Cloud Computing Solutions Research Articles

Strategic Value of Cloud Computing in Healthcare Organisations Using the Balanced Scorecard Approach: A Case Study from a Saudi Hospital

The evolution of Cloud Computing over the past few years has the potential to provide many benefits for healthcare organisations. However, healthcare organisations still need to discover the strategic values of adopting such a technology model. The paper discusses the strategic value of implementing Cloud Computing solutions in a Saudi hospital based on the Balanced Scorecard Approach. The paper also presents the strategy map and the KPIs that were used by the hospital. The results of this paper (KPIs, strategy map.) could act as guidelines for similar projects and similar organisations, while taking into consideration the uniqueness of each organisation.

Cloud Computing for Earth Surface Deformation Analysis via Spaceborne Radar Imaging: A Case Study

We present a case study on the migration to a Cloud Computing environment of the advanced differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (DInSAR) technique, referred to as Small BAseline Subset (SBAS), which is widely used for the investigation of Earth surface deformation phenomena. In particular, we focus on the SBAS parallel algorithmic solution, namely P-SBAS, that allows the production of mean deformation velocity maps and the corresponding displacement time-series from a temporal sequence of radar images by exploiting distributed computing architectures. The Cloud migration is carried out by encapsulating the overall P-SBAS application in virtual machines running on the Cloud; moreover, the Cloud resources provisioning and configuration phases are implemented in an automatic way. Such an approach allows us to preserve the P-SBAS parallelization strategy and to straightforwardly evaluate its performance within a Cloud environment by comparing it with those achieved on a HPC in-house cluster. The results we present were achieved by using the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) to process SAR datasets collected by the ENVISAT satellite and show that, thanks to the Cloud resources availability and flexibility, large DInSAR data volumes can be processed through the P-SBAS algorithm in short time frames and at reduced costs. As a case study, the mean deformation velocity map of the southern California area has been generated by processing 172 ENVISAT images. By exploiting 32 EC2 instances this processing took less than 17 hours to complete, with a cost of USD 850. Considering the available PB-scale archives of SAR data and the upcoming huge SAR data flow relevant to the recently launched (April 2014) Sentinel-1A and the forthcoming Sentinel-1B satellites, the exploitation of Cloud Computing solutions is particularly relevant because of the possibility to provide Cloud-based multi-user services allowing worldwide scientists to quickly process SAR data and to manage and access the achieved DInSAR results.

Concept of Information Strategy of Virtual Organization with Using the Cloud Computing Solutions

Dynamic changes in the environment with constant technological developments, influence the emergence of new forms of conducting business. One of the important forms of conducting a contemporary market activity, becomes a model of virtual organization. Generally, virtual organization is a collective of independent, specialized and often geographically dispersed business units (eg. enterprises, divisional parts of companies, institutions, individuals), combining their resources and forming the cooperation for the realization of a particular purpose.The main factor enabling the cooperation of subjects, grouped within the frame of virtual organization, are a variety of resources and ICT tools (Information and Communication Technology). High efficiency and effectiveness of ICT, requires the adoption of specific information strategies of virtual organization. Currently, the Cloud Computing is an increasingly popular service model, which provides and lets for ICT use. The aim of the article is to present information strategy of VO, based on the Cloud Computing model. To achieve that ambitious objective, at the beginning of the article, the VO outline and ICT’s role in its activity, is presented. Then, referring to the M.J. Earl’s frame, a information strategy of VO was discusses, together with the indication of the role and place of Cloud Computing in VO’s information strategy. Article tops the list of national and international Cloud Computing solutions, that can support information strategy for virtual organizations.

Cloud computing procurement and implementation: Lessons learnt from a United Kingdom case study

The United Kingdom Public Sector delivers a wide range of public services to the citizen. These complex service delivery functions are underpinned by sophisticated information technology and information system solutions. The information technology and systems field is rapidly changing, developing and emerging. A recent evolution is Cloud Computing, where information technology and systems are hosted outside the host organisation, on the internet by third parties. There is a need for the Public Sector to review these solutions to determine whether they are feasible and advantageous. This case study investigates the rationale for the implementation of Cloud Computing in a practical setting and from a user perspective in a United Kingdom Public Sector organisation. The analysis demonstrates how the Cloud Computing solution was deployed and these findings are then mapped against the current research. The case also identifies a set of practical lessons for future Cloud Computing implementation. The findings and lessons learned will benefit other analysts implementing Cloud Computing and undertaking Cloud Computing research.

