Cloud Computing: “IT as a service” concept is 20 years old, advances in processor software techno along with reduced cost

of telecommunications (with high BW availability) and increased cost of system administration (IT labor) has made it
a reality | cloud computing refers to the applications delivered as services over the internet, the hardware and systems software in the data centers that provide those services | The services are referred to as SaaS (Software as a Service),
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) | History: cloud traces back to the origins of utility computing a concept that comp scientist John McCarthy proposed in 1961, the public has been utilizing internet based
computer utilities since mid 1990s through search engines, email services, open publishing platforms, social media | Salesforce in the late 1990s pioneered the notation of bringing remotely provisioned services into the enterprize, in 2002
amazon launched the AWS platform a suite of enterprise oriented services that provide remotely provisioned storage computing resources and bness func | Network Cloud was introduces in the early 1990s throughout the networking
industry, it referred to an abstraction layer derived in the delivery method of data across hetero public and semi public networks that were primarily packet switched although cellular used the term as well | In 2006 the term cloud
computing emerged in the commercial arena, during the time when AWS launched its elastic computer cloud EC2 services that enabled organizations to lease computing capacity and processing power to run their applications | What is
cloud computing? A model for enabling convenient on demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (networks servers storage apps services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal
management effort or service provider interaction | NIST published its original definition in 2009 “cloud comp is a modl for enabling ubiquitous convenient on demand network access to a shared pool of configurable comp resources … This
cloud model is composed of 5 essential characteristics, 3 models and 4 deployment models | Our textbook defines it as “ cloud comp is a specialized form of distributed comp that introduces utilization models for remptely provisioning
scalable and measurable resources” | Evolution to the Cloud: mainframe computers 1960-1985, personal computers 1985, LAN 1990, ISP 1995, PaaS 2008| Cloud Computing Background: (1) Features: use of internet based services to
support bness process, rent it services on a utility like basis (2) attributes: rapid deployment, low startup costs / capital investment, costs based on usage or subscription, multitenant sharing of services resources (3) essential characteristics:
on demand self service, ubiquitous network access, location independent resource pooling, rapid elasticity, measured service | Business drivers: (1) capacity planning: lead strategy: adding capacity to an IT resource in anticipation of
demand. Lag Strategy: adding capacity when it resources reaches its full capacity, Match Strategy: assing it resource capacity in small increments as demand increases (2) cost reduction: the cost of acquiring new infrastructure, the cost of
its ongoing ownership (3) organizational agility | Who should use cloud computing? If your own security is weak missing features or below avg, if the web service interfaces don’t introduce too many new vulnerabilities | Techno
Innovations: clustering, grid computing, virtualization, techno innovations vs enabling techno | Cloud: a distinct IT enviro that is designed for the purpose of remotely provisioning scalable and measurable IT resources, can be based on the
use of any protocols that allow for the remote access to its it resources | IT resources: is a physical or virtual IT related artifact that can be either software based such as a virtual server or a custom software program or hardware based such
as a physical server or a network device | On premise: an it resource that is hosted in a conventional IT enter prise within an organ boundary (that doesn’t specifically represent a cloud) is located on the premises of the IT enterprise, an on
premise it resource can access and interact with a cloud based it resource, can be moved to a cloud thereby changing it to a cloud based it resource, redundant deployments of an it resource can exist in both on premise and cloud based
enviro | Cloud provider: the party that provides cloud based IT resources | Cloud Consumer: the party that uses cloud based IT resources | Scaling: represents the ability of the IT resource to handle increased or decreased usage demands |
horizontal scaling (scaling out and scaling in) pooled physical servers with increased number of virtual servers, less expensive, resource replication and automated scaling, additional IT resources needed, not limited by hardware capacity |
vertical scaling (scaling up and scaling down) 2 CPUs to 4 CPUs, more expensive, additional setup is normally needed, no additional IT resources needed, limited by maximum hardware capacity |Cloud service is any IT resource that is made
remotely accessible via a cloud | Cloud SLA: service usage conditions that are human readable and part of a service contract btw a cloud provider and cloud consumer that describes QoS features behaviors and limitations of a cloud based
service or other provisions, an SLA provides details of various measurable characteristics related to IT outcomes such as uptime security characteristics and other specific QoS features including availability reliability and performance, since
implementation of a service is hidden from the could consumer an SLA becomes a critical specification | Cloud Service Consumer: is a temporary runtime role assumed bby a software program when it accesses a cloud service | Pros of
