b'THOUGHT LEADERCloud Computing & the School Bus IndustryWritten by David L. HopperS o, whats up with all of this cloud computing busi- All users, not just public users, will be connecting ness? Weve heard all about the Microsoft Cloud,via the internet. Route planners, stock room clerks, IBM Cloud, Google Cloud and many others. dispatchers, HR personnel, mechanics, etc.What does all of this mean for school transpor- Security will remain a major concern. Well be de-tation? Are we in for a storm? pendent on the cloud company security personnel No. No storm. But we do have some opportunities. but they have dedicated pros. And remember, our Most of us already have an ISP (internet service pro- old in-house main-frame was/is connected to vider) and a web-hosting service. This ISP connects ourthe internet, so it is therefore vulnerable to attack. offices to the internet, while the web hosting servicePlus, our data-center probably does not have dedi-provides space on the internet where our web pages arecated full-time security pros.stored. People worldwideincluding parents, students, drivers, employees and hackershave their own internetIn almost every instance, the cost to operate using a connections and thereby the option to connect with uscloud service will be significantly less than the cost of via our website. operating an in-house data center.As you would expect, the cloud is really a sort of BigFor many enterprises that are migrating their IT to the Brother to a hosting site. However, it is not primarily justcloud, the first step is to set-up document management a space to store your web pages. It is instead an entiresystems, or DMS.computing environment. Your cloud site will, in fact,While operational systems have long been successful, frequently be referred to as a virtual computer. the other data-processing challenge to paperwork has A web page primarily provides information to anever been adequately conquered. In other words, most visitor but collects very little (if any) information fromentities have disciplined inventory control, purchasing, a visitor. The most data processing that is conductedscheduling, accounting, and other data-processing by web pages is typically the creation of one comput- systems. But few have good control over supplier/er record. For example, a customer order for a list ofcustomer/union contracts, employee reviews, signed products that are selected at check-out time, or simplyvehicle inspection reports, incident reports and a multi-a request for information. tude of others.By contrast, a cloud-based virtual computer willWhen you also take into account student photographs typically do anything and everything that is needed toand IDs, downloadable device-ready GPS route defini-replace the main-frame computer that was previouslytions, spreadsheets, and other computer documents, few used to run the district or the bus company. CIOs (chief information officers) will assert they have it under control.Key Features of a Cloud-Based Virtual Computer These document management deficiencies persist, The entire enterprise database is located on thedespite decades of efforts. We have file-sharing devices virtual server. on our local area networks, and even on many wide-area 24School Transportation NewsSEPTEMBER 2019'