Abstract

Educational institutions continue to look for opportunities to reduce the way they manage their resources. Cloud computing is an emerging computing paradigm that promises to provide opportunities to deliver a diversity of computing services in a way that has not been experienced before. In this paper, we will discuss the impact of cloud computing and recent patents on educational institutions and identify the key factors that make cloud computing attractive to the education scene. A case study at University Sains Malaysia, Malaysia, is presented to demonstrate the importance of using private cloud computing in education in a real situation. The findings show that the cloud resources provided flexibility for students and staff with ease of access, enabling more effective and efficient collaboration within and among the research groups.

Keywords: Cloud computing, private cloud, academic institution, virtualization.