failuresthinkcloud
thinkcloud 时间:2021-04-02 阅读:()
1ThisdocumenthasbeenproducedbyDiploFoundationwiththefinancialassistanceoftheEuropeanUnion.
ThecontentsofthisdocumentarethesoleresponsibilityoftheauthorandcanundernocircumstancesberegardedasreflectingthepositionoftheEuropeanUnionorDiploFoundation.
Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesSamGoundar,FijiAbstractCloudcomputingoffersarangeofnewopportunitiesfordevelopingcountriestodowhattheycouldnotdoearlierwithcomputersandtheInternet.
Cloudcomputinginfrastructureandapplicationsareabletointeractwithuserswhohavemobilephones,TabletPCs,OLPC[one-laptop-per-child],andothermobiledevices.
ThispaperlooksathowcloudcomputingwillsurpasstheInternetinadoptionandusageasthistechnology'susersareontheothersideofthedigitaldivide.
MobilephonesandotherdeviceshavepenetratedandsaturateddevelopingcountrieswheretheInternethasfailed.
Thispaperlooksatthediffusionofmobilephonesanddevicesindevelopingcountriesanditscontinuousdramaticrise.
$15MobilePhonesand$20TabletPCsarenowinthehandsofthosetechnology-connectivity-deprivedbillions.
Thispaperwilllookathowcloudcomputingandmobiledevicescombinepresentnewopportunitiesfordevelopingcountries.
Becausethemobilephoneanddevicesusermarketistoobigtobeignored,cloudserviceproviders,incollaboration,withmobileserviceprovidershavedeployedhundredsofcloud-enabledapplicationsandarecontinuingintheirendeavourtoprovideanendlessrangeofproducts.
Thispaperlooksatsomepopularmobileapplicationsthatarehelpingdevelopmentefforts,suchasm-Banking,m-Education,m-Health,m-Agriculture,andothersthatalreadyexistandarepopularwithindevelopingcountries.
Eachtechnologyhasitsgood[opportunities],bad[challenges],andugly[issues]side.
Thereisanattempttoaddresstheissuesandchallengesindeployingmobileapplicationsviacloudcomputingindevelopingcountrieswhencomparedtodevelopedcountries.
Forexample,issuessuchasconnectivitytoremoteregionsandthechallengesfacedbyserviceprovidersandgovernmentstosubsidiseandprovidemobileapplicationstothosewhoarealreadystrugglingwithsustenance.
Keywords:cloudcomputing;mobilecomputing;m-applicationsfordevelopingcountries;ICT4DCloudcomputingopportunitiesCloudcomputingtechnology,advancesininformationtechnology(IT)infrastructureandscalablesophisticatedapplicationsenableindividuals,students,andbusinessesaroundtheworldtoconnecttodata,informationandcomputingresourcesanywhereandanytime.
Inthissection,thisresearchwilllookathowindividuals,students,andbusinessesnolongerneedmemoryintensive,processordependant,locationconstrainedcomputingresourcesandbroadbandconnectionsbecausetheycanaccessdata,information,andcomputingresourcesfromtheirlight-weightmobilephones.
AccordingtoDikaiakosetal.
,(2009),thevisionofthetwenty-firstcenturyisaccess-ingInternetservicesfromlightweightporta-bledevices,insteadofaccessingthemfromatraditionaldesktopPC.
Cloudcomputingisatechnologywhichwillfacilitatecompaniesororganisationstohosttheirserviceswith-outworryingaboutITinfrastructure,letaloneinvestinitandothersupportingservices.
Thecloudconceptdrawsontheexistingtech-nologieswhicharenotnew,suchasvirtualcom-puting,clustercomputing,utilitycomputing,dis-tributedcomputingandSoftware-as-a-Service(SaaS).
Itisnewinthewayitintegratesalloftheaboveandshiftsthemfromalocalisedprocess-ingunittoaglobalisednetwork(Weiss,2007).
Usersofmobilephonesanddevicesarenotrequiredtostoredataandinformationontheirdevices.
Whateverdataandinformationtheyneedarestoredwiththeircloudserviceproviders.
2Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesWhentheneedarisestousethatdataorref-erencethatinformation,accessisobtainedviatheirmobileserviceprovideraslongastheyarewithinthenetworkconnectivityrange.
Accesstodataandinformationisnotconfinedtoanyloca-tion,andthatistheessenceofcloudcomputing.
Accesstoapplicationsandservicesviamobilephoneapplicationsaddressesthedigitaldivideofthe'have-nots'tosomeextent.
Forexam-ple,aFijiansendinganSMS(shortmes-sageservice)toafriendinNewZealandhasthepotentialofconveyingthesamemessagethataCanadiancouldhavedoneviaemail.
ItprovidesalevelplayingfieldfortheFijianintermsofbeingabletokeepintouch.
ThiswasnotpossiblefortheFijianlastyear.
Earlythisyear,anumberofmobilephoneprovid-ersenteredthemarketafterderegulationand,aspartoftheirpromotiontosignnewcus-tomers,gaveawaymobilephonesforfree.
ManyindustrypunditsarepredictingthatthecloudwillsurpasstheInternet(Subramaniam,2008;Bourne,2010;Nichols,2010).
Whatweareseeingistheevolutionofthecloudasacen-tralnervoussystemforanewuniversalcom-municationsinfrastructurethatismoreimpor-tantthantheInternet.
OneofthereasonsbehindtheInternet'sdemisewouldbeitsdepen-denceonwebbrowsersandcomputersforcon-nectivityandservice.
Theevolutionofmobilephonesfrom2Gto3Ghasenabledthemobilephoneproviderstobuildsimpleinterfacesintomobilephonesforsuchconnectivity.
Oncecon-nected,thecloudserviceprovider'sprocessingpower,storagecapacity,computingresources,dataandinformationisyourstoexploit.
Withcloudcomputing,insteadofconnectingtothenetworkserver,amobilephoneordeviceconnectstothecloudserviceprovider.
Allser-vicesareavailablefromwhereverweare,aslongasthereisaconnectiontothenetwork.
Armedwithsuchportabilityandflexibilityinthecom-putingenvironment,businessescanreachtheircustomers24/7anywhereintheworld.
Studentscanstudyonlinecoursesfromanywhereintheworld,andindividualscansocialiseontheirmobilephones,SMSanddowhatevertheywantfromwherevertheyare,whenevertheywant.
Cloudcomputingisatrendwithenormousimplications.
'Cloudcomputingprovidesaccesstolarge-scaleremoteresourcesinaveryeffi-cientandquickmanner',explainsKarstenSchwan,DirectoroftheCenterforExperimentalResearchinComputingSystemsatGeorgiaTechUniversity.
'Ithasthepotentialtodra-maticallychangebusinessmodelsandthewaypeopleinteractwithoneanother.
'(Greengard,2010).
Wehavealreadywitnessedthechangeincommunicationetiquettefrompostinglet-terstosendingemailsthroughtheInternet,andnowtherewillbeatransitiontotexting.
Therearemanystatisticsregardingcloudcom-putingforbusinesses:IDCestimatesthemar-ketforpubliccloudproductsandserviceswasatUSD$16billionin2010andwillgrowtoUSD$56billionby2014.
Gartnermoreoptimisticallyesti-matesthecloudmarketatUSD$150billionby2013whileMerrillLynchestimatesthemar-ketatUSD$160billionby2011.
AMIResearchestimatesthatcloudspendingalonewillreachUSD$100billionby2014(Nichols,2010).
Regardlessoftheexactnumbersorestimatesofcloudcomputingthateachofthesecompa-niesused,theconclusionisthatthepubliccloudinfrastructure,platformsandapplicationsmar-ketislargeandgrowingmuchmorequicklythananyothertypeofITmarket(Nichols,2010).
Bynowscepticsofcloudcomputingareprobablyconvincedthatcloudcomput-ingisnotafad,giventheamountofspend-ingitisattracting.
Figure1showsthattheglobalmarketforenterprisecloud-basedserviceswillgrowfromUSD$12.
1bil-lionin2010toUSD$35.
6billionin2015.
ArecentsurveybyinternationalresearchfirmVansonBourneofITandbusinessdecision-mak-ersfoundthat70%ofrespondentsthinkcloudcomputingwillhelptheirbusinesses.
Thereisnowanemergingconsensusthatcloudcom-putingwillplayanincreasingroleinITopera-tions.
Thiswillfundamentallychangethedeliv-erymodelforservices(VansonBourne,2010).
'Nowhereisthismoreobviousthanindevel-opingnations,wheretheabilitytoaccessresourceshasoftenbeenlimitedandbuild-3SamGoundar,FijiingoutarobustITinfrastructurecanbedaunt-ing.
Theemergenceofcloudcomputingchangesthestakesfor:entrepreneurs,smallandlargebusinessesalike,researchers,andgovern-ments.
"Ithasthepotentialtoleveltheplay-ingfieldbecauseitbreaksdownbarrierstoentry",saysSteveBratt,CEOofthenon-profitWorldWideWebFoundation.
…Inaddition,theyopenupnewmarkets–includingvastnumbersofmobilephoneusers–thatprevi-ouslyweren'treachable.
…'(Greengard,2010).
'Cloudsprovideapowerful–andoftenother-wiseunattainable–ITinfrastructureatamod-estcost.
Inaddition,theyfreeindividualsandsmallbusinessesfromworriesaboutquickobsolescenceandlackofflexibility.
Yet,atthesametime,largeorganisationscanconsolidatetheirITinfrastructureacrossdistributedloca-tions,Sinhapointsout.
Evengovernmententi-tiescanbenefitbyenablingservicestoconsum-ersonasharedbasis.
Insomecases,cloud-basedcomputinggridsenableresearchthatsimplywasn'tpossibleinthepast'(Greengard,2010).
EverytimethereisamajoradvancementinIT,thereisusuallyacorrespondingchangeinthecompetitiveedge.
Withcloudcomput-ingasanewtypeofITplatform,thereispoten-tialforasignificantnarrowingoftheITcom-petitiveedgegapbetweendevelopedcountriesanddevelopingcountries.
TheriseofmobilephonetechnologyinAsianandAfricancoun-triesisoneexampleofhowcountriesinonepartoftheworldtookadvantageofemergingtech-nologytoleapfrogcountriesinotherpartsoftheworld.
Developingcountriesappeartobethinkingaboutmorestrategicapproachestocloudcomputinginordertonarrowcompet-itiveenterpriseITedgeswithglobalrivals.
3Tera,forexample,deliversacomprehensiveplatformthatcompaniescandeploytocreateacloudcomputingplatform.
ThecompanyhasFigure2.
Survey:Doyouseecloudcomputingasashort-termfadorlng-termshift(VansonBourne,2010).
AsurveyconductedbyVansonBourneonbehalfofOneCAPlazaaskedITdecision-makersiftheyseecloudcomputingasashort-termfadorasalong-termshift.
AsevidentfromFigure2,manythinkcloudcomputingisheretostay.
Figure1.
Enterprisecloud-basedservicerevenuebysaleschannel,orldwide,2015(AnalySysMason,2010).
Theyear-on-yeargrowthratewillbe43%in2011butwilldecreaseto13%overthenextfiveyears.
SaaSwillaccountfor70%ofrevenuein2010,while30%willberelatedtoInfrastructure-as-a-Service(IaaS).
(AnalySysMason,2010)4Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesnoticedthatshortlyafteritaddedIPv6supportforitsplatform,thenumberofcompaniesaddingsupportfortheplatformusingIPv6shiftedsig-nificantlytowardsAsia.
Thepotentialadvantagesofcloudcomputinghavenotbeenlostonsmallercompanieseither,asmoreofthemappeartobemovingtoembracecloudcomputingatafasterrate.
Naturally,thereisalotmoretoITenter-prisethanjusttheplatform.
ButthefactremainsthatITinfrastructureuntilrecentlywasasignif-icantbarriertothecostofentry,andthatmightnotbesorelevantanymore(Vizzard,2010).
CloudcomputingwithmobilephonesInthissectionwelookathowcloudcomput-inghasbeenenabledviamobilephones.
Formanydevelopingcountries,phonesandInternetconnectionshavereacheditspopulacethroughfixedline(wired)infrastructure.
Thosecoun-triesthathadroughgeographicterrains,moun-tains,scatteredislands,andtribeslivinginpock-etsofisolatedvillageseverywherewerealmostimpossibletowire(connect).
Cellularnetworksinfrastructurehasbecomeasaviourforthesephysicallyandtechnologicallyisolatedpeople.
Mobilecellulartechnologyhasbeenthemostrapidlyadoptedtechnologyinhis-tory.
Todayitisthemostpopularandwide-spreadpersonaltechnologyontheplanet,withanestimated4.
6billionsubscrip-tionsgloballybytheendof2009(ITUWorldTelecommunication/ICTIndicatorsDatabase).
Developingcountriessur-passedthe50%penetrationmarkin2008,andby2009over70economieshadsur-passedthemagical100%penetrationmark,includinganumberofdevelopingnations.
Giventhistrend,itseemsthateventu-allymostcountrieswillattainapenetra-tionof100%(MotorolaSolutions,2011).
AsevidentinFigure3,therewasadramaticincreaseinmobilecellularsubscriptionsindevel-opingcountriesbetween2003and2009,ascom-paredtothatofInternetsubscriptionsindevel-opingcountriesinthesameperiod(Figure4).
Thereisnoindicationofthemobilephoneusagetrendgoingdownwardsfordevelopingcountries.
Asmobilephonesconvergeandprovidebank-ing,education,health,agricultureandenter-tainmentservices,noonecanpredictwhatwewillbedoingwiththeminanotherfiveyears.
AnanalysisofInternetpenetrationindevel-opingcountrieswhencomparedtomobilephonepenetrationindevelopingcoun-triescanbedescribedasfollows:Internet:Theglobalbroadbandusagehasincreasedfrom17millionin2001toquar-terofabilliontoday.
India,incomparison,hadameagre2.
43millionusersbyApril2007(Bindal,2007).
InAfrica,4outofevery100usersusetheInternet,andithas1%penetra-tioninthepopulation(Subramaniam,2010).
Thiscouldbeduetolackoforunafford-ableelectricityandbroadbandconnectionsintheremoteregionsofdevelopingcountries.
Figure3.
Cellularphonesubscriptionsindevelopingcountries(ITUWorldTelecommunication/ICTIndicatorsDatabase).
Figure4.
Internetuserssubscriptionsindevelopingcountries(ITUWorldTelecommunication/ICTIndicatorsDatabase).
5SamGoundar,FijiMorethan85%ofsmallbusinessessurveyedinSouthAfricarelysolelyonmobilephonesfortelecommunications.
62%ofbusinessesinSouthAfricaand59%inEgyptsaidmobileusewaslinkedtoanincreaseinprofits.
97%ofpeo-plesurveyedinTanzaniasaidtheycouldaccessamobilephonewhilejust28%couldaccessalandlinephone.
Therewasa5000%mobilegrowthinAfricabetween1998and2003.
Currently,therearemorethan82millionmobilephoneusersinAfrica(Subramaniam,2010).
Themobilephonerevolutionhasbeensweepingthroughdevel-opingcountriesandwillcontinuetodoso.
MobilephonesareusedbyreporterstoreportnewsfrompotentiallyanycornerofAfrica.
MobilephonefinancingisthehottesttrendinZimbabweandmanyotherAsianandAfricancountries.
MoneyistransferredthroughSMSateaseinthesedevelopingcountries.
CountrieslikeRwandausemobilephonesextensivelyinthehealthcaresector.
IhaveseenmanyIndianfarmersusingmobilephonesexclusivelyintheiragriculturaltrade.
ItisthesamecaseinmanyothercountriesinAsiaandAfricatoo.
Thereareseveralotherexamplesofmobiledatausageinthedevelopingeconomies.
InAfrica,wire-lessoperatorsarenotonlyprovidinganoppor-tunityforbankingandcommodityexchange,theyarealsoprovidingthematamuchlowercostleadingtodrasticproliferationofmobiledatausage.
Similarly,inIndiathenumberofmobiledatausersarefourtimesthatofPCbasedinternetusers.
InThailand,mobileTVisbeingofferedby2.
5Ginfrastructure.
Today,weseethereleaseof3.
75GsupportedEeePCfromTaiwan.
SuchnetbookshaveagoodmarketinmanyAsiancountries(Subramanian,2008).
Thecomfortlevelofmobilephoneusageinthesecountries–combinedwiththelackofpowerandbroadbandinfrastructure–offersauniqueopen-ingthatcloudcomputingcanfill.
