A leading concern in managing cloud topologies is data safety and security. In cloud computing, the service is accommodated by the cloud service provider who transmits the client’s security and the privacy to the cloud service provider (Moreno-Vozmediano, Montero & Llorente, 2013). This is risky as information has been shared with a third party (Moreno-Vozmediano et al., 2013). The most common cloud security is platform heterogeneity. In managing cloud services, one is required to keep up with the current cloud security certifications. A number of cloud service providers fail to provide such certifications. Not upping the cloud security skill results to leaking the data to sources who are not supposed to access the information.

Another major challenge in cloud technologies is cyber-attacks. Cloud storage faces a challenge of cyber-attack because the data is stored online. If cyber-attacks happen in cloud computing, data stored online is at risk of being lost. Malware, brute force attacks, and virtual machines have raised the level of cyber-attack threats (Ramgovind, Eloff & Smith, 2010).

Implementing and managing cloud topologies face concerns service quality. When organizations fail to move their business application to the cloud, they face issues of service quality. Companies with large amounts of data may face problems of performance and bandwidth costs. Most large firms can cut down costs to acquire systems and maintenance.

Managing cloud topologies is subject to certain challenges, for instance, the amalgamation of infrastructure to the cloud. Many organizations encounter problems while adopting a cloud strategy. The cloud topologies have also encountered challenges in governance and control. The system does not give total control over infrastructure to be provided and controlled which has raised concerns for Information Technology to give the governance, compliance and risk management (Moreno-Vozmediano et al., 2013).

These three type of cloud topologies differ in how they share and access basic computer infrastructure. In open cloud topologies, individual organizations share the servers and access to common computer infrastructure given by the cloud service provider. The organizations share the infrastructure with other organizations that have subscribed to the cloud. Payment in the open cloud does not have time limitations. In private cloud, conversely, an organization does not share the cloud infrastructure with any other company (Goyal, 2014). The infrastructure used is behind a firewall and is accessed through the organization’s internet through encrypted connections. Payment in private cloud is made on a time-based model. In a hybrid cloud, the deployment of the cloud in an organization is divided between open and private cloud. The data which is sensitive remains in the private cloud to ensure security and quality maintenance while operations that do not contain sensitive information are carried out using private cloud to cut down on the costs.

In public cloud, the operations of the topology are owned by the cloud service provider and, thus, have a major role in managing it. Conversely, in private technology, the cloud storage is owned by the organization which is the same case as in hybrid cloud topologies. To access the cloud storage in the open cloud, the organization requires internet unlike in private and hybrid clouds where the organization requires intranet (Goyal, 2014). With the emerging technologies across the globe, private and hybrid clouds are safer to use as people are accessing much information for enterprises that use the open cloud. However, using private and hybrid clouds come at a cost as they are costly compared to the open cloud.

In open cloud, data centre is situated anywhere on the internet where the cloud service providers are. Conversely, data center is situated inside the company’s network while in hybrid cloud, data center is located both inside the company’s network for sensitive data and publicly for data that is not sensitive. Cloud service is managed by the cloud service provider in open cloud whereas in private cloud the company employs administrators to manage their cloud services (Goyal, 2014). On the other hand, in hybrid cloud, the company manages the sensitive data while the service provider manages the data that is not delicate (Goyal, 2014).

The hardware components in open cloud are provided by the cloud service provider while in private cloud the organization constructs physical servers to use in building their cloud. Hybrid cloud has hardware components given by the cloud service provider for data that do not require much security while they construct servers for sensitive data. With the emerging technologies such as social media and green IT, private and hybrid clouds could be more secure and effective for enterprises.

I choose to look at Oxford University which is a higher learning institution and is among the oldest universities. This institution seeks to serve the public members and, therefore, should have information given to a member of the public interested to join the institution and also to students in the institution. As an IT director in the institution, I would recommend the university to use hybrid cloud topology. Oxford will utilize hybrid cloud to give database as a service. Data will be publicly available to public members such as students and researchers on the internet to help them track results of the institution. This data will run in a public cloud but will be connected to the institution’s private connection for security purposes which makes the cloud hybrid. Data regarding management and sensitive information regarding students like their personal results will be managed through private connection for maximum security.