NSF Cloud Evaluation Committee

Trustees Of Boston University, Boston

Investigators

Abstract

The CISE Research Infrastructure program drives discovery and learning in the computing disciplines by supporting the creation and enhancement of world-class computing research infrastructure. In 2014 NSF launched Phase I of the NSFCloud Mid-scale Research Infrastructure program to enable the academic research community to develop and experiment with novel cloud computing architectures and address emerging research challenges. Two distinct computing cloud infrastructure projects -- Chameleon and CloudLab -- were initiated. The original NSF Cloud solicitation (NSF 13-602) anticipated two phases of the NSFCloud program, and recommended an external evaluation of the projects near the completion of Phase I. The objective of this proposed activity is to undertake that evaluation based on the goals of the NSFCloud program, as well as specific metrics outlined in each original NSFCloud proposal. This evaluation considers four main areas of focus: outreach and community, nature of the platform research, technical details of each project, and efforts/approaches towards sustaining each project. Upon completion of the evaluation a written report will detail findings and offer concrete recommendations for advancing each system under Phase II of the program.