TheSaaSoffersgivebusinessesinthedevelopingworldafreeorlowcostalternativetotraditionaldesktopbasedproductivityapplications.
Theyneednotbuyexpensivebloatedofficesuiteoraccountingsoft-ware.
ThesebusinessesnowhavetheoptiontouseCRMapplications,whichwereprohibitivelyexpensiveinthetraditionalsoftwareworld.
Bymovingtheirdatatotheclouds,thesebusinessesarenotheldhostagetofrequentpowerfailuresandbroadbanddisruptions.
Theirdataisalwaysavailableforeasyaccessthroughtheirmobiledevices.
Withtheadventoflowcostsmartphonesandnetbookswithmobiledatacapabilities,theycannowhaveITinfrastructurethatcanparalleleventhoseofdevelopedcountries(Subramanian,2008;Greengard,2010;Nunn,2010).
Cloudcomputingisaboontothisworld.
Itoffersanopportunityforindividualsandbusi-nessesindevelopingcountriestocompetewiththoseinadvancednationsonanequalfoot-ing.
Suchanopportunitywillcreatetremendousgrowthinthesecountriesandhelpinourfightagainstglobalpoverty(Subramanian,2008).
Chong,whoisinvolvedwiththecloudcom-putingprojectatthe(NATL)SugarFactoryinVietnam,writes:'Asmanyofyoumayalreadyknow,thenum-berofmobilephonesubscribersinemerg-ingmarketsisgrowingatastoundingrate,andVietnamisoneofsuchdevelopingcountries.
Anotherinterestingdatapointisthatmobilephonecommunicationandapplicationsplaykeyrolesindrivingtheeconomicdevelopmentagendainthesenations.
Herewearenottalk-ingaboutmobileapplicationsthatusehighspeed2G/3G/4Gmobilenetworksforsendingandreceivingdata.
Instead,wearereferringtocon-tentservicesthatuseplainoldSMStextmessag-ingfortransmittinginformation'(Chong,2010).
PCsarestillnotasaffordableasbasicphones.
Aspowerblackoutsoccurveryfrequentlyinruralareas,mobilephonebatteriesareabletoyieldlongerservicecycles.
ComparedtoPCs,portablephonesaremoreconvenientandbettersuitedforroamingandruggedagriculturelifestyles.
Hugeproportionsofthepopulationliveinruralareaswherebasiccellularnetworkisalmostavailableeverywhere,andsignalcoverageoftenreachesremotefarmingsitesaswell(Chong,2010).
CloudcomputingenabledmobileapplicationsCloudcomputinghasenabledanarrayofappli-cationstobedeployedviamobilephones.
While3Gmobileapplicationsareubiquitousindevel-6Cloudcomputing:Opportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesopedcountriesacrosstheglobe,themajorityoftheworld'smobileusersliveindevelopingcoun-trieswithaccesstoonly2GcellularnetworksandphoneswithlittlemorethanvoiceandSMScapabilities.
Inthissection,welookathowusersof2Gmobilephonesindevelopingcountriesaremakingthemostofwhattheyhaveandtheapplicationsthattheyuse.
While2Gapplicationsasanemergingmediachannelmaysoundlikeanoxymorontothoseindevelopedcountries,thiscloudcomputingtechnologyhasthepoten-tialtochangethewaypeoplelive,interact,tradeandconsumemediaindevelopingcountries.
Thecreationofuseful2Gdataapplicationsforexpandedaccesstomediaindevelopingcountriesreliesoncloudcomputingtohan-dletheheavycalculationsthatadataappli-cationrequires,usingSMSasaconduitfortheinformationandsimpleapplicationinter-facestohandleuserinteraction.
Applicationsrunningonsuchastrippeddownplatformcouldbeassimpleasalocalnewsaggrega-torandascomplexasamedicaldatarepos-itory.
Becausecalculations,datastorageandotheradvancedfeaturesarehandledbyservers'inthecloud'andsentviaSMS,the2Gapplica-tiononlyneedstohandlebasictextpresentation.
Anotherwayinwhich2Gapplicationswillactasanemergingchannelindevelopingcountriesinvolvesthesameconceptofconnectingcloudcomputingto2Ghandsets.
However,itreliesonanewgenerationofcheapmobilephonesthatarecapableofrunningmoreadvancedappli-cationsandnotjustSMSinterfaces.
Vodafoneisthemajordrivingforcebehindthisapplica-tionof2Gasitownsanumberofcellularnet-worksindevelopingcountries.
Vodafonerecentlyreleaseda2Gphonecapableofrunningappli-cationsatanextremelylowprice.
Toexpandtheavailabilityof2Gmedia,VodafoneteamedupwithOperaSoftwarein2009todevelopacus-tom-madeversionofmobilebrowserOperaMini,designedtogivecustomersahigh-qual-itymobileInternetexperienceonaffordable2Gmobilehandsets.
TheOperaMinibrowserusescloudcomputingtocompressInternetpagesbyover90%beforetransmittingthemtomobilephonesoverthe2Gnetwork.
AccordingtotheWorldBank,in2009three-quartersoftheworld'sestimated4billionhandsetswereusedindevelopingnationson2Gnetworks(Weinberg,2010).
M-BankingMobilebanking(alsoknownasM-Banking,mbanking,SMSBanking,etc.
)isatermusedforperformingbalancechecks,accounttransactions,paymentsetc.
,viaamobiledevicesuchasamobilephoneorPersonalDigitalAssistant(PDA).
Mobilebank-ingtodayismostoftenperformedviaSMSorthemobileInternetbutcanalsousespe-cialprograms,calledclients,downloadedtothemobiledevice(Wikipedia,2010).
AnAfghanpoliceofficergetshissalaryinatextmessageonhismobilephone.
AKenyanworkerdialsafewnumberstosendmoneytohisfamily.
Theriseofbankingtransac-tionsthroughmobilephonesisgivingawholenewmeaningtopocketmoneyinpartsofthedevelopingworldthatlackbanksorcashmachines.
Mobilemoneyapplicationsareemergingaspotentfinancialtoolsinruralandremoteareasoftheglobe,allowingpeo-plewithnobankaccountstogetpaid,sendremittancesorsettletheirbills.
'Onebillionconsumersintheworldhaveamobilephonebutnoaccesstoabankaccount,'saidGavinKrugel,ofGSMAssociation.
(Cornu,2010)M-PESA(SwahiliforM-Money)isabranch-lessbankingservice,meaningthatitisdesignedtoenableuserstocompletebasicbankingtransactions.
InKenya,thecon-tinuingsuccessofM-PESAhasbeenduetothecreationofahighlypopular,affordablepaymentservicewithonlylimitedinvolve-mentofabank.
ThesystemwasdevelopedandrunbySagentiafromtheinitialdevel-opmenttothesixmillioncustomermark.
TheservicehasnowbeentransitionedtobeoperationallyrunbyIBMGlobalServicesonbehalfofVodafone,theinitialthreemar-kets(Kenya,TanzaniaandAfghanistan)arehostedbyRackspace(Wikipedia,2011).
7SamGoundar,FijiM-EducationThetermM-Learning(or'mobilelearning'orM-Education)hasdifferentmeaningsfordiffer-entcommunities.
Althoughrelatedtoe-learn-inganddistanceeducation,itisdistinctinitsfocusonlearningacrosscontextsandlearn-ingwithmobiledevices.
Onedefinitionofmobilelearningis:anysortoflearningthathap-penswhenthelearnerisnotatafixed,prede-terminedlocation,orlearningthathappenswhenthelearnertakesadvantageofthelearn-ingopportunitiesofferedbymobiletechnolo-gies.
Inotherwordsmobilelearningdecreaseslimitationoflearninglocationwiththemobil-ityofgeneralportabledevices(Wikipedia,2011).
ThereisalsoclearlygreatpromisefortheuseofmobilephonesineducationinAfrica.
AsaDEdeliverymode,SMShasalreadyprovedtobecost-effectiveandefficient.
VisserandWestnotedthatthenextgenerationofmobilephones'havestartedtoincludefullInternetaccessandintroducean'alwayson'cellulartechnol-ogywhichenablesthecellulartelephoneusertoaccesstheInternetdirectly'(2005,p.
120).
Twoofthedrivingforcesformobilephonetechnol-ogyindevelopingcountrieswillbethedevel-opmentoftheUSD$20handsetand3Gnet-workexpansion(Motlik,2008).
Withincreasingcell-phonepenetration,theuseofSMSinbothformalandnon-formaleducationcanbenefitlearnersatafractionofthecostofothermeth-odsindevelopingcountries(Motlik,2008).
milleeisanm-EducationProject.
Theacro-nymstandsformobileandimmersivelearn-ingforliteracyinemergingeconomies.
Itstates:Problem:formalschoolinghaslimitedimpactonchildrenindevelopingcountriesduetochildlabour,inadequateteachertraining,etc.
Literacylevelsinseveralunderdevelopedregionscanbeshockinglylow,sometimesunder50%.
Sub-SaharanAfricahashighestrateofchildrenoutofschool(36.
2%),followedbySouthAsia(20%).
Opportunity:mobilephonesenableaccesstoqualitylearningresources-anytime,anywhere.
UNestimatesthathalfofallresidentsinremoteareaswillhavemobilephonesby2012.
Withmobiletechnology,wehaveanopportunitytosignificantlyincreasethereachofeducationSolution:Bringseducationtolearnerswhocannotattendschoolonregularbasis.
Game-likelearningexperiencesthatareengaging.
Compatiblewithpublicschoolingandothereducationaldeliverymodels.
Targetlearners:(i)ruralchildren,(ii)urbanslumschildren,and(iii)othernear-povertychildrenwhosefami-liescannotaffordeducation(CarnegieMelonUniversityHumanDevelopmentLab,2011).
M-HealthRuralpopulationsaccountfor56%ofdevelopingcountries'5.
3billionpeople.
Thecombinationofgeography,isolation,andpovertyconspireswithdramaticurban-ruraldisparitiesinresourceallocationtocreateuniqueandoftenintractablehealthcarechallenges.
Healthcareneedsamongruralpopulationsarelargely,thoughnotentirely,aggravatedbyremoteness.
Ruralconcernsinclude:distancefromhealthcentreslimitspre-natalandmaternalcare,distancefromspecialtyFigure5.
M-PesaofKenyaisnowinotherdevelopingcountries.
M-PesaStatistics:Customers:2007April=52,543Customers:2009August=55,425,5153MillionTransactionsaDay–Rackspace407MillionUsersPredictedby2015(PCWorld)M-Pesainspired60copycatcompanies(oreignpolicy/)8Cloudcomputing:Opportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesservices,lackofgoodhealtheducation,suscepti-bilitytoclimaticcrises,nutrition,dietaryissues,andgreaterfrequencyofwork-relatedinjuries(VodafoneandUnitedNationsReport,2008).
M-AgricultureAsanaffordableandaccessiblemeansofcom-munication,ruralcommunitiesarerealizingthepotentialofmobilephonestocreateeconomicopportunitiesandstrengthensocialnetworks.
Mobilephoneseffectivelyreducethe'distance'betweenindividualsandinstitutions,makingthesharingofinformationandknowledgeeasierandmoreeffective.
Themobilephoneisnolon-gerjustanaudiocommunicationtoolbutcapa-bleofprovidingadditionalintegratedfunctions.
Mobiletelephoneshavebeena'dreamcometrue'forruralareas.
Connectivitytotheoutsideworldhasbeenmadeeasy.
Unnecessarycommutingtourbancentreshasbeentremendouslyreduced.
Atameetingwithfarmers,oneofthekeydis-cussionswas:HowICTcanhelpruralfarmersgetaccesstorequiredagriculture-relatedinforma-tionInterestingly,manyofthefarmersneverheardofcomputertechnologybuttriedtorelateICTwithmobilephone.
Theyclearlyunderstandthevalueandbenefitsofmobilephones;inthepasttheyhadtotravellongwaystogiveorcol-lectanyinformation,butnowtheygetinfor-mationandcanconnecttopeopleeffortlessly(ShahidUddinAkbar,BangladeshInstituteofICTinDevelopment,e-Agriculture.
org,2009)FarmersuseSMSinrelationtomarketaccess,interactingwithtradersandmiddle-mentodistributeandreceiveinformationaboutproducts,prices,andavailability.
Otherexamplesofmobilephonesusedintheagri-culturalsectorofdevelopingcountriesare:Bangladesh'sCellBazaarisaservicefromGrameenphonethatallowspeo-pletobuyorsellovertheirmobilephones.
Customerslookingtosellsomething,posttheinformationonCellBazaarthroughGrameenphone,andbuyersgetincontact.
Ghana'sTradeNetisanInternetapplicationthatenablesyoutoprovidemarketinformationviatheweb,emailandSMSquicklyandaffordably.
TheapplicationhasbeendesignedanddevelopedbyaninternationalteambasedinAccra,Ghana.
Jamaica'sJamaicaAgricultureMarketInformationSystem(JAMIS)isaproj-Figure6.
Efficiencyandimpactofm-healthfordevelopmentindevelopingcountries(VitalHealthConsulting,2009).
Inthedevelopingworld,lackofinfrastructurepreventshealthworkersfromdeliveringeffi-cienthealthcaretoruralareas.
Ashealthworkerstravelfromclinicstoreachisolatedpatients,theyareoftenasdisconnectedfromcentralclinicsasthepatientstheyaretryingtoserve.
Themis-sionofFrontlineSMSMedicistoadvancehealth-carenetworksinunderservedcommunitiesusinginnovative,appropriatemobiletechnologies.
'ThecentrepieceofoursystemisFrontlineSMS,afree,open-sourcesoftwareplatformthatenableslarge-scale,two-waytextmessaging,usingonlyalaptop,aGSMmodem,andinexpensivecellphones.
WearealsoextendingtheFrontlineSMSplatformtoenablebetterpatientmanagement,electronicmedicalrecordsviathecellphone,cheapmobilediagnostics,andmappingofhealthservices'(FrontlineSMS:Medic,2010).
m-Healthisnowfastbecomingthefuturefaceofhealthcaremanagementsystemsandwillsignifi-cantlyre-engineerthehealthcaredeliverysystemworldwideonthepersonal,collectiveandsystemlevels.
UnitedNationsandVodafone'smHealthAlliancehavebandedtogethertoadvancetheuseofmobilephonestobetteraidthoseinneedofhealthcareindevelopingcountries.
9SamGoundar,FijiectbytheMinistryofAgricultureandFisheriesaimedatestablishingthefirstelec-tronicmarketsystemfocusedonthepub-licationofweeklypricesatthefarmgate,atmunicipalmarkets,atretail,andwholesale.
Thereareseveralmobilephoneapplica-tionsthathavebeendeployedusingthecloudcomputinginfrastructure.
Thereisastrongindicationofe(electronic)-applica-tionsofdevelopedcountriesbeingreplacedbym(mobile)-applicationsindevelopingcoun-tries.
Internetbankingindevelopedcoun-triesisnowm-Bankingindevelopingcoun-tries,asis:e-Learningtom-Education,e-Healthtom-Health,ande-Agriculturetom-Agri-culture.
Thislistcouldbeendless,consider-ingthenumberofmobilephonescontinuouslybeingsubscribedtoindevelopingcountries.
Cloudcomputingapplicationswillalsosup-plementexistingtraditionalestablishmentsliketertiaryinstitutesanduniversities.
GooglejustannounceditsGoogleUniversityAccessProgramthataimstoaddresstheunderly-ingcause–thehighcostofInternetbandwidthandaccesstoexperiencedengineers.
Thepro-gramoffersInternetbandwidth,GoogleAppsforEducation,trainingandintegrationgrantsandthesupportofGoogleengineering.
Thisisinreturnfortheuniversitycommittingtoinvestintheircampusinfrastructure;ultimatelyInternetbandwidthwillreachfacultyandstu-dents(GoogleUniversityAccessProgram,2011).
GovernmentshavethepotentialtobemodelusersofCloudcomputing.
Asthelargesteco-nomicentityinmostcountries,governmenthastheleveragetosetstandardsandrequire-mentsthatcaninfluenceactionsthroughouttheeconomy.
JustasUSfederalgovernmentweb-sitesdemonstratedthepoweroftheInternetandinspiredstateandlocalgovernmentsandcompa-niestocreateanonlinepresence,nationalgov-ernmentscanbeearlyadoptersofcloudcom-puting,whichwoulddemonstrateandpublicisethetechnology.
