Next Level IT Sourcing: The New Data Center Model

May 11, 2011 | Valery Herrington defines the concept of next level IT sourcing and discusses the value and challenges of these new models with the rise of cloud computing. Although enterprise-driven in focus, the idea of this particular model of IT is applicable across the board; from large research organizations to the smallest of startups.
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GlobusWORLD Video Series: Ian Foster on Accelerating Science and Discovery

Apr 15, 2011 | This week we sat down with Ian Foster, grid luminary and Director of the Computation Institute at the University of Chicago to discuss some of the fundamental changes in how IT trends are reshaping research and progress. We also explore some of Foster's ideas about grid computing and its evolution over the course of the last several years.
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GlobusWORLD Video Series: Steve Tuecke on Science, SaaS Synergies

Apr 14, 2011 | During this week's GlobusWORLD event at Argonne National Laboratory, we took time out to discuss grid and cloud movements and new developments in web-delivered services that are allowing scientists to shed IT concerns and get back to focusing on research.
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GlobusWORLD Video Series: Brigitte Raumann on the New Era for Biologists

Apr 13, 2011 | This week at Argonne National Laboratory we caught up with Brigitte Raumann from the Initiative in Biomedical Informatics to discuss some of the challenges facing life sciences research today. The problem is no longer a lack of data, however, it's the proliferation that is stretching infrastructure to its limit.
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Boosting Biology with High Performance Clouds

Apr 11, 2011 | Dr. Asoke K. Taukder discusses the range of biological applications that can be run in a cloud environment and provides an overview of how high performance computing in the cloud can reshape the way research in the life science is performed.
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Supercomputer in the Cloud Speeds Biotech Research

Apr 08, 2011 | With one of the largest biotechnology events in the world just around the corner, an announcement that provides details about a supercomputer dedicated exclusively to a biosciences application is bound to draw some attention. However, when that machine could be placed in the top 100 of the Top500 list of the world’s most powerful clusters and exists only in the cloud, it is certainly worth taking a second look at.
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Cloud Sparking Rapid Evolution of Life Sciences R&D

Apr 06, 2011 | Bruce Maches provides a thorough examination of the complexity and resource requirements of specialized life science applications and what the role (and challenges) will be as cloud continue to enter into the industry. Many life science companies are struggling to afford to internally build, implement, and support much of the required systems and infrastructure but as Maches argues, there are alternatives.
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Cloud Surfing Made Simple

Apr 05, 2011 | Alex Lesser, Vice President of the Cloud/Data Infrastructure Group at PSSC Labs asks, "What is a cloud?" Obviously it is group of small water particles we see in the Earth’s atmosphere, but when combined with the word “computing” a cloud takes on a life of its own, especially for high-performance computing users.
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IEEE Declares War on Cloud Computing Challenges

Apr 04, 2011 | Today the IEEE announced a broad cloud computing initiative that seeks to untangle some of the most complicated knots binding cloud advancement--interoperability and general clarity of the ecosystem. The group sees a long road ahead but trusts its methods from past international standards will apply during this process as well.
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Are Reports of Mainframe Death Greatly Exaggerated?

Apr 01, 2011 | A new report released by a data center management organization indicates that mainframes are set to go the way of the dinosaur, in part due to cloud computing. However, some question whether or not this point is valid in their preduictions for the mainframe's cloudy future.
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Compliance Complexities Challenge Cloud Adoption

Mar 31, 2011 | Cloud and infrastructure compliance expert, Shawn R. Chaput, lends his understanding of the range of regulatory and other constraints that affect a number of users of high-performance computing. This week he took a look at the challenges of compliance burdens and what to consider when weighing cloud computing options based on lessons learned during his compliance consulting experiences.
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Emerging Marketplace Deals in Spare Cycles

Mar 29, 2011 | As more users warm to the idea of using cloud-based resources, new ways of distributing spare compute cycles are emerging, including via the use of marketplaces like that offered by SpotCloud. Such services allow those with excess capacity to sell their downtime while providing users with cheap access to resources they need.
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Microsoft “Targets” Virtualization Goals of Mega-Retailers

Mar 25, 2011 | Implementing an aggressive virtualization strategy involving over 300,000 endpoints, including 15,000 servers, 29,000 workstations and several other sources of input is no simple task. American retail giant Target announced how it managed the feat, while at the same time giving Microsoft some credibility in its role in a sphere dominated by stiff competition.
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Brain Computer Interfaces Benefit from Cloud Advancements

