CiC: Science of Cloud-Scale Computing

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

Cornell effort works towards a science of high-assurance cloud computing. Such a science is needed for to support sensitive computing applications that require higher degrees of assurance than is typical for modern cloud platforms, for example in their security, privacy, consistency, fault-tolerance or responsiveness guarantees. The Cornell group is using a three-pronged approach: 1. Experiments to quantify the properties of today?s cloud platforms. 2. Software solutions that run on today?s clouds but enhance their properties. This entails protocol and system design, implementation, and evaluation, but will also involve creating models and proofs contributing towards a future science of highly assured cloud computing. 3. As these new tools emerge, the group can restart the cycle by using them to prototype critical applications in selected domains (finance, healthcare, control of the smart power grid), reevaluate their performance, and then explore needed optimizations and enhancements to support realistic application workloads. Intensive access to Microsoft Azure permits the team to create a body of knowledge with immediate practical value for Azure users. However, by working towards a deeper scientific foundation for highly assured cloud computing, the expectation is that any key insights will be equally applicable on non-Microsoft systems.