However,ifgovernmentsaregoingtobecomeearlyadoptersofcloudser-vices,theymustovercomebureaucratic,regu-latory,andculturalbarrierstoresourcesharingthatcouldslowtheadoptionofcloudcomput-ing.
GovernmentITprocurementrulescover-inghardwareandsoftwarepurchasesmustbeupdatedtoenablethepurchasingofcloudser-vices.
Cloudcomputingcouldprovidehugebenefitstogovernments–m-Government.
Cloudcomputinghassomeattractivequalitiesforscientificresearchers.
Itdeliversdatastor-ageandprocessingasaservice,ratherthansoft-warethatisloadedontoaharddriveorsome-thingthatsitsonadesksomewhere.
Informationisheldinmassivedatacentresspreadallovertheworldandavailableuponrequest.
Inthecloud,the'supercomputer'existsvirtually,meaning:noclunkyhardware,softwareinter-facesthatareeasytouse,andscientistswhohaveaccesstotheirdataandsimulationsfromjustaboutanywherebysimplyloggingin.
Cloudcomputing'sissuesandchallengesBynow,itisevidentthatinthisresearchpaperoncloudcomputing,thefocushasmainlybeenonmobileapplicationsenabledviacloudcom-puting.
CloudcomputinginessenceasappliedtothedevelopedcountrieswithinthecontextofbroadbandInternetisnotonlyachallenge;itisnotviableformanydevelopingcountriesconsideringitseconomy,existinginfrastruc-ture,andaffordability.
Thereasonwhymobilephonesandmobileapplicationshaveaninfluxwithindevelopingcountriesisbecausetheyareaffordableandareabletomakeuseofexist-ingradiobroadcastinfrastructureandemerg-ingwirelesscellularnetworkarchitecture.
Manymobilephoneserviceprovidershaveinvestedsubstantialcapitalintoinfrastructuredevelopmenttoprovidemobilephonenetworksinremoteregions,forfeitingtheirprofitmargins.
Othershavebeensubsidisedbythedevelopingcountry'sgovernmentordonoragenciesliketheWorldBank.
Workinginemergingmarketspres-entschallenges,sometimeswithmarkeddiffer-encesinapproachestoriskaroundissuessuchascustomerloyaltyandrevenue,whencom-paredtodevelopedcountries.
Usersofmobilephoneservicesindevelopingcountriesdonotmakethevolumeofcallsrequiredtogivethemobileserviceprovidertherequiredprofit.
10Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesWeareexpandingournetworkstoextendaccessandtailoringproductsandservicestomakethemaffordableformorepeople.
Atthesametime,wearefindingmanyareaswherewecanlearnhowtobemorecostandtimeeffi-cient–aprerequisiteofoperatinginlower-mar-ginmarkets.
First,weaimtobridgethedig-italdivideinemergingmarkets.
Webelievethatimprovingaccesstocommunicationscanbeaspringboardtoalleviatingpovertyandenablingsustainabledevelopment.
Manyofthebenefitsourservicescanbringareveryvis-ibleinemergingeconomies.
(Colao,2010)Providersandusersofthemobileapplicationsenabledviacloudcomputingfaceadditionalchallengesindevelopingeconomies,duetounfa-vourableinstitutionalenvironment.
Inmanydevelopingcountries,factorssuchascorruption,thelackoftransparency,andaweaklegalsystemcanexacerbatesecurityrisks.
Thesefactorscom-binedwithfamine,civilstrife,politicalupheaval,andnaturaldisastersmakemobileservicepro-vidersmorereluctanttomoveintothemarketsofdevelopingcountries.
Lackofreturnoninvest-mentandbusinesscontinuityisnotguaranteed.
Cloudcomputing'slifelineisconnectivity.
Alltheservices,benefits,andgoodiesthatitisenvis-agedtodeliveronlyexistwhenwearecon-nectedtothenetwork.
Nonetwork=noser-vices.
HowconsistentisnetworkconnectivityDifferentreadersfromdifferentpartsoftheworldwillhavedifferentanswers.
Basedoncon-nectivity,somereadersmightreadthisonlineandothers,whoarenotsureoftheirconnectiv-ity,willdownloadorprintitouttoread.
Somereadersmightevenreadthispaperontheirmobilephones,TabletPCs,PDAs,orBlackberry.
Readerscanrecalltimeswhentheywerediscon-nected,orwhentheirnetworkserviceproviderwasdown,ortheservicethattheywantedinthecloudwasdown.
Somestillremembertheirfrustrationswhentryingtocontacttheirfam-iliesandfriendswhileonholidaysomewhereremotewheretheconnectionwasintermittent.
Ifthisdiminishesthevalueofcloudcomputing,thenitcertainlydoes.
Forbusinessesthatrelyonmobilephones,connectivitydowntimestrans-lateintohugelosses.
Forindividuals,theymissoutonthatimportantcallforajobinterview.
Themobilerevolutionisaprimarydrivingforcebehindthequickascentofcloudcom-puting.
70%ofmobilephoneusersarefromdevelopingcountries,engaginginmobilecloudcomputingfromanywhere,atanytime,andneedsecuredataaccess,accesstoapplica-tionsandservices.
Securityandprivacyissuesareevenmorechallengingthantheywerebefore.
Howdowereachabalanceinsecu-rityandusabilityWillserviceprovidersseg-regateusersaccordingtothedigitaldivideInthefuture,theremightnotbeachoicebecausesomeoftheapplicationsmightonlybemobileapplications.
Theymightnotbeofferedwithinthetraditionaldesktopcom-putingplatform.
Tousetheapplication,youwillneedamobilephonebecausethatistheonlymeansofaccess.
However,iftheapplica-tionisonlydevelopedanddeliveredthroughthecloudenvironment,and–ifitistheonlywayyoucanusethatservice–youwillhavetofindawaytoconnecttothecloud.
Strategiesneedtobeemployedtomanagenotonlyriskbutalsothosesituationswhenacloudserviceprovidersuddenlyandunex-pectedlystopsdeliveringservices.
Theremightbeseveralreasonswhythiscouldhap-pen.
ReputablesiteslikeGoogle,Amazon,andMicrosofthavebeenknowntohavebeendownandunabletoprovideservicesforsometime.
Theotherissuetobeconsideredisthatinmovingservicestothecloud,theorgan-isationorindividualnolongerretainsdirectaccessandcontrol(Bristowetal.
,2010).
Mobilecloudservicesarelargelydominatedbyvendorspecificwalledgardensanddebateisnotasintenseasonewouldexpect,giventhenumberofcellphoneusers.
Thisisprob-ablyduetothefactthatnotonlyarefreesoft-warepoweredmobilephonesstillaminor-ity,butinstallingnewsoftwareonphoneswasnotanoptionforthemassmarketuntilrecently.
AftertheiPhoneandAndroid,withmoreandmore'applicationstores'emerg-ing,theissueofmobileusers'freedomiscom-ingup.
Usersofonehandset,forexample,maywanttogettheiremailfromoneprovider,syncpictureswithanother,andusetheinternationalservicesofyetanother(Capobiancoa,2009).
11SamGoundar,FijiNetworkoperatorsdonotwantuserstobetoofree,somostofthempreventusersfromrunningapplicationsthatarenotdigi-tallysigned.
RIM,Apple,and,tosomeextent,Symbiandevicesarelockeddown,whichren-dersusers'freedominthemobilecloudabal-ancingact:ononehandadeveloperneedstoobeytherulesdictatedbynetworkoper-atorsanddevicemanufacturers,andontheotherhandthesamedeveloperneedstofindwaystodeliverfreedomtousers.
Manyofthemostsuccessfulandmostvisibleapplicationsofcloudcomputingtodayarecon-sumerservicessuchasemailservices(GoogleMail,Hotmail,andYahooMail),socialnetworks(FacebookandMySpace),andvirtualworldssuchasSecondLife.
Thecompaniesprovidingtheseservicescollectterabytesofdata,muchofitsensitivepersonalinformation,whicharethenstoredindatacentresincountriesaroundtheworld.
Howthesecompanies,andthecountriesinwhichtheyoperate,addressprivacyissueswillbeacriticalfactoraffectingthedevelopmentandacceptanceofcloudcomputing(Nelson,2010).
WiththeInternet,strongeconomicbenefitsandcustomerdemandbothpushednetworkser-viceproviderstolinktheirdifferentnetworksandcreateanetworkofnetworks.
Thesitua-tionmaynotbeasclear-cutwiththecloud,andsomecompaniesbuildingtheinfrastructureoftheCloudmaybeabletouseeconomiesofscale,ownershipofkeyintellectualproperty,andfirst-moveradvantagetoblockorslowcompet-itors.
Governmentswillneedtowatchcarefullytoseethatcompaniesdonotusetheirdomi-nantpositioninonesectoroftheITortelecom-municationsmarkettogainanunfairadvan-tageinthemarketforCloudservices.
ACloudbuiltbyonlyoneortwocompaniesandsup-portingonlyalimitedsetofapplicationswouldnotbeinthebestinterestofeitherindividu-alsorcorporatecustomers(Nelson,2010).
OneofthethorniestissuesrelatedtotheCloudmaybeelectronicsurveillance,particularlywhenitspansinternationalborders.
Inmostcases,thepolicemustgetasearchwarranttoexaminedataonsomeone'shomecomputer.
ItisnotatallclearwhetherthesamedataisprotectedifbackedupinadatacentreintheCloud,particularlyifthatdatacentreisinanothercountry.
Ifusersbelievethatgovernmentswillbemonitoringtheiractivities,theirwillingnesstousetheCloudforimportantfunctionswillsurelydecrease.
WillcloudcomputinggiverisetoonlinepiracyWouldgovernmentstrytoenforcelawsagainstthisinwaysthatlimitorslowthedevelopmentofcloudservicesBygivingcustomersaccesstoalmostunlimitedcomputingpowerandstor-age,cloudservicescouldmakeiteveneasiertosharecopyrightedmaterialovertheInternet.
WillcloudserviceprovidersberequiredtotakespecialmeasurestopreventthisWilltheybelia-bleforillegalactivitiesoftheircustomersWoulddoingsomakeitimpracticalforcompaniestoprovidecloudservicestothegeneralpublicThebiggestchallengesarevendorlock-inandproprietarytechnologies.
Ifdatagetslockedin,thentheflowofdatawillbedisrupted,disrupt-ingtheverynatureoftheclouditself.
Otherchallengesincludetheclampdownoncon-tentbymediagiants,who,inthenameofpri-vacy,canhaveatendencytoinhibitexpressionand,asaconsequence,thefreeflowofinfor-mation.
Thegovernmentmayplayitsownpartasitseekstoregulate,whichinturnmaycre-ateanonerousenvironmentforthedevelop-mentofthecloud.
CloudcomputingalsomeansthatcompaniesmayshedtheirITresources,sav-ingoncapitalexpenses.
Thatmaymeanalossofjobsbutitiscleartheupsidesmaybecon-siderableastothecloudscales(Nelson,2010).
Astudyhasfoundthatpopularmobilephoneapplicationsaresharingsensitiveinformationaboutusers,includingtheirlocation,withadver-tisingcompanies.
AgroupofcomputerengineerswroteacomputerprogramcalledTaintDroidandinstalleditonaSmartphonetomonitorhow30applications–mobilephoneprogramsforthelikesofsocialnetworkinganddownload-ablegames–wereusingsensitiveinformation.
Ofthe30applications,15sentsensitiveinfor-mation,includingthephone'slocation,tosev-eraladvertisingcompanies'servers.
TwoalsosharedmobilephonenumberandSIMcardidentifierswithrandomservers,whoseown-erscouldnotbeidentified(Phillips,2010).
12Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesDiscussionandconclusionThecloudcomputingtechnologyhasbeenaroundsinceindustrystartedusingmain-framecomputersfordistributedcomputing.
Thedistributedcomputingtechnologyhasbeenlabelledasclustercomputing,virtualcomput-ing,andothernames.
CloudcomputingreferstoboththeapplicationsdeliveredasservicesovertheInternetandthehardwareandsys-temssoftwareinthedatacentresthatprovidethoseservices.
TheservicesthemselveshavelongbeenreferredtoasSoftware-as-a-Service(SaaS).
Thedatacentrehardwareandsoft-wareiswhatwewillcallacloud.
Whenacloudismadeavailableinapay-as-you-gomannertothegeneralpublic,wecallitaPubliccloud.
WeusethetermPrivatecloudtorefertointer-naldatacentresofabusinessorotherorganisa-tion,notmadeavailabletothegeneralpublic.
Theevolutionofmobileapplicationsenabledviacloudcomputingtechnologyforuseindevelop-ingcountriesclearlyunfoldsatamuchgreaterspeedthantheevolutionandadoptionofper-sonalcomputingandtheInternet.
ICT4Dsarealsonotdevelopinginisolationfromtechnolog-icalandbusinessmodelsolutionsfordevelop-ingcountries.
ICT4Dcloudswillgreatlyenhanceandbringdramaticimprovementstoexist-ingdevelopmentefforts.
Cloudcomputinghasinterestingimplicationsandpotentialfordevel-opingcountries.
ThereisaninitiativetousecloudcomputingtohelpuniversitiesandpubliclibrariesinAfricaadoptopensourceintegratedlibrarysystems,atransitiontheyarestrug-glingwithastheylacklocaltechnicalsupport.
UsingcloudcomputingmightreduceincentivesfordevelopingICTcapacityatthelocallevel.
Intoday'sacademicenvironment,thevalueofacomputerlabnotconnectedtotheInternetisnegligible.
Facultyandstudentsmustbecon-nectedwiththeresearchcommunityinordertocontributetoandbenefitfromit.
MuchoftheduediligenceinSub-Saharanuniver-sitieshasuncoverednoshortageofcomput-ersbutratheraseverelackofconnectivity.
TheGoogleUniversityAccessProgramaimstoaddresstheunderlyingcauseofthehighcostofInternetbandwidthandaccesstoexperi-encedengineers.
TheprogramoffersInternetbandwidth,GoogleAppsforEducation,train-ingandintegrationgrants,andthesupportofGoogleengineering.
Thisisinreturnfortheuniversitycommittingtoinvestintheircam-pusinfrastructure–ultimatelytheInternetbandwidthwillreachfacultyandstudents.
AccordingtoseveralpresentationsatDigitalAfrica,thereisstrongevidencethatwitheach10%ofanypopulationinAfricahavingaccesstomobileorInternettechnologies,thereisacor-responding1.
8%increaseinthatnation'sGDP.
Thereisstrongevidencethatsimplybring-ingmobileeducationtotheruralandunwiredpopulationwillincreasethenationalwealthandqualityoflifebyanannualincreaseof1.
8%.
Computinghaslongbeenrecognizedasameansofensuringthatpeoplefromdevel-opingcountrieshaveapathwaytobetter-ingtheirlivesandjoiningtherestoftheinter-nationalcommunity.
Computinghasbeenattheheartofmanydevelopmentalprogramsinboththeurbancentresandruralcentres.
CloudcomputingwillplayabigroleinenablingtheITrevolutioninthedevelopingnationstohelpcompaniesmarketproductsandservicestofourbillionconsumersatthebottomofthepyr-amid.
Attheendof2009,therewerefourbil-lionmobilephones.
By2013,thatnumberispro-jectedtogrowtosixbillion.
Thatismanytimesthenumberofpersonalcomputers.
WhenwestartincludingotherInternetcapabledevicesintothemobileworld,likeebookreaders,photoframes,printers,photoandvideocameras,per-sonalnavigators,thenumbersgowayup.
Smallportabledevicesthatcanaccessinformationarealreadypartofeverydaylifeforhundredsofmil-lionsofpeopleinthedevelopedworld.
Also,muchpointstothefactthatdevelopingcoun-trieswillbeusingthemobilecloudbeforetheygettothe'regular'one(Capobiancoa,2009).
ThepopularuptakeofICTdevicesforpersonaluseindevelopingcountriesonlystartedaround2003-2004withthedevelopmentofthepay-as-you-gobusinessmodelformobileservicesandtheloweringofthecostofmobilephonedevices.
Currently,thereisanintensecompeti-tionamongdevicemanufacturersfortheestab-lishmentofanultimateandpervasiveplatformformobiledevices.
Thecompetitionamong13SamGoundar,FijiNokia'sSymbian,Google'sFOSSAndroid,Apple'siPhone,RIM'sBlackberry,Microsoft'sWindowsMobile,andothersissimilartotheearlydaysofthepersonalcomputerandthestrugglebetweenWindowsandApple.
