A Resource Allocation Model for Desktop Clouds

Cloud computing is a new paradigm that promises to move IT a step further towards utility computing, in which computing services are delivered as a utility service. Traditionally, Cloud employs dedicated resources located in one or more data centres in order to provide services to clients. Desktop Cloud computing is a new type of Cloud computing that aims at providing Cloud capabilities at low or no cost. Desktop Clouds harness non dedicated and idle resources in order to provide Cloud services. However, the nature of such resources can be problematic because they are prone to failure at any time without prior notice. This research focuses on the resource allocation mechanism in Desktop Clouds.The contributions of this chapter are threefold. Firstly, it defines and explains Desktop Clouds by comparing them with both Traditional Clouds and Desktop Grids. Secondly, the paper discusses various research issues in Desktop Clouds. Thirdly, it proposes a resource allocation model that is able to handle node failures.

Impact of EU Data Protection Laws on Cloud Computing

The global nature of cloud computing has resulted in emerging challenges, such as clashes between legal systems, cultural differences, and business practice norms: cloud-computing is at the forefront of recognising, and “smoothing over,” emergent differences between nation states as we move towards a more globally connected world. This chapter uses the emergent differences over regulation governing data protection; as the world becomes more interconnected, we are likely to see more examples of technology practices and models sweeping around the globe, and raising further areas for clashes between nations and regions, much like the fault lines between tectonic plates. This chapter provides contribution by capturing some emergent “fault lines” in an in-depth case study comparing the evolving EU directives covering data protection and how they relate to non-EU data protection legal systems. This provides the foundations to consider cloud-computing challenges, inform policymakers in measures to resolve “clashes,” and in informing researchers investigating other global technology phenomena.

Cloud Computing and Frameworks for Organisational Cloud Adoption

This chapter presents a selected review for Cloud Computing and explains the issues and risks of adopting Cloud Computing in a business environment. Although all the risks identified may be associated with two major Cloud adoption challenges, a framework is required to support organisations as they begin to use Cloud and minimise risks of Cloud adoption. Eleven Cloud Computing frameworks are investigated and a comparison of their strengths and limitations is made. The result of the comparison is that none of them can deal with all the Cloud adoption challenges thoroughly and a new, comprehensive framework is required if organisations are to overcome these challenges. This proposed framework would ensure that benefits of Cloud adoption are maximised whilst minimising the risks of Cloud adoption and can integrate existing and new projects with Leeds Beckett Cloud.

Cloud-Based Infiltration Detection System for Military Purposes

Massive military manpower is deployed on borders to keep a vigilant eye on possible infiltration from neighboring countries. This traditional approach is prone to errors because of human factors. To make border surveillance more effective, countries have installed CCTV cameras on borders but generally such systems are passive in nature and require human operators to keep an eye on the captured video footage. This chapter describes a cloud based approach for infiltration detection in border defense environments. The processing of video data, in cloud, and the real-time response are the factors that make system suitable for military purposes. As far as affordability is concerned, the governments can easily bear expense of establishing a private cloud for implementing visual surveillance. This chapter represents pertinent research of authors in the field of visual surveillance as well as other state-of-the-art breakthroughs in this area. The chapter is of multi-disciplinary significance in the field of cloud computing, video & image processing, behavioral sciences, and defense studies.

A Formal Framework for Cloud Systems

Cloud Computing is an emerging topic with high potentials in the IT industry. Its offered services need to be adapted to deal with variations caused by hostile environment, such as the Internet. Hence, a challenging issue in Cloud systems architecture is to model and analyze cloud-based services. However, few work has been dedicated to guarantee safe and secure adaptable services. The main objective of this chapter is to propose a formal framework for specifying cloud systems and offering analysis support to model-check their inherent properties. Based on Bigraphical Reactive Systems, the formalization process is achieved via the definition of the BiCloud-Arch model. Then, cloud architecture dynamics is formalized by a set of generic reaction rules to be applied on the obtained bigraphical model. This chapter also addresses a mapping from the proposed model (BiCloud-Arch) to a Maude-based formal executable specification (BiCloud-2M). On this basis, the proposed BiCloud Maude-based Model Checker (BMMC) is used to formally verify some Cloud system properties.

