Mobile Cloud-Computing: Supporting users with multiple devices

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Cloud-Computing allows individuals and organizations to purchase virtualized hardware (Infrastructure as a Service, IaaS), software platforms (Platform as a Service, PaaS) or applications/functionality (Software as a Service, SaaS) in a pay-as-you-go manner, comparable to the metered purchase of electricity, gas or water and is most often seen as a solution to improve scalability and reduce costs for IT solutions. Mobile Cloud-Computing (MCC) focuses on using mobile devices to engage cloud-hosted services and is therefore the intersection of cloud-computing and mobile-computing. The main driver for MCC is the decline of the PC and its replacement with the rising number of mobile devices (tablets & smartphones). According to Gartner in 2014 the combined shipments in the PC market (traditional PC, laptops & ultra-mobiles) are expected to reach 316 million units (worldwide). By contrast the worldwide sales of tablets are expected to reach 320 million units (worldwide) and smartphones (66% of mobile handset market) are expected to reach 900 million units. To overcome the apparent lack of computational resources when compared to PCs, Mark Baccue proposed the idea of using cloud-computing which has led to a virtuous cycle in which cloud-computing and mobile devices each are the driver for the growth of the other. It is therefore not surprising that MCC, as the combination of mobile and cloud-computing has establishing itself within IT as a key component/technology.