An Evaluation of Cloud Computing among Technical Colleges in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

More than ever, educational establishments quest to tap into opportunities to rationalize theirmanagement of resources following the 2008’s near collapse of global financial institutions.As long as taxpayers’ monies and especially in the West countries are channeled towardsbailing out banks, educational institutions will remain shortage financially. Cloud computingin this research paper is argued as one of the most viable opportunity for the cash strappededucational institutions. The subject of cloud computing has gained prominence amongsttechnical and higher education establishments in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia too, as the newesttechnology hype. Skeptical information technologists and succinctly in Saudi Arabia’stechnical training institutions dismiss cloud computing as another hype and reaffirm that it isthe new paradigm in education and learning. Cloud computing is arguably technical incontrast to previous technological hypes such as application hosts, grids, service bureaus andother sourcing techniques right from high performance network capacity to emergence ofvirtualization technology. It relies on multiple existing technologies such as grid computing,internet virtualization and web services. Cloud computing is set to gain prominence in SaudiArabia among the younger generation of managers, students and training institutions’employees who are much familiar with google search, Facebook community and broadconnections. In spite of these gains, cloud computing has not virtually been embraced acrossall technical and higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia. The following research paperexamines and evaluates cloud computing among technical colleges in Saudi Arabia with aview to establish adoption, challenges and the future it holds for theses tertiary technicalinstitutions especially in revamping Saudi Arabia’s growth.