Sustainable cloud computing in China

Abstract

Cloud computing, which provides computing resources dynamically, is an internet-based computing technology. This paper aims to exam the attitude of higher education sector in China towards the sustainability in the Cloud. Although cloud computing users are now aware of this term, many aspects are still unfamiliar to them. This paper focuses on the sustainability theme. Three factors are associated with sustainability; they are social, financial and environmental. In total, twenty-five interviews were conducted to test participants’ attitude towards those factors in order to discover any hidden patterns and correlations among them. Participants were from several different cities in China. From this paper, it can be seen that the awareness of this technology depends on a circumscribed principle—that of ‘cost-benefit’. This paper also examines relevant factors to point out the other concerns that potential users should consider before moving to the cloud.