ACADEMIA

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is hosting Cloud Computing Forum & Workshop V on June 5-7, 2012, at the Department of Commerce’s Herbert C. Hoover Building in Washington, D.C.

Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service-provider interaction. Government, industry, academia and individuals are using cloud services.

NIST’s role in cloud computing is to help accelerate the secure and effective adoption of cloud computing in the federal government. The agency leads efforts to develop standards and guidelines and advance cloud computing technology in collaboration with standards bodies, businesses and other private-sector organizations, government agencies and other stakeholders.

Two sessions of this meeting focus on reviewing progress on the Priority Action Plans (PAPs) for each of the 10 high-priority requirements related to interoperability, portability and security that were identified by U.S. government agencies for adopting cloud computing. These requirements were first announced at the Cloud Computing Forum & Workshop IV in November 2011, and were published in the first release of the USG Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap, Volume I (NIST SP 500-293).* The two sessions will showcase the voluntary, independent, cloud-related PAP efforts underway by industry, academia and standards-developing organizations on these 10 high-priority requirements.

Government executives from Europe, Asia and North America, including U.S. Chief Information Officer Steve VanRoekel, will discuss views on the potential for cloud computing technology to transform public services. In another session, representatives from major standard-developing organizations will tackle the question, “Are there too many cooks in the kitchen?”

Other panels will cover “Industry Views on the Cloud Computing Model Development, Adoption and Next Steps” and “Target Business Use Cases for Government Cloud Computing Development.” The discussion of “USG Federal CC Effort: How Do They Fit Together” features representatives from the Department of Energy, General Services Administration and the Office of Management and Budget.

The workshop runs through the morning of June 7 and offers sessions on cloud security, cloud reference architecture and taxonomy, and updates in NIST cloud-related programs.

For more information on the Cloud Computing Forum & Workshop V, including the agenda and registration, visit www.nist.gov/itl/cloud/cloudworkshopv.cfm.

* Available atwww.nist.gov/itl/cloud/upload/SP_500_293_volumeI-2.pdf.