Conceptualizing a Secure Wireless Cloud

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify and rank total quality management (TQM) enablers and information technology (IT) resources to provide a reliable and valid measurement instrument for evaluation in Indian information and communications technology (ICT) organizations. Design/methodology/approach Based on a literature review of TQM enablers and IT resources, 17 factors are identified, of which, 9 are TQM enablers and 8 are IT resources. The empirical data, retrieved from 801 ICT organizations, is tested by descriptive analysis and factor analysis (FA). FA is used to ensure that items in each scale sufficiently reflect the scope of each factor. Findings This paper has developed an instrument that can be used to evaluate items to implement TQM enablers and IT resources. The instrument identifies 17 reliable and valid factors, out of which 16 are input factors, while 1 is an outcome factor. Practical implications This instrument will provide a practical understanding to enable the monitoring of TQM enabler and IT resource activities in ICT organizations. Along with this, these instruments will help to build models related to constructs that will further achievement of customer satisfaction (CS). Originality/value This paper presents an instrument which validates the different items of TQM enablers and IT resources. It also shows the relationship between the two in terms of CS.

The rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, Fog computing, mobile edge computing and wireless grids has resulted in the widespread deployment of relatively immature technology. These technologies, which will primarily use 5G wireless communication networks, are becoming popular because they can be deployed quickly with little infrastructure and lends themselves to environments utilizing numerous internet connected devices (ICD). There are, however, many significant challenges faced by security designers, engineers and implementers of these networks in ensuring that the level of security afforded is appropriate. Because of the threat of exploitation, these networks have to be protected by a robust security architecture due to these technologies being plagued with security problems. The authentication of smart ICDs to IoT networks is a critical mechanism for achieving security on these new information system platforms. This article identifies an authentication process required for these ICDs, which will need to prove their identity to authenticate to an IoT fog-mobile edge computing (FMEC) cloud network through a wireless grid authentication process. The purpose of this article is to begin to hypothesize a generic authentication methodology for these FMEC clouds uses in an IoT architecture. The proposed methodology, called wg-IoT, must include the integration of Fog computing, wireless grids and mobile edge computing clouds to create this new IoT architecture. An authentication process developed from the resource sharing protocol (RSP) from a wireless grid is first developed and proposed for the authentication of ICDs. The wireless grid core components must be embedded in IoT devices or sensors depending on their capability to handle five primary functions: management of identification [ID] and presence, permissions management, data transferability, application-programming interface [API] and security.

The geospatial sciences face grand information technology (IT) challenges in the twenty-first century: data intensity, computing intensity, concurrent access intensity and spatiotemporal intensity. These challenges require the readiness of a computing infrastructure that can: (1) better support discovery, access and utilization of data and data processing so as to relieve scientists and engineers of IT tasks and focus on scientific discoveries; (2) provide real-time IT resources to enable real-time applications, such as emergency response; (3) deal with access spikes; and (4) provide more reliable and scalable service for massive numbers of concurrent users to advance public knowledge. The emergence of cloud computing provides a potential solution with an elastic, on-demand computing platform to integrate – observation systems, parameter extracting algorithms, phenomena simulations, analytical visualization and decision support, and to provide social impact and user feedback – the essential elements of the geospatial sciences. We discuss the utilization of cloud computing to support the intensities of geospatial sciences by reporting from our investigations on how cloud computing could enable the geospatial sciences and how spatiotemporal principles, the kernel of the geospatial sciences, could be utilized to ensure the benefits of cloud computing. Four research examples are presented to analyze how to: (1) search, access and utilize geospatial data; (2) configure computing infrastructure to enable the computability of intensive simulation models; (3) disseminate and utilize research results for massive numbers of concurrent users; and (4) adopt spatiotemporal principles to support spatiotemporal intensive applications. The paper concludes with a discussion of opportunities and challenges for spatial cloud computing (SCC).

The rapid emergence of the ICT (Information Communication and Technology) industry gives the high quality services and products to the customers. Effective execution of TQM (Total Quality Management) and IT (Information Technology) together brings many profits in the Indian ICT industry. However, many industries fail to adopt TQM and IT together. Hence a deeper assessment of TQM enablers and IT resources in the Indian ICT industry is warrented. In this context, DEMATEL (Decision Making Trail and Evaluation Laboratory) method examines the most important TQM enablers and IT resources to enable them to successfully implemented in the Indian ICT industry. The objectives of this study are to identify and analyze TQM enablers and IT resources as well as to evaluate their prominence and relation factors using the DEMATEL methodology. The managerial implication of this study is that managers can get the maximum benefits of available enablers and resources. The limitation, future scope, discussion and conclusion are discussed at the end.

