Tecnhically speaking: A lining of silver savings in every cloud

In an October 22, 2009, commentary to the Campus Technology website, Ohio takes to the clouds, Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhunt outlines how the University System of Ohio has transitioned to cloud-based computing technology for its e-mail and office productivity by partnering with Microsoft.

Cloud computing (2009) is defined by Mell and Grance of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology Agency, Computer Security Division, Computer Security Resource Center as:

a model for enabling 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.

Previously programs handling e-mail such as Microsoft Outlook and office systems package, Microsoft Office, had to be installed and supported by university computing technology staff. Now with the new partnership, those programs are hosted by Microsoft.

Microsoft will handle maintain, supporting, and updating the programs. Rather than installing those programs computer by computer, the University System of Ohio faculty/staff/student would connect to the program over the Internet.

The intended purpose of the transition to cloud-based computing is to realize cost savings from outsourcing, or as one commenter stated, "cloud-sourcing", the e-mail and office-systems programs.


My Opinion


It would be an interesting prospect to follow the University System of Ohio actual savings. In the short term, I could imagine the decreased expense of providing such services, but what happens later? In the future, would the rate to provide such service by "out-sourcing" eventually cost more than providing the service "in-house"?



References

Fingerhut, E. (2009). Ohio takes to the clouds. Campus Technology. Retrieved on November 1, 2009, from:
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/10/22/ohio-takes-to-the-clouds.aspx

Mell, P.; Grance, T. (2009). The NIST definition of cloud computing. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology Agency, Computer Security Division, Computer Security Resource Center. Retrieved on November 1, 2009, from:
http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/cloud-def-v15.doc