From Mainframe to Cloud

Abstract

The adoption of cloud computing accelerated significantly over the past few years, and this trend will remain. As cloud-computing technologies and vendors mature, more educational institutions will adopt the Internet-based computing style. Organizations will use cloud computing to reduce the cost of e-mail, IT infrastructure, data centers and storage, and business applications. 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. This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models. The absence of a clear definition of cloud computing is slowing the adoption of cloud computing by needlessly increasing user apprehension and obscuring the cloud's benefits. Organizations need to understand cloud computing before they can realize its benefits and avoid its risks. This chapter clears up confusion about the cloud by defining cloud computing and its characteristics, architectural model, benefits, and shortcomings. This chapter provides the definition of the concept of cloud computing and cloud computing as a service. Subsequently, it explores the characteristics of different types of clouds, as well as the security aspect of this technology. Major trends of cloud computing, such as social computing, context-aware computing, and pattern based strategy, are described. In a conclusion, the authors provide an overview of future use of cloud computing.