Clearing The Cloud Computing Fog

Cloud computing provides libraries with a better and easier way to perform many functions. However, cloud computing is an inherently nebulous concept, so there is confusion over what it is or what what it is good for. The "Cloud" is commonly used as shorthand for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and possibly anything that can be delivered as a service. This session provides a gentle introduction to cloud services, what they are best suited for, and topics that any institution using them should consider including confidentiality, integrity, availability, legal implications, and cost. The session will end with a demonstration of how to set up a simple web service in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).