Cloud Computing: Theory and Practice, Second Edition, provides students and IT professionals with an in-depth analysis of the cloud from the ground up. After an introduction to network-centric computing and network-centric content in Chapter One, the book is organized into four sections. Section One reviews basic concepts of concurrency and parallel and distributed systems. Section Two presents such critical components of the cloud ecosystem as cloud service providers, cloud access, cloud data storage, and cloud hardware and software. Section Three covers cloud applications and cloud security, while Section Four presents research topics in cloud computing. Specific topics covered include resource virtualization, resource management and scheduling, and advanced topics like the impact of scale on efficiency, cloud scheduling subject to deadlines, alternative cloud architectures, and vehicular clouds. An included glossary covers terms grouped in several categories, from general to services, virtualization, desirable attributes and security. - Includes new chapters on concurrency, cloud hardware and software, challenges posed by big data and mobile applications and advanced topics - Provides a new appendix that presents several cloud computing projects - Presents more than 400 references in the text, including recent research results in several areas related to cloud computing