Cloud computing: users do not pay for hardware infrastructuresoftware or system administration, less hardware means less noise and elec, less staff means less cost, pay for usage as you would for elec usage, lower IT cost | Cons of Cloud
computing: need a wider bandwidth since there could be latency concerns, systems not available if internet service goes down at wither end or if the provider foes down, security of data (Government/Legal regulations) you may not want
to use a data cloud in another country whose laws govern data differently or cannot guarantee security, hardware dependent software may not run | Cloud Computing status: rapidly becoming a mainstream practice, numerous providers
with almost all major industry names involved | Cloud Computing Challenges: dealing with t oo many issues such as billing, virtualization, QoS, SLA, trust, program enviro and app dev, software engine complexity, reliability, pricing etc |
Reduced investments and proportional costs: a cloud’s measured usage characteristic represents a feature set that allows measured operational expenditures (directly related to bness performance) to replace anticipated capital
expenditures, also referred to as proportional costs | Common measurable benefits to cloud consumers include: on demand access to pay as you go computing resources on a short term basis (such as an hour) and the ability to release
these computing resources when they are no longer needed, the perception of having unlimited computing resources that are available on demand thereby reducing the need to prepare for provisioning, the ability to add or remove IT
resources at a fine grained level such as modifying available storage disk space by single GB increments, abstraction of the infrastructure so apps are not locked into devices or locations and can be easily moved if needed | Increased
scalability: by providing pools of it resources along with tools and techno designed to leverage them collectively clouds can instantly and dynamically allocate it resources to cloud consumers on demand or via cloud consumer’s direct
configuration, this empowers cloud consumers to scal their cloud based it resources to accommodate processing fluctuations and peaks automatically or manually, cloud based IT resources can be released auto or manually as processing
demands decrease | Increased Availability and Reliability: availability and reliabililty of IT resources are directly associated with tangible bness benefits, outages limit the time an IT resource can be open for bness for its customers thereby
limiting its usage and revenue generating potential, runtime failures that are not immediately corrected can have a more significant impact during high volume usage periods, it is important that organizations corefully examine the SLAs
offered yb cloud providers when considering the leasing of cloud based services and IT resources | Risk and Challenges: several of the most critical cloud computing challenges pertaining mostly to cloud consumers that use IT resources
located in the public clouds are presented and examined, increased security vuln, reduced operational governance control, limited portability btw cloud providers, multi regional compliance and legal issues | Increased Sec Vuln: it can be
difficult to establish a security architecture that spans such a trust boundary without introducing vuln, unless cloud consumers and cloud providers happen to support the same or compatible sec frameworks which is unlikely with public
clouds | Reduced operational governance control: an unreliable cloud provider may not maintain the gaurentees it makes with SLAs that were published for its cloud services. This can jeopardize the quality of the cloud consumer solutions
that rely on these cloud services, longer geo distances btw the cloud consumer and cloud provider can require additional network hops that introduce fluctuating latency and potential bandwidth constraints | Limited Portability btw cloud
provider: due to a lack of established industry standards within the cloud computing industry public clouds are commonly proprietary to various extents, portability is a measure used to determine the impact of moving cloud consumer IT
resources and data btw clouds | Multiregional compliance and legal issues: 3 rd party cloud providers will frequently est data centers in affordable or convenient geo locations, another potential legal issue pertains to the accessibility and
disclosure of data, most regulatory frameworks recognize that cloud consumer organizations are ultimately responsible for the security integrity and storage of their own data even when it is held by an external cloud provider

Why does not everyone use clouds? Clouds act as a big black box nothing inside the cloud is visible to the client, clients have no idea or control over what happens inside the cloud, even if the cloud
provider is honest it can have malicious system admins who can tamper with the VMs and violate confidentiality and integrity, clouds are still subj to traditional data CIA and privacy issues plus some
additional attacks | Roles and Boundaries: organ and humans can assume different types of pre defined roles depending on how they relate to an or interact with a cloud and its hosted IT resources, each of
the upcoming roles participates in and carries out responsibilities in relation to cloud based activity | Roles and Boundaries: org an humans can assume
different types of predefined roles depending on how they relate to and or interact with a cloud and its hosted IT resources, each of the upcoming roles
