Computing & Technology

This introductory course establishes a shared vocabulary and conceptual foundation for cloud computing. Students examine the evolution of cloud computing from virtualization and managed hosting to today's hyperscale, SaaS, AI-enabled, and cloud-native ecosystems. The course emphasizes service and deployment models, cloud mechanisms, commercial off-the-shelf SaaS platforms such as Salesforce and Workday, cloud security responsibilities, and the ways AI-as-a-service is changing the cloud landscape. Students do not provision cloud resources; instead, they analyze cloud options, risks, and business implications.

This course compares the major public cloud vendors - Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud - from a business and architecture decision-making perspective. Students learn to compare service categories, interpret vendor strengths and limitations, translate customer requirements into cloud selection criteria, and evaluate hybrid and multi-cloud patterns that span on-premises and off-premises environments. The course also examines AI, data, serverless, container, governance, and cost trends that shape modern cloud decisions. Students complete a staged vendor recommendation project rather than deploying resources.

This course examines the management disciplines that make cloud adoption sustainable: operating models, cloud financial management, monitoring and observability, security governance, and compliance assurance. Students learn FinOps concepts for budgeting and accountability, interpret observability practices using metrics, logs, traces, KPIs, SLOs, and SLAs, and apply NIST-based security concepts to cloud risk. The course also clarifies the difference between certifications, attestations, authorizations, and regulatory obligations such as FedRAMP, SOC 2, HIPAA, CSA STAR, and related assurance mechanisms. The course is not hands-on; assignments focus on governance artifacts, analysis, and executive communication.