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Appendix B
Green IT and Cloud Computing 241

cloud would include the employees across various divisions and depart-
ments, business partners, raw-material suppliers, resellers, and other
organizations that participate in one or more business processes of the
corporation. Shared services on the infrastructure side such as computing
power or data storage services or on the application side such as a single
customer information application shared across the organization are
suitable candidates for such an approach.
Because a private cloud is exclusive in nature and limited in access to
a set of participants, it has inherent strengths with respect to security
aspects and the control over data. Also, the approach can provide advan-
tages with respect to adherence to corporate and regulatory compliance
guidelines; therefore, the concept of a private cloud is expected to gain
further interest for adoption among large organizations.

Business and Technology Drivers for Cloud Computing

Business and technology drivers are influences or solution view points
that can spur the adoption of cloud computing approaches by organiza- ptg
tions. Some of the key drivers are summarized in the following:

■ Provides a flexible business and pricing model for small and medium
customers.
■ Helps outsource non-core competency functions such as IT provisioning
and infrastructure management.
■ Promotes business agility by providing massive scaling capabilities
(infrastructure can grow or shrink elastically to manage business require-
ments).
■ Helps a customer accomplish more business functionality with less onsite
IT resources.
■ From a provider’s perspective, virtualized, efficient infrastructure
promotes energy efficiency and cost benefits, which can be passed on to
consumers.
■ Usage of open standards and common components drives standardi-
zation and lowers costs over the long run.