Cloud Computing for Rural ICT Implementations

Half of the world's population live in rural areas and majority of them are in developing countries. The rural population face many challenges in their life compared to their urban counterparts. Some of these challenges include high unemployment rate, limited employment opportunities in their areas, high brain drain to more developed cities, lack of access to education and healthcare facilities. Information and communication technology has been identified as the enabling technology that can be used to overcome the present day problems. There are several ICT projects implemented across the world with the objective of helping these rural masses. But many of these projects face sustainability challenges due to lack of resources. In this chapter, the author takes an in depth look at how cloud computing can be leveraged successfully to address the sustainability problem of current rural ICT implementation.

Cloud Services for Healthcare

Healthcare organisations are forced to reconsider their current business practices and embark on a cloud adoption journey. Cloud-Computing offers important benefits that make it attractive for healthcare (e.g. cost effective model, big data management etc.). Large Information Technology (IT) companies are investing big sums in building infrastructure, services, tools and applications to facilitate Cloud-Computing for healthcare organisations, practitioners and patients. Yet, many challenges that such integration projects contain are still in the e-health research agenda like design and technology requirements to handle big volume of data, ensure scalability and user satisfaction to name a few. The purpose of this chapter is (a) to address the Cloud-Computing services for healthcare in the form of a Personal Healthcare record (PHR) and (b) demonstrate a multidisciplinary project. In doing so, the authors aim at increasing the awareness of this important endeavour and provide insights on Cloud-Computing e-health services for healthcare organisations.

Analysis of Cloud Services on Business Processes in the Digitalization of the Consumer Product Industry

Nowadays, cloud computing is becoming popular within the business environment. Cloud services is not new, but the evolution of mobility, connectivity, and computing hardware has made it interesting for the business. Cloud services provides a way to increase the capacity or add capabilities dynamically without investing in new IT infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Focusing on the consumer product goods (CPG) market with its mainly small and medium-sized companies, we see dramatic changes from the market demands, logistic challenges and price competition. The purpose of this chapter is therefore to present the positioning of cloud services in the CPG industry and to outline an approach that enables a typical company in the CPG industry to link the current capabilities of cloud services this to a business-process-driven evaluation approach to provide a transparency for the decision towards cloud services. The result of the business process investigation underlies assumptions and inductive conclusions.

Analyzing French and Italian iPhone 4S Mobile Cloud Customer Satisfaction Presented by Organizational Sustainability Modeling

This chapter explains the use of Organizational Sustainability Modeling (OSM), a model to evaluate the status of risk and return for Cloud Computing including Mobile Cloud, where the customer satisfaction rate is an important indicator. The authors describe how to use OSM to collect and analyze French and Italian 2011 data, in which the iPhone 4S Cloud service is used as the representation for Mobile Cloud industry. OSM data analysis shows that French and Italian data have declined customer satisfaction, being affected by the economic downturn. There are medium-high uncontrolled risks and good data consistencies in both countries. The use of 3D Visualization helps further data analysis and interpretation. Comparisons between French and Italian data are presented, and rationale for their similarities and differences are explained in detail. Additionally, OSM and other similar methods are compared. Due to the capabilities to support both quantitative and qualitative approaches with support from real case studies, OSM is a better method to analyze customer satisfaction in Mobile Cloud.

A Conceptual Model for Cloud Computing Adoption by SMEs in Australia

Cloud Computing is an increasingly important worldwide development in business service provision. The business benefits of Cloud Computing usage include reduced IT overhead costs, greater flexibility of services, reduced TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), on-demand services, and improved productivity. As a result, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly adopting Cloud Computing technology because of these perceived benefits. The most economical deployment model in Cloud Computing is called the Public Cloud, which is especially suitable for SMEs because it provides almost immediate access to hardware resources and reduces their need to purchase an array of advanced hardware and software applications. The changes experienced in Cloud Computing adoption over the past decade are unprecedented and have raised important issues with regard to privacy, security, trust, and reliability. This chapter presents a conceptual model for Cloud Computing adoption by SMEs in Australia.