MobilephonetechnologyindevelopingcountriesisinPhase1(theemerg-ingphase)with2Gphones,whilethedevelopedcountriesareusing3Gand4Gphonesforenter-tainment.
Withtheinnovativeuseof2Gphonetechnologybydevelopingcountries'users,onecanwonderiftheywilleverembracecomput-ersandtheInternetlikethedevelopedcoun-trieswhen3Gand4Gphonesgetintotheirhands.
Theymightnothavetheneedforpro-cessingpowerandstoragecapacitylikeothers.
Cloudcomputingmakesnewclassesofappli-cationspossibleanddeliversservicesthatwerenotpossiblebefore.
Examplesinclude(i)mobileinteractiveapplicationsthatarelocation,envi-ronment,andcontext-awareandthatrespondinrealtimetoinformationprovidedbyhumanusers,nonhumansensors(e.
g.
humidityandstresssensorswithinashippingcontainer)orevenfromindependentinformationservices(e.
g.
worldwideweatherdata);(ii)parallelbatchpro-cessing,whichallowsuserstotakeadvantageofhugeamountsofprocessingpower,toanal-yseterabytesofdataforrelativelysmallperiodsoftime,whileprogrammingabstractionslikeGoogle'sMapReduceoritsopen-sourcecounter-partHadoop,whichperformsthecomplexpro-cessofparallelexecutionofanapplicationoverhundredsofservers,transparenttoprogram-mers;(iii)businessanalyticsthatcanusethevastamountofcomputerresourcestounder-standcustomers,buyinghabits,supplychains,andsoonfromvoluminousamountsofdata;and(iv)extensionsofcompute-intensivedesk-topapplicationsthatcanoffloadthedatacrunch-ingtothecloud,leavingonlytherenderingoftheprocesseddataatthefront-endwiththeavailabilityofnetworkbandwidth,reducingthelatencyinvolved(Bandyopadhyayetal.
,2009).
Cloudcomputinghassomeattractivequalitiesforscientificresearchers.
Itdeliversdatastor-ageandprocessingasaservice,ratherthansoft-warethatisloadedontoaharddriveorsome-thingthatsitsonadesksomewhere.
Informationisheldinmassivedatacentresspreadallovertheworldandavailableuponrequest.
Inthecloud,the'supercomputer'existsvirtually,meaningnoclunkyhardware;thesoftwareinterfaceiseasytouse,andscientistshaveaccesstotheirdataandsimulationsfromjustaboutanywherebysim-plyloggingin.
Amazonhasbeenleadingthewayinon-demandcomputingforthepastdecade,invaluablefororganizationswithlargedatabasesthatdonotnecessarilywanttohireanITdepart-ment.
Theserviceisflexibleandpay-as-you-go.
Anhourwillsetyouback80cents,oraslit-tleas10centspergigabyte.
Subscribersbuyonlywhattheyuse,whichisidealforresearchdepart-mentsthatfaceperiodicpeaksinthecompu-tationalpowertheyrequire(Werth,2009).
Anotheropportunityprovidedbycloudservicesistosupportresearchersinreducingthecostsinvolvedwithcomputation.
Onlyasmallnumberofresearchersneedcapabilitycomputing–high-performancecomputing(HPC)systemswithlargenumbersofcores.
Themajorityofresearch-ersarewellservedwithcapacitycomputing–systemsthatsharetheircomputingpowerwithseveralanduptomanyusers.
Thiscapacitycom-putingisexactlywherecloudcomputingexcels.
Recently,MicrosoftandtheNationalScienceFoundationannouncedanagreementthatwillofferselectedindividualresearchersandresearchgroupsfreeaccesstotheWindowsAzurecloudcomputingresources.
Thisinitiativeopensupawholenewspectrumofopportunitiesforbothresearchersandinstitutions(Bristowetal.
,2010).
Cloudservicesofferhighereducationandresearchinstitutionsthepowertochoose:theopportunitytorethinkwhichservicesareneededtosupporteducationandresearchandwhatwillbethebestwaytodeliverthoseser-vices.
Manyservicesarereadilyavailableinthepubliccloud.
Someservicesneedtobepro-curedthroughtheinstitution'sITdepart-ment.
Onlyafewserviceswillrequirecustomdevelopment,eitheraloneorinpartnershipwithotherinstitutions.
Thefinalresultwillmostlikelybealooselycoupled,customisedarrangement,consistingofoff-the-shelfsys-temsandservicesbasedonproventechnology.
Onespecificuseofthecloudforresearchise-Sci-enceCentralintheUnitedKingdom,devel-opedbyProfessorPaulWatsonandhisteamatNewcastleUniversity.
Buildingonexperience14Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesgainedthroughprojectsbytheJointInformationSystemsCommittee,suchasmyExperiment,e-ScienceCentraldeliverscloud-enablede-sci-encecapabilitytoresearchersacrossmanydis-ciplines.
Researchersbuildworkflowsinadrag-and-dropinterfacefrompre-existingsharedmodules,ortheywriteandcontributetheirownworkflowsusingJava,.
net,orPython.
Thesys-temutilizesacollaborativemodelinspiredbyFacebook,withusershavingtheabilitytoformgroupsandsharedataandprocesses.
Thesecuritymodelofe-ScienceCentralworkswiththisele-mentofthesystem:allowingresearcherstoper-mitcollaboratorstoseetheirworkflowsandtocommentonthem.
Thesystemalsohasabuilt-inbloggingtool.
Onceanexperimenterhassetuptheworkflow,heorsheinitiatesthepro-cess,atwhichtimethesystemsendsthecompu-tationalworkeithertoNewcastle'sownserversortothecloud,asappropriate.
Althoughe-Sci-enceCentralcurrentlyusesMicrosoft'sAzureplatform,thesystemcanalsobeconfiguredtouseAmazonEC2.
Ithasabout50regularusersacrossarangeofscientificdisciplines,butWatsonseesthesystemasscalabletothousandsinduecourse.
Healsoseesthepotentialforapplica-tionslikee-ScienceCentraltoopenupforthosewhoatpresentareexcluded,bygeographyorcost,fromaccesstoHPC(Bristowetal.
,2010).
Themobilephonerevolutionindevelopingcountrieshaschangedthewaypeoplecom-municateintheirdailylivesandconductbusi-ness.
Manypeopleneverhadalandlineandinsomecasesnoelectricity.
Someofthemchargedtheirmobilephonesusingachar-gerthatgenerateselectricityfromabike.
Asthecellulardatanetworksbecomemoreandmorematureandreliable,thesameconsum-erswillhaveaccesstotheInternetontheirmobilephoneswithouthavingacomputerorbroadbandathome.
Thiswillenablearangeofapplicationsforcomputinginthecloud.
Thecostsassociatedwithcloudcomputingfac-ingearlyadoptersincludethepotentialcostsofservicedisruptions,datasecurityconcerns,potentialregulatorycomplianceissuesarisingoutofsensitivedatabeingtransferredandpro-cessedorstoredbeyonddefinedborders,lim-itationsinthevarietyandcapabilitiesofthedevelopmentanddeploymentplatformscur-rentlyavailable,difficultiesinmovingproprie-tarydataandsoftwarefromonecloudserviceprovidertoanother,integrationofcloudser-viceswithlegacysystems,costandavailabilityofprogrammingskillsneededtomodifylegacyapplicationtofunctioninthecloudenviron-ment,legacysoftwareCPU-basedlicensingcostsincreasingwhenmovedtoacloudplatform,etc.
,DevelopingcountrieshavetheirhighlyskilledITpeopleworkingindevelopedcountries.
Thesepeopleareskilledtowritenewkindsofsoftwarethatwillfuelthecloudcomputinggrowthbackhome.
Thishasthepotentialandisalreadycaus-ingareverseimmigrationtrendamongsthighlyskilledITworkerswhohavechosentoreturnbacktotheirhomecountriestopursuesuchexistingopportunities.
Theseskilledpeoplearelikelytobringintheirexperienceofthewesternworldtobuildnewgenerationsoftoolsandappli-cationsandinnovativewaystoservetheirpeople.
Itisencouragingtoseethatthereisanincreas-ingamountofongoingresearchoncloudcom-puting.
Mostofthecurrentresearchesarefocusedoncloudcomputingwithinthecon-textoftheInternetandbroadbandandhowitischangingthecomputinglandscapeindevel-opedcountries.
Cloudcomputingwilloffermoreopportunitiestodevelopingcountries.
Moreresearchisnecessaryinordertomakeindividuals,businesses,andtheirgovern-mentsindevelopingcountriesrealisehowtheycanbenefitfrommobileapplicationsenabledviacloudcomputing.
Understandingthechal-lengesandissuesinusingcloudcomputingandovercomingthemwillprovidetheneces-saryfueltothedevelopmenteffortsofthevari-ousstakeholdersinthedevelopingeconomies.
References1.
AnalySysMason(2010)Availableathttp://www.
analysysmason.
com[accessed25March2011]2.
Bandyopadhyayetal.
,(2009)CloudComputing:TheBusinessPerspective.
Availableathttp://ssrn.
com/abstract=1413545[accessed25March2011]3.
BindalA(2007)Towardsabroadbandrevolu-tion.
TheFinancialExpress.
Availableathttp://www.
financialexpress.
com/news/Towards-a-broadband-revolution/207644/[accessed25March2011]4.
BourneV(2010)Researchonadoptionofcloud15SamGoundar,Fiji19.
MotorolaSolutions(2011)Availableathttp://com-munities.
motorola.
com[accessed25March2011]20.
NelsonM(2010)Cloud,thecrowd,andpublicpolicy.
IssuesinScienceandTechnology.
Availableathttp://www.
issues.
org/25.
4/nelson.
html[accessed25March2011]21.
NicholsR(2010)Cloudcomputingbythenumbers:WhatdoallthestatisticsmeanAvailableatwww.
forbes.
com[accessed21April2011].
22.
PhillipsN(2010)Appsaretrackingus–study.
Stuff.
co.
nz,20October.
Availableathttp://www.
stuff.
co.
nz/technology/gadgets/4250953/Apps-are-tracking-us-study[accessed25March2011]23.
SubramaniamK(2008)Cloudcomputinganddevelopingcountries.
CloudAve.
Availableathttp://www.
cloudave.
com/author/krishnan/[accessed21April2011].
24.
SwaminathanK.
S.
(2008)ComputingintheClouds.
Thejournalofhigh-performancebusinessAMCIS2010Proceedings.
Paper574[accessed21April2011]25.
VizzardM(2010)Turningthekeytoprivatecloudcomputing.
Availableat:http://www.
itbusi-nessedge.
com/cm/blogs/vizard/turning-the-key-to-private-cloud-computing/cs=43018[accessed25March2011]26.
Vodafone(2010)PressingForward:VodafoneGroupPlcSustainabilityReportfortheyearending31March2010.
Availableathttp://www.
vodafone.
com/content/dam/vodafone/about/sustaina-bility/reports/[accessed21April2011]27.
VodafoneandUnitedNationsReport(2008)mHealthintheGlobalSouth-LandscapeAnalysis–AReportforVitalWaveConsultingCommissionedforVodafone&UnitedNations.
[accessed25March2011]28.
WeinbergJ(2010)2GApplications!
Anemergingmediachannelindevelopingnations.
Availableathttp://nydigitallab.
ogilvy.
com/2010/05/19/2g-applications-an-emerging-media-channel-in-developing-nations/[accessed25March2011][accessed].
29.
WeissA(2007)ComputingintheClouds.
CloudComputing:PCFunctionsmoveontotheWeb.
Networker,pp.
16–25,December2007.
Availableathttp://portal.
acm.
org/cita-tion.
cfmid=1327512&picked=prox[accessed25March2011].
30.
WerthC(2009)Cloudcomputingismakinghigh-endcomputingreadilyavailabletoresearchersinrichandpoornationsAalike.
Newsweek,25October.
Availableathttp://www.
newsweek.
com/authors/christopher-werth.
html[accessed25March2011][accessed].
31.
Wikipedia(2010)Availableathttp://en.
wikipedia.
org/wiki/Mobile_banking[Accessed25/03/2011]32.
Wikipedia(2011)Availableathttp://en.
wikipedia.
org/wiki/M-Pesa[accessed25March2011]computingbybusinessanddecisionmakers.
Availableathttp://www.
vansonbourne.
com/its-all-in-the-cloud[accessed21October2010].
5.
BristowRetal.
,(2010)Cloudcomputingandthepowertochoose.
EDUCAUSEReview45(3),pp.
14–31.
[accessed25March2011]6.
CapobiancoaF(2009)Fivereasonstocareaboutmobilecloudcomputing.
InternationalFreeandOpenSourceSoftwareLawReview1(2),[pp.
2]Availableatwww.
ifosslr.
org/ifosslr/article/down-load/24/48[accessed21April2011]7.
CarnegieMelonUniversityHumanDevelopmentLab(2011)Availableathttp://www.
millee.
org[accessed25March2011]8.
ChabrowE(2009)Rulesmakeadoptionofcloudcomputingchallengeforagencies.
Survey:64%inGovernmentRankSecurityasTopCloudConcern.
Availableathttp://www.
govinfosecurity.
com/arti-cles.
phpart_id=1348[accessed25March2011]9.
ChongF(2010)CloudcomputingforICT4D.
MicrosoftConsultingServicesOrganization.
Availableathttp://blogs.
msdn.
com/b/fred_chong/archive/2010/01/31/cloud-computing-for-ict4d.
aspx[accessed25March2011].
10.
Colao,V.
(2010).
PressingForward.
VodafoneGroupPlcSustainabilityReport.
Availableat[accessed21April2011]11.
Cornu,C.
(2010).
MobileBanking'MovingThroughDevelopingCountries.
TheJakartaGlobe.
Availableathttp://www.
thejakartaglobe.
com/business/mobile-banking-moving-through-developing-countries/359920[accessed21April2011]12.
DikaiakosMetal.
,(2009)Cloudcomputing:DistributedInternetcomputingforITandscien-tificresearch.
IEEEInternetComputing13(5),pp.
10–13.
[accessed25March2011]13.
e-Agriculture.
Org,(2009).
MobileTelephonyinRuralAreas.
PolicyBrief–March2009.
Availableatwww.
e-agriculture.
org.
[accessed21april2011]14.
FrontlineSMS:medic(2010)TheFrontlineSMS:medicstory.
Availableathttp://medic.
frontlinesms.
com[accessed25March2011]15.
GoogleUniversityAccessProgram(2011)Availableathttp://www.
google.
com/university/africa/guap/[accessed25March2011]16.
GreengardS(2010)CloudComputingandDevelopingNations.
CommunicationsoftheACM53(5),pp.
18.
[accessed21April2011]17.
HarrisJandNunnS(2010)CloudComputing'sGreatPromise.
Availableathttp://www.
forbes.
com/2010/06/30/pharmaceuticals-mobile-sales-forcecom-technology-cloud-computing.
html[accessed25March2011]18.
MotlikS(2008)Mobilelearningindevelopingcountries.
InternationalReviewofResearchinOpenandDistanceLearning9(2),pp3.
[accessed25March2011]
ThecontentsofthisdocumentarethesoleresponsibilityoftheauthorandcanundernocircumstancesberegardedasreflectingthepositionoftheEuropeanUnionorDiploFoundation.
Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesSamGoundar,FijiAbstractCloudcomputingoffersarangeofnewopportunitiesfordevelopingcountriestodowhattheycouldnotdoearlierwithcomputersandtheInternet.
Cloudcomputinginfrastructureandapplicationsareabletointeractwithuserswhohavemobilephones,TabletPCs,OLPC[one-laptop-per-child],andothermobiledevices.
ThispaperlooksathowcloudcomputingwillsurpasstheInternetinadoptionandusageasthistechnology'susersareontheothersideofthedigitaldivide.
MobilephonesandotherdeviceshavepenetratedandsaturateddevelopingcountrieswheretheInternethasfailed.
Thispaperlooksatthediffusionofmobilephonesanddevicesindevelopingcountriesanditscontinuousdramaticrise.
$15MobilePhonesand$20TabletPCsarenowinthehandsofthosetechnology-connectivity-deprivedbillions.
Thispaperwilllookathowcloudcomputingandmobiledevicescombinepresentnewopportunitiesfordevelopingcountries.
Becausethemobilephoneanddevicesusermarketistoobigtobeignored,cloudserviceproviders,incollaboration,withmobileserviceprovidershavedeployedhundredsofcloud-enabledapplicationsandarecontinuingintheirendeavourtoprovideanendlessrangeofproducts.
