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And Other Technologies To Consider!. Winter 2012 Donna Williamson wild@mtnbrook.k12.al.us Twitter: @ dwmtnbrook. An Overview Of Cloud Computing. Who do people think we are? 5 Words to Describe You. Team. Peers. Agenda. What is Cloud Computing ? Where do most school systems start?
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And Other Technologies To Consider! Winter 2012 Donna Williamson wild@mtnbrook.k12.al.us Twitter: @dwmtnbrook An Overview Of Cloud Computing
Agenda • What is Cloud Computing ? • Where do most school systems start? • What are the Benefits and Challenges? • How are School Districts Using Cloud Computing? • Other Technologies to Watch? • Questions
Why Consider Cloud Services? • While the trend increases for employee productivity outside the office, it also brings up a whole slew of new questions: • How secure are confidential files and folders? • What if the iPad/laptop/Android phone gets stolen? • How can our schools adjust security policies and standards to protect confidential information? • How will IT handle the responsibility of managing all of these new mobile devices?
“The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines cloud computing as a "pay-per-use model for enabling available, convenient and on-demandnetwork 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.“ National Institutes of Standards and Technology April 2009
Cloud Computing Is*… • More about a delivery method than a technology • Services delivered via the Internet (e.g. a browser) • Shared Pool of Resources * Based on definition from National Institutes of Standards and Technology
Clouds Can Be… • Public, • Private, or a • Hybrid of the two Regardless, they deliver IT products and services in real time over the internet.
Operating in a cloud…1. increases operating efficiency and agility, 2. lowers operating costs, and 3. eliminates many of the tasks that take up so much of an IT staff’s time and resources.
Two Common Layers Of Cloud Computing Cloud Computing Traditional Computing Software-as-a-service (SaaS) Finished applications or components that you rent and access via a browser, typically shared with other users(e.g Google Apps, BoardDocs, FSDirect, Moodle Rooms, etc.) Internally or Externally Hosted Software Finished applications that you purchase and host(e.g Exchange, iNow, McAleer) Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) Externally Hosted on-demand Virtual Deployment platforms that abstract the infrastructure (e.g. Amazon Cloud and Storage, Cloud Backups) Infrastructure In-House platforms that provide physical or virtual infrastructure (Servers, Networks, Operating Systems, and Storage e.g. VMware)
Common Examples Of Cloud Computing? General SurveyMonkey School Board eBoard Facilities/IT/Transportation FSDirect, Maintenance Direct, IT Direct Finance/CNP PayPAMS eBilling for AP/IB/Sports Fees Communications School Messenger(Emergency Notification) Twitter Google Apps Mapquest(Driving Directions) Student Management iNow Student LearningVoiceThread Glogster Online Textbook Resources
How is Your District Using Cloud Computing? Information Technology • Streaming Video • Private Cloud-Infrastructure (Virtual Machines, Desktops) • Private Virtual-Storage Schools and Instructional Services • Delicious (Social Bookmarks) • Discovery Streaming • Elluminate • Online Textbooks • Research Databases (various) • ePALs (Foreign Language) • Turn-It-In.com • VoiceThread • Naviance • Tutor.com • Google
Internet Bandwidth as a limit for external cloud computing Internet Bandwidth 100 MB Internet “Cloud Application” Internet Bandwidth • Internal Bandwidth • 1 GB • Shared between the few hundred or thousand devices at each site Local Sites
FERPA and Cloud Computing • There were some changes in FERPA in the last 2 years that explicitly allowed external entities like cloud providers that have a contractual relationship with the school to act as “school officials” as defined by FERPA. That is the language that is in the Google Apps for Education contract. See http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/education_terms.html. For paid service consider a standard confidentiality agreement for hosted services that the vendor is required to sign. It is trickier with free services since there is often no contract (except for Google Apps, which has one) • This is also the reasoning behind the enterprise vs. consumer topic on the report list. Services like Google apps, or paid services like The hosted version of blackboard have contracts that are signed at a district level but “consumer “ services like dropbox, flickr etc. are consumer services and they have terms and conditions and they are between the vendor and an individual (and typically that individual does not have the ability to agree to terms on behalf of the district)
Potential Challenges Of Cloud Computing • Large number of free Consumer and SaaS services • Many are supported by Advertisements • Limited ability to control sign-up, many overlap with District-provided services • High Frequency of services changing or going away • Security, Policy and Contracts (or lack thereof) • Varying degrees of FERPA and privacy control • Regulation (Local and State) • External data as part of the official student record • Shared Infrastructure • Rapid updates/changes, with little control over new features and upgrades • Impact on Training • Limited ability to customize, including reporting or exporting of data • Shifts expenses from capital to operational • Authentication, Identity and Account Management • Increased Internet Bandwidth Demands
Review of Potential Benefits Of Cloud Computing • Rapid provisioning and deployment of services • On-demand scalability for new services and capabilities • Leverages economies of scale • Allows for “Measured” Payment (Pay per Use) • High Availability • Large number of “free” options (also a challenge) • Shared infrastructure (also a challenge) • Shifts expenses from capital to operational (also a challenge)
Virtualization • Virtualization is running multiple virtual machines on a single physical server. • A hypervisor is tasked with creating, releasing, and managing the resources of "guest" operating systems, or virtual machines. • Resources may include memory, CPU, and network and storage devices.
Virtualization • Server virtualization ultimately enables dynamic flexibility while eliminating the economic and operational issues of infrastructure silos. • Virtualization enables mobility and allows multiple copies of the virtual machine to be created for business resilience and disaster recovery. • Virtualization generally reduces hardware costs and cooling costs.
Looming Challenges • BYOD • Ipads, Apps, and Vouchers