Technology Group Promises Scientists Their Own Clouds 45
jyosim writes On Tuesday, Internet2 announced that it will let researchers create and connect to their own private data clouds on the high-speed network (mainly used by colleges), within which they will be able to conduct research across disciplines and experiment on the nature of the Internet. The private cloud is thanks to a $10-million grant from the NSF. "They will have complete visibility into [the clouds] so they can really treat this as a scientific instrument and not a black box," the project's lead investigator told The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Contradiction (Score:3)
"[P]rivate data clouds" is a contradiction in terms.
Re: (Score:3)
So is "complete visibility into [the clouds] ... not a black box"
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Well I assure you someone will have complete visibility into the cloud.
Money from government. We're here to help.
Re:Contradiction (Score:5, Funny)
Your naughty bits are owned and managed by others? You're married?
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No offense, but nobody wants to see into your cloud.
Re:Contradiction (Score:4, Interesting)
Not really. UCSB has eucalyptus running a small "cloud". That's essentially a scaled down version of AWS. HTCondor can be considered a cloud since it scales and processes can run anywhere in their network.
Of course /. has no shortage of posts about the ambiguity of the word cloud, but I prefer thd looser definition. Universities have been distributing computation for a while now on what could be described as a cloud.
Re: (Score:2)
I might just be rephrasing what WarJolt already said, but: it's not a contradiction.
It's just a lie.
A 'cloud' is a big pile of servers leased out to users. A private cloud therefore should mean a private big pile of servers owned and used exclusively by a particular institution. Of course, that's not what these marketing clowns mean when they say It's your cloud! Generally, they mean... absolutely nothing, by this, as far as I can tell. Maybe VLANs at best. The linked article uses the former (non-)meaning,
Every time I hear the word "cloud" my brain hurts (Score:5, Insightful)
Stop calling servers "the cloud". Stop it stop it stop it.
Re: (Score:2)
Also the occasional complete misuse [thecloud.net] of the buzzwords.
No, Sky, your wi-fi offerings have nothing whatsoever to do with cloud computing.
Re: (Score:2)
I agree. Use IaaS or PaaS instead.
Re: (Score:1)
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To be fair, there is room for distinctions inside the cloud metaphor. Regular cloud services will now be called the "cumulus" cloud, and the Internet2 service is the "cirrostratus" cloud, because it has faster winds.
Re:Every time I hear the word "cloud" my brain hur (Score:5, Funny)
To be fair, there is room for distinctions inside the cloud metaphor. Regular cloud services will now be called the "cumulus" cloud, and the Internet2 service is the "cirrostratus" cloud, because it has faster winds.
So you're saying that cloud metaphors blow? I concur.
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I prefer miasma myself.
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Well you see, if they called it a "server," then they could get into legal trouble because they are only giving you a little tiny piece of a server. By calling it a "cloud," it can be whatever they want it to be, because...it's kind of hard for lawyers to pin down the legal definition of "cloud."
Re: (Score:2)
Servers contain lots of silicon. Maybe we should say "I'm storing my data in the sand".
PlanetLab (Score:2)
So it's PlanetLab, now on Internet2... because apparently some folks still care about that.
Proverb (Score:2)
Every Silver Cloud has a leather lining
The actual Press Release (Score:3)
Internet2 Announces First Full-Production Virtual Internet Network Architecture
http://www.internet2.edu/news/detail/7257/ [internet2.edu]
It gives me a better sense of what they're doing, but I'd still be happy to have someone dumb this down into an automotive analogy.
Re:The actual Press Release (Score:4, Insightful)
The private racetrack that you don't have access to just built a new community garage.
I detect (Score:2)
Tinfoil hat mode: ON (Score:1)
NSF Abstract (provides a little more info) (Score:2)
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch... [nsf.gov]
"Many of the ideas that drive modern cloud computing, such as server virtualization, network slicing, and robust distributed storage, arose from the research community. But because today's clouds have particular, non-malleable implementations of these ideas "baked in," they are unsuitable as facilities in which to conduct research on future cloud architectures. This project creates CloudLab, a facility that will enable fundamental advances in cloud architecture. CloudLab wil
Getting too old for this (Score:1)
Where security is a marshmallow and your rights are blueberry fuzz !
The NSA would love you to go, and so would the providers that will charge you peanuts until the ransom demands....
Hey, Keep it local, keep it safe, and if you must have outside access layer the heck out of it, but never, ever gives the
keys to the kingdom to anyone else.....
Everyone is rushing to put all their eggs in the same basket.
Somewhere saving money on infrastructure thwarted common sense.
And when the grant is gone (Score:1)
Big Deal.... (Score:2)
The Church preaches that if I'm good and just believe, I'll get one someday. Still waiting.
It's seed money ... (Score:2)
... heading for exploitation by advertisers and entities bot foreign and national who want to tap in to that market.
Sounded awesome (Score:2)
This sounded pretty cool until I realized they didn't mean "Technology Group Promises Scientists Their Own Clouds" literally.
OwnCloud (Score:2)
I have my own cloud... and so should you... for no reason other than to say that you can do it and have done it.
owncloud.org
What was stopping them before? (Score:2)