15-319 Introduction to Cloud Computing Assignment D Cloud Computing in Qatar: Business Case Study Assigned Date: February 25th 2010 Deadline: March 30th 2010 Goals: 1. Introduction to the real world of cloud computing 2. Developing skills to evaluate and critically analyze IT service providers. 3. Sift through the marketing hype and identify strengths and weaknesses of cloud services to help businesses in making the right decisions for their IT needs. Assignment: The current largest providers of Cloud computing services in Qatar are MEEZA and QTel. As students of cloud computing, there is no better place to learn about the business and economics of cloud computing firsthand than from the local cloud providers here in Qatar. For this project you will pair up with another student to complete an in-depth case study on one of these providers. Team up with a classmate and choose a provider by the end of class today (Feb 25th 2010). Prof. Majd will initiate a point of contact at the provider. From then on you shall take over and correspond with the person and arrange for site-visits and meetings if necessary. Keep a log of your communication with that person and minutes of any formal meetings that you have. This is a team effort so you must divide up the work amongst yourselves fairly and you will be graded on your individual contributions to the assignment. Both team members must be present for all site visits, and you must inform both Suhail and Qabas as they will join you on these visits. It goes without saying that you are representatives of Carnegie Mellon; you must deal with these companies with the utmost professionalism and courtesy. Do remember that they are your potential employers as well.Key Focus Areas of the Case Study: 1. Company Overview 2. Detailed overview of the cloud services provided by the company 3. Main Issues covered in Service Level Agreements (SLAs) from the company 4. Examples of current clients and services provided to them. 5. Detailed summary of the procedures involved for a business in Qatar to start using the company’s cloud services 6. Analysis a. Customer Migration and options provided by the company to ease migration issues b. Possibilities and procedures required to prevent vendor lock-in c. Detailed summary of Costs and Investments required for a company to start using cloud services d. Statistics: (Uptime, Hardware Utilization, Scalability, Platforms provided, etc…) Deliverables - Write-up: Your write-up must be a detailed case study of the cloud provider and the services they provide. The key focus areas are vital and must be present in your write-up. - Presentation: Each team will give a 30 minute presentation on their case study. They must present all the information that is present in the write-up and provide in-depth analysis on their assigned company. Submission - Your write-up file name should be named AssgmntD_yourID_paper.doc. The paper should be in the 2-column ACM format. Your presentation should be called AssignmentD_youID_presentation.ppt. - Copy your files to the following afs folder before the deadline: /afs/qatar.cmu.edu/course/15/319/handin/userID Note: Do not work in this directory; just copy your files at least one hour prior to the deadline. - We will hold the presentations for this assignment on 30th March 2010. Each team must come prepared with the presentations ready on a flash drive and 5-6 copies of their write-up before class.Grading You will be graded both on your paper as well as your performance in the class discussion. The following scheme will apply: Presentation 50% consists of: Property Percentage Story 20% Clarity of Presentation 20% Content 50% Slide Design 10% Paper 50% consists of: Property Percentage Deliverables / Content 70% Language, Grammar 20% Systematic Method / Analysis
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