The aim of the thesis is to get an overview of the database services available in cloud computing environment, investigate the security risks associated with it and propose the possible countermeasures to minimize the risks. The thesis also analyzes two cloud database service providers namely; Amazon RDS and Xeround. The reason behind choosing these two providers is because they are currently amongst the leading cloud database providers and both provide relational cloud databases which makes the comparison useful. The focus of the analysis has been to provide an overview of their database services as well as the available security measurements. A guide has been appended at the end of the report to help with technical configurations of database migration and connecting applications to the databases for the two mentioned cloud database providers. The thesis has been conducted on behalf of the Swedish Armed Forces and after reviewing the security risks associated with cloud databases, it is recommended that the Armed Forces should refrain from public cloud database services. Security deficiencies such as vague physical security and access control procedures, unavailability of preferred monitoring tools and most importantly the absence of proper encryption and key management schemes make the public database services useless for an authority such as the Armed Forces.  The recommended solutions are therefore to either use a jointly-owned community cloud database solution for less confidential data only or to use on-premise private cloud database solution for all but the TOP SECRET classified data.     Keywords: Cloud computing, cloud database services, Swedish Armed Forces, security risks, Xeround, Amazon RDS

It is proved that cloud computing has many benefits, and cloud services with flexible licensing model and cost saving features bring opportunities to enterprise's IT operations. Conventional ERP system, an important component of enterprises, is impacted by on-demand cloud services also. Integrating conventional ERP system with cloud services becomes a trend because it brings new processing capabilities without introducing significant changes to existing system. But previous studies about integrating ERP and cloud usually focused on SaaS (Software as a Service). PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) are not discussed much. People sometimes even confuse cloud service with SaaS. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to present a framework that can describe respective implications of integrating ERP with three types of cloud services: SaaS, PaaS and IaaS. Qualitative methods such as systematic literature review and interviews are adopted to execute the research, so data collected through different sources can complement each other in order to support presenting the framework of integrating conventional ERP system and cloud services. The integration at SaaS level is for achieving immediate business value and productivity enhancement. At PaaS level the objective of integration is to enhance software development life cycle management. And the main integrating intent at IaaS level is to enable scalability and reliability of hardware resources without changing existing IT infrastructure. Furthermore, challenges and opportunities for integrating ERP with different cloud services are studied and motivation is derived from analyzing. Finally the key points are arranged in the presented framework of integration between conventional ERP systems and cloud services.

Jährlich sterben weltweit 1,35 Millionen Menschen durch Verkehrsunfälle. Ob Cloud-Computing zu einer Reduzierung dieser Zahl beitragen wird, wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit untersucht. Zunächst werden Cloud-Anwendungen ermittelt, welche im Straßenverkehr verwendet werden und Einfluss auf die Straßenverkehrssicherheit haben. Anschließend wird deren genauer Einfluss auf die Straßenverkehrssicherheit durch die Betrachtung von Stu-dienergebnissen, Herstellerangaben sowie eigenen Kalkulationen untersucht. Zudem werden die Gefahren von Cyberangriffen und Netzausfällen für die ermittelten Anwendungen analysiert. Es folgt eine kritische Diskussion sowie die Zusammenfassung des Erarbeiteten: Cloud-Computing ermöglicht durch den einfachen, risikoarmen Zugang zu unlimitierten Rechenressourcen die Entwicklung und den Betrieb von Anwendungen, die Einfluss auf die Verkehrssicherheit nehmen. Es ist davon auszugehen, dass die Anwendungen bei einer weiter voranschreitenden Felddurchdringungsrate positiven Einfluss auf die Straßenverkehrssicherheit in Deutschland und anderen Industriestaaten nehmen und damit aktiv zur Reduzierung der Anzahl Verkehrstoter und -verletzter beitragen werden. Cloud-Computing wird somit ein indirekt positiver Einfluss auf die Straßenverkehrssicherheit zugeschrieben. / 1.35 million people die in traffic accidents worldwide every year. Whether cloud computing contributes to a reduction of this number is examined in the present work. First, cloud com-puting applications are identified, which are used in road traffic and have an impact on traffic safety. The exact influence on traffic safety is then examined by considering study results, manufacturer information and through own calculations. In addition, the dangers of cyber-attacks and network failures are examined in the context of the identified applications. This is followed by a critical discussion and a summary of what has been worked out: Cloud computing enables the development and operation of applications that affect traffic safety through simple, low-risk access to unlimited computing resources. It can be assumed that the applica-tions will have a positive influence on traffic safety in Germany and other industrialized countries and will thus actively contribute to reducing the number of deaths and injuries, given that the penetration rate is further increasing. Cloud computing is thus attributed an indirect positive influence on road safety.

