Cloud computing has greatly impacted the scientific community and the end users. By leveraging cloud computing, small research institutions and undergraduate colleges are able to alleviate costs and achieve research goals without purchasing and maintaining all the hardware and software. In addition, cloud computing allows researchers to access resources as their teams require and allows real-time collaboration with team members across the globe. Nowadays however, users are easily overwhelmed by the wide range of cloud servers and instances. Due to differences between the cloud server platforms and between instances within the platform, users find it difficult to identify the right instance match for their application. Therefore, we propose the A2Cloud-Hierarchy (A2Cloud-H) framework that recommends Cloud instances to users for high-performance scientific computing. The framework comprises four components: training data collection, supervised learning (SL) module, unsupervised learning (USL) module, and a decision module. The training database comprise testing traces of previous application and Cloud instances; these are contributed by the scientific community. The SL module contains three popular supervised learning modules: logistic regression, support vector machine and random forest, which train using the database to qualitatively assess the instance performance for the target application. The USL module includes three collaborative filtering methods: application-based, instance-based and rank-based, which use the database to estimate the instances’ performance ratings for the target application. The decision module comprises multiple tiers of analytic hierarchy processing, which consolidate the instance recommendation from the SL and USL modules into a final instance recommendation. The model is trained and validated by 8 real-world applications on 20 Cloud instances, yielding more than 90% modeling accuracy. The recommendation and integration method proposed in this thesis can help promote a better cloud computing environment for both end-users and cloud server platforms.

Master´s thesis is focused on a presentation of entrepreneurial intention of corporate information strategy. The corporate information strategy is based on the analysis of current situation of the company and its environment which uses modern trends in IT business. It is about a complex solution which should help to the growth of turnover, strengthen of mark of company and stabilize the market position.

The master’s thesis deals with design of solution for small business containing usage of public cloud computing. There are theoretical outputs together with critical analysis of present situation in public cloud computing solutions.

The purpose of master's thesis is preparing the proposal for optimization of servers using virtualization and consolidation. The master's thesis is divided into three parts. The first one is engaged theoretical ground of computer network, second part analyses the current state of IT infrastructure within the specific business. The last part contains the proposal to modernization and optimization of existing server solution including summary of expected costs for realization od proposal.

Master´s thesis focuses on company´s internal documentation and Document Management Systems. It presents a proposal for the project of SharePoint implementation in the selected organisational unit of a company, using the Cloud Computing technology. An assessment of risks, resulted from the project and especially from the Cloud Computing, leads to the essential part of this paper, to the proposal of security arrangements and solutions. The arrangements will be advised to the organisational unit considering the economic cost comparison with potential risks.

Diplomová práca sa zaoberá návrhom riešenia pre fiktívnu spoločnosť XYZ s.r.o., ako ušetriť náklady vybudovaním výukového prostredia pre jej zamestnancov za účelom rozvíjať ich zručnosti a skúsenosti v danom obore. Toto riešenie môže byť taktiež použité zamestnancami a študentami univerzít, aby si mohli otestovať podnikový softvér pre výukové účely. Autor zdôrazňuje výhody používania Cloud Computingu a otvoreného softvéru, ako aj využitie technológie Docker kontajnerov v kombinácii s komerčným softvérom ako je napr. IBM WebSphere Application Server.

The diploma thesis deals with analysis of project management information system within company Aprova s.r.o. and subsequent draft of new solution to increase efficiency of processes associated with the system. The teoretical part offers the introduction to the topic of information systems. In the analytical part, the thesis reveals current status of the information system which was predominantly evaluated using the HOS 8 method. Based on the analyzes, the draft of new solution was designed. The new solution will ensure more efficient project management within the company.

Cloud computing is gaining acceptance and also increasing in popularity. Organisations often rely on cloud resources as an effective replacement for their `in-house' computer systems. In the cloud, virtual resources are provided from a larger pool of resources, these resources being available to multiple different clients. When something suspicious happens within a digital environment, a digital forensic investigation may be conducted to gather information about the event. When conducting such an investigation digital forensic procedures are followed. These procedures involve the steps to be followed to aid in the successful completion of the investigation. One of the possible steps that may be followed involves isolating possible evidence in order to protect it from contamination and tampering. Clouds may provide a multi-tenancy solution across multiple geographical locations. When conducting an investigation into physical equipment the equipment may be isolated. This may be done, for example, by placing a cell phone in a Faraday bag in order to block signals or unplugging a computer's network cable to stop the computer from either sending or receiving of network traffic. However, in the cloud it may not be applicable to isolate the equipment of the cloud because of the multi-tenancy and geographically separated nature of the cloud. There is currently little research available on how isolation can be accomplished inside the cloud environment. This dissertation aims at addressing the need for isolation on the cloud by creating new methods and techniques that may be incorporated into an investigation in order to isolate cloud resources. Isolation can be achieved by moving the unnecessary evidence to a different location and retaining the required evidence or by moving the required evidence in such a manner that the evidence would not be contaminated. If isolated evidence were to be moved to a digital forensic laboratory, the question arises as to whether it would be possible to create such a laboratory on the cloud utilise the benefits of cloud computing and enable the investigation to be conducted on the cloud without moving the isolated evidence from the cloud. The dissertation will develop various models of isolation. These models are then tested in experimental conditions. The experiments were conducted on Nimbula Director 1.0.3 and VMware vSphere 5.0. The models were successfully applied in the experiments. It was found that investigations could benefit from the use of the proposed models for isolation. However, the experiments also highlighted that some of the models are not applicable or that a combination should be used. The experiments also indicated that the methods to be used would depend on the circumstances of the investigation. A preliminary "cloud laboratory" was designed and described in terms of which a digital forensic laboratory can be created on the cloud resources, thus enabling an investigation to be conducted inside the cloud environment. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Computer Science / unrestricted

In 2011 one-third of South African organisations did not intend to adopt cloud computing services because IT decision-maker lacked understanding of the related concepts and benefits (Goldstuck, 2011). This research develops a media-oriented model to examine the adoption of these services in South Africa. The model uses the technology acceptance model (TAM) and innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to develop variables that are considered determinants of adoption including trialability, complexity of understanding, perceived risk, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness.An electronic survey was sent to 107 IT decision-makers. Over 80% of the respondents were C-suite executives. The Partial Least Squares (PLS) method was chosen to depict and test the proposed model. PLS is superior to normal regression models and is a second generation technique. The data analysis included evaluating and modifying the model, assessing the new measurement model, testing the hypotheses of the model structure and presenting the structural model.The research found that media, experts and word of mouth mitigate perceived risks including bandwidth, connectivity and power. Furthermore, trialability and perceived usefulness were affected by social influence, as well as influencing adoption. The results enable service providers and marketers to develop product roadmaps and pinpoint media messages. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The purpose of this study is to investigate which factors that influence cloud adoption and contribute to existing research about cloud computing. Ten hypotheses were derived from the Technological, Organizational, and Environmental (TOE) framework combined with the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) framework. Data was collected using a questionnaire and 91 individuals working in several industries and different countries participated in the study. The research model was tested using a quantitative approach using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The main factors that were identified as drivers for adoption of cloud computing are: digital strategy, competitive pressure, trading partner support, standardization, firm size and network and collaboration. These findings have important implications and great value to the research field, companies and cloud providers as they could formulate better strategies for a successful cloud adoption. The study also provides a new approach in research about cloud adoption where the type of enterprise system migrated to the cloud is taken into consideration. Findings in this study points towards system specific requirements influencing the adoption rate.