Cloud Computing and the Impact it has had on Traditional Hardware & Software Systems

Abstract

Cloud computing drives a shift in the way organizations can obtain computing power, create applications and distribute accountability for information systems. This paper reviews these changes by conducting a focused integrative review of five publications, two technical and three scholarly, that have been confirmed, including some published in 2023 and 2024. The analysis links infrastructure ownership, software modernization, economic governance and sustainability without making claims of empirical observations. The synthesis shows that the physical infrastructure is not going away as a result of the cloud, nor are some of the administrative tasks. But some services are becoming dependent and the distributed environment introduces reliance on contractual interfaces. Legacy software doesn't necessarily gain cloud-native features when hosted. The advantages of migration, then, will be based on the characteristics of the workload, how the workload adapts to the architecture, how well the workload performs, and the type of service chosen. A proposed Workload centered assessment framework, that combines technical performance, lifecycle cost, reversibility, security and environmental accountability. The evidence base is limited and diverse so the results only support propositions for analysis rather than statements of overall cost reduction or performance improvement. The paper concludes that the decision principle of selective modernization and hybrid placement offers the better defense than indiscriminate replacement of traditional systems.