What Has Cloud Computing Got To Do With Me?
— Tan Chee Chiang / Cherry Hoang

Have you heard of the term ‘Cloud Computing’ and wondered what has it got to do with you?

A lot, actually.

If you’ve Googled, used social networking sites such as Facebook or have an email account with Web-based email services like Hotmail or Gmail, you would have already set foot in the ‘Cloud’ environment.  The capacity seems to be limitless, and you don’t know where your emails or photos are stored.  But it’s there, somewhere, floating in the ‘cloud’.

Many organizations such as government agencies, universities and research centres compute data that requires an unprecedented amount of computing power which could never be built on a single server.  Instead of managing or purchasing a suite of servers or expensive super-computers, Cloud Computing provides the intensive computing power you need to process your data.

One glitch of leveraging on the Public Cloud is the loss of control over its use because of  the shared-resources environment.  For instance, if you lose your hotmails, you won’t be able to recover it.

Does NUS have its own Cloud?

At the moment, NUS has the TCG@NUS (Tera-Scale Campus Grid at NUS), which is similar to a Cloud.  The Grid technology harnesses the available computing power of over 3000 PC/server processor cores across campus to provide a compute power that can be used to reduce large-scale research computation from weeks to days and days to hours.

Although TCG@NUS has the characteristics of providing computational services over a network ‘Cloud’, it is still lacking in areas such as resource scalability and service level guarantee. The computing power of 3000 PC/server processor cores are only available when they are left idling.

Computer Centre is exploring the possibility of providing Private Cloud services through virtualization technologies.  The Private Cloud (which provides agility with in-house resources, may not have the same level of scalability as compared to Public Cloud) will enhance agility using internal shared resources, and also address the security, reliability and compliance concerns when sensitive data are to be kept in the Cloud.

Public Seminar - The Tower and The Cloud

Computer Centre hosted an honored guest – Mr Richard N Katz, Vice President of EDUCAUSE to give a talk on “The Tower and The Cloud” on campus on 16 September 2009.

The talk focused on how the Cloud concept will shape the education landscape.  And how the modern, place bound university might use the network cloud to alter and enlarge the university's footprint locally, nationally, and even globally.

Visit  www.nus.edu.sg/comcen/news/events to view the seminar.