As we expand beyond traditional computing techniques, we are entering an era where everything becomes a service. This philosophy will revolutionise the way that we think about computing. Cloud Computing could be such a service-oriented architecture for future enterprise computing. In cloud computing, Oracle is one of the leading companies that have already started to provide cloud computing services, and Nectar Cloud provides free cloud services for all Australian researchers. In this assignment, you are to write a research report to critically review cloud computing. To complete this report, you need to have good understanding of the listed issues and are expected to do personal research.

The report is to be structured as an academic report and the sections must be titled and numbered. Your work must be appropriately referenced using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style. The length of the report should be about 2,500 words. An Exemplar for Writing a Simple Academic Technical Report is available on the unit web site; you should read it before writing the report.

In your report, you must address the following issues for cloud computing.

Part 1: Introduction

1. What is cloud computing?

2. What is the difference between cloud computing and traditional IT servicing?

3. What are you going to cover in the remainder of this report?

Part 2: Cloud Computing Model

Cloud computing as a service-oriented architecture mainly consists of 3 layer, which are: Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service and Software as a Service. In this part, you are to research and describe each of these services.

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)

3. Software as a Service (SaaS)

In terms of the above 3 layers or 3 cloud services, research Oracle Cloud and Nectar Cloud to address the following issues.

1. What cloud services are provided by Oracle Cloud and among these services which one can be used directly to deploy Java EE applications?

2. What cloud services are provided by Nectar cloud? Based on the cloud services of Nectar, what do you need to do before you can deploy a Java EE application on it?

Part 3: Misconceptions on Cloud Computing

There exist a number of misconceptions about cloud computing. Among those misconceptions, in this part, you are to identify 5 misconceptions and clarify these misconceptions.

For example, a misconception could be ‘I don't know what the cloud is.' Thus you need to clarify and justify that ‘you probably have already used it, e.g. Gmail.'

Part 4: Conclusion

In this part, you will need to conclude this report by summarising the following concerns in a short and concise way.

1. What are the benefits of cloud computing?

2. What are the challenges facing cloud computing?