National Science Foundation Provides Funding for Cloud Research
The National Science Foundation is an organization that strives to be on the cutting edge of technology. The NSF recently announced that they will pony up $10M in funding for select universities across America to begin building cloud infrastructure for research purposes. The NSF is funding two projects specifically with one being called Chameleon and the other is being referred to as CloudLab.
Suzy Iacono, the head of the NSF’s Computer Information and Science Engineering department, mentioned in an interview that, “Just as NSFNet laid some of the foundations for the current Internet, we expect that the NSFCloud program will revolutionize the science and engineering for cloud computing.”
The Chameleon program will take place on the campuses of the University of Chicago and at the University at Texas in Austin. Phys.org reports that the platform is designed to take on unconventional cloud tasks such as machine learning, adaptive operating systems, and climate simulations.
Kate Keahey from the University of Chicago commented, “Like its namesake, the Chameleon test bed will be able to adapt itself to a wide range of experimental needs, from bare metal reconfiguration to support for ready made clouds.”
CloudLab, the other arm of the NSF’s Cloud Computing investment, will be co-located at the University of Wisconsin, University of Utah and ClemsonUniversity. Phys.org notes that these labs will be built out using custom hardware, feature 100 gigabit connections while utilizing the Internet2 platform for connectivity.
Robert Ricci from the University of Utah says, “CloudLab will be a facility where researchers can build their own clouds and experiment with new ideas with complete control, visibility and scientific fidelity. CloudLab will help researchers develop clouds that enable new applications with direct benefit to the public in areas of national priority such as real-time disaster response or the security of private data like medical records.”