Thispaperlooksatsomepopularmobileapplicationsthatarehelpingdevelopmentefforts,suchasm-Banking,m-Education,m-Health,m-Agriculture,andothersthatalreadyexistandarepopularwithindevelopingcountries.
Eachtechnologyhasitsgood[opportunities],bad[challenges],andugly[issues]side.
Thereisanattempttoaddresstheissuesandchallengesindeployingmobileapplicationsviacloudcomputingindevelopingcountrieswhencomparedtodevelopedcountries.
Forexample,issuessuchasconnectivitytoremoteregionsandthechallengesfacedbyserviceprovidersandgovernmentstosubsidiseandprovidemobileapplicationstothosewhoarealreadystrugglingwithsustenance.
Keywords:cloudcomputing;mobilecomputing;m-applicationsfordevelopingcountries;ICT4DCloudcomputingopportunitiesCloudcomputingtechnology,advancesininformationtechnology(IT)infrastructureandscalablesophisticatedapplicationsenableindividuals,students,andbusinessesaroundtheworldtoconnecttodata,informationandcomputingresourcesanywhereandanytime.
Inthissection,thisresearchwilllookathowindividuals,students,andbusinessesnolongerneedmemoryintensive,processordependant,locationconstrainedcomputingresourcesandbroadbandconnectionsbecausetheycanaccessdata,information,andcomputingresourcesfromtheirlight-weightmobilephones.
AccordingtoDikaiakosetal.
,(2009),thevisionofthetwenty-firstcenturyisaccess-ingInternetservicesfromlightweightporta-bledevices,insteadofaccessingthemfromatraditionaldesktopPC.
Cloudcomputingisatechnologywhichwillfacilitatecompaniesororganisationstohosttheirserviceswith-outworryingaboutITinfrastructure,letaloneinvestinitandothersupportingservices.
Thecloudconceptdrawsontheexistingtech-nologieswhicharenotnew,suchasvirtualcom-puting,clustercomputing,utilitycomputing,dis-tributedcomputingandSoftware-as-a-Service(SaaS).
Itisnewinthewayitintegratesalloftheaboveandshiftsthemfromalocalisedprocess-ingunittoaglobalisednetwork(Weiss,2007).
Usersofmobilephonesanddevicesarenotrequiredtostoredataandinformationontheirdevices.
Whateverdataandinformationtheyneedarestoredwiththeircloudserviceproviders.
2Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesWhentheneedarisestousethatdataorref-erencethatinformation,accessisobtainedviatheirmobileserviceprovideraslongastheyarewithinthenetworkconnectivityrange.
Accesstodataandinformationisnotconfinedtoanyloca-tion,andthatistheessenceofcloudcomputing.
Accesstoapplicationsandservicesviamobilephoneapplicationsaddressesthedigitaldivideofthe'have-nots'tosomeextent.
Forexam-ple,aFijiansendinganSMS(shortmes-sageservice)toafriendinNewZealandhasthepotentialofconveyingthesamemessagethataCanadiancouldhavedoneviaemail.
ItprovidesalevelplayingfieldfortheFijianintermsofbeingabletokeepintouch.
ThiswasnotpossiblefortheFijianlastyear.
Earlythisyear,anumberofmobilephoneprovid-ersenteredthemarketafterderegulationand,aspartoftheirpromotiontosignnewcus-tomers,gaveawaymobilephonesforfree.
ManyindustrypunditsarepredictingthatthecloudwillsurpasstheInternet(Subramaniam,2008;Bourne,2010;Nichols,2010).
Whatweareseeingistheevolutionofthecloudasacen-tralnervoussystemforanewuniversalcom-municationsinfrastructurethatismoreimpor-tantthantheInternet.
OneofthereasonsbehindtheInternet'sdemisewouldbeitsdepen-denceonwebbrowsersandcomputersforcon-nectivityandservice.
Theevolutionofmobilephonesfrom2Gto3Ghasenabledthemobilephoneproviderstobuildsimpleinterfacesintomobilephonesforsuchconnectivity.
Oncecon-nected,thecloudserviceprovider'sprocessingpower,storagecapacity,computingresources,dataandinformationisyourstoexploit.
Withcloudcomputing,insteadofconnectingtothenetworkserver,amobilephoneordeviceconnectstothecloudserviceprovider.
Allser-vicesareavailablefromwhereverweare,aslongasthereisaconnectiontothenetwork.
Armedwithsuchportabilityandflexibilityinthecom-putingenvironment,businessescanreachtheircustomers24/7anywhereintheworld.
Studentscanstudyonlinecoursesfromanywhereintheworld,andindividualscansocialiseontheirmobilephones,SMSanddowhatevertheywantfromwherevertheyare,whenevertheywant.
Cloudcomputingisatrendwithenormousimplications.
'Cloudcomputingprovidesaccesstolarge-scaleremoteresourcesinaveryeffi-cientandquickmanner',explainsKarstenSchwan,DirectoroftheCenterforExperimentalResearchinComputingSystemsatGeorgiaTechUniversity.
'Ithasthepotentialtodra-maticallychangebusinessmodelsandthewaypeopleinteractwithoneanother.
'(Greengard,2010).
Wehavealreadywitnessedthechangeincommunicationetiquettefrompostinglet-terstosendingemailsthroughtheInternet,andnowtherewillbeatransitiontotexting.
Therearemanystatisticsregardingcloudcom-putingforbusinesses:IDCestimatesthemar-ketforpubliccloudproductsandserviceswasatUSD$16billionin2010andwillgrowtoUSD$56billionby2014.
Gartnermoreoptimisticallyesti-matesthecloudmarketatUSD$150billionby2013whileMerrillLynchestimatesthemar-ketatUSD$160billionby2011.
AMIResearchestimatesthatcloudspendingalonewillreachUSD$100billionby2014(Nichols,2010).
Regardlessoftheexactnumbersorestimatesofcloudcomputingthateachofthesecompa-niesused,theconclusionisthatthepubliccloudinfrastructure,platformsandapplicationsmar-ketislargeandgrowingmuchmorequicklythananyothertypeofITmarket(Nichols,2010).
Bynowscepticsofcloudcomputingareprobablyconvincedthatcloudcomput-ingisnotafad,giventheamountofspend-ingitisattracting.
Figure1showsthattheglobalmarketforenterprisecloud-basedserviceswillgrowfromUSD$12.
1bil-lionin2010toUSD$35.
6billionin2015.
ArecentsurveybyinternationalresearchfirmVansonBourneofITandbusinessdecision-mak-ersfoundthat70%ofrespondentsthinkcloudcomputingwillhelptheirbusinesses.
Thereisnowanemergingconsensusthatcloudcom-putingwillplayanincreasingroleinITopera-tions.
Thiswillfundamentallychangethedeliv-erymodelforservices(VansonBourne,2010).
'Nowhereisthismoreobviousthanindevel-opingnations,wheretheabilitytoaccessresourceshasoftenbeenlimitedandbuild-3SamGoundar,FijiingoutarobustITinfrastructurecanbedaunt-ing.
Theemergenceofcloudcomputingchangesthestakesfor:entrepreneurs,smallandlargebusinessesalike,researchers,andgovern-ments.
"Ithasthepotentialtoleveltheplay-ingfieldbecauseitbreaksdownbarrierstoentry",saysSteveBratt,CEOofthenon-profitWorldWideWebFoundation.
…Inaddition,theyopenupnewmarkets–includingvastnumbersofmobilephoneusers–thatprevi-ouslyweren'treachable.
…'(Greengard,2010).
'Cloudsprovideapowerful–andoftenother-wiseunattainable–ITinfrastructureatamod-estcost.
Inaddition,theyfreeindividualsandsmallbusinessesfromworriesaboutquickobsolescenceandlackofflexibility.
Yet,atthesametime,largeorganisationscanconsolidatetheirITinfrastructureacrossdistributedloca-tions,Sinhapointsout.
Evengovernmententi-tiescanbenefitbyenablingservicestoconsum-ersonasharedbasis.
Insomecases,cloud-basedcomputinggridsenableresearchthatsimplywasn'tpossibleinthepast'(Greengard,2010).
EverytimethereisamajoradvancementinIT,thereisusuallyacorrespondingchangeinthecompetitiveedge.
Withcloudcomput-ingasanewtypeofITplatform,thereispoten-tialforasignificantnarrowingoftheITcom-petitiveedgegapbetweendevelopedcountriesanddevelopingcountries.
TheriseofmobilephonetechnologyinAsianandAfricancoun-triesisoneexampleofhowcountriesinonepartoftheworldtookadvantageofemergingtech-nologytoleapfrogcountriesinotherpartsoftheworld.
Developingcountriesappeartobethinkingaboutmorestrategicapproachestocloudcomputinginordertonarrowcompet-itiveenterpriseITedgeswithglobalrivals.
3Tera,forexample,deliversacomprehensiveplatformthatcompaniescandeploytocreateacloudcomputingplatform.
ThecompanyhasFigure2.
Survey:Doyouseecloudcomputingasashort-termfadorlng-termshift(VansonBourne,2010).
AsurveyconductedbyVansonBourneonbehalfofOneCAPlazaaskedITdecision-makersiftheyseecloudcomputingasashort-termfadorasalong-termshift.
AsevidentfromFigure2,manythinkcloudcomputingisheretostay.
Figure1.
Enterprisecloud-basedservicerevenuebysaleschannel,orldwide,2015(AnalySysMason,2010).
Theyear-on-yeargrowthratewillbe43%in2011butwilldecreaseto13%overthenextfiveyears.
SaaSwillaccountfor70%ofrevenuein2010,while30%willberelatedtoInfrastructure-as-a-Service(IaaS).
(AnalySysMason,2010)4Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesnoticedthatshortlyafteritaddedIPv6supportforitsplatform,thenumberofcompaniesaddingsupportfortheplatformusingIPv6shiftedsig-nificantlytowardsAsia.
Thepotentialadvantagesofcloudcomputinghavenotbeenlostonsmallercompanieseither,asmoreofthemappeartobemovingtoembracecloudcomputingatafasterrate.
Naturally,thereisalotmoretoITenter-prisethanjusttheplatform.
ButthefactremainsthatITinfrastructureuntilrecentlywasasignif-icantbarriertothecostofentry,andthatmightnotbesorelevantanymore(Vizzard,2010).
CloudcomputingwithmobilephonesInthissectionwelookathowcloudcomput-inghasbeenenabledviamobilephones.
Formanydevelopingcountries,phonesandInternetconnectionshavereacheditspopulacethroughfixedline(wired)infrastructure.
Thosecoun-triesthathadroughgeographicterrains,moun-tains,scatteredislands,andtribeslivinginpock-etsofisolatedvillageseverywherewerealmostimpossibletowire(connect).
Cellularnetworksinfrastructurehasbecomeasaviourforthesephysicallyandtechnologicallyisolatedpeople.
Mobilecellulartechnologyhasbeenthemostrapidlyadoptedtechnologyinhis-tory.
Todayitisthemostpopularandwide-spreadpersonaltechnologyontheplanet,withanestimated4.
6billionsubscrip-tionsgloballybytheendof2009(ITUWorldTelecommunication/ICTIndicatorsDatabase).
Developingcountriessur-passedthe50%penetrationmarkin2008,andby2009over70economieshadsur-passedthemagical100%penetrationmark,includinganumberofdevelopingnations.
Giventhistrend,itseemsthateventu-allymostcountrieswillattainapenetra-tionof100%(MotorolaSolutions,2011).
AsevidentinFigure3,therewasadramaticincreaseinmobilecellularsubscriptionsindevel-opingcountriesbetween2003and2009,ascom-paredtothatofInternetsubscriptionsindevel-opingcountriesinthesameperiod(Figure4).
Thereisnoindicationofthemobilephoneusagetrendgoingdownwardsfordevelopingcountries.
Asmobilephonesconvergeandprovidebank-ing,education,health,agricultureandenter-tainmentservices,noonecanpredictwhatwewillbedoingwiththeminanotherfiveyears.
AnanalysisofInternetpenetrationindevel-opingcountrieswhencomparedtomobilephonepenetrationindevelopingcoun-triescanbedescribedasfollows:Internet:Theglobalbroadbandusagehasincreasedfrom17millionin2001toquar-terofabilliontoday.
India,incomparison,hadameagre2.
43millionusersbyApril2007(Bindal,2007).
InAfrica,4outofevery100usersusetheInternet,andithas1%penetra-tioninthepopulation(Subramaniam,2010).
Thiscouldbeduetolackoforunafford-ableelectricityandbroadbandconnectionsintheremoteregionsofdevelopingcountries.
Figure3.
Cellularphonesubscriptionsindevelopingcountries(ITUWorldTelecommunication/ICTIndicatorsDatabase).
Figure4.
Internetuserssubscriptionsindevelopingcountries(ITUWorldTelecommunication/ICTIndicatorsDatabase).
5SamGoundar,FijiMorethan85%ofsmallbusinessessurveyedinSouthAfricarelysolelyonmobilephonesfortelecommunications.
62%ofbusinessesinSouthAfricaand59%inEgyptsaidmobileusewaslinkedtoanincreaseinprofits.
97%ofpeo-plesurveyedinTanzaniasaidtheycouldaccessamobilephonewhilejust28%couldaccessalandlinephone.
Therewasa5000%mobilegrowthinAfricabetween1998and2003.
Currently,therearemorethan82millionmobilephoneusersinAfrica(Subramaniam,2010).
Themobilephonerevolutionhasbeensweepingthroughdevel-opingcountriesandwillcontinuetodoso.
MobilephonesareusedbyreporterstoreportnewsfrompotentiallyanycornerofAfrica.
MobilephonefinancingisthehottesttrendinZimbabweandmanyotherAsianandAfricancountries.
MoneyistransferredthroughSMSateaseinthesedevelopingcountries.
CountrieslikeRwandausemobilephonesextensivelyinthehealthcaresector.
IhaveseenmanyIndianfarmersusingmobilephonesexclusivelyintheiragriculturaltrade.
ItisthesamecaseinmanyothercountriesinAsiaandAfricatoo.
Thereareseveralotherexamplesofmobiledatausageinthedevelopingeconomies.
InAfrica,wire-lessoperatorsarenotonlyprovidinganoppor-tunityforbankingandcommodityexchange,theyarealsoprovidingthematamuchlowercostleadingtodrasticproliferationofmobiledatausage.
Similarly,inIndiathenumberofmobiledatausersarefourtimesthatofPCbasedinternetusers.
InThailand,mobileTVisbeingofferedby2.
5Ginfrastructure.
Today,weseethereleaseof3.
75GsupportedEeePCfromTaiwan.
SuchnetbookshaveagoodmarketinmanyAsiancountries(Subramanian,2008).
Thecomfortlevelofmobilephoneusageinthesecountries–combinedwiththelackofpowerandbroadbandinfrastructure–offersauniqueopen-ingthatcloudcomputingcanfill.
TheSaaSoffersgivebusinessesinthedevelopingworldafreeorlowcostalternativetotraditionaldesktopbasedproductivityapplications.
Theyneednotbuyexpensivebloatedofficesuiteoraccountingsoft-ware.
ThesebusinessesnowhavetheoptiontouseCRMapplications,whichwereprohibitivelyexpensiveinthetraditionalsoftwareworld.
Bymovingtheirdatatotheclouds,thesebusinessesarenotheldhostagetofrequentpowerfailuresandbroadbanddisruptions.
Theirdataisalwaysavailableforeasyaccessthroughtheirmobiledevices.
Withtheadventoflowcostsmartphonesandnetbookswithmobiledatacapabilities,theycannowhaveITinfrastructurethatcanparalleleventhoseofdevelopedcountries(Subramanian,2008;Greengard,2010;Nunn,2010).
Cloudcomputingisaboontothisworld.
Itoffersanopportunityforindividualsandbusi-nessesindevelopingcountriestocompetewiththoseinadvancednationsonanequalfoot-ing.
Suchanopportunitywillcreatetremendousgrowthinthesecountriesandhelpinourfightagainstglobalpoverty(Subramanian,2008).
Chong,whoisinvolvedwiththecloudcom-putingprojectatthe(NATL)SugarFactoryinVietnam,writes:'Asmanyofyoumayalreadyknow,thenum-berofmobilephonesubscribersinemerg-ingmarketsisgrowingatastoundingrate,andVietnamisoneofsuchdevelopingcountries.
