CERN on lookout for Helix Nebula participants at Cloud Computing World Forum

28th May 2012

29/05/2012. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, will outline the next stage of its Helix Nebula European cloud computing project at the Cloud Computing World Forum (www.cloudwf.com) on 12 and 13 June, with the aim of increasing participation in the scheme.

The Helix Nebula 'Science Cloud', was launched earlier this year to explore the use of commercial cloud computing services within European science organisations.

A number of cloud industry leaders are already involved in the project including HP, Intel, Oracle and Siemens. However, CERN is now looking for wider participation across the IT industry, in a bid to develop innovative solutions to be used by the global community working on the vast amounts of data created by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

"The Helix Nebula initiative allows CERN to evaluate cloud computing by going beyond the current-hype," said Bob Jones, a lead on the project as Head of CERN's openlab IT department, and keynote speaker at the Cloud Computing World Forum.

"We are deploying applications with a range of suppliers and evaluating many aspects so we can make a sound judgement about how best to make use of commercial cloud services in the future."

As well as providing an opportunity for the global cloud services industry to work closely on the LHC, the pan-European partnership fits in with the Digital Agenda of the European Commission and its strategy for cloud computing on the Continent.

Jones' talk, on day two of the conference, will follow the European Commission's Deputy Director General, Megan Richards, who will also be discussing how projects such as Helix Nebula fit into development of cloud across the European Union.

"The vision of Helix Nebula is to create a European-wide market for commercial computing services that can be used by the public sector," Jones added.

"In order for public sector organisations to be able to tender and purchase large-scale cloud computing services we need to have a market with many suppliers, an appropriate legal framework for contracts and means of changing supplier without excessive effort.

"At the Cloud Computing World Forum] we will discuss the objectives of Helix Nebula, the current deployment status and the future directions. We expect the event to provide us with an occasion to learn from other users and establish contact with more cloud service suppliers and users who would be interested in participating in Helix Nebula."

Both Bob Jones and Megan Richards join a list of over 150 industry experts speaking at the Cloud Computing World Forum, including former CEO of Apple, John Sculley, CTO of Amazon, Werner Vogels and Chief Scientist of Salesforce, JP Rangaswami.

The seminar agenda will be held across 8 theatres covering all of the latest topics in cloud, including SaaS, Security, Big Data, PaaS, Mobile, Public Sector, Virtualization, Communications and Social CRM.

Delegates attending the show will also have access to the exhibition hall where over 100 global exhibitors from the enterprise technology sector will be in attendance, displaying their latest and most innovative cloud computing products and solutions.

Sponsors of the show include Microsoft, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Dell, McAfee, Huawei, Accenture, CA Technologies, Safenet, Savvis, Terremark, Interoute, Projectplace, SAP, T-Systems and many more.