CBE Technologies' Techsource

Schools Increasingly Give Cloud Based Computing High Marks

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Information moving from teacher to student, student to teacher, teacher to parent (and of course, vice versa); administrators, staff, the educational community at large, all exist solely to transfer knowledge from generation to generation.

And, what moves information better and faster-thus, lubricating the wheels of learning-than the Web? Nothing.

As Web apps continue to penetrate (and improve) education, the question for IT soon arises, how best to leverage the Web, via the cloud or VPN? It's not a simple question; every district, every institution, every situation is unique.

But, just looking at where IT is headed, the forecast definitely calls for things to get a lot ‘cloudier' in the short- and long-term.

Why? Lower costs, simpler management, and better utilization of existing resources, to start; better access for all and better education, to boot.

On Cloud 9

Solutions like webNetwork, a joint offering from Dell and Stoneware, enable educators to quickly, easily, and inexpensively float private clouds to serve their own needs exclusively, or in collaboration with other districts or institutions.

The net effect, if you will, is students with access to projects and documents, anywhere, anytime they can access the Web; teachers are no longer tethered to the classroom, they can view or update assignments in real-time; parents are as plugged in to their child's educational progress as they choose to be, all with the click of a mouse.

It's tough enough finding a needle in a haystack when you know where the haystack is.

While some argue a VPN is more secure than the cloud, others point to the fact that it's very difficult to locate something if you don't know where it is to begin with.

Since one of the key benefits of cloud computing is that data gets stored wherever it's most efficient to do so at the time, try finding where a specific data-set resides in a cloud. Pardon our grammar, but it ain't so easy.

And besides, it's not like there isn't rigorous security being applied in the cloud too.

Who would have ever thought cloudy skies would be a good thing?

For IT, the benefits are as tangible as those of the educators they serve:

• Lower hardware costs
• Web apps cost less to license than off-the-shelf software
• Simplified IT management, increased scalability, and freedom from endless software updates to end devices
• No need to purchase or manage a VPN

No matter where your educational enterprise is today, there are, no doubt, clouds on the horizon. But, with this type of cloud, the only thing that may rain down upon you are happier internal clients, showering you with compliments.