A European consortium has announced a new virtual infrastructure project called Trustworthy Clouds or TClouds. The goal of the project is to prototype an advanced cloud infrastructure that can deliver a new level of secure, private and resilient computing and storage that is cost-efficient, simple and scalable.
To demonstrate TClouds, scientists will prototype two scenarios involving critical IT systems. These include a Portuguese smart energy grid and a home healthcare system in Milan. Protecting data and services in the cloud is seen as a challenge of increasing importance for governments and organisations across all industries including healthcare, energy utilities and banking. In a cloud environment, all pertinent data is stored on remote hardware via the Internet instead of being kept on a local server or computer.
To achieve the security, resiliency and scalability needed when outsourcing critical IT systems to a cloud, scientists will build an advanced 'Cloud of Clouds' framework for the project. This framework will provide multiple back-ups of the TClouds data and applications in case of a hardware failure or intrusion.
Newly designed security mechanisms will also be developed to remotely verify the security and resiliency of the cloud infrastructure, guaranteeing the integrity of a hardened cloud computing platform to users of cloud services.
Besides advanced technology, TClouds will also study the legal, business and social aspects of cross-border cloud computing, such as country-specific privacy laws; writing cloud computing service agreements; and user-centric requirements, including languages and accessibility.
TClouds will be coordinated by Technikon Research and Planning in Austria and the partners include corporate and public organisations IBM Research - Zurich, Philips Electronics, Sirrix AG, Unabhangiges Landeszentrum fur Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein, Energias de Portugal, EFACEC and San Raffaele Hospital as well as academic research institutes Technische Universitat Darmstadt, Germany; University of Lisbon, Portugal; University of Oxford, England; Politecnico di Torino, Italy; Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany; and UNU-MERIT (University of Maastricht).
The TClouds project is scheduled to be completed by September 2013.
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