This article examines the role and advantages of a professional historian in the context of tasks related to the internationalization of information technology (IT) resources. Building on the premise that globalization processes require a comprehensive approach to adapting IT products to the cultural and social specificities of various countries and regions, the author argues that historical knowledge can serve as a reliable foundation for developing internationalization strategies. Particular attention is given to historians’ analytical abilities, their deep understanding of cultural and historical contexts, language skills, and the capacity for ethical and politically correct reviewing, which are critically important for successful localization and cultural adaptation of IT resources. The analysis explores how historical knowledge and methodological approaches can be integrated into the development and implementation processes of IT resources, as well as into procedures for assessing their effectiveness in the international market. The potential of historical science in predicting future societal trends and adapting technological innovations to these trends is addressed. The importance of an interdisciplinary approach in the modern globalized world is emphasized, where historical science not only serves as a means of understanding the past but also as a tool for effective adaptation and internationalization of electronic resources. The author argues that professional historians can play a key role in developing global strategies for the IT sector, contributing to the creation of inclusive, culturally adapted technological solutions that take into account the historical experience and cultural peculiarities of different peoples. The discussion includes how historical knowledge helps identify potential risks and opportunities associated with entering new markets, and how this knowledge can facilitate the development of more adapted and acceptable strategies for intercultural communication and interaction.

Nowadays, the organic nature of business processes and the increasingly complex and dynamic business environment make organizations face severe operational risks. However, current risk analysis methods of Information Technology (IT) resources ignore inter-process correlation and thus inter-process risk propagation. This gap needs a solution since the rigid alignment of organizations cause the risks which propagate throughout the whole organization to be the most serious operational risks. This paper presents a holistic approach for quantifying risk propagation in business processes based on the risk analysis of their underlying IT and human resources. This approach adapts financial techniques to quantify the level of risk that average and severe events on IT resources generate on individual business processes, and to quantify the risk propagation impact among dependent processes. This approach was applied to an enterprise modeling case study to quantify risk propagation for different risk epicenter scenarios. The results show that the proposed approach is capable of finding and quantifying both direct and indirect dependencies among operational assets within an organization. A high level of accuracy was observed when comparing the actual value of the process risk and the projected value considering risk propagation.

Information Technology (IT) is regarded as a facilitator for both small and large firms to speed up transactions between firms and their suppliers and customers, achieve real-time communication, lower transaction costs, and enhance speed and flexibility. However, understanding whether and how IT can help firms to create business value still remains unresolved. Drawing upon resource-based view theory, source-position-performance framework, we develop and test a theoretical model to explore the interrelationships between IT resources (IT human resources, IT infrastructure), IT capability (back-end integration), IT-enabled inter-firm processes (activity integration, coordination, partnership enhancement), and organizational performance in the fast growth small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) context. We propose that the value of IT depends on how firms employ technologies to develop IT capability which facilitates inter-firm integration and enhances intermediate business processes along the value chains. Structural equation modeling is employed to test our theoretical conceptualization of 310 Australian fast-growth SMEs across different industrial sectors. The results show that IT resources do contribute to fast growth SME performance through developing IT capability and enhancing inter-firm value chain processes such as integration, coordination and partnership enhancement. This research highlights the role of IT resources and IT capability in business value creation and the ways in which IT is used by fast growth SMEs to enhance core business competencies. Keywords: IT Resources, IT Capability, Back-end Integration, IT-enabled inter-firm processes, Resource-based View of Firms, Source-Position-Performance Framework, Fast Growth SMEs.

IT resources and quality attributes: The impact on electronic green supply chain management implementation and performance

Cloud computing with virtualization technologies has become an important trend in the information technology industry. Due to its salient features of reliability and cost effectiveness, cloud computing has changed the paradigms of development for mobile pervasive services, effectively permeating the market. While most types of best effort mobile pervasive applications can be seamlessly migrated to cloud computing infrastructures, we need to consider specialized elements to make cloud computing infrastructures more effective in real-time healthcare applications. The client side of those applications dramatically increases its transmission rate whenever it detects an abnormal event. However, the existing server side mechanisms have limitations in adaptively allocating necessary computing resources in order to handle these various data volumes over time. In this article, we propose a novel server-side auto-scaling mechanism to autonomously allocate virtual resources on an on-demand basis. The mechanism is tested in an Amazon EC2, and the results show how the proposed mechanism can efficiently scale up and down the virtual resources, depending on the volume of requested real-time tasks.

