Masaryk University
Faculty of Informatics

The Shift Towards Cloud Computing
Master Thesis

Brno, May 2009

Stanislav Tvarůžek

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Declaration
I declare that this master thesis is solely my own work. I have cited all sources used in this thesis and I have provided complete references to them.

Supervisor: RNDr. Radek Ošlejšek, Ph.D.

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Abstract
Cloud computing is a phenomenon of the recent years and academia as well as major IT players are paying more attention to this emerging and innovative approach.
This thesis summarizes information from various sources gathered on the subject 'cloud computing'. Firstly, it tracks back the evolution of technologies that paved the road for cloud computing and accelerated its further advancements. Secondly, it provides a high level overview of cloud computing technology stack and identifies service layers exposed via on-demand infrastructure. Lastly, it investigates various aspects of cloud computing and its impact on information technology.

Any comments and thoughts on this thesis are highly appreciated and you can drop me a line at: tvaruzek@mail.muni.cz Keywords: Cloud computing, Virtualization, Innova.sk, Infrastructure as a Service,
Platform as a Service, Amazon Web Services, Google Apps

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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my supervisor Radek Ošlejšek for providing me the necessary help and guidance.
I would like to express many thanks to my friends who helped me and supported me, especially to Rani for her support as well as Evka for saving me in the very last hours of writing of this thesis.
And the very last, my thanks go to my parents who have been supporting me during my studies, my brother and my family.

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Table of Contents
1 Acronyms and Abbreviations...........................................................................................................7