Will the cloud change scientific computing?
In an Analysis and Opinion piece, Tom Wilkie considers how the cloud will change computing for science. Globus is highlighted in one of the case studies about eMedLab, a consortium of seven academic research institutions.
The eMedLab consortium uses Globus to move the data. In part this is because of reliability but it is also because of ease of authentication of users and access. The federation is using InCommon, a standard trust framework for US education and research that allows trustworthy shared management of access to on-line resources, as a way to authenticate users, and Globus supports that. 'So with a single log-in, you have a standard way to move data, a standard way to authenticate each cloud, a standard way to launch your VMs, and it just becomes a matter of learning how to do that', says David Lifka, director of the Cornell University Center for Advanced Computing.