NSFCloud Workshop: Experimental Support for Cloud Computing

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

The NSFCloud solicitation was established in 2013 as a track within the NSF CISE Research Infrastructure (CRI) program with the objective to provide an experimental platform enabling the academic research community to drive research on a new generation of innovative applications of cloud computing and cloud computing architectures. While this effort seeks to build on prior NSF investments, such as the GENI and FutureGrid testbeds, it is unique in that it targets specifically the field of cloud computing and seeks to support and integrate research in this area with innovate solutions in systems, networking, and cyber-physical system (CPS) research and thereby define a broad research agenda of the future. NSF is making NSFCloud awards, and as these projects begin, it is critical that a dialogue be initiated between the research community and the experimental platform providers, detailing the expectations on one side and capabilities on the other. To initiate such dialogue, this project provides support for a workshop whose principal objectives are to (1) provide early information to the CISE research community about the approach to providing an experimental platform taken by the funded NSFCloud projects; and (2) provide a forum for a discussion of the experimental requirements of the CISE community and thus provide an opportunity for community feedback and refinement of those plans. As an extension of these objectives, the workshop provides a lasting opening of the communication channels between the testbed providers and the research community they will serve, and explores collaborations and synergies that will make this relationship efficient and fulfilling. This workshop solicits participation from the CISE research community that will rely on the NSFCloud projects for the support of their experimental needs as well as the NSFCloud teams themselves. The organizers engage minority serving institution (MSI) participants from both groups. The participation by the community helps ensure that the testbeds, when delivered to the community, will have the relevant capabilities, that the intended research projects are targeted, and that the facilities are accessible to MSI communities. The results of the workshop guide the experimental platform development and community outreach related to the NSFCloud proposal.