participates in and carries out responsibilities in relation to cloud based activity | NIST SP 500-292 Cloud Computing Security Reference Architecture
Approach | Cloud Resource Administrator: is the person or organ responsible for administering a cloud based IT resource | Cloud auditor: a 3 rd party that
conducts indep assessments of cloud enviro assumes the role of the cloud auditor | Cloud Broker: this role is assumed by a party that assumes the
responsibility of managing and negotiating the usage of cloud services btw cloud consumers and cloud providers | Cloud Carrier: the party responsible for
providing the wirelevel connectivity btw cloud consumers and cloud providers assumes the role of the cloud carrier | Organizational Boundary: represents
the physical perimeter that surrounds a set of IT resources that are owned and governed by an organization | Trust boundary: is a logical perimeter that
typically spans beyond physical boundaries to represent the extent to which IT resources are trusted | Cloud Characteristics: ondemand usage, ubiquitous
access, multitenancy (and resource pooling), elasticity, measured usage, resiliency | Single Tenant: each cloud consumer has a separate IT resource
instance | Multitenant: a single instance of an IT resource such as a cloud storage device serves multiple consumers | Cloud Delivery Models: represent a
specific pre packaged combination of IT resources offered by acloud provider, 3 common cloud delivery models have become widely est and formalized IaaS,
PaaS, SaaS others include Storage aaS, Database aaS, Security aaS, Communication aaS, Integration aaS, Testing aaS, | IaaS: (full admin control)(sets up and
configs bare infra, storage networking hosting requirements) is to provide cloud consumers with a high level of control and responsibility over its
configuration and utilization | PaaS: ( limited admin control )(develop test deploy , preconfig platform) predefined ready to
use enviro comprised of already deployed and configured IT resources, common uses include: extend an on premise enviro
into the cloud for scalability and econ purposes, uses the ready made enviro instead of on prem enviro, the cloud consumer
wants to become a cloud provider and deploys its own cloud services to be made available to other external cloud
consumers | SaaS: (usage related configuration, access to front end user interface) (implements manages and maintains
cloud service, configs cloud)used to make a resusable cloud service widely available often commercially to a range of cloud consumers | Cloud deployment models: public
cloud, community cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud | Public Cloud: owned by a 3 rd party | Community Cloud: access is limited to a specific community, may be jointly
owned | Private Cloud: owned by a single organization, technically both the cloud provider and consumer, roles are separated by departments | Hybrid clouds: comprised of 2 or more different cloud
deployment models | Virtual Private Cloud: dedicated cloud or hosted cloud, self contained cloud enviro hosted and managed by a public cloud provider and made avail to a cloud consumer | Inter Cloud:
based on an architecture comprised of 2 or more inter connected clouds | Problems associated with cloud computing: security problems stem from loss of control, lack of trust, multitnenacy, problems
arize from 3rd party management | Loss of control in the Cloud: data apps resources are located with provider, user identity management is hanled by the cloud, user access control rules security policies
and enforcement are managed by the cloud provider, consumer relies on provider to ensure : data sec and privacy, resource avail, monitoring and repairing of services/ resources |Lack of trust in the cloud:
opposite sides of the same coin (J Camp), people only trust when it pays (econ’s view), Key escrow (clipper chip) | multi tenancy issues: multi users share the same physical infra so an attacker can be on the
same physical machine as the target | Threat model: helps in analyzing a sec problem design mitigation strategies and evaluate solutions, steps: (1) identify attackers, assets, threats and other components
(2) rank the threats (3) choose mitigation strategies (4) build solutions based on the strategies | Threat Model components: attacker model, attack goals, vuln threats | Malicious insiders at client: learn
passwords authentication info, gain control of VM | Malicious insiders at cloud provider: log client comms, read unencrypted data, peek into VM, make copies of Vms, monitor network | Outside attacker:
listen (passive) insert traffic (active) probe cloud structure (active) launch DoS, goals: intrusion, network analysis, MitM, cartography

Connectionless Packet Switching (Datagram Networks): end to end (sender receiver pair) data flows are divided into packets of a limited size that are
received and processed through netowrk switches and routers then queued and forwarded from one intermediary node to the next, each packet
carries the necessary location info such as IP or MAC to be processed and routed at every source intermdiary and destination mode | Node: anything
connected to the network, comp, printer | segment: any portion of the network that is
segmented by a switch bridge or router | backbone: the main cabling of a netowrk that all the
segments connect to | ISO/OSI model: (1) Physical: (network adapter) transmits raw bit
stream over the physical medium (2) Data Link: (device driver)defines the format of data on
the netowrk, framing and error control (3) Network Layer: decides which physical path the
data will take, IP routing (4) transport layer: transmits dat ausing transmission protocols TCP UDP etc, checksums are calc, long message blocks are divided into smaller ones (5) Session Layer: maintains
