Mobile Cloud Computing Issues

First of all, Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) its simplest, refers to an infrastructure where both the data storage and the data processing happen outside of the mobile device. Mobile cloud applications move the computing power and data storage away from mobile phones and into the cloud, bringing applications and mobile computing to not just Smartphone users but a much broader range of mobile subscribers.

 Cloud is extremely powerful to perform computations while computing ability of mobile devices has a limit so many issues occur to show how to balance the differences between these two.

So there are some issues in implementing cloud computing for mobile.

 These issues can be related to limited resources, related to network, related to security of mobile users and clouds .

Some issues are explained as follows:

 1 Limited Resources

Having limited resources in mobile device make use of cloud computing in mobile devices difficult. Basic limitations related to limited resources are limited computing power, limited battery and low quality display.

 2 Network related issues

All processing in MCC is performed on the network. So there are some issues related to the network like Bandwidth, latency, availability and heterogeneity.

Bandwidth is one of the big issues in MCC since the radio resource for wireless networks is much scarce as compared with the traditional wired networks.

A solution to share the limited bandwidth among mobile users who are located in the same area (e.g., a workplace, a station, and a stadium) and involved in the same content (e.g., a video file).

 3 Security

Most of mobile devices have almost same functionalities like a desktop computer. So mobile devices also have to face a number of problems related to security and privacy. To overcome this problem threat detection services are now performed at clouds but this also has to face a lot of challenges.

Some security issues are like device security, privacy of mobile user and securing data on cloud etc. There are so many security threats like viruses, hacking, Trojan horses in mobile devices also.

The use of global positioning system (GPS) in mobile devices gives birth to the privacy issues.

Mobile cloud computing is growing day by day due to the popularity of cloud computing and increasing uses of mobile devices.

Many researchers are showing their interest towards this technology.

The main issue in using mobile cloud computing is securing the data of mobile user stored on mobile cloud.

The data/file of a mobile user is very sensitive; any unauthorized person can do changes in it, to harm the data.

So the main concern of cloud service provider is to provide the security of data/files created and manipulated on a mobile device or cloud server. The data/file security is very essential for owner of the data/file as it can contain any confidential information of his.

 Mobile cloud computing is one of mobile technology trends in the future since it combines the advantages of both mobile computing and cloud computing, thereby providing optimal services for mobile users. The requirement of mobility in cloud computing gave birth to Mobile cloud computing.

MCC provides more possibilities for access services in convenient manner.

It is expected that after some years a number of mobile users will going to use cloud computing on their mobile devices