Cloud computing initiative takes off

Technology giants HP, Intel and Yahoo today launched a new initiative to promote and develop cloud computing research and education.

The new Cloud Computing Test Bed is a global testing environment where cloud computing-related software, data center management, hardware and applications issues can be tested, said HP Labs' director, Prith Banerjee

The research initiative will include the involvement of academia as well as industry and governments, he added. The test bed will initially consist of six centres of excellence, located in various universities worldwide, HP Labs, Intel Research and Yahoo.

Data centres at these locations will feature HP hardware, Intel processors, and run open source software developed by Yahoo Research.

"The test bed will provide a globally distributed, internet-scale testing environment at a larger scale than ever before," explained Banerjee. "We believe we are entering a new era of everything-as-a-service; this shift will require a new approach by us to design, deploy and mange cloud computing services."