connections and is resposible for controlling ports and sessions (6) presentation layer: ensures that datais in a usable format and is where data encrytion occurs, data formatting, compression, encryption
(7) application layer: human computer interaction layer where apps can access the network services SMTP FTp etc | TCP IP: Application (contains the logic needed to support various user apps) -> Transport
( host to host, collection of mechanisms in a single and common layer) -> Internet (IP provides the routing function across the multiple networks) -> network interface ( concerned with access to and routing
data across a network for 2 end systems attached to the same network) | Physical Layer: covers physical interfaces btw PC or workstation and a transmission medium or network) | TCP: uses a set of rules
to exchange messages with other internet points at the information packet level | Internet Protocol: uses a set of rules to send and receive messages at the internet address level | Bandwidth issues: end to
end bandwidth is determined by the transmission capacity of the shared data links that connect intermediary nodes, transmission ques in the network infrastructure can result in heavy load conditions that
also increase network latency, bandwidth is critical for apps that require substantial amounts of data to be transferred to and from the cloud while latency is critical for apps with a bness requirement of swift response
times | latency: is the amount of time it takes a packet to travel from one data node to another | Data Centers: powersharing, higher efficiency for resources and improved accessability for IT; typically comprized of:
virtualization (security aware design operation and managemnt) standardization and modularity ( facilities) automation (comp hardware) remote operation and management (storage hardware) high availability (network
hardware) | Hard Disk Arrays: divide and replicate data mong multiple physical drives and increase performance and redundancy by including spare disks, often RAID scheme) | I/O Caching: performed through hard disk
array controllers which enhance disk access times and performance by data caching | Hot Swappable Hard Disks: can be safly removed from arrays without requiring prior powering down | storage virtualization: realized
through the use of virtualized hard disks and storage sharing | Fast Data Replication mechansims: include snapshotting, saving a vm’s memory into a hypervisor readable file, volume cloning: copying cirtual or physical
hard disk volumes and partitions | Network storage devices: Storage Area Network (SAN): physical data storage media are connected through dedicated network and provide block level data storage access using industry
standard protocols such as SCSI; Network attached storage (NAS): hard drive arrays are contained and managed by this dedicated device which connects through a network and facilitates access to data using file centric
data access protocols like the NFS or SMB | Virtualization technologies: servers, storage, network, power ( a physical UPS and power distribution units can be abstracted into what are commonly referred to as virtual UPSs)
Operation Sys based virtual: is the installation of virtu software in a preexiting OS which is call the host OS | Hardware based virtu: the installation of virtu software directly on the physical host hardware so as to bypass
the host os which is presumably engaged with os based virt | Virtualization infrastructure management (VIM: tools that collectively manage virt IT resources and rely on a centralized management module otherwise
known as a controller that runs a dedicated comp | performance overhead: virt may not be ideal for complex sys that have high workloads with little use for resource sharing and replication | Open Virtualization Format
OVF: standardization of virtual disk image formats are dedicated to alleviating this concern | Uniform Resource Locator URL: standard syntax used for creating ids that point to web based resources, using a logical network
location | HTTP: primary comm protocol used to exchange content on web, URLs are transmitted via HTTP(s) | Markup langs (HTML, presentation of web pages; XML, definition of vocabularies used to associate meaning
to web based data via metadata) provide lightweight means of expressing web centric data and metadata | data tier isolation: tenants can have individual databases tables and schemes isolated | Containerization: is an os
level virtu techno used to deploy and run apps and cloud services without the need to deploy a virt server for each solution, a cloud service running inside a container can only see the container’s contents and devices
attached to that container, benefits are portability to move the container to any enviro that has the same OS, efficient resource utilization | container hosting and pods: a single process of 1 cloud service is normally
deployed in each container though more than one cloud service or process acan be deployed in each, the amount of resources each contrainer consumes can be restricted, multi containers can be deployed in a logical
construct called a pod | Container Architecture: container engine, container build file, container image, conatiner, netowrk address, storage device

Confidentiality: is the characteristic of something being made accessible only to authorized parties, in a cloud enviro it pertains to restricting access to data in transit and stoarge | Integrity: is the charac of
not having been altered by an unauthorized party, in the cloud can a cloud consumer be gauenteed that the data it transmits to a cloud service matrches the data received by the cloud service, can extend