Anotherinterestingdatapointisthatmobilephonecommunicationandapplicationsplaykeyrolesindrivingtheeconomicdevelopmentagendainthesenations.
Herewearenottalk-ingaboutmobileapplicationsthatusehighspeed2G/3G/4Gmobilenetworksforsendingandreceivingdata.
Instead,wearereferringtocon-tentservicesthatuseplainoldSMStextmessag-ingfortransmittinginformation'(Chong,2010).
PCsarestillnotasaffordableasbasicphones.
Aspowerblackoutsoccurveryfrequentlyinruralareas,mobilephonebatteriesareabletoyieldlongerservicecycles.
ComparedtoPCs,portablephonesaremoreconvenientandbettersuitedforroamingandruggedagriculturelifestyles.
Hugeproportionsofthepopulationliveinruralareaswherebasiccellularnetworkisalmostavailableeverywhere,andsignalcoverageoftenreachesremotefarmingsitesaswell(Chong,2010).
CloudcomputingenabledmobileapplicationsCloudcomputinghasenabledanarrayofappli-cationstobedeployedviamobilephones.
While3Gmobileapplicationsareubiquitousindevel-6Cloudcomputing:Opportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesopedcountriesacrosstheglobe,themajorityoftheworld'smobileusersliveindevelopingcoun-trieswithaccesstoonly2GcellularnetworksandphoneswithlittlemorethanvoiceandSMScapabilities.
Inthissection,welookathowusersof2Gmobilephonesindevelopingcountriesaremakingthemostofwhattheyhaveandtheapplicationsthattheyuse.
While2Gapplicationsasanemergingmediachannelmaysoundlikeanoxymorontothoseindevelopedcountries,thiscloudcomputingtechnologyhasthepoten-tialtochangethewaypeoplelive,interact,tradeandconsumemediaindevelopingcountries.
Thecreationofuseful2Gdataapplicationsforexpandedaccesstomediaindevelopingcountriesreliesoncloudcomputingtohan-dletheheavycalculationsthatadataappli-cationrequires,usingSMSasaconduitfortheinformationandsimpleapplicationinter-facestohandleuserinteraction.
Applicationsrunningonsuchastrippeddownplatformcouldbeassimpleasalocalnewsaggrega-torandascomplexasamedicaldatarepos-itory.
Becausecalculations,datastorageandotheradvancedfeaturesarehandledbyservers'inthecloud'andsentviaSMS,the2Gapplica-tiononlyneedstohandlebasictextpresentation.
Anotherwayinwhich2Gapplicationswillactasanemergingchannelindevelopingcountriesinvolvesthesameconceptofconnectingcloudcomputingto2Ghandsets.
However,itreliesonanewgenerationofcheapmobilephonesthatarecapableofrunningmoreadvancedappli-cationsandnotjustSMSinterfaces.
Vodafoneisthemajordrivingforcebehindthisapplica-tionof2Gasitownsanumberofcellularnet-worksindevelopingcountries.
Vodafonerecentlyreleaseda2Gphonecapableofrunningappli-cationsatanextremelylowprice.
Toexpandtheavailabilityof2Gmedia,VodafoneteamedupwithOperaSoftwarein2009todevelopacus-tom-madeversionofmobilebrowserOperaMini,designedtogivecustomersahigh-qual-itymobileInternetexperienceonaffordable2Gmobilehandsets.
TheOperaMinibrowserusescloudcomputingtocompressInternetpagesbyover90%beforetransmittingthemtomobilephonesoverthe2Gnetwork.
AccordingtotheWorldBank,in2009three-quartersoftheworld'sestimated4billionhandsetswereusedindevelopingnationson2Gnetworks(Weinberg,2010).
M-BankingMobilebanking(alsoknownasM-Banking,mbanking,SMSBanking,etc.
)isatermusedforperformingbalancechecks,accounttransactions,paymentsetc.
,viaamobiledevicesuchasamobilephoneorPersonalDigitalAssistant(PDA).
Mobilebank-ingtodayismostoftenperformedviaSMSorthemobileInternetbutcanalsousespe-cialprograms,calledclients,downloadedtothemobiledevice(Wikipedia,2010).
AnAfghanpoliceofficergetshissalaryinatextmessageonhismobilephone.
AKenyanworkerdialsafewnumberstosendmoneytohisfamily.
Theriseofbankingtransac-tionsthroughmobilephonesisgivingawholenewmeaningtopocketmoneyinpartsofthedevelopingworldthatlackbanksorcashmachines.
Mobilemoneyapplicationsareemergingaspotentfinancialtoolsinruralandremoteareasoftheglobe,allowingpeo-plewithnobankaccountstogetpaid,sendremittancesorsettletheirbills.
'Onebillionconsumersintheworldhaveamobilephonebutnoaccesstoabankaccount,'saidGavinKrugel,ofGSMAssociation.
(Cornu,2010)M-PESA(SwahiliforM-Money)isabranch-lessbankingservice,meaningthatitisdesignedtoenableuserstocompletebasicbankingtransactions.
InKenya,thecon-tinuingsuccessofM-PESAhasbeenduetothecreationofahighlypopular,affordablepaymentservicewithonlylimitedinvolve-mentofabank.
ThesystemwasdevelopedandrunbySagentiafromtheinitialdevel-opmenttothesixmillioncustomermark.
TheservicehasnowbeentransitionedtobeoperationallyrunbyIBMGlobalServicesonbehalfofVodafone,theinitialthreemar-kets(Kenya,TanzaniaandAfghanistan)arehostedbyRackspace(Wikipedia,2011).
7SamGoundar,FijiM-EducationThetermM-Learning(or'mobilelearning'orM-Education)hasdifferentmeaningsfordiffer-entcommunities.
Althoughrelatedtoe-learn-inganddistanceeducation,itisdistinctinitsfocusonlearningacrosscontextsandlearn-ingwithmobiledevices.
Onedefinitionofmobilelearningis:anysortoflearningthathap-penswhenthelearnerisnotatafixed,prede-terminedlocation,orlearningthathappenswhenthelearnertakesadvantageofthelearn-ingopportunitiesofferedbymobiletechnolo-gies.
Inotherwordsmobilelearningdecreaseslimitationoflearninglocationwiththemobil-ityofgeneralportabledevices(Wikipedia,2011).
ThereisalsoclearlygreatpromisefortheuseofmobilephonesineducationinAfrica.
AsaDEdeliverymode,SMShasalreadyprovedtobecost-effectiveandefficient.
VisserandWestnotedthatthenextgenerationofmobilephones'havestartedtoincludefullInternetaccessandintroducean'alwayson'cellulartechnol-ogywhichenablesthecellulartelephoneusertoaccesstheInternetdirectly'(2005,p.
120).
Twoofthedrivingforcesformobilephonetechnol-ogyindevelopingcountrieswillbethedevel-opmentoftheUSD$20handsetand3Gnet-workexpansion(Motlik,2008).
Withincreasingcell-phonepenetration,theuseofSMSinbothformalandnon-formaleducationcanbenefitlearnersatafractionofthecostofothermeth-odsindevelopingcountries(Motlik,2008).
milleeisanm-EducationProject.
Theacro-nymstandsformobileandimmersivelearn-ingforliteracyinemergingeconomies.
Itstates:Problem:formalschoolinghaslimitedimpactonchildrenindevelopingcountriesduetochildlabour,inadequateteachertraining,etc.
Literacylevelsinseveralunderdevelopedregionscanbeshockinglylow,sometimesunder50%.
Sub-SaharanAfricahashighestrateofchildrenoutofschool(36.
2%),followedbySouthAsia(20%).
Opportunity:mobilephonesenableaccesstoqualitylearningresources-anytime,anywhere.
UNestimatesthathalfofallresidentsinremoteareaswillhavemobilephonesby2012.
Withmobiletechnology,wehaveanopportunitytosignificantlyincreasethereachofeducationSolution:Bringseducationtolearnerswhocannotattendschoolonregularbasis.
Game-likelearningexperiencesthatareengaging.
Compatiblewithpublicschoolingandothereducationaldeliverymodels.
Targetlearners:(i)ruralchildren,(ii)urbanslumschildren,and(iii)othernear-povertychildrenwhosefami-liescannotaffordeducation(CarnegieMelonUniversityHumanDevelopmentLab,2011).
M-HealthRuralpopulationsaccountfor56%ofdevelopingcountries'5.
3billionpeople.
Thecombinationofgeography,isolation,andpovertyconspireswithdramaticurban-ruraldisparitiesinresourceallocationtocreateuniqueandoftenintractablehealthcarechallenges.
Healthcareneedsamongruralpopulationsarelargely,thoughnotentirely,aggravatedbyremoteness.
Ruralconcernsinclude:distancefromhealthcentreslimitspre-natalandmaternalcare,distancefromspecialtyFigure5.
M-PesaofKenyaisnowinotherdevelopingcountries.
M-PesaStatistics:Customers:2007April=52,543Customers:2009August=55,425,5153MillionTransactionsaDay–Rackspace407MillionUsersPredictedby2015(PCWorld)M-Pesainspired60copycatcompanies(oreignpolicy/)8Cloudcomputing:Opportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesservices,lackofgoodhealtheducation,suscepti-bilitytoclimaticcrises,nutrition,dietaryissues,andgreaterfrequencyofwork-relatedinjuries(VodafoneandUnitedNationsReport,2008).
M-AgricultureAsanaffordableandaccessiblemeansofcom-munication,ruralcommunitiesarerealizingthepotentialofmobilephonestocreateeconomicopportunitiesandstrengthensocialnetworks.
Mobilephoneseffectivelyreducethe'distance'betweenindividualsandinstitutions,makingthesharingofinformationandknowledgeeasierandmoreeffective.
Themobilephoneisnolon-gerjustanaudiocommunicationtoolbutcapa-bleofprovidingadditionalintegratedfunctions.
Mobiletelephoneshavebeena'dreamcometrue'forruralareas.
Connectivitytotheoutsideworldhasbeenmadeeasy.
Unnecessarycommutingtourbancentreshasbeentremendouslyreduced.
Atameetingwithfarmers,oneofthekeydis-cussionswas:HowICTcanhelpruralfarmersgetaccesstorequiredagriculture-relatedinforma-tionInterestingly,manyofthefarmersneverheardofcomputertechnologybuttriedtorelateICTwithmobilephone.
Theyclearlyunderstandthevalueandbenefitsofmobilephones;inthepasttheyhadtotravellongwaystogiveorcol-lectanyinformation,butnowtheygetinfor-mationandcanconnecttopeopleeffortlessly(ShahidUddinAkbar,BangladeshInstituteofICTinDevelopment,e-Agriculture.
org,2009)FarmersuseSMSinrelationtomarketaccess,interactingwithtradersandmiddle-mentodistributeandreceiveinformationaboutproducts,prices,andavailability.
Otherexamplesofmobilephonesusedintheagri-culturalsectorofdevelopingcountriesare:Bangladesh'sCellBazaarisaservicefromGrameenphonethatallowspeo-pletobuyorsellovertheirmobilephones.
Customerslookingtosellsomething,posttheinformationonCellBazaarthroughGrameenphone,andbuyersgetincontact.
Ghana'sTradeNetisanInternetapplicationthatenablesyoutoprovidemarketinformationviatheweb,emailandSMSquicklyandaffordably.
TheapplicationhasbeendesignedanddevelopedbyaninternationalteambasedinAccra,Ghana.
Jamaica'sJamaicaAgricultureMarketInformationSystem(JAMIS)isaproj-Figure6.
Efficiencyandimpactofm-healthfordevelopmentindevelopingcountries(VitalHealthConsulting,2009).
Inthedevelopingworld,lackofinfrastructurepreventshealthworkersfromdeliveringeffi-cienthealthcaretoruralareas.
Ashealthworkerstravelfromclinicstoreachisolatedpatients,theyareoftenasdisconnectedfromcentralclinicsasthepatientstheyaretryingtoserve.
Themis-sionofFrontlineSMSMedicistoadvancehealth-carenetworksinunderservedcommunitiesusinginnovative,appropriatemobiletechnologies.
'ThecentrepieceofoursystemisFrontlineSMS,afree,open-sourcesoftwareplatformthatenableslarge-scale,two-waytextmessaging,usingonlyalaptop,aGSMmodem,andinexpensivecellphones.
WearealsoextendingtheFrontlineSMSplatformtoenablebetterpatientmanagement,electronicmedicalrecordsviathecellphone,cheapmobilediagnostics,andmappingofhealthservices'(FrontlineSMS:Medic,2010).
m-Healthisnowfastbecomingthefuturefaceofhealthcaremanagementsystemsandwillsignifi-cantlyre-engineerthehealthcaredeliverysystemworldwideonthepersonal,collectiveandsystemlevels.
UnitedNationsandVodafone'smHealthAlliancehavebandedtogethertoadvancetheuseofmobilephonestobetteraidthoseinneedofhealthcareindevelopingcountries.
9SamGoundar,FijiectbytheMinistryofAgricultureandFisheriesaimedatestablishingthefirstelec-tronicmarketsystemfocusedonthepub-licationofweeklypricesatthefarmgate,atmunicipalmarkets,atretail,andwholesale.
Thereareseveralmobilephoneapplica-tionsthathavebeendeployedusingthecloudcomputinginfrastructure.
Thereisastrongindicationofe(electronic)-applica-tionsofdevelopedcountriesbeingreplacedbym(mobile)-applicationsindevelopingcoun-tries.
Internetbankingindevelopedcoun-triesisnowm-Bankingindevelopingcoun-tries,asis:e-Learningtom-Education,e-Healthtom-Health,ande-Agriculturetom-Agri-culture.
Thislistcouldbeendless,consider-ingthenumberofmobilephonescontinuouslybeingsubscribedtoindevelopingcountries.
Cloudcomputingapplicationswillalsosup-plementexistingtraditionalestablishmentsliketertiaryinstitutesanduniversities.
GooglejustannounceditsGoogleUniversityAccessProgramthataimstoaddresstheunderly-ingcause–thehighcostofInternetbandwidthandaccesstoexperiencedengineers.
Thepro-gramoffersInternetbandwidth,GoogleAppsforEducation,trainingandintegrationgrantsandthesupportofGoogleengineering.
Thisisinreturnfortheuniversitycommittingtoinvestintheircampusinfrastructure;ultimatelyInternetbandwidthwillreachfacultyandstu-dents(GoogleUniversityAccessProgram,2011).
GovernmentshavethepotentialtobemodelusersofCloudcomputing.
Asthelargesteco-nomicentityinmostcountries,governmenthastheleveragetosetstandardsandrequire-mentsthatcaninfluenceactionsthroughouttheeconomy.
JustasUSfederalgovernmentweb-sitesdemonstratedthepoweroftheInternetandinspiredstateandlocalgovernmentsandcompa-niestocreateanonlinepresence,nationalgov-ernmentscanbeearlyadoptersofcloudcom-puting,whichwoulddemonstrateandpublicisethetechnology.
However,ifgovernmentsaregoingtobecomeearlyadoptersofcloudser-vices,theymustovercomebureaucratic,regu-latory,andculturalbarrierstoresourcesharingthatcouldslowtheadoptionofcloudcomput-ing.
GovernmentITprocurementrulescover-inghardwareandsoftwarepurchasesmustbeupdatedtoenablethepurchasingofcloudser-vices.
Cloudcomputingcouldprovidehugebenefitstogovernments–m-Government.
Cloudcomputinghassomeattractivequalitiesforscientificresearchers.
Itdeliversdatastor-ageandprocessingasaservice,ratherthansoft-warethatisloadedontoaharddriveorsome-thingthatsitsonadesksomewhere.
Informationisheldinmassivedatacentresspreadallovertheworldandavailableuponrequest.
Inthecloud,the'supercomputer'existsvirtually,meaning:noclunkyhardware,softwareinter-facesthatareeasytouse,andscientistswhohaveaccesstotheirdataandsimulationsfromjustaboutanywherebysimplyloggingin.
Cloudcomputing'sissuesandchallengesBynow,itisevidentthatinthisresearchpaperoncloudcomputing,thefocushasmainlybeenonmobileapplicationsenabledviacloudcom-puting.
CloudcomputinginessenceasappliedtothedevelopedcountrieswithinthecontextofbroadbandInternetisnotonlyachallenge;itisnotviableformanydevelopingcountriesconsideringitseconomy,existinginfrastruc-ture,andaffordability.
