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The cloud computing business model has been around for decades in various forms such as Application Management Services (AMS) and Application Service Providers (ASP). However, due to the higher cost at that time (both for hardware and services), the technology was only feasible as an outsourcing solution to very large organizations who could realize savings based on economies of scale (Altaf & Schuff, 2010). Although the concept of cloud computing has been around since the beginning of the computing industry in the 1960s, the technology has only recently become robust enough to provide computing services via the Internet (Marston, Li, Bandyopadhyay, Zhang, & Ghalsasi, 2011).
Cloud computing is defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction (Santalesa, 2011). The high demand for more advanced and efficient technology has contributed in the creation of new advancements in technology such as cloud computing. The popularization of cloud computing by companies like Amazon®, Google®, and Apple® ensure that the usage of the cloud as a storage medium for music, movies, and other media content files, will be ubiquitous in the next 10 years.
Cloud computing is a promising prospect for educational institutions, especially during budget constraints. Research in cloud computing adoption in educational settings has focused parts of its efforts to understand the drivers and constrains of students and schools to adopt this computing model. With today’s technology, students’ learning is no longer confined within the classroom. The educational environment could be improved to allow students to access learning resources anywhere and anytime (Wu, 2013).