CloudID: Trustworthy cloud-based and cross-enterprise biometric identification

In biometric identification systems, the biometric database is typically stored in a trusted server, which is also responsible for performing the identification process. However, a standalone server may not be able to provide enough storage and processing power for large databases. Nowadays, cloud computing and storage solutions have provided users and enterprises with various capabilities to store and process their data in third-party data centers. However, maintenance of the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data requires trustworthy solutions for storage and processing of data with proven zero information leakage. In this paper, we present CloudID, a privacy-preserving cloud-based and cross-enterprise biometric identification solution. It links the confidential information of the users to their biometrics and stores it in an encrypted fashion. Making use of a searchable encryption technique, biometric identification is performed in encrypted domain to make sure that the cloud provider or potential attackers do not gain access to any sensitive data or even the contents of the individual queries. In order to create encrypted search queries, we propose a k-d tree structure in the core of the searchable encryption. This helps not only in handling the biometrics variations in encrypted domain, but also in improving the overall performance of the system. Our proposed approach is the first cloud-based biometric identification system with a proven zero data disclosure possibility. It allows different enterprises to perform biometric identification on a single database without revealing any sensitive information. Our experimental results show that CloudID performs the identification of clients with high accuracy and minimal overhead and proven zero data disclosure.

Cloud Computing Software and Solutions for Libraries: A Comparative Study

In the past few years, cloud computing has evolved to be a major trend for all levels of computer users and organizations. This article compares the suitability of cloud computing software for a library setting among some available cloud service providers. The paper first introduces cloud computing with respect to its definition, types, and services. The focus is then shifted to what cloud computing might mean to libraries. The paper also explores the potential cloud based operating system providers, productivity suite providers, mailing service providers, and storage, cataloging, and calendar service providers.

Data Security Challenges and Its Solutions in Cloud Computing

Abstract Cloud Computing trend is rapidly increasing that has an technology connection with Grid Computing, Utility Computing, Distributed Computing. Cloud service providers such as Amazon IBM, Google's Application, Microsoft Azure etc., provide the users in developing applications in cloud environment and to access them from anywhere. Cloud data are stored and accessed in a remote server with the help of services provided by cloud service providers. Providing security is a major concern as the data is transmitted to the remote server over a channel (internet). Before implementing Cloud Computing in an organization, security challenges needs to be addressed first. In this paper, we highlight data related security challenges in cloud based environment and solutions to overcome.

Research in Cloud Computing-An Overview

Cloud computing is an Internet based resource sharing which trigger broad network access. This cloud computing technology is a new technology which delivers a new model for information and services by means of an existing grid computing technology. Further, this new technology uses Internet infrastructure to communicate between the client and the server side service applications. Apart from this, cloud computing has cloud service provider they offers cloud platform for their customers to create and use web oriented services. The hardware and software resource sharing is possible in cloud with the help of internet and it can be managed and maintained by the third party cloud service provider. The cloud service provider facilitates cloud computing to increase the capacity or add capability, for example without investing in a new infrastructure, training new people or licensing new software. It is packed with a new infrastructure to improve the services like scalability, elasticity, business agility, faster start up time, reduced management cost and availability of resources. This special Internet based shared resource has its own conceptual, technical, economical and user experience characteristics. Nowadays, cloud computing has become one of the most important and popular research areas in the field of computer science. Many open research problems are available in cloud computing and good solutions also been proposed by the researchers by developing new techniques and efficient algorithms. In this paper, a detailed study about cloud computing, its basic concepts, history, virtualization technique, and cloud services are discussed. In addition to this, research issues in cloud computing also discussed.

Transport layer optimization for cloud computing applications via satellite: TCP Noordwijk+

Cloud computing can significantly improve efficiency in Internet utilization and data management. Several cloud applications (file sharing, backup, data up/download etc.) imply transfers of large amount of data without real-time requirements. In several use-cases cloud-computing solutions reduce operational costs and guarantee target QoS. These solutions become critical when satellite systems are utilized, since resources are limited, network latency is huge and bandwidth costs are high. Using satellite capacity for cloud-computing bulk traffic, keeping acceptable performance of interactive applications, is very important and can limit the connectivity costs. This goal can be achieved installing in the Set Top Box (STB) a proxy agent, to differentiate traffic and assign bandwidth according to priority, leaving spare capacity to bulk cloud computing traffic. This aim is typically reached using a specific QoS architecture, adding functional blocks at network or lower layers. We propose to manage such a process at transport layer only. The endpoint proxy implements a new transport protocol called TCP Noordwijk+, introducing a flow control differentiation capability. The proxy includes TPCN+ which efficiently transfers low-priority bulk data and handles interactive data, keeping a high degree of friendliness. The outcomes of Ns-2 simulations confirm applicability and good performance of the proposed solution.

