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• Impacts of cloud computing on IT infrastructure (Week 4 Lecture)

Since early 2009, enterprises large and small have had the opportunity to move the bulk of their infrastructure to the Internet in the cloud computing model. A look at how the corporate network infrastructure changes in the cloud model is shown in the figure above, "Cloud Based Infrastructure." While the corporate network itself is still present, the servers supporting the business have become cloud based.

While it is still necessary to support the network infrastructure that connects users to the cloud, the corporate servers necessary to support intranet and extranet have moved to the cloud computing model. In addition, the telephone system benefits from VoIP services provided by cloud services. Not shown in the figure are those vendor servers on the "other side" of the cloud, which are in place to support a wide range of customers who have "virtualized" their network services. As we discussed in the tutorial in Week 1, "It's In the Cloud," this model represents the second cloud computing model in which entire enterprise servers are moved to available cloud services available from any number of vendors.

This, of course, reduces the hardware, the staff, and the energy consumption required by the enterprise. Left are those personnel who maintain the wired and unwired networks and who maintain the intranet and extranet environments in the cloud.

• The concept of network neutrality (pp. 262-263)

Network neutrality is the idea that Internet service providers must allow customers equal access to content and applications, regardless of the source or nature of the content.

Presently, the Internet is indeed neutral: all Internet traffic is treated equally on a first-come, first-served basis by Internet backbone owners.

However, telecommunications and cable companies are unhappy with this arrangement. They want to be able to charge differentiated prices based on the amount of bandwidth consumed by...