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"Universities Combine 'Cloud' Forces"
by William Bulkeley
The Wall Street Journal
October 8, 2007
This article announces an interesting new partnership between Google and IBM. The partnership will form a cloud for data storage and processing by computer science and programming students and professors. The cluster of computers forming the cloud network will consist initially consist of 400 computers, with plans to expand to 4,000. The cloud will be led by the University of Washington in Seattle, but it will be accessible by students and faculty at 5 other universities including: Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, MIT, University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Maryland. The purpose of the project is to improve computer science and computer programming academic curriculum. Until recently, curriculum in both fields has been primarily focused on "teaching students how to program a single server and not giving them opportunities to learn about parallel programming." [pg. 2] IBM and Google intend to create clustered computer environments in academic centers so that students can be more familiar with their (and a growing number of other companies) style of infrastructure in preparing them for future professional experiences. Google and IBM will initially each contribute $20M-$25M to get the project off the ground.
Is operating in the cloud really the way of the future? Obviously, Google and IBM (along with Amazon, and several others) would say "of course!" This article raises questions about whether new technology is adopted because it is necessarily more efficient, cheaper, etc., or because it is what professionals in their respective fields are taught and feel comfortable using? This collaboration between IBM and Google will be interesting to follow and learn more about as time progresses.
by William Bulkeley
The Wall Street Journal
October 8, 2007
This article announces an interesting new partnership between Google and IBM. The partnership will form a cloud for data storage and processing by computer science and programming students and professors. The cluster of computers forming the cloud network will consist initially consist of 400 computers, with plans to expand to 4,000. The cloud will be led by the University of Washington in Seattle, but it will be accessible by students and faculty at 5 other universities including: Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, MIT, University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Maryland. The purpose of the project is to improve computer science and computer programming academic curriculum. Until recently, curriculum in both fields has been primarily focused on "teaching students how to program a single server and not giving them opportunities to learn about parallel programming." [pg. 2] IBM and Google intend to create clustered computer environments in academic centers so that students can be more familiar with their (and a growing number of other companies) style of infrastructure in preparing them for future professional experiences. Google and IBM will initially each contribute $20M-$25M to get the project off the ground.
Is operating in the cloud really the way of the future? Obviously, Google and IBM (along with Amazon, and several others) would say "of course!" This article raises questions about whether new technology is adopted because it is necessarily more efficient, cheaper, etc., or because it is what professionals in their respective fields are taught and feel comfortable using? This collaboration between IBM and Google will be interesting to follow and learn more about as time progresses.