Helix Nebula Science Cloud Passes First Major Test

Proof of concept results demonstrate that CERN, EMBL and ESA have succeeded in deploying challenging scientific applications on Helix-Nebula cloud

August 7, 2012 –"Helix Nebula – the science cloud,” set up earlier this year to support the massive IT requirements of European scientists has successfully deployed its first flagship applications in high-energy physics, molecular biology and natural-disaster risk management. A collaboration between big science and big business, Helix Nebula joins the forces of leading IT providers with three of Europe’s leading research centers including the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the European Space Agency (ESA). The initiative is part-funded by the European Commission. First results of the initiative’s on-going Proof of Concept (PoC) phase show that CERN, EMBL and ESA succeeded in deploying challenging scientific applications each involving tens of thousands of jobs running on cloud computing infrastructure operated by several virtual cloud server providers. “CERN is the birthplace of the Worldwide Web – this project is an incredible opportunity for interoperable multi-provider cloud services. We are very excited by these early results and the opportunity to contribute to this project,” said Daniele Catteddu, EMEA Managing Director of Cloud Security Alliance, a partner in the project. “We applaud the consortium’s efforts and look forward to contributing further to a multi-provider public cloud infrastructure for European science and beyond.” CERN was able to run test simulations that had previously been executed on the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, the infrastructure which was used to build the case for the recent Higgs boson announcement. The European Molecular Biology Lab’s team successfully deployed and tested their novel software pipeline for large-scale genomic analysis on the different cloud provider infrastructures. Using real world large genomic data sets originating from EMBL’s sequencing machines, EMBL’s PoC extensively evaluated key elements such as scalability, performance and on-demand provisioning of resources for high performance computing and fast data storage in these clouds. The European Space Agency successfully tested large-scale data processing and dissemination from its radar satellites (ERS, Envisat) using different cloud provider infrastructures. The results demonstrated that these applications can run on multiple providers, despite using different technologies. Atos, CloudSigma and T-Systems provided the cloud computing resources to host the flagships and were instrumental during the PoC phase. In addition to the infrastructure providers, SME’s such as SixSq, Terradue and The Server Labs were vital to get the flagship applications up and running. More scientific organisations and service providers are welcome to join Helix Nebula- the Science Cloud. Helix Nebula current participants are: Atos, Capgemini, CERN, CloudSigma, Cloud Security Alliance, CNES, CNR IRIA, DLR, EMBL, ESA, European Grid Infrastructure, Interoute, Logica, the OpenNebula Project, Orange Business Services, SAP, SixSq, Telefonica, Terradue, Thales, The Server Labs, Trust-IT, and T-Systems. About Cloud Security Alliance The Cloud Security Alliance is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing, and to provide education on the uses of Cloud Computing to help secure all other forms of computing. The Cloud Security Alliance is led by a broad coalition of industry practitioners, corporations, associations and other key stakeholders. For further information, visit us at www.cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa. Contact: Cloud Security Alliance Dimitra Liveri EMEA Security Analyst and Communication Leader [email protected] CERN press office +41 22 767 34 32 +41 22 767 21 41 [email protected] EMBL press contact Lena Raditsch Head of Communications and Public Relations +49 62213878125 [email protected] ESA press contact Dr. Maryline Lengert Senior Advisor +39 06 941 80430 [email protected]