Always wanted to outsource your needs for intensive, time,- memory-, and disc- wise, computations ... to somebody, somewhere, "out there" ... ? Dreamed about forgetting about operating systems, compilers, quotas, queues, architectures, etc ?!
Have you ever thought in this context about the cloud computing - a recent hype arriving on the footsteps of the grid and peer-to-peer, a.k.a., "so yesterday", options (*). Figured "the cloud" to be panacea for all your problems ... ? Linus Pauling's vitamin C ?!
Well, if so, it looks like you might have been living with your head in the cloud(s) indeed ... This is at least according to the authors of this presentation given during a recent cloud computing workshop, who surmise that this option is neither easy to use, quick nor cheap, at least as far as scientific applications are concerned. And no it is not free of an administrative burden either and the admin guy has to be, well, you ...
Not so rosy a picture, eh ? Is this a last word on the issue ? I doubt but for time being it looks like it is going to be wise to keep on friendly terms with managers of your favorite supercomputing center ... Or at least that's what I am planning for ... Perfect an option, it is not, but at least a known danger ...
And yes, Maude, could be the right moment to get back to reviewing what computing options are out there as well ... ;-)
(*) if the differences between those are for you a bit, ehm, hazy ... ;-) rest assure ... you are not on your own.
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