Cloud computing has gained popularity due to its ability to simplify IT infrastructure, reduce costs, and provide remote access. Among EU countries and company sizes, Sweden stands out with the highest rate of cloud computing adoption. However, there is a lack of concrete research in the literature focusing on the determinants of cloud computing adoption specifically by large companies in Sweden. Previous studies have examined cloud adoption from various perspectives, with a particular emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rather than large companies. Additionally, technology-related determinants have received more attention compared to those related to business, conceptualization, and application domains. To address this knowledge gap, this research aims to investigate the determinants of CC adoption in large companies in Sweden. The research question was formulated as follows: What are the determinants of cloud computing adoption in large companies in Sweden? Case study was selected as the research strategy, and the data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed through thematic analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees working at a large company in Sweden, who have experience in the IT and cloud computing field. The TOE framework was used to categorize the determinants as sub-themes into three themes: technology context, organization context, and environment context. In Company X, 30 determinants were found, with 20 aligning with previous literature. These included factors such as security, compatibility, scalability, top management support, and competitive pressure. Additionally, 10 new determinants were identified, including robustness, perceived usefulness, innovativeness, knowledge and training, and geographical locations/data centers. The experience and lessons learned from Company X could assist other companies to have better preparation for cloud adoption by understanding the significance of various potential determinants and underlying problems.

EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) presenterades år 2016, den nya förordningen för att skydda personuppgifter. Med införandet av GDPR står organisationer inför nya krav när det kommer till dataintegritet och skydd av känslig information. Samtidigt ökar användandet av molnlagring vilket gör frågan mer komplext, på grund av till exempel internationell lagstiftning mot molnlagringsleverantörer. Den frågeställning som ställdes i denna studie var ”Hur kan svenska organisationer säkerställa efterlevnad av GDPR vid användning av hybrid- och tredjepartslagringslösningar?” En kvalitativ studie användes för att svara på denna fråga. Därefter användes semistrukturerade intervjuer för att samla in empiri från flera svenska organisationer. Sedan analyserades empirin tematiskt i flera olika faser, där den blev kodad och dessa koder bildade olika teman. Resultatet av studien visar på att svenska företag har utmaningar med att efterleva GDPR vid användning av hybrid – och amerikanska molnlagringslösningar. De rekommendationer som kan ges till svenska organisationer är att använda sig av någon form av klassificering. Detta gör det enklare att hantera sin data, att veta hur och var ens data lagras. / The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was presented in 2016, a new regulation to protect personal data. With the introduction of GDPR, organizations face new requirements when it comes to data integrity and the protection of sensitive information. The use of cloud storage makes the issue more complex, due to, for example, international legislation against cloud storage providers. The question asked in this study is "How can Swedish organizations be granted compliance with the GDPR when using hybrid and third-party storage solutions?". A qualitative study was used to answer this question. A literature study was carried out to produce a basis for the interview material. Semi-structured interviews were then used to gather empirical evidence from several Swedish organizations. The empirical evidence was then thematically analysed in several different phases, where it was coded, and these codes formed different themes. The results of this study shows that Swedish companies have challenges with complying with GDPR when using hybrid and American cloud storage solutions. The recommendations given in this study to Swedish organizations is to use some form of classification. This makes it easier to manage data, to know how and where data is stored.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Growth of interest and need for many-core systems have steadily increased over the recent years. Industry trends lead many-core systems to become increasingly larger and more complex. Because of these realities it is important to researchers, academia, and industry that the design of these many-core systems be straightforward and comprehensive. There is a need for a many-core simulator that can be simple to use and learn from for students, dynamic and capable of emulating large systems for researchers, and flexible with fast turnover for industry designers. At the same time, as many-core systems have been becoming popular and complex, and hence their design, the long standing field of Cloud Computing has become more prevalent and feasible to use. Such cloud computing platforms as Windows Azure allow for the easy access and use of resources that in the past were simply not available to ordinary users. Large tasks can be performed in SaaS Cloud Computing models and be accessible from a small, lightweight device using nothing more than a web browser. As a solution to the needs for designing future many-core systems, we present a Many-Core Simulator on Azure Cloud Computing Platform called M3C Simulator. This is targeted at teaching, research, and industry and as such needs to be easy to use, flexible, and powerful. The Could Computing service model meets all these needs. This thesis discusses overall design of the M3C Simulator and how it leverages Cloud Computing resources, the simple-to-use and understand Interface layout, and the software design including program flow and dynamic compilation.

No keywords provided in dissertation / Cloud Computing has gained traction since its emergence and client organisations that want to benefit from the Cloud are looking for ways to migrate their on-premise applications to the Cloud. To assist client organisations with migration projects, researchers and practitioners have proposed various Cloud migration approaches. However, these approaches differ in applicability depending on the type of application being migrated and the Cloud Service Provider where the application is being migrated to. The various approaches to Cloud migration create complexity in Cloud migration decisions as client organisations have to consider various approaches depending on the migration project. The purpose of this dissertation is to create a universal Cloud migration approach that can be applied to every Cloud migration project. In this dissertation, a cloud migration decision framework is proposed; namely, A Holistic Cloud Migration Decision Framework (HCMDF). The research strategy that was followed is Design Science Research (DSR) and was selected since the output of the research is going to be an Information Technology (IT) research artefact. By applying the DSR strategy, the HCMDF was successfully developed and evaluated in the real world using an adaptive case study. The analysis of the results indicated that the HCMDF solves Cloud migration problem and that it can be applied to every Cloud migration project. Throughout the evaluation, areas of improvement were identified and these will be considered in future research. / School of Computing / M. Tech (Information Technology)

