This document discusses cloud computing and the foundation technologies required to support it. It defines cloud computing as a new IT consumption and delivery model that provides users flexibility, lower costs, rapid provisioning of resources, and sharing. For suppliers it improves economics through standardization and automation. The document outlines the layers of cloud computing from Infrastructure as a Service to Business Process as a Service. It focuses on the foundation technologies required including virtualization, image management, resource management, and isolation/connectivity management. IBM Research is working on automated tools for image creation and composition, scalable image maintenance services, image analytics, VM placement and power management to advance these foundation technologies.

1. © 2010 IBM CorporationIIT & IBM | Cloud Computing in Academia Forum | April 2010
IBM TJ Watson Research Center
Cloud Computing
Foundation Technologies and Research Challenges
Giovanni Pacifici
(giovanni@us.ibm.com)

2. IBM TJ Watson Research Center
Giovanni Pacifici | Foundation Technologies for Cloud Computing © 2010 IBM Corporation2
IBM Confidential
Changes in
Consumption
Changes in
Delivery
Cloud Computing
• A new IT consumption and delivery model
• Users: High Quality Experience
– Flexibility and choice
– Lower costs
– Rapidly Provisioned
– Appearance of infinite computing resources
– Enhanced security and reliability
– Easy access to “best in class” functions
– Sharing
• Suppliers: Improved Economics
– Lower operating costs via standards and automation
– Improved capital efficiency
– Rapid, flexible services enhancements
• Self Service
• Flexible pricing
• Standardized
• Virtualized
• Automated

3. IBM TJ Watson Research Center
Giovanni Pacifici | Foundation Technologies for Cloud Computing © 2010 IBM Corporation3
Layers of Cloud Computing
Infrastructure-as-a-Service
Application-as-a-Service
Collaboration
Financials
CRM/ERP/HR
Industry
Applications
Servers Networking Storage
Data Center
Fabric
Shared virtualized, dynamic provisioning
Platform-as-a-Service
Middleware
Database
Web 2.0 Application
Runtime
Java
Runtime
Development
Tooling
Business Process-as-a-Service
Employee
Benefits Mgmt.
Industry
Processes
Procurement
Business Travel
Customers use programming
languages, tools and
platforms to develop and
deploy applications on multi-
tenant, shared infrastructure
Foundation Layer: Provides
processing, storage, network
resources to customers and
other layers
Customers use applications
Customers use business
outcomes

4. IBM TJ Watson Research Center
Giovanni Pacifici | Foundation Technologies for Cloud Computing © 2010 IBM Corporation4
Key Challenges
• Scalability: harness compute powers
spread across a large number of
distributed resources
• Efficiency: keep management
complexity constant
• Flexibility: create, deploy update IT
services significantly faster than
possible with today’s technology
• Optimized: performance, power and
availability
Simplified
Optimized
Flexible

5. IBM TJ Watson Research Center
Giovanni Pacifici | Foundation Technologies for Cloud Computing © 2010 IBM Corporation5
App Instances
Physical Resources
Middleware
Image
Operating
System
Resource
Definition
Middleware
Operating
System
Image
Resource
Definition
Foundation Technologies for Clouds
Our Focus
• Virtualization and Image Management
– Pre-built software stack packaged inside virtual machine
image designed to run on a VM hypervisor
– Rapid provisioning, durable asset
• Resource management and Automation
– Instance management (start, stop, suspend, resume, etc)
– Manage multiple resources (CPU, memory, disk space
and software license limits)
– Understand application topologies spanning multiple
virtual machines
• Isolation and connectivity management
– Manage isolation and connectivity of virtual resources.
– Move connectivity and isolation management from
physical to virtual
– Configure resources form high level policy

6. IBM TJ Watson Research Center
Giovanni Pacifici | Foundation Technologies for Cloud Computing © 2010 IBM Corporation6
Summary
• Cloud Computing brings value to both IT users and provides
– Flexibility and economics
• Technologies for Infrastructure clouds
– Resource Virtualization (storage, compute, network)
– Image management, Resource Management, Isolation and
Connectivity
• IBM Research Review
– Automated image creation and composition tools.
– Scalable image maintenance services
– Image analytics
• index the software contents of images in the library and provide
analytics like search, license discovery, etc on the collection, greatly
enhancing the customer experience with the cloud.
– VM Placement, Admission Control, Power management
• Other
– Olive.org
– RC2

7. © 2010 IBM CorporationIIT & IBM | Cloud Computing in Academia Forum | April 2010
IBM TJ Watson Research Center
Thank You
giovanni@us.ibm.com