BIG DATA
Constellation Technologies and Cambridge University explore the cloud together
Constellation Technologies, the Oxfordshire-based developer of grid computing software, and the University of Cambridge eScience Centre (CeSC) will collaborate to investigate the opportunities offered by cloud computing for industry and academia.
Constellation Technologies and CeSC have already delivered one successful pilot project for a major pharmaceutical company.
Cloud computing promises to provide access to distributed computing resources over the Internet, and is widely seen as a way of reducing IT costs. It also has the potential to be an effective way for academic groups to collaborate.
Constellation Technologies and CeSC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen connections between the two organizations, and to provide the basis for prospective projects and knowledge exchange activities.
The term ‘cloud computing’ comes from the widely accepted way of depicting the Internet on network diagrams in the form of a ‘cloud’ sign.
Constellation Technologies is a spinout company from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), and has an ambitious goal to commercialise distributed computing technologies developed at RAL for the benefit of industrial users of cloud computing.
These technologies were created by the particle physics community to meet the challenges of handling data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, home of the World Wide Web. The LHC experiment will be producing up to 20 Petabytes of data per year. The design of the systems will give Constellation Technologies the scalability to satisfy the most demanding industrial customers.
CeSC has delivered a large number of Grid computing projects in various research and industrial domains and is open to new challenges from the field of cloud computing.
“Industry wants more than just access to raw computing resources”, says Nick Trigg, CEO of Constellation Technologies. “Companies need solutions to their problems that are cost effective, scalable and easy to use, and that is exactly what Constellation Technologies will be offering in collaboration with its academic partners.”
“Building scientific and commercial applications in the cloud is a natural extension of our work in Grid technologies”, said Mark Hayes, Director of Cambridge eScience Centre. “We want to bring the results of this work to a wider audience.”
Michael Simmons, eScience Development Manager and STFC PIPSS Fellow, added: “We are looking forward to developing a very fruitful collaboration with Constellation Technologies which will bring great benefit to both organizations”.
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