We introduce a Lennard-Jones layer (LJL) to equalize the density across the distribution of 2D and 3D point clouds by systematically rearranging points without destroying their overall structure (distribution normalization). LJL simulates a dissipative process of repulsive and weakly attractive interactions between individual points by solely considering the nearest neighbor of each point at a given moment in time. This pushes the particles into a potential valley, reaching a well-defined stable configuration that approximates an equidistant sampling after the stabilization process. We apply LJLs to redistribute randomly generated point clouds into a randomized uniform distribution over the 2D Euclidean plane and 3D mesh surfaces. Moreover, LJLs are embedded in point cloud generative network architectures by adding them at later stages of the inference process. The improvements coming with LJLs for generating 3D point clouds are evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. Finally, we apply LJLs to improve the point distribution of a score-based 3D point cloud denoising network. In general, we demonstrate that LJLs are effective for distribution normalization which can be applied at negligible cost without retraining the given neural networks.

Migrating from IT legacy systems to Cloud Computing, is a complex task for an organization to undertake since changes of both technical end organizational aspects are required to take advantage of all capabilities that Public Cloud offer. A limited number of studies have been conducted exploring the organizational perspective of the migration process to Public Cloud for larger organization, which are bounded to their IT legacy. This thesis aims to contribute with knowledge to this gap by addressing the following purpose: investigate how the migration to Public Cloud affects an organization with large IT legacy. Anchored in a case study at an incumbent enterprise, the thesis bridges literature on Cloud Computing, organizational change management and organizational aspects of the migration process. Findings from empirics indicate that the case company is experiencing multiple layers of complexity of change management such as: change management, culture, internal processes, IT legacy and security, are essential to be managed to successfully migrate to Public Cloud. These findings suggest that the challenges are constraining the migration towards Public Cloud and especially the development of the IT environment, and therefore inhibit the essential value-creation processes. Another challenge is the generalized view of security being a great risk which further inhibits the evolvement and process towards Public Cloud. The thesis presents that although the migration to Public Cloud is primarily of technical concern, the migration process is also a major organizational change management process with large challenges that needs to be considered for a successful migration. Hence, the thesis contributes to better understanding of how an organization with substantial IT legacy can prepare for the emerging changes of a potential technology shift. / Att migrera från ett IT arv med förlegade IT system till molnbaserad datahantering är en komplex uppgift för en organisation eftersom stora förändringar krävs för att utnyttja alla möjligheter som publika molntjänster erbjuder. Ett begränsat antal studier har genomförts som undersöker migrationsprocessens till publikt moln från ett organisationsperspektiv, för större organisation som är begränsad till föråldrad IT infrastruktur. Detta examensarbete syftar till att bidra med kunskap till detta gap genom att uppfylla följande syfte: undersöka hur övergångsprocessen till publikt moln påverkar en organisation med stort IT arv. Förankrat i en fallstudie hos ett etablerat företag, förenar uppsatsen litteratur om molnbaserad datahantering, organisationsförändringshantering och organisatoriska aspekter av migrationsprocessen. Resultat från studien på företaget visar flera lager av komplexitet i förändringshantering som till exempel: förändringsledning, kultur, interna processer, IT arv och säkerhet, vilka är viktiga områden att kunna hantera för en framgångsrik migrering till Public Cloud. Detta resultat tyder på att dessa utmaningar begränsar migrationen mot publika moln och utvecklingen av IT miljön som hämmar de väsentliga värdeskapande affärsprocesserna. En annan utmaning är att den allmänna uppfattningen om säkerhet utgör en stor risk som ytterligare hämmar utvecklingen och processen mot publika moln. Examensarbetet presenterar, att trots övergångsprocessen mot publikt moln är av tekniskt intresse, är migrationsprocessen en viktig organisationsförändringsprocess med stora utmaningar som måste beaktas för en lyckad transformation. Med detta bidrar avhandlingen till bättre förståelse för hur organisationer med betydande IT arv kan förbereda sig för de framväxande förändringarna av ett potentiellt tekniskt skift.

This Master's Thesis compares technologies used in the architecture of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems to evaluate the benefits and advantages of emerging technologies. The emerging technologies, Cloud Computing, Software as a Service (SaaS) and Multi-Tenancy, could significantly alter the current ERP space and become a primary part of ERP Systems of the future. A survey was sent to industry professionals to obtain feedback on their company's ERP Systems and to collect their comments on these new technologies. The survey results and related analysis show that Emerging Cloud ERP Systems outperform Traditional Legacy ERP Systems in all important characteristics - Accessibility, Business Cost, Implementation Time, Mobility, Scalability, Upgradability, and Usability. Cloud Systems were also found to have a shorter implementation time and a larger proportion of Cloud Systems were on the most recent version of software. Furthermore, industry professionals identified Cloud Computing, SaaS and Mobility as the emerging technologies of the coming decade. This thesis demonstrates that there are significant benefits for companies to use ERP Systems that use the emerging technologies and that the shift to Cloud ERP Systems has begun.