Thereasonwhymobilephonesandmobileapplicationshaveaninfluxwithindevelopingcountriesisbecausetheyareaffordableandareabletomakeuseofexist-ingradiobroadcastinfrastructureandemerg-ingwirelesscellularnetworkarchitecture.
Manymobilephoneserviceprovidershaveinvestedsubstantialcapitalintoinfrastructuredevelopmenttoprovidemobilephonenetworksinremoteregions,forfeitingtheirprofitmargins.
Othershavebeensubsidisedbythedevelopingcountry'sgovernmentordonoragenciesliketheWorldBank.
Workinginemergingmarketspres-entschallenges,sometimeswithmarkeddiffer-encesinapproachestoriskaroundissuessuchascustomerloyaltyandrevenue,whencom-paredtodevelopedcountries.
Usersofmobilephoneservicesindevelopingcountriesdonotmakethevolumeofcallsrequiredtogivethemobileserviceprovidertherequiredprofit.
10Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesWeareexpandingournetworkstoextendaccessandtailoringproductsandservicestomakethemaffordableformorepeople.
Atthesametime,wearefindingmanyareaswherewecanlearnhowtobemorecostandtimeeffi-cient–aprerequisiteofoperatinginlower-mar-ginmarkets.
First,weaimtobridgethedig-italdivideinemergingmarkets.
Webelievethatimprovingaccesstocommunicationscanbeaspringboardtoalleviatingpovertyandenablingsustainabledevelopment.
Manyofthebenefitsourservicescanbringareveryvis-ibleinemergingeconomies.
(Colao,2010)Providersandusersofthemobileapplicationsenabledviacloudcomputingfaceadditionalchallengesindevelopingeconomies,duetounfa-vourableinstitutionalenvironment.
Inmanydevelopingcountries,factorssuchascorruption,thelackoftransparency,andaweaklegalsystemcanexacerbatesecurityrisks.
Thesefactorscom-binedwithfamine,civilstrife,politicalupheaval,andnaturaldisastersmakemobileservicepro-vidersmorereluctanttomoveintothemarketsofdevelopingcountries.
Lackofreturnoninvest-mentandbusinesscontinuityisnotguaranteed.
Cloudcomputing'slifelineisconnectivity.
Alltheservices,benefits,andgoodiesthatitisenvis-agedtodeliveronlyexistwhenwearecon-nectedtothenetwork.
Nonetwork=noser-vices.
HowconsistentisnetworkconnectivityDifferentreadersfromdifferentpartsoftheworldwillhavedifferentanswers.
Basedoncon-nectivity,somereadersmightreadthisonlineandothers,whoarenotsureoftheirconnectiv-ity,willdownloadorprintitouttoread.
Somereadersmightevenreadthispaperontheirmobilephones,TabletPCs,PDAs,orBlackberry.
Readerscanrecalltimeswhentheywerediscon-nected,orwhentheirnetworkserviceproviderwasdown,ortheservicethattheywantedinthecloudwasdown.
Somestillremembertheirfrustrationswhentryingtocontacttheirfam-iliesandfriendswhileonholidaysomewhereremotewheretheconnectionwasintermittent.
Ifthisdiminishesthevalueofcloudcomputing,thenitcertainlydoes.
Forbusinessesthatrelyonmobilephones,connectivitydowntimestrans-lateintohugelosses.
Forindividuals,theymissoutonthatimportantcallforajobinterview.
Themobilerevolutionisaprimarydrivingforcebehindthequickascentofcloudcom-puting.
70%ofmobilephoneusersarefromdevelopingcountries,engaginginmobilecloudcomputingfromanywhere,atanytime,andneedsecuredataaccess,accesstoapplica-tionsandservices.
Securityandprivacyissuesareevenmorechallengingthantheywerebefore.
Howdowereachabalanceinsecu-rityandusabilityWillserviceprovidersseg-regateusersaccordingtothedigitaldivideInthefuture,theremightnotbeachoicebecausesomeoftheapplicationsmightonlybemobileapplications.
Theymightnotbeofferedwithinthetraditionaldesktopcom-putingplatform.
Tousetheapplication,youwillneedamobilephonebecausethatistheonlymeansofaccess.
However,iftheapplica-tionisonlydevelopedanddeliveredthroughthecloudenvironment,and–ifitistheonlywayyoucanusethatservice–youwillhavetofindawaytoconnecttothecloud.
Strategiesneedtobeemployedtomanagenotonlyriskbutalsothosesituationswhenacloudserviceprovidersuddenlyandunex-pectedlystopsdeliveringservices.
Theremightbeseveralreasonswhythiscouldhap-pen.
ReputablesiteslikeGoogle,Amazon,andMicrosofthavebeenknowntohavebeendownandunabletoprovideservicesforsometime.
Theotherissuetobeconsideredisthatinmovingservicestothecloud,theorgan-isationorindividualnolongerretainsdirectaccessandcontrol(Bristowetal.
,2010).
Mobilecloudservicesarelargelydominatedbyvendorspecificwalledgardensanddebateisnotasintenseasonewouldexpect,giventhenumberofcellphoneusers.
Thisisprob-ablyduetothefactthatnotonlyarefreesoft-warepoweredmobilephonesstillaminor-ity,butinstallingnewsoftwareonphoneswasnotanoptionforthemassmarketuntilrecently.
AftertheiPhoneandAndroid,withmoreandmore'applicationstores'emerg-ing,theissueofmobileusers'freedomiscom-ingup.
Usersofonehandset,forexample,maywanttogettheiremailfromoneprovider,syncpictureswithanother,andusetheinternationalservicesofyetanother(Capobiancoa,2009).
11SamGoundar,FijiNetworkoperatorsdonotwantuserstobetoofree,somostofthempreventusersfromrunningapplicationsthatarenotdigi-tallysigned.
RIM,Apple,and,tosomeextent,Symbiandevicesarelockeddown,whichren-dersusers'freedominthemobilecloudabal-ancingact:ononehandadeveloperneedstoobeytherulesdictatedbynetworkoper-atorsanddevicemanufacturers,andontheotherhandthesamedeveloperneedstofindwaystodeliverfreedomtousers.
Manyofthemostsuccessfulandmostvisibleapplicationsofcloudcomputingtodayarecon-sumerservicessuchasemailservices(GoogleMail,Hotmail,andYahooMail),socialnetworks(FacebookandMySpace),andvirtualworldssuchasSecondLife.
Thecompaniesprovidingtheseservicescollectterabytesofdata,muchofitsensitivepersonalinformation,whicharethenstoredindatacentresincountriesaroundtheworld.
Howthesecompanies,andthecountriesinwhichtheyoperate,addressprivacyissueswillbeacriticalfactoraffectingthedevelopmentandacceptanceofcloudcomputing(Nelson,2010).
WiththeInternet,strongeconomicbenefitsandcustomerdemandbothpushednetworkser-viceproviderstolinktheirdifferentnetworksandcreateanetworkofnetworks.
Thesitua-tionmaynotbeasclear-cutwiththecloud,andsomecompaniesbuildingtheinfrastructureoftheCloudmaybeabletouseeconomiesofscale,ownershipofkeyintellectualproperty,andfirst-moveradvantagetoblockorslowcompet-itors.
Governmentswillneedtowatchcarefullytoseethatcompaniesdonotusetheirdomi-nantpositioninonesectoroftheITortelecom-municationsmarkettogainanunfairadvan-tageinthemarketforCloudservices.
ACloudbuiltbyonlyoneortwocompaniesandsup-portingonlyalimitedsetofapplicationswouldnotbeinthebestinterestofeitherindividu-alsorcorporatecustomers(Nelson,2010).
OneofthethorniestissuesrelatedtotheCloudmaybeelectronicsurveillance,particularlywhenitspansinternationalborders.
Inmostcases,thepolicemustgetasearchwarranttoexaminedataonsomeone'shomecomputer.
ItisnotatallclearwhetherthesamedataisprotectedifbackedupinadatacentreintheCloud,particularlyifthatdatacentreisinanothercountry.
Ifusersbelievethatgovernmentswillbemonitoringtheiractivities,theirwillingnesstousetheCloudforimportantfunctionswillsurelydecrease.
WillcloudcomputinggiverisetoonlinepiracyWouldgovernmentstrytoenforcelawsagainstthisinwaysthatlimitorslowthedevelopmentofcloudservicesBygivingcustomersaccesstoalmostunlimitedcomputingpowerandstor-age,cloudservicescouldmakeiteveneasiertosharecopyrightedmaterialovertheInternet.
WillcloudserviceprovidersberequiredtotakespecialmeasurestopreventthisWilltheybelia-bleforillegalactivitiesoftheircustomersWoulddoingsomakeitimpracticalforcompaniestoprovidecloudservicestothegeneralpublicThebiggestchallengesarevendorlock-inandproprietarytechnologies.
Ifdatagetslockedin,thentheflowofdatawillbedisrupted,disrupt-ingtheverynatureoftheclouditself.
Otherchallengesincludetheclampdownoncon-tentbymediagiants,who,inthenameofpri-vacy,canhaveatendencytoinhibitexpressionand,asaconsequence,thefreeflowofinfor-mation.
Thegovernmentmayplayitsownpartasitseekstoregulate,whichinturnmaycre-ateanonerousenvironmentforthedevelop-mentofthecloud.
CloudcomputingalsomeansthatcompaniesmayshedtheirITresources,sav-ingoncapitalexpenses.
Thatmaymeanalossofjobsbutitiscleartheupsidesmaybecon-siderableastothecloudscales(Nelson,2010).
Astudyhasfoundthatpopularmobilephoneapplicationsaresharingsensitiveinformationaboutusers,includingtheirlocation,withadver-tisingcompanies.
AgroupofcomputerengineerswroteacomputerprogramcalledTaintDroidandinstalleditonaSmartphonetomonitorhow30applications–mobilephoneprogramsforthelikesofsocialnetworkinganddownload-ablegames–wereusingsensitiveinformation.
Ofthe30applications,15sentsensitiveinfor-mation,includingthephone'slocation,tosev-eraladvertisingcompanies'servers.
TwoalsosharedmobilephonenumberandSIMcardidentifierswithrandomservers,whoseown-erscouldnotbeidentified(Phillips,2010).
12Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesDiscussionandconclusionThecloudcomputingtechnologyhasbeenaroundsinceindustrystartedusingmain-framecomputersfordistributedcomputing.
Thedistributedcomputingtechnologyhasbeenlabelledasclustercomputing,virtualcomput-ing,andothernames.
CloudcomputingreferstoboththeapplicationsdeliveredasservicesovertheInternetandthehardwareandsys-temssoftwareinthedatacentresthatprovidethoseservices.
TheservicesthemselveshavelongbeenreferredtoasSoftware-as-a-Service(SaaS).
Thedatacentrehardwareandsoft-wareiswhatwewillcallacloud.
Whenacloudismadeavailableinapay-as-you-gomannertothegeneralpublic,wecallitaPubliccloud.
WeusethetermPrivatecloudtorefertointer-naldatacentresofabusinessorotherorganisa-tion,notmadeavailabletothegeneralpublic.
Theevolutionofmobileapplicationsenabledviacloudcomputingtechnologyforuseindevelop-ingcountriesclearlyunfoldsatamuchgreaterspeedthantheevolutionandadoptionofper-sonalcomputingandtheInternet.
ICT4Dsarealsonotdevelopinginisolationfromtechnolog-icalandbusinessmodelsolutionsfordevelop-ingcountries.
ICT4Dcloudswillgreatlyenhanceandbringdramaticimprovementstoexist-ingdevelopmentefforts.
Cloudcomputinghasinterestingimplicationsandpotentialfordevel-opingcountries.
ThereisaninitiativetousecloudcomputingtohelpuniversitiesandpubliclibrariesinAfricaadoptopensourceintegratedlibrarysystems,atransitiontheyarestrug-glingwithastheylacklocaltechnicalsupport.
UsingcloudcomputingmightreduceincentivesfordevelopingICTcapacityatthelocallevel.
Intoday'sacademicenvironment,thevalueofacomputerlabnotconnectedtotheInternetisnegligible.
Facultyandstudentsmustbecon-nectedwiththeresearchcommunityinordertocontributetoandbenefitfromit.
MuchoftheduediligenceinSub-Saharanuniver-sitieshasuncoverednoshortageofcomput-ersbutratheraseverelackofconnectivity.
TheGoogleUniversityAccessProgramaimstoaddresstheunderlyingcauseofthehighcostofInternetbandwidthandaccesstoexperi-encedengineers.
TheprogramoffersInternetbandwidth,GoogleAppsforEducation,train-ingandintegrationgrants,andthesupportofGoogleengineering.
Thisisinreturnfortheuniversitycommittingtoinvestintheircam-pusinfrastructure–ultimatelytheInternetbandwidthwillreachfacultyandstudents.
AccordingtoseveralpresentationsatDigitalAfrica,thereisstrongevidencethatwitheach10%ofanypopulationinAfricahavingaccesstomobileorInternettechnologies,thereisacor-responding1.
8%increaseinthatnation'sGDP.
Thereisstrongevidencethatsimplybring-ingmobileeducationtotheruralandunwiredpopulationwillincreasethenationalwealthandqualityoflifebyanannualincreaseof1.
8%.
Computinghaslongbeenrecognizedasameansofensuringthatpeoplefromdevel-opingcountrieshaveapathwaytobetter-ingtheirlivesandjoiningtherestoftheinter-nationalcommunity.
Computinghasbeenattheheartofmanydevelopmentalprogramsinboththeurbancentresandruralcentres.
CloudcomputingwillplayabigroleinenablingtheITrevolutioninthedevelopingnationstohelpcompaniesmarketproductsandservicestofourbillionconsumersatthebottomofthepyr-amid.
Attheendof2009,therewerefourbil-lionmobilephones.
By2013,thatnumberispro-jectedtogrowtosixbillion.
Thatismanytimesthenumberofpersonalcomputers.
WhenwestartincludingotherInternetcapabledevicesintothemobileworld,likeebookreaders,photoframes,printers,photoandvideocameras,per-sonalnavigators,thenumbersgowayup.
Smallportabledevicesthatcanaccessinformationarealreadypartofeverydaylifeforhundredsofmil-lionsofpeopleinthedevelopedworld.
Also,muchpointstothefactthatdevelopingcoun-trieswillbeusingthemobilecloudbeforetheygettothe'regular'one(Capobiancoa,2009).
ThepopularuptakeofICTdevicesforpersonaluseindevelopingcountriesonlystartedaround2003-2004withthedevelopmentofthepay-as-you-gobusinessmodelformobileservicesandtheloweringofthecostofmobilephonedevices.
Currently,thereisanintensecompeti-tionamongdevicemanufacturersfortheestab-lishmentofanultimateandpervasiveplatformformobiledevices.
Thecompetitionamong13SamGoundar,FijiNokia'sSymbian,Google'sFOSSAndroid,Apple'siPhone,RIM'sBlackberry,Microsoft'sWindowsMobile,andothersissimilartotheearlydaysofthepersonalcomputerandthestrugglebetweenWindowsandApple.
MobilephonetechnologyindevelopingcountriesisinPhase1(theemerg-ingphase)with2Gphones,whilethedevelopedcountriesareusing3Gand4Gphonesforenter-tainment.
Withtheinnovativeuseof2Gphonetechnologybydevelopingcountries'users,onecanwonderiftheywilleverembracecomput-ersandtheInternetlikethedevelopedcoun-trieswhen3Gand4Gphonesgetintotheirhands.
Theymightnothavetheneedforpro-cessingpowerandstoragecapacitylikeothers.
Cloudcomputingmakesnewclassesofappli-cationspossibleanddeliversservicesthatwerenotpossiblebefore.
Examplesinclude(i)mobileinteractiveapplicationsthatarelocation,envi-ronment,andcontext-awareandthatrespondinrealtimetoinformationprovidedbyhumanusers,nonhumansensors(e.
g.
humidityandstresssensorswithinashippingcontainer)orevenfromindependentinformationservices(e.
g.
worldwideweatherdata);(ii)parallelbatchpro-cessing,whichallowsuserstotakeadvantageofhugeamountsofprocessingpower,toanal-yseterabytesofdataforrelativelysmallperiodsoftime,whileprogrammingabstractionslikeGoogle'sMapReduceoritsopen-sourcecounter-partHadoop,whichperformsthecomplexpro-cessofparallelexecutionofanapplicationoverhundredsofservers,transparenttoprogram-mers;(iii)businessanalyticsthatcanusethevastamountofcomputerresourcestounder-standcustomers,buyinghabits,supplychains,andsoonfromvoluminousamountsofdata;and(iv)extensionsofcompute-intensivedesk-topapplicationsthatcanoffloadthedatacrunch-ingtothecloud,leavingonlytherenderingoftheprocesseddataatthefront-endwiththeavailabilityofnetworkbandwidth,reducingthelatencyinvolved(Bandyopadhyayetal.
