The document outlines the development of the Automated Service Provisioning Environment (ASpEN) by the Grid Research Centre at the University of Calgary, which aims to enhance the management of virtual machines and cloud services in data centres. It discusses ongoing projects such as Geochronos and the collaborative cloud-based computing for earth observation scientists, along with plans to improve data centre automation and sustainability. Future objectives include enabling seamless migration of services to zero carbon data centres and optimizing operations for ecological impact.

1. Data Centre Automation and Sustainability Cameron Kiddle Research Fellow Grid Research Centre (GRC) University of Calgary

2. Automated Service Provisioning ENvironment (ASPEN) Developed by the GRC (in collaboration with HP Labs) to enable dynamic allocation and management of virtual machines/cloud services in a data centre Similar to Eucalyptus, Nimbus and OpenNebula but has greater focus on scheduling capabilities and efficient image management

3. Applications Running in ASPEN GeoChronos CANARIE NEP project a collaborative cloud-based computing environment for earth observation scientists Rendering Cloud Cybera industry pilot project with EDM Studio Inc A collaborative cloud-based rendering service

4. Proposed Plans of the GRC Continue to explore automation and sustainability of data centres Improve efficiency, reduce operating costs, minimize ecological impact Extend ASPEN to support migration of virtual machines/ cloud services between data centres Automate migrations based on economic and ecological impact Enable migration to zero carbon data centres Enable follow the sun/follow the wind grids Deploy GeoChronos platform, cloud-based rendering service, and/or other real world applications in extended ASPEN environment