to how data is stored processed and retreived | Authenticity: is the charac of something having been provided by an authorized source, non repudiation: the inability of a party to deny or challenge the
authentication of an interaction, proof that these interactions are uniquely linked to an authorized source | Availability: is the chac of being accessible and usable during a specified time period | Threat: is a
potential security violation that can challenge defenses in an attempt to breach privacy and or cause harm, a threat that is carried out results in an attack | Vuln: is a eakness that can be exploited | Risk: is
the possibility of loss or harm arising from performing an activity, measured by its threat level and the number of possible or known vuln, 2 metrics used to determine risk: 1 the probability of a threat
occuring to exploit a vuln in the it resource, 2 the expectation of loss upon the it resource being compromised | security control: are countermeasures used to prevent or responsed to security threats to
reduce or avoid risk | security mechanisms: countermeasures are typically described in terms of security mechanisms which are components comprising a defensive framework that protects it resources
information and services | security policies: a set of rules and regulations | threat agents: an entity that poses a threat bc it is capable of carrying out an attack | anonymous attacker in the cloud is a non
trusted cloud service consumer without permissions in the cloud | malicious service agent: is able to intercept and forward the netowrk traffic that flows within a cloud, typically exists as a service agent (or
a program pretending to be a service agent) with compromised malicious logic, can also exist as an external program able to remotely intercept and potentially corrupt message contents | trusted attacker:
shares it resources in the same cloud enviro as the cloud consumer and attempts to exploit legit credentials to target cloud providers and the cloud tenants with whom they share resources, also known as
malicious tenant, can use a cloud based it resource for a wide range of exploitations including the hacking of weak authentication breaking encryption spamming email accounts launch common attacks
DoS | Malicious insider: human threat agents acting on behald of or in relation to the cloud provider, current or former employees ot third parties | traffic eavesdropping: occurs when data ebing
transferred to or within a cloud is passively intercepted by a malicious service agent for illegitimate infomration gathering purposes | malicious intermediary: threats arises when messages are intercepted
and altered by a malicious service agent thereby potentially compromising the messages confidentiality and or integrity, amy also insert harmful data into the message before forwarding it to its destination
| DoS: is to overload it resources to the point where they cannot function properly, launced by increased workload of repeated communication requests,
netowrk is overloaded with traffic, or multi requests are sent consuming memory | insufficient authorization: an attack that occurs when access is granted to
an attacker erroneosly or too broadly resulting in the attacker getting access ti ut resources that are normally protected | weak authentication: can result
when weak pass or shared accounts are used to protect it resources | virtualization attack: exploits vuln in the virtu platform to jeopardize its CIA |
overlapping trust boundaries: if physical it resources wihtin a cloud are shared by diff cloud service consumers these cloud servie consumers have overlapping
trust boundaries | container attack: the use of containerization introduces a lack of isolation from the host os, since container deployment on the same
machine share the same host os security threats can increase bc access to the entire sys can be gained, if the underlying host is compromised all containers
running on the host may be impacted | Risk assessment: the cloud enviro is analyzed to identify potential vuln and shorcomings that threats can exploit | Risk
Treatment: mitigation policies and plans are designed during the risk treatment stage with the intent of
treating the risks that were discovered during the risk assessment | risk control: the risk control stage is related
to risk monitoring a 3 step process is comprised of surveying related events, reviewing these events to
determine the effectiveness of previous assessments and treatments, and identifying any policy adjustment
needs | threat model: helps in analyzing a security problem, design mitigation strat and eval solutions STEPS: 1 id attackers, assets threats and other comp 2
tank the threats 3 choose mitigation strategies 4 build solutions based on the strategies | Host level: SaaS/PaaS hide the OS from the end user, host security
responsibilities are transferred to the CSP, IaaS host security: hypervisor VMM security, bigger prob in multitenant arch | EDoS: an attack against the billing
model that underlies the cost of providing a service with the goal of bankrupting the service itself, application level security issue | Data security and storage
(1) data in transit: confidentiality and integrity using secured protocols, confidentiality with non secured protocols and encryption (2) data at rest | Data
lineage: knowing when and wehre the data was located with in cloud is important for audit compliance | data provenance: computational accuracy as well as data integrity

Remote Admin System: the remote admin system mechanism provides tools and user interfaces for external cloud resource admin to config and admin cloud based it resources | Remote Admin Portals 2 types: (1) usage
