Planning IUCRC Boston University: Center for Data Center-Scale Computing (DCSS)

近年来，云计算变得非常普遍，企业计算的很大一部分转移到云上，而且整个类别的新企业都专门使用云而不是本地服务器。然而，迄今为止，云计算的创新对组织成员来说一直很困难——无论是学术组织还是工业组织——这些组织不是少数大型云提供商之一。许多进步不仅依赖于对大规模计算环境的访问，而且还依赖于对用户及其应用程序的访问，以便(a)为研究提供关于要针对什么问题的数据，以及(b)评估拟议的技术如何解决实际问题或实现新用途。数据中心规模计算中心（DCSC）旨在通过向教师和工业合作者提供此类研究的先决条件来加快这一领域的创新步伐。DCSC寻求利用参与学术机构的计算需求，为研究提供信息，并为评估和转化为实践提供途径。与此同时，该中心将利用开源许可，允许大学研究人员和工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。波士顿大学中心特别关注的领域包括云计算系统平台、共享数据中心经济、电力和调度。这项工作的更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以外的用例的技术，如学术、研究和混合云；云计算的广泛使用将扩大这些发展的影响。研究生将参与高质量的研究项目，研究生和本科生都将接受对行业有价值的技能培训。招生方面的多元化工作将与波士顿大学负责多元化事务的副教务长协调。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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 Boston University include system platforms for cloud computing, shared data center economics, and power and scheduling.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. Diversity efforts in recruiting students will be coordinated with the BU Associate Provost for Diversity.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.