Low-Emissions Routing for Cloud Computing in IP-over-WDM Networks with Data Centers

Cloud Computing (CC) services are rapidly catching on as an alternative to conventional office-based computing. As cloud computing adoption increases, the energy consumption of the network and of the computing resources that underpin the cloud is growing and causing the emission of enormous quantities of CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> . Research is now focusing on novel "low-carbon" cloud-computing solutions. Renewable energy sources are emerging as a promising solution both to achieve drastic reduction in CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> emissions and to cope with the growing power requirements of data centers. These infrastructures can be located near renewable energy plants and data can be effectively transferred to these locations via reconfigurable optical networks, based on the principle that data can be moved more efficiently than electricity. This paper focuses on how to dynamically route on-demand optical circuits that are established to transfer energy-intensive data processing towards data centers powered with renewable energy. Our main contribution consists in devising two routing algorithms for connections supporting CC services, aimed at minimizing the CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> emissions of data centers by following the current availability of renewable energies (e.g., coming from sun and wind). The trade-off with energy consumption for the transport equipments is considered. We also compare three different IP-over-WDM network architectures. The results show that relevant reductions, up to about 30% in CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> emissions can be achieved using our approaches compared to baseline shortest-path-based routing strategies, paying off only a marginal increase in terms of network blocking probability.

State-of-the-art Survey on Cloud Computing Security Challenges, Approaches and Solutions

The evolution of cloud computing has revolutionized how the computing is abstracted and utilized on remote third party infras- tructure. It is now feasible to try out novel ideas over the cloud with no or very low initial cost. Cloud computing is attractive to companies and organizations as it eliminates the requirement for them to plan ahead for provisioning, and allows them to start with small resources and increase gradually as the service demand rises. There are challenges in adopting cloud computing; but with obstacles, we have opportunities for research in several aspects of cloud computing. One of the main issue is the data security and privacy of information stored and processed at the cloud service provider's systems. In this work, We surveyed several research work on cloud computing related to security challenges and privacy issues. The primary goal of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the security challenges of cloud computing and identify approaches and solutions which have been proposed and adopted by the cloud service industry.

Performance of Jails versus Virtualization for Cloud Computing Solutions

Abstract The existence of a virtualization layer within the cloud affects the resources optimization and the reduction of requirements of its implementation. In this publication the focus will be the use of jail environments, provided by the FreeBSD Operating System, which present a relevant set of features that can enhance the increase of performance. A set of data collection tests that allows measuring the degree of optimization obtainable in current models of cloud computing, based on the use of hypervisors tests, are presented. These tests proved that the increase in performance and optimization of resources is possible, bringing up the need to adapt the current models of cloud computing for the use of such solutions. However, this increase in performance, leads to a loss of flexibility of the usage of independent operating systems, which is not relevant to the model of cloud computing business.

Metrics for Evaluating the Use of Smart Solutions in Educational Systems

Abstract This paper presents the necessity and the benefits of using smart solutions in educational systems. The current stage of our society involves the development of educational systems through a collaborative learning environmentthat includes mobile devices, wireless technologies, cloud computing, and other smart solutions. The continuous improvement of the quality and performance of education is essential and requires the efficient use of smart solutions. Therefore, it is essential to define a set of metrics to assess the use of smart solutions in educational systems. These metrics represent a starting point in formulating objectives and strategies for improved educational systems.

Remote Experts Help in Case of Emergency: A Cloud Computing Solution for Heart Disease Patients

Time constraint is one of the important issues for the patients suffering from heart diseases. Delay in getting treatment can be life threatening. Essential data collection requires a great deal of efforts and time to collect and analyze the information. Such processes are usually slow and may become error-prone if done in a hurry. This situation limits the clinical diagnostics and monitoring capabilities. This paper presents the development of a remote monitoring system for ECG signals. Proposed solution is based on the concept of cloud computing and wireless networks. Analog signal is acquired with the ADC unit of the PIC24 controller, this information in terms of ECG is transferred through ZigBee network connected to the cloud and finally examination and storing are carried out. The signals obtained from the patients can be monitored simultaneously by the experts. Cloud provides availability, reliability. KeywordsECG, Remote ECG capturing, Telemedicine

