Enabling objectives
1. Acquire fundamental knowledge on cloud computing;
2. Become familiar with cloud service providers and their services;
3. Learn to manage cloud services and evaluate their suitability for applications.
General Information
The purpose of this assignment is to compare and contrast two cloud service providers and their services. By doing this assignment, you will acquire a good understanding of available cloud service providers and their service offerings. This will help you to determine appropriate services for developing smart applications.
What do you need to do?
The assignment requires you to do the following:
• Identify four cloud service providers who offer PaaS (Platform as a Service) to develop applications.
• Select one of the cloud service providers from your list for further investigation. If necessary, create a trial account and use all the different services it offers. Take screenshots to record some of those services while using them.
• Compare and contrast between PaaS services of IBM cloud and the cloud service provider you have chosen.
What do you need to submit?
You are required to submit a written report in a single Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) document. The report should contain Max. 4000 words. The report must contain the following sections (feel free to add one or more sections if necessary):
• Cover page/title page, table of contents and abstract
• Introduction
• Cloud service providers
o List all identified cloud service providers who offer PaaS (Platform as a Service) to develop applications
o Select a service provider out of the list to compare with IBM cloud PaaS( previously known as Bluemix) and write two reasons to justify your choice
• Comparison and contrast with IBM cloud PaaS – this is the body of the report and should be written as detailed as possible. You can include screenshots and other media to enrich your report (you are not allowed to use screenshots and media content from internet – they must be your own. It is a good idea
to try the environment before your answer this section. This section must and only include comparison and contrast between IBM Cloud PaaS and your chosen service provider for the following:
o Services offered for smart applications development such as Internet of Things (IoT) applications, Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications and soon.
o The quality of design and navigation of the PaaS system.
o Step by step process required to create and deploy a “Hello World” application.
o The level of difficulty for development and deployment process of the cloud environment.
o Costing model offered by the providers. An example costing model can be found in the link below which you can use for the assignment.
https://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/bluemix/pricing
o How easy is it to manage the application in the context of the following:
 Allocate and upgrade resources like memory, space, etc.
 Update/amend host URL, hosting data center and program/code of the application.
• Your opinion – Based on your comparison and contrast of two cloudproviders,
o Which service provider performed better andwhy?
o One area of improvement, that you would like to see over their current services and why?
• Conclusion
• References