The Directorate of Archives and Libraries, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Peshawar, a crucial organization in charge of managing public library services throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan, is the subject of this study, which critically evaluates the current status of its IT resources and services. This study examines how much IT is incorporated into the Directorate's administrative and service frameworks in a time when digital technologies are revolutionizing library operations. Identifying the available IT infrastructure, gauging how frequently and successfully staff and library users use it, and assessing user satisfaction with the current IT services are some of the main goals. The study also looks into the main issues that prevent the best use of IT, such as administrative limitations, inadequate staff training, and infrastructure shortcomings. Using a quantitative approach, 150 participants—including library staff and patrons—were given structured questionnaires to complete in order to gather data. The results show that despite the existence of some digital tools and services, a number of operational and strategic constraints continue to limit their uptake and influence. The analysis highlights a notable discrepancy between the current state of IT implementation and its potential to improve library services. Subsequently, the study identifies particular measures to address user access, provide more professional development, and enhance IT infrastructure. The intentions behind these interventions are to build digital literacy, modernize public library operations in KPK, and ensure that services respond to the informational needs of users in the modern era.

Purpose– Cloud Computing (CC) technology is getting implemented rapidly in the educational sector to improve learning, research and other administrative process. As evident from the literature review, most of these implementations are happening in the western countries such as USA, UK, while the level of implementation of CC in developing countries such as India is rare. Moreover, implementing CC technology in the educational sector require various decisions to be made by the managers of the Information Technology (IT) department such as selecting suitable deployment model, vendor providing cloud service, etc. in their respective university or institute. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to address one such decision. Since, different types of CC deployment are available; selecting a suitable one plays a key role, as it might have an impact on the requirements of various stakeholders such as students, teachers, administrative staff (especially the staff members in the IT department), etc. apart from affecting the overall performance of the facilities such as a laboratory. Naturally, a proper decision by analysing multiple perspectives has to be made while carrying out such strategic initiatives by any educational institute.Design/methodology/approach– A case study methodology has been chosen as the research methodology to discuss and demonstrate the above decision problem that was faced in real time by one of the educational institutes in India, offering high-quality management education. The IT managers of this institute were planning to switch over to CC technology for the computer laboratory and they have to make a decision of choosing suitable alternative CC deployment models such as private cloud (PRC), public cloud (PUC), community cloud (COC), hybrid cloud (HYC), etc. by analysing and comparing them based on various factors and perspectives such as elasticity, availability, scalability, etc. Since, multiple factors are involved in making such a strategic decision, the most commonly used Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) model – namely, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used as a decision support during the decision making process.Findings– The team of decision makers, who were planning to implement CC in the case institute, found that PRC is best as they believed that it would provide adequate cost savings, apart from providing necessary security to maintain confidential information such as student's detail, grades, etc.Research limitations/implications– The results obtained are based on a single case study. Hence, they cannot be generalized for institutions across educational sector. However, the decision making situation and understanding its impact on the stakeholders of the educational institute can be common across various educational institute.Practical implications– Using a real-life case study of an educational institute, this paper presented a strategic decision making situation, which needs to be considered by the IT managers of the educational institutes when they decide to switch over to CC technology. Various criteria to be considered during the decision making process was identified from the literature review were identified and enumerated. These factors would useful for the IT managers of the different educational institute and they can suitably add or delete these decision criteria as per their requirements and situation at hand. Moreover, the algorithm of AHP, which was used as a decision support, was presented in a step-by-step manner, which should be beneficial for the practitioners to apply the same for similar decision making situations.Originality/value– It is believed that this paper would be the first to report on a strategic decision of choosing the deployment model for CC technology especially in the educational sector. Similarly, this paper would also contribute to the field of CC, as it lists out the decision criteria that are to be considered for making the above decision, which has not got adequate importance. Lastly, this paper is also unique in the realm of AHP because application for a decision problem in the field of CC especially in the educational sector is least reported.

