PITTSBURGH, May 17, 2010 -- Carnegie Mellon University is launching an initiative, led by two of its Silicon Valley-based researchers, to address the need for industry-wide, globally accepted measures for calculating the benefits and risks of cloud-computing services.

"We are helping to develop a set of business-centric measures, mixing quantitative and qualitative data that will provide chief information officers with a standardized method for comparing cloud services from internal or external providers," said Jane Siegel and Jeff Perdue, both senior scientists at Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley.

The researchers are seeking industry involvement via a consortium being formed with thought-leaders from other educational institutions, end user organizations and technology providers, who are experts in measuring and managing IT-enabled services. This initiative will develop a dynamic Service Measurement Index (SMI) that will be available for use by members of the Cloud Commons (www.cloudcommons.com), an independent IT community supported by CA Technologies (NASDAQ:CA) , a New York-based software company. CA Technologies also is a founding member of the consortium and is hosting the inaugural meeting of this group at its CA World 2010 Customer Conference in Las Vegas, May 16 - 20.

"Today, there is no single, unbiased source that helps users understand and measure the experience organizations are having with cloud computing," said Martin Griss, associate dean of Carnegie Mellon's Silicon Valley campus. "This new qualification effort is being led by the researchers at Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley, where we are launching a new service management graduate education program as well as initiating research programs for large service systems."

"We are developing a framework and meaningful measure to enable decision-makers and senior managers to determine the costs, risks and quality of services for both external and internal cloud services," Siegel said.

Carnegie Mellon researchers said the drive to develop the consortium was prompted by a desire to help develop industry standards for measurement of services, and a tradition of tapping the university's global, entrepreneurial drive for innovative and multidisciplinary problem-solving skills to tackle industry challenges.

"The growth of the Internet and increasing demands for faster and more economic ways for business to store and process information makes our new cloud services measurement work an essential part of any IT professional's toolkit," said Perdue, who co-founded the service management graduate program at Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley.

About Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley: Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley (www.cmu.edu/silicon-valley/) is dedicated to educating its students to become leaders in global technology, innovation and management, and to performing innovative research that connects it to local, national and global high-tech companies. Long known for its leadership in engineering and computer science research and education, Carnegie Mellon and the College of Engineering have established a natural extension in Silicon Valley, one that integrates the rich heritage and resources of the Pittsburgh campus with the opportunities available in the highly innovative and entrepreneurial Silicon Valley. Offering graduate programs in software engineering, software management, information technology, innovation and mobility, each program provides the appropriate mix of technical, business and organization skills critical to our students' success. With research that focuses on a suite of new technologies, Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley is committed to creating and implementing solutions for real problems.

About Carnegie Mellon: Carnegie Mellon is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the fine arts. More than 11,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon's main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of a $1 billion fundraising campaign, titled "Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University," which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.