,2009).
Cloudcomputinghassomeattractivequalitiesforscientificresearchers.
Itdeliversdatastor-ageandprocessingasaservice,ratherthansoft-warethatisloadedontoaharddriveorsome-thingthatsitsonadesksomewhere.
Informationisheldinmassivedatacentresspreadallovertheworldandavailableuponrequest.
Inthecloud,the'supercomputer'existsvirtually,meaningnoclunkyhardware;thesoftwareinterfaceiseasytouse,andscientistshaveaccesstotheirdataandsimulationsfromjustaboutanywherebysim-plyloggingin.
Amazonhasbeenleadingthewayinon-demandcomputingforthepastdecade,invaluablefororganizationswithlargedatabasesthatdonotnecessarilywanttohireanITdepart-ment.
Theserviceisflexibleandpay-as-you-go.
Anhourwillsetyouback80cents,oraslit-tleas10centspergigabyte.
Subscribersbuyonlywhattheyuse,whichisidealforresearchdepart-mentsthatfaceperiodicpeaksinthecompu-tationalpowertheyrequire(Werth,2009).
Anotheropportunityprovidedbycloudservicesistosupportresearchersinreducingthecostsinvolvedwithcomputation.
Onlyasmallnumberofresearchersneedcapabilitycomputing–high-performancecomputing(HPC)systemswithlargenumbersofcores.
Themajorityofresearch-ersarewellservedwithcapacitycomputing–systemsthatsharetheircomputingpowerwithseveralanduptomanyusers.
Thiscapacitycom-putingisexactlywherecloudcomputingexcels.
Recently,MicrosoftandtheNationalScienceFoundationannouncedanagreementthatwillofferselectedindividualresearchersandresearchgroupsfreeaccesstotheWindowsAzurecloudcomputingresources.
Thisinitiativeopensupawholenewspectrumofopportunitiesforbothresearchersandinstitutions(Bristowetal.
,2010).
Cloudservicesofferhighereducationandresearchinstitutionsthepowertochoose:theopportunitytorethinkwhichservicesareneededtosupporteducationandresearchandwhatwillbethebestwaytodeliverthoseser-vices.
Manyservicesarereadilyavailableinthepubliccloud.
Someservicesneedtobepro-curedthroughtheinstitution'sITdepart-ment.
Onlyafewserviceswillrequirecustomdevelopment,eitheraloneorinpartnershipwithotherinstitutions.
Thefinalresultwillmostlikelybealooselycoupled,customisedarrangement,consistingofoff-the-shelfsys-temsandservicesbasedonproventechnology.
Onespecificuseofthecloudforresearchise-Sci-enceCentralintheUnitedKingdom,devel-opedbyProfessorPaulWatsonandhisteamatNewcastleUniversity.
Buildingonexperience14Cloudcomputing:OpportunitiesandissuesfordevelopingcountriesgainedthroughprojectsbytheJointInformationSystemsCommittee,suchasmyExperiment,e-ScienceCentraldeliverscloud-enablede-sci-encecapabilitytoresearchersacrossmanydis-ciplines.
Researchersbuildworkflowsinadrag-and-dropinterfacefrompre-existingsharedmodules,ortheywriteandcontributetheirownworkflowsusingJava,.
net,orPython.
Thesys-temutilizesacollaborativemodelinspiredbyFacebook,withusershavingtheabilitytoformgroupsandsharedataandprocesses.
Thesecuritymodelofe-ScienceCentralworkswiththisele-mentofthesystem:allowingresearcherstoper-mitcollaboratorstoseetheirworkflowsandtocommentonthem.
Thesystemalsohasabuilt-inbloggingtool.
Onceanexperimenterhassetuptheworkflow,heorsheinitiatesthepro-cess,atwhichtimethesystemsendsthecompu-tationalworkeithertoNewcastle'sownserversortothecloud,asappropriate.
Althoughe-Sci-enceCentralcurrentlyusesMicrosoft'sAzureplatform,thesystemcanalsobeconfiguredtouseAmazonEC2.
Ithasabout50regularusersacrossarangeofscientificdisciplines,butWatsonseesthesystemasscalabletothousandsinduecourse.
Healsoseesthepotentialforapplica-tionslikee-ScienceCentraltoopenupforthosewhoatpresentareexcluded,bygeographyorcost,fromaccesstoHPC(Bristowetal.
,2010).
Themobilephonerevolutionindevelopingcountrieshaschangedthewaypeoplecom-municateintheirdailylivesandconductbusi-ness.
Manypeopleneverhadalandlineandinsomecasesnoelectricity.
Someofthemchargedtheirmobilephonesusingachar-gerthatgenerateselectricityfromabike.
Asthecellulardatanetworksbecomemoreandmorematureandreliable,thesameconsum-erswillhaveaccesstotheInternetontheirmobilephoneswithouthavingacomputerorbroadbandathome.
Thiswillenablearangeofapplicationsforcomputinginthecloud.
Thecostsassociatedwithcloudcomputingfac-ingearlyadoptersincludethepotentialcostsofservicedisruptions,datasecurityconcerns,potentialregulatorycomplianceissuesarisingoutofsensitivedatabeingtransferredandpro-cessedorstoredbeyonddefinedborders,lim-itationsinthevarietyandcapabilitiesofthedevelopmentanddeploymentplatformscur-rentlyavailable,difficultiesinmovingproprie-tarydataandsoftwarefromonecloudserviceprovidertoanother,integrationofcloudser-viceswithlegacysystems,costandavailabilityofprogrammingskillsneededtomodifylegacyapplicationtofunctioninthecloudenviron-ment,legacysoftwareCPU-basedlicensingcostsincreasingwhenmovedtoacloudplatform,etc.
,DevelopingcountrieshavetheirhighlyskilledITpeopleworkingindevelopedcountries.
Thesepeopleareskilledtowritenewkindsofsoftwarethatwillfuelthecloudcomputinggrowthbackhome.
Thishasthepotentialandisalreadycaus-ingareverseimmigrationtrendamongsthighlyskilledITworkerswhohavechosentoreturnbacktotheirhomecountriestopursuesuchexistingopportunities.
Theseskilledpeoplearelikelytobringintheirexperienceofthewesternworldtobuildnewgenerationsoftoolsandappli-cationsandinnovativewaystoservetheirpeople.
Itisencouragingtoseethatthereisanincreas-ingamountofongoingresearchoncloudcom-puting.
Mostofthecurrentresearchesarefocusedoncloudcomputingwithinthecon-textoftheInternetandbroadbandandhowitischangingthecomputinglandscapeindevel-opedcountries.
Cloudcomputingwilloffermoreopportunitiestodevelopingcountries.
Moreresearchisnecessaryinordertomakeindividuals,businesses,andtheirgovern-mentsindevelopingcountriesrealisehowtheycanbenefitfrommobileapplicationsenabledviacloudcomputing.
Understandingthechal-lengesandissuesinusingcloudcomputingandovercomingthemwillprovidetheneces-saryfueltothedevelopmenteffortsofthevari-ousstakeholdersinthedevelopingeconomies.
References1.
AnalySysMason(2010)Availableathttp://www.
analysysmason.
com[accessed25March2011]2.
Bandyopadhyayetal.
,(2009)CloudComputing:TheBusinessPerspective.
Availableathttp://ssrn.
com/abstract=1413545[accessed25March2011]3.
BindalA(2007)Towardsabroadbandrevolu-tion.
TheFinancialExpress.
Availableathttp://www.
financialexpress.
com/news/Towards-a-broadband-revolution/207644/[accessed25March2011]4.
BourneV(2010)Researchonadoptionofcloud15SamGoundar,Fiji19.
MotorolaSolutions(2011)Availableathttp://com-munities.
motorola.
com[accessed25March2011]20.
NelsonM(2010)Cloud,thecrowd,andpublicpolicy.
IssuesinScienceandTechnology.
Availableathttp://www.
issues.
org/25.
4/nelson.
html[accessed25March2011]21.
NicholsR(2010)Cloudcomputingbythenumbers:WhatdoallthestatisticsmeanAvailableatwww.
forbes.
com[accessed21April2011].
22.
PhillipsN(2010)Appsaretrackingus–study.
Stuff.
co.
nz,20October.
Availableathttp://www.
stuff.
co.
nz/technology/gadgets/4250953/Apps-are-tracking-us-study[accessed25March2011]23.
SubramaniamK(2008)Cloudcomputinganddevelopingcountries.
CloudAve.
Availableathttp://www.
cloudave.
com/author/krishnan/[accessed21April2011].
24.
SwaminathanK.
S.
(2008)ComputingintheClouds.
Thejournalofhigh-performancebusinessAMCIS2010Proceedings.
Paper574[accessed21April2011]25.
VizzardM(2010)Turningthekeytoprivatecloudcomputing.
Availableat:http://www.
itbusi-nessedge.
com/cm/blogs/vizard/turning-the-key-to-private-cloud-computing/cs=43018[accessed25March2011]26.
Vodafone(2010)PressingForward:VodafoneGroupPlcSustainabilityReportfortheyearending31March2010.
Availableathttp://www.
vodafone.
com/content/dam/vodafone/about/sustaina-bility/reports/[accessed21April2011]27.
VodafoneandUnitedNationsReport(2008)mHealthintheGlobalSouth-LandscapeAnalysis–AReportforVitalWaveConsultingCommissionedforVodafone&UnitedNations.
[accessed25March2011]28.
WeinbergJ(2010)2GApplications!
Anemergingmediachannelindevelopingnations.
Availableathttp://nydigitallab.
ogilvy.
com/2010/05/19/2g-applications-an-emerging-media-channel-in-developing-nations/[accessed25March2011][accessed].
29.
WeissA(2007)ComputingintheClouds.
CloudComputing:PCFunctionsmoveontotheWeb.
Networker,pp.
16–25,December2007.
Availableathttp://portal.
acm.
org/cita-tion.
cfmid=1327512&picked=prox[accessed25March2011].
30.
WerthC(2009)Cloudcomputingismakinghigh-endcomputingreadilyavailabletoresearchersinrichandpoornationsAalike.
Newsweek,25October.
Availableathttp://www.
newsweek.
com/authors/christopher-werth.
html[accessed25March2011][accessed].
31.
Wikipedia(2010)Availableathttp://en.
wikipedia.
org/wiki/Mobile_banking[Accessed25/03/2011]32.
Wikipedia(2011)Availableathttp://en.
wikipedia.
org/wiki/M-Pesa[accessed25March2011]computingbybusinessanddecisionmakers.
Availableathttp://www.
vansonbourne.
com/its-all-in-the-cloud[accessed21October2010].
5.
BristowRetal.
,(2010)Cloudcomputingandthepowertochoose.
EDUCAUSEReview45(3),pp.
14–31.
[accessed25March2011]6.
CapobiancoaF(2009)Fivereasonstocareaboutmobilecloudcomputing.
InternationalFreeandOpenSourceSoftwareLawReview1(2),[pp.
2]Availableatwww.
ifosslr.
org/ifosslr/article/down-load/24/48[accessed21April2011]7.
CarnegieMelonUniversityHumanDevelopmentLab(2011)Availableathttp://www.
millee.
org[accessed25March2011]8.
ChabrowE(2009)Rulesmakeadoptionofcloudcomputingchallengeforagencies.
Survey:64%inGovernmentRankSecurityasTopCloudConcern.
Availableathttp://www.
govinfosecurity.
com/arti-cles.
phpart_id=1348[accessed25March2011]9.
ChongF(2010)CloudcomputingforICT4D.
MicrosoftConsultingServicesOrganization.
Availableathttp://blogs.
msdn.
com/b/fred_chong/archive/2010/01/31/cloud-computing-for-ict4d.
aspx[accessed25March2011].
10.
Colao,V.
(2010).
PressingForward.
VodafoneGroupPlcSustainabilityReport.
Availableat[accessed21April2011]11.
Cornu,C.
(2010).
MobileBanking'MovingThroughDevelopingCountries.
TheJakartaGlobe.
Availableathttp://www.
thejakartaglobe.
com/business/mobile-banking-moving-through-developing-countries/359920[accessed21April2011]12.
DikaiakosMetal.
,(2009)Cloudcomputing:DistributedInternetcomputingforITandscien-tificresearch.
IEEEInternetComputing13(5),pp.
10–13.
[accessed25March2011]13.
e-Agriculture.
Org,(2009).
MobileTelephonyinRuralAreas.
PolicyBrief–March2009.
Availableatwww.
e-agriculture.
org.
[accessed21april2011]14.
FrontlineSMS:medic(2010)TheFrontlineSMS:medicstory.
Availableathttp://medic.
frontlinesms.
com[accessed25March2011]15.
GoogleUniversityAccessProgram(2011)Availableathttp://www.
google.
com/university/africa/guap/[accessed25March2011]16.
GreengardS(2010)CloudComputingandDevelopingNations.
CommunicationsoftheACM53(5),pp.
18.
[accessed21April2011]17.
HarrisJandNunnS(2010)CloudComputing'sGreatPromise.
Availableathttp://www.
forbes.
com/2010/06/30/pharmaceuticals-mobile-sales-forcecom-technology-cloud-computing.
html[accessed25March2011]18.
MotlikS(2008)Mobilelearningindevelopingcountries.
InternationalReviewofResearchinOpenandDistanceLearning9(2),pp3.
[accessed25March2011]
- failuresthinkcloud相关文档
- 网管thinkcloud
- 临沂市thinkcloud
- 恒生thinkcloud
- 融合thinkcloud
- 公司thinkcloud
- simplifythinkcloud
快云科技：香港沙田CN2云服务器低至29元/月起;美国高防弹性云/洛杉矶CUVIP低至33.6元/月起
快云科技怎么样?快云科技是一家成立于2020年的新起国内主机商，资质齐全 持有IDC ICP ISP等正规商家。云服务器网(yuntue.com)小编之前已经介绍过很多快云科技的香港及美国云服务器了，这次再介绍一下新的优惠方案。目前，香港云沙田CN2云服务器低至29元/月起;美国超防弹性云/洛杉矶CUVIP低至33.6元/月起。快云科技的云主机架构采用KVM虚拟化技术，全盘SSD硬盘，RAID10...
宝塔面板企业版和专业版618年中活动 永久授权仅1888元+
我们一般的站长或者企业服务器配置WEB环境会用到免费版本的宝塔面板。但是如果我们需要较多的付费插件扩展，或者是有需要企业功能应用的，短期来说我们可能选择按件按月付费的比较好，但是如果我们长期使用的话，有些网友认为选择宝塔面板企业版或者专业版是比较划算的。这样在年中大促618的时候，我们也可以看到宝塔面板也有发布促销活动。企业版年付899元，专业版永久授权1888元起步。对于有需要的网友来说，还是值...
Dynadot多种后缀优惠域名优惠码 ，.COM域名注册$6.99
Dynadot 是一家非常靠谱的域名注册商家，老唐也从来不会掩饰对其的喜爱，目前我个人大部分域名都在 Dynadot，还有一小部分在 NameCheap 和腾讯云。本文分享一下 Dynadot 最新域名优惠码，包括 .COM，.NET 等主流后缀的优惠码，以及一些新顶级后缀的优惠。对于域名优惠，NameCheap 的新后缀促销比较多，而 Dynadot 则是对于主流后缀的促销比较多，所以可以各取所...
thinkcloud为你推荐
-
京沪高铁上市首秀哪些企业建设京沪高铁？巫正刚想在淘宝开一个类似于耐克、阿迪之类的店、需要多少钱、如何能够代理同ip站点同ip站点很多有没有影响？百度指数词百度指数是指，词不管通过什么样的搜索引擎进行搜索，都会被算成百度指数吗？avtt4.comCOM1/COM3/COM4是什么意思？？/lcoc.top日本Ni-TOP是什么意思？dadi.tv海信电视机上出现英文tvservice是什么意思?www.1diaocha.com手机网赚是真的吗本冈一郎只想问本冈一郎的效果真的和说的一样吗？大概多长时间可以管用呢？用过的进！盗车飞侠请教:游戏盗车飞侠4怎么开飞机,怎么买枪,怎么开坦克啊?