Cloud Computing

For Education: A
new dawn?

Abstract
Cloud computing is an emerging new computing
pattern for delivering computing services. This
computing approach relies on a number of
existing technologies, e.g., the Internet,
virtualization, grid computing, Web services, etc.
The provision of this service in a pay-as-you-go
way through (largely) the popular medium of the
Internet gives this service a new distinctiveness.

What is cloud computing?

It is the practice of using a network of
remote servers hosted on the Internet
to store, manage, and process data,
rather than a local server or a personal
computer.
A study by McKinsey (the global
management consulting firm) found
that there are 22 possible separate
definitions of cloud computing. In fact,
no common standard or definition for
cloud computing seems to exist

The Type of services offered

by cloud computing
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Products
offered through this model include the remote
delivery (through the Internet) of a full
computer infrastructure (e.g., virtual
computers, servers, storage devices, etc.)
Platform as a Service (PaaS): To understand
this cloud computing layer one needs to
remember the traditional computing model
where each application managed locally
required hardware, an operating system, a
database, middleware, Web servers, and
other software.

 Software as a Service (Saas): Under

this layer, applications are delivered
through the medium of the Internet as a
service. Instead of installing and
maintaining software, you simply access
it through the Internet, freeing yourself
from complex software and hardware
management

Flexibility and cost

Many see huge potential of the technology in reducing
the cost of IT to organizations and freeing them from the
expense and hassle of having to install and maintain
applications locally
Furthermore, a great proportion of the costs of running
an IT infrastructure comes from electricity consumption
(needed to run hardware e.g., PCs, servers, switches,
backup drives, etc.)
cooling (needed to reduce the heating generated by the
hardware). Cloud computing is likely to reduce
expenditure in this area

Cloud in the education

1. The potential of cloud computing for improving
efficiency, cost and convenience for the
educational sector is being recognized by a number
of US educational (and official) establishments.
2. Major cloud computing providers such as IBM
and Google are actively promoting cloud computing
as tools for research
3. The schools are now using cloud computing to
transform old computers , that were ready for
scrap, into fully functioning virtual machines. This
was possible because cloud computing eliminates
the need for a hard drive on the local computer

4. Google has been very successful in targeting the

East African educational market. For example, the
giant cloud provider has partnered with a number of
East African educational establishments
5. The ability of cloud computing to help African
education, not only by reducing IT costs but also by
making education more efficient than before, is
likely to be a very powerful (and empowering) tool
for the advancement of education in this underdeveloped continent.
6. Storage issues with network servers and email
also meant that students were, more often than not,
saving their work to USB memory sticks which are
often loss or misuse

Conclusion
Cloud computing is an emerging computing pattern which
promises to provide opportunities for delivering a variety of
computing services in a way that has not been experienced
before.
Some of the laws (e.g., UKs DPA) that govern issues of data
protection and data security need to be clear

References :
Buyya, R., Yeo, C. S., & Venugopal, S. (2009). Market-oriented cloud
computing: Vision, hype, and reality of delivering IT services as computing
utilities. In The 10th IEEE international conference on high performance
computing and communications (pp. 513).
Carr, N. (2009). The Big Switch: Re-Wiring the World, from Edison to Google.
New York & London: W.W. Norton.
Chan, S. P. (2009). Microsoft cloud computing gets down to earth. East Africa
Forum. http://www.eastafricaforum.net/2009/07/16/microsoft-cloudcomputing-gets -down-to-earth (accessed on: 1 August 2009).

THANK YOU