Access to data on a huge scale and cloud-based tools can enable scientists from almost every field of enquiry with many researchers making discoveries they could not make before. The set of “Me and My Cloud” presentations at Cloudscape VI on 24 and 25 February look at how the Cloud is already empowering users from different research domains, spanning an “army of one” to large-scale international communities. End-user perspectives come from individual researchers testing new ideas faster and more cost-effectively to the biomolecular research community that wants to run their data analysis algorithms next to the big data sets wherever they are located, and the growing IT needs of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Invited talks also focus on cloud for research and education networks through the GÉANT pan-European data network. Interactive discussions highlight the key role of interoperability based on open standards to protect from vendor lock-in, offer more choice and enable more efficient resource utilisation.

Cloud for research: through the eyes of the experts

What researchers need
Steven Newhouse, Head of Technical Services European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). “In common with many scientific domains, researchers within the biomolecular community want to undertake complex analyses on large data sets. To meet this need EMBL-EBI has established the Embassy Cloud and I look forward to sharing our experiences and learning from others at Cloudscape this year in the 'Me and My Cloud' session”. 25 February, 11:20

Helix Nebula aims to pave the way for the development and exploitation of cloud computing infrastructure initially based on the needs of European IT-intense scientific research. Bob Jones, OpenLab, CERN “CERN has been actively engaging with commercial cloud service providers through Helix Nebula to increase its response to the growing IT needs of the Large Hadron Collider”. 24 February, 16:20

How researchers can benefit
Vangelis Floros, GRNET, Greek research and educational network, “With the Cloud, students and faculty members can easily and cost efficiently acquire computing resources for various tasks. They can rapidly try out new ideas acquiring just the amount and type of resources needed. They can also experiment with different technologies (e.g. GPUs and accelerators), advanced network topologies and fabrics, without having to purchase expensive hardware”. 25 February, 11:20

How we are responding
Peter Kunzst, University of Zurich. “SwiNG, the Swiss National Grid Initiative, set up several private pilot cloud environments in late 2012. We have tested and evaluated different cloud stacks at the ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and SWITCH, our national research and education network. We recommend setting up local private cloud instances at the larger universities, standardising on OpenStack. Ensuring interoperability and federating the clouds on the client side with tools that can leverage several private and public clouds for scientific workloads. Setting up a network of supporters with local support to research projects, client-side training for research groups and sharing know-how across individual sites. At Cloudscape VI, I will present our plans for 2014”. 25 February, 11:20

David Wallom, Oxford eResearch Centre. “The EGI Cloud federation utilises a number of different recommended open standards to connect resources from multiple academic, public sector and commercial resource providers. This has enabled the construction of Europe’s largest cloud federation to support research from within the European Research Area. We see this as essential to build the utilisation of different European developed cloud technologies by different types of provider”. 25 February, 11:20

Andres Steijaert, GÉANT. “In GÉANT cloud specialists from the European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) work together to deliver cloud services to the research and education community, with the right conditions of use. The team aggregates demand, works on cloud standardisation and interoperability (on legal and technical aspects) and negotiates integrated brokerage and service delivery. Through this work, GÉANT represents the NRENs and aligns the demand and supply sides of the clouds market”. 25 February, 12:50

Connecting pioneers in the cloud space

Simon Woodman, Newcastle University. “eScience Central is a cloud-based Platform for Data Analysis. It supports secure storage and versioning of data, audit and provenance logs, and processing of data using workflows. Cloudscape will give us the invaluable opportunity to interact with other world leaders in Cloud computing, form collaborations and discuss opportunities. Where else can you find so many experts from both industry and academia in one place?” 25 February, 11:20