and admin portal: a general purpose portal that centralizes management controls to different cloud based IT resources and can further provide IT resource usage reports (2) Self Service Portal: this is essentially a shopping
portal that allows cloud consumers to search an up to date list of cloud services and IT resources that are available from a cloud proiver, usually lease free | API: a set of programming code that enables data transmission
btw one software product and another, it also contains the terms of this data axchange | API components: application programming intergaces consist of 2 components (1) technical spec describing the data exchange
options between solutions with the specification done in the form of a request for processing and data delivery protocols (2) software interface written to the spec that represents it | REST: modern API adhere to
standards HTTP and REST that are dev friendly easily accessible and understood broadly, the REST API (RESTful API) is an app programming interface that conforms to the constrains of REST arch style and allows for
itneraction with RESTful web services. REST stands for representational state transfer and was created by Roy Fielding. REST is a set of architectural constraints not a protocol or a standard | Resource managemnet system
RMS: mechanism helps coordinate IT resources in response to management actions performed by both cloud consumers and cloud providers | core to this system is the Virtual Infrastructure Manager VIM that
coordinates the server hardware so that virtual server instances can be created from the most expedient underlying physical server. A VIM is a commercial product that can be used to manage a range of virtual IT
resources across multiple physical servers | Automated tasks throug the Resource amangement system: managing virtual IT resource templates that are used to create pre-built instances such as virtual server images,
allocating and releasing virtual it resources into the avilable physical infra in response to the starting pausing resuming and termination of virtual it resource instances, coordinating it resources in relation to the
involvement of other mechanisms such as resource replication load balancer and failover system, enforcing usage and security policies throughout the lifecycle of cloud service instances, and monitoring operational
conditions of it resources | Billing management system: dedicated to the collection and processing of usage data as it pertains to cloud provider accounting and cloud consumer billing. Relies on pay per use monitoring to
gather runtime usage data that is stored in a repository that the system components then draw from for biliing reporting and invoicing Case study examples provide scenarios in which organizations assess, use, and manage cloud computing
models and technologies. • The organizations presented for case study are: • Advanced Telecom Networks (ATN) – a global company that supplies network equipment to the telecommunications industry • DTGOV – a public organization that specializes in IT infrastructure and technology
services for public sector organizations • Innovartus Technologies Inc. – a medium-sized company that develops virtual toys and educational entertainment products for children | Advanced Telecom Networks (ATN) • ATN is a company that provides network equipment to
telecommunications industries across the globe. Over the years, ATN has grown considerably and their product portfolio has expanded to accommodate several acquisitions, including companies that specialize in infrastructure components for Internet, GSM, and cellular providers • ATN
is now a leading supplier of a diverse range of telecommunications infrastructure • ATN has begun looking for ways to increase its competitiveness and efficiency by taking advantage of new technologies, especially those that can assist in cost reduction | DTGOV • DTGOV is a public
company that was created in the early 1980s by the Ministry of Social Security. • The decentralization of the ministry’s IT operations to a public company under private law gave DTGOV an autonomous management structure with significant flexibility to govern and evolve its IT
enterprise | Business Goals and New Strategy • The roadmap addresses the following key points: • Business Benefits – Concrete business benefits associated with the standardization of service portfolios under the umbrella of cloud computing delivery models need to be defined. For
example, how can the optimization of IT infrastructure and operational models result in direct and measurable cost reductions? • Service Portfolio – Which services should become cloud-based, and which customers should they be extended to? • Technical Challenges – The limitations of
the current technology infrastructure in relation to the runtime processing requirements of cloud computing models must be understood and documented. Existing infrastructure must be leveraged to whatever extent possible to optimize up-front costs assumed by the development of
the cloudbased service offerings. • Pricing and SLAs – An appropriate contract, pricing, and service quality strategy needs to be defined. Suitable pricing and service-level agreements (SLAs) must be determined to support the initiative | INNOVARTUS TECHNOLOGIES INC. • The primary
business line of Innovartus Technologies Inc. is the development of virtual toys and educational entertainment products for children. These services are provided through a Web portal that employs a role-playing model to create customized virtual games for PCs and mobile devices. •
The games allow users to create and manipulate virtual toys (cars, dolls, pets) that can be outfitted with virtual accessories that are obtained by completing simple educational quests. • The main demographic is children under 12 years.