Planning IUCRC Northeastern University: Center for Cloud and Data Center-Scale Computing (DCSC)

近年来，云计算已经变得无处不在，很大一部分企业计算转移到了云上，整个类别的新企业都专门使用云而不是内部服务器。然而，到目前为止，云计算领域的创新对于组织的成员来说一直是困难的，无论是学术组织还是工业组织，这些组织并不是少数大型云提供商之一。许多进展不仅取决于获得大规模计算环境，而且还取决于用户及其应用程序，以(A)为研究提供数据，说明要针对哪些问题，以及(B)评估拟议的技术如何解决实际问题或实现新的用途。数据中心规模计算中心(DCSC)寻求通过向教师和行业合作者提供此类研究的先决条件来加快该领域的创新步伐。DCSC寻求利用参与的学术机构内的计算需求，为研究提供信息，并提供一条评估和转化为实践的途径。与此同时，该中心将利用开源许可，允许大学研究人员和行业合作伙伴之间的密切合作，使工程和系统建设达到仅在大学环境中难以实现的水平。东北大学该中心特别关注的领域包括云数据存储，包括用于大数据和机器学习的新兴存储技术和存储，以及新加速器技术的使用。这项工作的广泛影响将部分来自云系统、存储和平台新技术的开发，特别是那些针对主要公共云市场之外的用例的开发，如学术、研究和混合云；这些发展的影响将因云计算的广泛使用而放大。研究生将参与高质量的研究项目，担任支持角色的研究生和本科生都将接受对行业有价值的技能培训。在招收中心职位的学生方面，我们将与东北大学的Align计划及其多元化努力密切合作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Cloud computing has become pervasive in recent years, with a large fraction of enterprise computing moving to the cloud, and entire categories of new enterprises exclusively using the cloud rather than on-premises servers. Yet to date innovation in cloud computing has been difficult for members of organizations - whether academic or industrial - which are not one of a small number of large cloud providers. Many advances have depended on not only access to large-scale computing environments, but also to users and their applications, to (a) inform research with data on what problems to target, and (b) evaluate how proposed technologies might address real problems or enable new uses. The Center for Data Center Scale Computing (DCSC) seeks to increase the pace of innovation in this field by making the prerequisites for such research available to faculty and industrial collaborators. DCSC seeks to harness the computing demand within participating academic institutions to both inform research and provide a path for evaluation and translation into practice. At the same time, the Center will take advantage of open-source licensing to allow close collaboration between university researchers and industrial partners, allowing engineering and system-building on a level difficult to achieve solely within a university environment. Particular areas of focus of the Center at Northeastern University include data storage for the cloud, including emerging storage technologies and storage for Big Data and machine learning, and the use of new accelerator technologies.Broader impacts of this work will come in part from development of new technologies for cloud systems, storage, and platforms, especially those targeting use cases outside of the main public cloud markets, such as academic, research, and hybrid clouds; the impact of these developments will be amplified by the wide-spread use of cloud computing. Graduate students will be involved in high-quality research projects, and both graduate and undergraduate students in support roles will receive training in skills of value to industry. In recruiting students for Center positions we will work closely with Northeastern's ALIGN program and its diversity efforts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.