Software as a service

About: Software as a service is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 8514 publications have been published within this topic receiving 136177 citations. The topic is also known as: Service as a Software Substitute & SaaSS.

Cloud Computing and IT as a Service: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract: This panel brings together technology experts and business leaders and provide first hand insight to the evolution of cloud computing and IT as a service (ITaaS), from both technology and business model perspectives. The panel will discuss the disruptive nature of cloud computing and its business model, including the impact to the current enterprise IT industry, to the service provider industry, to the enterprise software industry, to the networking industry, and to the service industry. The panel will also discuss the confluence of SOA paradigm and SaaS paradigm and examine its implication to the enterprise IT architecture. The panel will also help audience understand the limitation and challenges for cloud computing and ITaaS. The audience of this panel is targeted at the technology leaders and business decision makers in enterprise IT, software industry, and networking industry.

The Evaluations of Desktop as a Service in an Educational Cloud

Abstract: Recently, since the cloud computing is developed, many companies have provided various services using it. DaaS(Desktop as a Service) is one of services in the cloud computing. DaaS is a cloud service that provides desktop environment of virtual machine running on the cloud. In a sense, it is regarded as GUI based IaaS(Infrastructure as a Service). Although only Web applications are used in SaaS, all kinds of applications can be used in DaaS. In this paper, we describe how to construct efficient DaaS in an educational cloud. The features of our DaaS are as follows, one is supporting in various combinations of any client OS with any server OS and another is the usability for beginners. In addition, we evaluate multi-user DaaS for reducing cloud cost. Furthermore, we describe the secure way to access the cloud via DaaS.

Who is Responsible for 'Personal Data' in Cloud Computing? The Cloud of Unknowing, Part 2

Abstract: In part one of this series, we considered what information is regulated as 'personal data' in the cloud. In this part two, we develop further the argument made in part one that it is not appropriate for infrastructure cloud providers, many of which are based outside Europe, to become subject arbitrarily to obligations under the EU Data Protection Directive due to choices made by their users. EU data protection responsibilities and liabilities are imposed primarily on the 'controller,' who may employ 'processors' to process data for it. We suggest, as with the concept of 'personal data,' the binary nature of the controller/processor distinction is no longer tenable. In today's environment of complex chains of actors, end to end accountability should replace the binary distinction. While cloud computing service providers are commonly considered processors or controllers, this paper further argues that many infrastructure cloud computing providers are not even 'processors,' but simply provide facilities and/or tools for use by the controller/cloud user. Infrastructure as a Service and Platform as a Service providers, and certain Software as a Service providers, who offer no more than utility infrastructure services, will often not know whether information stored or processed through their services is 'personal data' or not – hence, the 'cloud of unknowing.' Infrastructure cloud providers are qualitatively distinct from services such as social networking websites. We suggest that infrastructure cloud computing providers should be considered mere neutral intermediaries. Existing liability defences for certain service providers under the EU Electronic Commerce Directive, to help foster electronic commerce, are lost upon the provider having knowledge and control. Similarly, our proposed intermediary immunity from data protection obligations would be lost if the provider gains the requisite knowledge and/or the requisite access to such data. It may also behove cloud computing providers to develop appropriate common industry standards and best practices measures in order to help provide a clear boundary between this intermediary status and 'processor' (or even 'controller') status.

The Impact of Software as a Service on IS Authority — A Contingency Perspective

Abstract: For some business applications, using Software as a Service (SaaS) is becoming increasingly popular. However, it is largely unknown how SaaS adoption affects the arrangements between business and IT departments. In this study, we take a contingency approach to investigate how firms allocate authority for SaaS applications. Based on semi-structured interviews with business and IT representatives of companies that have adopted the wide-spread SaaS solution Salesforce CRM, we extend existing contingency theory to propose a set of factors for governance arrangements on the application level. These factors are used in a comparative case study of 4 cases of SaaS adoption to explain why application authority is allocated either to the business or the IT side. The results suggest that in most cases there exist dominant and reinforcing contingencies determining a definite mode of SaaS governance.

Cloud computing in education in the middle east and north africa (mena) region: can barriers be overcome?

Abstract: Interest in Cloud Computing (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) in the e-learning arena is growing due to potential greater cost savings from scalable architectures and open source products, and the possibility of higher learning outcomes Greater connectivity between centralized server-side applications and low cost/low processor capacity mobile devices (M-learning) could provide better access, more control, and greater freedom for e-learners Many United States businesses and governmental agencies are outsourcing organizational functionality such as email to such Cloud systems as Gmail and Google Apps However, some serious issues with the viability and suitability of the Cloud Computing model for education remain: primarily, storage of sensitive data on third-party servers outside of the organization Family and individual privacy are important cultural values in the Arabian Gulf Also the loss of data through discontinued Cloud services has not been uncommon