Over the past few years, cloud computing has created a lot of hype in the IT industry. It has enhanced resource efficiency and used creative cost-cutting strategies. Though there is a long list of clients and service providers who have developed different service architectures globally using cloud infrastructure. Many companies are still apprehensive to employ cloud computing services, though. The e-commerce sector is a key driver of economic development in India. These industries' needs for information technology (IT) have increased throughout time, leading to a rise in the need for corporate IT solutions that are more effective, highly available, and scalable. These kinds of solutions, which cloud computing offers to the e-commerce sector, could be quite helpful. In India's e-commerce sector, cloud computing is still in its infancy as a relatively new technology. Consequently, most of them are reluctant to adopt. This study examines the challenges and problems associated with adopting cloud computing services, as well as the potential benefits of cloud computing for the e-commerce sector. The adoption of cloud computing has been studied using the Technology- Organization Environment (TOE) paradigm, primarily from the perspective of innovative technology. Methods such as surveys and interviews were employed to collect data for analysis. In order to get insight into the various IT services or IT applications used by the e-commerce business, five IT service/cloud service providers were interviewed, and information was gathered from 111 SMEs in the auto component manufacturing sector. The research hypotheses were tested by the analysis. The study's conclusions indicate that in order for SMEs to benefit from cloud computing technologies, general awareness needs to be improved. Key Terms: Cloud Computing, E-Commerce, SMEs.

Cloud computing is known as a novel information technology (IT) concept, which involves facilitated and rapid access to networks, servers, data saving media, applications and services via Internet with minimum hardware requirements. Use of information systems and technologies at the battlefield is not new. Information superiority is a force multiplier and is crucial to mission success. Recent advances in information systems and technologies provide new means to decision makers and users in order to gain information superiority. These developments in information technologies lead to a new term, which is known as network centric capability. Similar to network centric capable systems, cloud computing systems are operational today. In the near future extensive use of military clouds at the battlefield is predicted. Integrating cloud computing logic to network centric applications will increase the flexibility, cost-effectiveness, efficiency and accessibility of network-centric capabilities. In this paper, cloud computing and network centric capability concepts are defined. Some commercial cloud computing products and applications are mentioned. Network centric capable applications are covered. Cloud computing supported battlefield applications are analyzed. The effects of cloud computing systems on network centric capability and on the information domain in future warfare are discussed. Battlefield opportunities and novelties which might be introduced to network centric capability by cloud computing systems are researched. The role of military clouds in future warfare is proposed in this paper. It was concluded that military clouds will be indispensible components of the future battlefield. Military clouds have the potential of improving network centric capabilities, increasing situational awareness at the battlefield and facilitating the settlement of information superiority.

Cloud Computing is a paradigm that refers to resources, services, infrastructure, and various applications available on demand through the internet, based on pay-per-use business model, without the need to have local resources. Thus, transfer from locally installed applications to internet-based services. Palestinian IT sector is a young and improving sector and cloud computing plays a major contribution in it. Multiple studies can be found in the literature discussing adoption factors and challenges of cloud computing in general. However, little work is available to investigate cloud computing adoption factors and challenges in the Palestinian software development companies. In this research we attempt to evaluate the cloud computing status in the Palestinian software development companies; identify the factors that affect software development companies' intention to adopt cloud computing; and to determine the challenges of applying cloud computing in IT sector. We conducted a qualitative study; developers from eight Palestinian software companies were interviewed, followed by a questionnaire based survey, with 35 respondents from IT sector. The results suggest that cloud computing is widely adopted in the Palestinian development firms, it also shows that the main motivations and cloud adoption factors in the Palestinian development companies are: hardware and software cost savings, time saving, effort and management, availability, achieve greater scalability, flexibility and productivity. Furthermore, the study identifies challenges that face the Palestinian software development companies such as security issues, privacy, technical issues and lack of cloud experts.

Emerging technologies such as cloud computing, increased use, proliferation and mobility of powerful end-user devices, and the migration of applications to the Internet, are creating new and exciting challenges to the management of IT (Information Technology) infrastructures. Massive scale and distribution of IT resources, the expectation of high availability of Internet-based services, and heterogeneity of resources are prominent examples of complexity system administrators encounter today. New approaches are needed for these new (and in many cases old) problems. This keynote will survey some of these systems management issues and the emerging approaches to solving them.