Mar 23, 2011 | What do you get when you mix compute clouds and electroencephalograms (EEG)? We asked Kathleen Ericson, a PhD candidate in the Department of Computer Science at Colorado State University, who has explored some of these possibilities in an award-winning piece at the IEEE Conference on Cloud Computing Technology & Science in December 2010.
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Clouds Set to Make Smart Grids Smarter

Mar 21, 2011 | Over the next few years, the very sources of massive energy consumption--data centers that power cloud computing--could soon turn to serve the goals of energy efficiency programs. Cloud platforms and the scalable needs they can serve are increasingly being seen as key to energy management, especially as the range of devices, sensors and measurement tools grows and renewable sources are being fed back into the system.
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Cloud@Home: Goals, Challenges and Benefits of a Volunteer Cloud

Mar 17, 2011 | Building on ideas from grid computing, Dr. Salvatore Distefano and Dr. Antonio Puliafito discuss the concept of volunteer computing via Cloud@Home. This could be a way for implementing ubiquitous and pervasive computing as many computational devices and systems can be engaged simultaneously for performing ordinary activities, and may not necessarily be aware that they are doing so.
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The SaaS Stepping Stone to Strong IaaS Support

Mar 15, 2011 | We recently published an article that provided the opinions of a number of thought and industry leaders on the subject of public cloud viability for mission-critical or business-critical needs. While the responses were rather wide-ranging, there were a few common issues (including matters of cost, security and existing investment) that got Robin Meehan’s wheels turning.
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Calamities, Contingencies and the Cloud

Mar 14, 2011 | As the dust settles, both literally and figuratively, in Japan following the series of disasters more comprehansive assessments of the damage are emerging on a number of fronts--human, environmental, structural and otherwise. While clouds have played an important role in allowing global sharing and collaboration the datacenters that support them in Japan were put to the ultimate test.
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Considerations for the Cryptographic Cloud

Mar 11, 2011 | Members of the Microsoft Research Cryptography Group describe the complexities of building a secure cloud storage service on top of a public cloud infrastructure, which is often not fully trusted by the user. Dr. Kamara and Dr. Lauter also shed light on key architectures that combine recent and non-standard cryptographic primitives and survey the benefits such rchitectures would provide to both cloud providers and their end users.
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EDA Industry Leaders Build a Case for Clouds, Explore Limitations

Mar 08, 2011 | Cloud computing has been a consistent item on the programs of a number of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry events. To add to the discussion we explored the current role of clouds and looked to the future with five EDA executives to gauge their sense of cloud adoption and the reasons behind (or working against) it.
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The Eye of the Cyclone: Christian Tanasescu on SGI's Role in Technical Cloud Computing

Mar 07, 2011 | One year ago, SGI announced its SGI Cyclone for large-scale, on-demand cloud computing services specifically dedicated to technical applications. This first anniversary seemed like the perfect time to get an update from someone who is deeply involved with Cyclone, Christian Tanasescu. As Vice President Software Engineering at SGI. Christian, among others, leads SGI’s activities around Cyclone. He gives a status update on the technical clouds and talks about future directions for SGI.
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Migrating Scientific Experiments to the Cloud

Mar 04, 2011 | Despite the high interest about cloud computing from the scientific community it is still a wide open field. Dr. Oliveira and colleagues describe how choosing the best cloud support is a step forward, but also address the persistent need for services focused on the scientific workflow execution to bridge the gap between the cloud and real science in practice.
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Expert Panel: What’s Around the Bend for Big Data?

Mar 02, 2011 | This week we checked in with experts from Microsoft, IBM, Yahoo, Facebook's Hadoop engineering team and others to discuss some diverse issues related to big data, including changes in use, frameworks and applications. We also identify the year’s most profound trends and speculate on what lies ahead.
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HUBzero Paving the Way for the Third Pillar of Science

Feb 28, 2011 | What if researchers could access and share scientific simulation and modeling tools as easily as YouTube videos with the power of the cloud to drive it all? That’s the underlying premise for the HUBzero Platform for Scientific Collaboration, a cyberinfrastructure developed at Purdue University.
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Grid Pioneer Ian Foster Discusses the Future of Science in the Cloud

Feb 24, 2011 | In this interview, Ian Foster discusses the next logical steps beyond grid that leading to a major transformation in science. While there are new avenues opened via access to an unprecedented amount of computational power, there are still some challenges ahead. Foster details these issues and presents some updates from the Globus team, including information about Globus Online.
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