agreement that is a document that establishes the rules and regulations of the
contract between the subscriber and the cloud service provider. Secondly, the
agreement also involves a paper outlining the promises to the consumer
regarding technical performance as well as how to solve possible performance
failures (Badger, Grance, Patt-Corner &
Voas, 2012). This agreement is, therefore, advantageous to a public
cloud deployment model as it assures the customer of the privacy and security
of information from the provider.
An organization
can use service agreements among its units to align the services provided by an
organization with its goals and objectives. Although, small scale users or
individuals are forced to accept the terms as given by the provider,
large-scale consumers with the heavy use of cloud resources can negotiate for
favorable terms. The users in a public
cloud scenario have an advantage of enjoying efficient services at affordable
prices. The service agreements can terminate on different occasions. Failure to
pay on time by the subscriber, violation of cloud policies or for no reason.
Therefore, it is important for consumers in a public cloud to understand the
data retention and termination policies as defined by the provider.
Promises
It is necessary
for subscribers of Public cloud to analyze and understand how providers
calculate the uptime percentages when advertising the availability of their
cloud resources. On failure to fulfill the promised availability, providers
should offer compensation in terms of service credit that are determined by the
time the service was not available during a billing period. Consumers of public
cloud model should also understand the legal care of their personal information
and data preservation policies as defined by the provider (Badger, Grance, Patt-Corner & Voas, 2012).
Providers may not be accountable for failures resulting from natural
occurrences of an even scheduled service outage. Providers may also change the
terms of service agreement such as pricing after notifying the consumer.
Mobile Phones
and Cloud Computing
Web-based
applications on cloud computing have become a buzz word in the technological
sector. As such, it poses an interesting
area of research and discussion. Mobile phones have proliferated the modern
society, and they are potential benefits for addressing the digital divide (Analysis of Smartphone Security Problem - Android and
iPhone, 2013). Digital divide is evident in marginalized and rural
areas. Today’s mobile phones have evolved from simply being devices of sending
mere texts and making calls to more sophisticated, computerized smartphones.
However, despite this multi-purpose capability, mobile phones are still faced
with various challenges of space, battery life and computational capabilities.
Cloud computing has the potential of transforming the whole IT industry. The
dedication of this research aims at exploring whether it is possible to
increase the computational power and speed of mobile phones through offloading
heavy application functions.
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