Security Issues in Cloud Computing Solution of DDOS and Introducing Two-Tier CAPTCHA

Cloud computing is simply a metaphor for the internet. User does not requiredknowledge, control, and ownership in the computer infrastructure.User simply access or rent the software and paying only for what they use. Advantage of cloud computing is huge like Broad network access, Cost effectiveness, Rapid elasticity, Measured services, On -Demand service, Resource pooling , Location independence, Reliability, Energy saving and so on. But its global phenomenon that everything in this world has advantage as well as disadvantage, cloud computing also suffering from some drawback like security & privacy, Internet Dependency, Availability, And Current Enterprise Applications Can't Be Migrated Easily. I conclude that security is biggest hurdle in wide acceptance of cloud computing. U ser of cloud services are in fear of data loss, security and a vailability issues. At virtual level DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service Attack)is biggest threat of availability in cloud computing. In Denial of service attack an attacker prevent legitimate users of service from using the desired resources by flood a network or by consuming bandwidth .So authentication is need to distinguish legitimated clients from malicious clien ts, which can be performed through strong cryptographic verification (for a private server) or graphical Turing tests (for a public server). Where the authentication is performed by Graphical Turing Tests, which is widely used to distinguish human users from robots through their reaction. On the other hand, CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Tests to Tell Computers and Humans Apart) is used for Graphical Turing Test. There are many OCR or Non -OCR based CAPTCHA’s are used widely but they are vulnerable to many attacks likePixel-Count Attack, Recognition by using OCR, Dictionary Attack, and Vertical Segmentation. This paper introduces a new CAPTCHA method called Two-Tier CAPTCHA.In this method CLAD node need to generate two things,first a alphanumeric CAPTCHA code with image. Second Query related to that CAPTCHA code. E.g. enter only Digit’s .We can increase the rate of its difficulty in order to improve its resistance against the attacks by ad ding more and more query and combination in database.The algorithm of this method makes it hard for bot programs which mean that it is more secure.This project has been implemented byASP.NET and PHP Language.

A Survey on Security Issues and the Existing Solutions in Cloud Computing

A Survey on Security Issues and the Existing Solutions in Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing Solution and Services for RFID Based Supply Chain Management

Deploying and Implementing RFID Systems for tracking and controlling products in supply chain management is not affordable for small and midsized companies due to its complexity, cost, and difficulties pertaining data management and maintenance. Cloud computing can be used to mitigate the risks associated with the implementation and deployment of RFID based on system in supply chain management because the complex system for data filtering, management and maintenance can be implemented on the cloud that otherwise requires the purchase of new hardware, staff and professional services.

OpenStack: Toward an Open-source Solution for Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a quite new concept for which the resources are virtualized, dynamically extended and provided as a service on the Internet. In this paper, we present a comparative study between some of the IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) commonly used to select the best suited one for deployment and research development in the field of cloud computing. The aim is to provide the computer industry with the opportunity to build a hosting architecture, massively scalable which is completely open source, while overcoming the constraints and the use of proprietary technologies. Then, we present the solution OpenStack retained by the comparative study. We discuss in detail its functional and architectural system. We finish by a discussion of the motivation of our choice of the IaaS solution. General Terms:

Cloud Security Research in Cloud Computing

This paper first introduces the definition of cloud security, then analyzes security research status, finally puts forward to three-layer security solutions in Cloud Computing.

Conceptualizing a Secure Wireless Cloud

The interest in cloud computing by organizations has driven a core desire to become more effective and efficient with information technology (IT). Cloud computing enables organizations to utilize instantly provisioned scalable IT resources on a pay-per-use basis. The wireless grid provides a new model for heterogeneous devices to share physical and virtual resources within an ad-hoc environment with no dedicated server needed to manage the network. Both of these technologies provide new opportunities to provide innovative architectures but also have a number of security related issues that concern many potential users. Despite the potential benefits, each integration of a cloud computing and a wireless grid architecture raise even more concerns related to information security than each architecture alone. As a new paradigm for organizational strategic initiatives, these are the issues which prevent cloud computing and wireless grid solutions from becoming the prevalent integration for an operational system. This article will identify a wireless cloud architecture and identify potential vulnerabilities and threats to a wireless cloud solution. We also identify the beginnings of a promising wireless grid security architecture, which focuses on a wireless cloud authentication, authorization and access control process.