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Unit 3 – Discussion Board (75 points)

Due: Thu, Sep 14 |Printer Friendly Version

Description

Primary Discussion Response is due by Thursday (11:59:59pm Central), Peer Responses are due by Saturday (11:59:59pm Central). 

Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 400–600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

For this discussion, you will complete the following:

· Read the following story from an information technology (IT) professional describing his experience with moving a function to the cloud.

· Proceed to research common problems with cloud implementation.

· Discuss the story and your research with your classmates.

Story

As virtualization is implemented in a data center environment, the potential for utilization of cloud computing becomes more feasible and easier to justify. However, cloud computing creates major concerns for an organization, and these concerns must be properly addressed. Understanding the concerns can help people find mitigation strategies to help management decide on the correct course of action.

In a company I used to work for, we decided to move our help desk to the cloud, using Software as a Service (SaaS). The decision was made based on cost avoidance because we did not have to host the servers and software in-house, and the estimated savings were significant. We migrated to the cloud, and everything went very smooth at first. However, as the number of users increased and the demands placed on the system also increased, we started to experience long delays in response. After we requested more central processing units (CPU) and storage in the cloud, the performance got better for a time, but performance decreased again as we ported the application to more countries. Eventually, we decided to move the application in-house. The migration back from the cloud was expensive and took some time, but we found out that we had more control over the application because in the cloud, we did not know how many other clients were being served with the same application. Our service level agreement with the vendor did not account for the future load on the system. In retrospect, we failed to accurately estimate the load increase on the system as we incorporated more customers in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

Moral

The benefits of cloud computing outweigh the drawbacks, but only if they are properly addressed.

Discussion

Use the library and Internet to research and analyze the most common problems encountered by organizations when implementing cloud computing and how they are mitigated. Complete the following:

· Based on your research, identify at least 1 problem encountered by organizations when implementing cloud computing.

· Describe the problem and the potential impact it might have on the organization.

· Discuss steps that can be taken to mitigate the problem.

· Include an analysis of the cost of your approach to mitigation.

Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 2 of your fellow classmates with at least a 200-word reply about their Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:

· What did you learn from your classmate’s posting? What additional questions do you have after reading the posting?

· What clarification do you need regarding the posting?

· What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates’ postings?

For assistance with your assignment, please use your textbook and all course resources.

Discussion Board Rubric

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Discussion Board Grading Rubric
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