DescriptionCloud computing has gained a lot of attention in recent years. It has mostly been used for non Business critical applications like email, or for those business functions that could be outsourced to a vendor that offers large business applications in a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. However, it is apparent that the reach of the Cloud is expanding, and many companies are wondering how to plan for more substantial use of Cloud capabilities, such that they won't fall behind their competition.This seminar will provide an overview of the key Cloud characteristics and capabilities, differentiating between Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). What are companies using the Cloud for today and what is on the horizon? To gain a better understanding of this question we will illustrate some of the most popular Cloud use cases.We will then discuss IaaS concepts and outline what to look for when selecting an IaaS provider, and what the options are today to avoid vendor lock-in. While public IaaS Clouds offer substantial benefits, many companies want tighter control and are starting to build private Clouds. We will show what the requirements are and how to manage the private Cloud. Once we understand public and private Cloud we can look at another model that is starting to gain some traction: the hybrid Cloud, where critical business systems run in a private Cloud and peak capacity requirements of some applications are handled by public Clouds.The seminar continues with an overview of PaaS, illustrating how the development of business applications for the cloud is different from traditional development and deployment of on-premise systems, including a discussion of multi-tenant systems. The seminar will also address the security challenges when exploiting the Cloud, and how to address them.The seminar closes with a walk-through of a model for calculating Return on Investment (ROI) of Cloud-based solutions compared to on-premise systems, and takes a look at the future of Cloud Computing, including the impact that the consumerization of IT has.What you will learnUnderstand the benefits and challenges of running applications in the CloudDistinguish between the three layers of a Cloud: IaaS, SaaS, and PaaSGet an overview of how to select a public IaaS providerSee how to achieve the best of both worlds with a private CloudLearn how developing and deploying applications in the Cloud is different from traditional approachesLearn about the new security challenges and approaches to address themUnderstand the challenges when calculating the ROI for cloud-based systems and see an ROI model in action