MIT business school promotes use of cloud, mobile devices

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management has taken a dramatic step toward embracing cloud computing and the use of mobile devices like tablet computers, the Boston Globe reports.

According to the newspaper, the Sloan School is moving faculty and students away from using desktop computers and instead is encouraging them to rely on tablets and so-called thin clients. The latter refers to computing devices built specifically for accessing cloud computing services. They lack robust computing power but provide an experience akin to a laptop computer when connected to the cloud.

The shift to the cloud and mobile devices comes in response to the changing work habits of MIT's faculty and students, the Globe notes. No longer do faculty members, especially, spend a majority of their time in offices. Instead, they are out teaching and meeting with students.

Focusing on the cloud will allow them to access MIT's data center and robust apps regardless of where they are working, according to the newspaper.

Given the recent rise of mobile devices in the workplace, many companies are following a similar path to MIT's Sloan School. The combination of cloud computing services and tablets provides the access to information required by remote workers.