Icebergs and Clouds

We're in the middle of upgrading our High Performance Computer, Iceberg (can't remember why it's called Iceberg - suspect there was a reason originally), and there's a blog about it here. A good account, and saves me reporting on progress.  There's background info for the technically minded, and for those that aren't, some good pictures - of racks, boxes, and cables. I like the cables. Never quite sure how anyone knows where they should all go.....

Been having lots of discussions recently about our future strategy, and one thing that always comes up is Cloud. Someone commented yesterday that unfortunately some senior managers think that Cloud is the answer to cheaper computing. Use Cloud, they say, it's cheap/free.  Reminds me of when we were told to use wireless as a cheaper alternative to putting a network into new buildings. I had to explain that wireless doesn't mean no wires.   One of the things often struggled with in Universities looking at cloud solutions are the legal issues, and JISC have responded to this by bringing out a toolkit - Cloud Computing and the Law. As well as an overview, there's four detailed user guides covering Cloud Computing and the Law for IT, for Senior Management and Policy Makers and for Users, as well as a guide to Contracts, SLAs and Terms & Conditions of Use.  On first reading it looks to be a very useful guide to the key points and issues, with some sound advice. There's some very good points made in relation to data protection and security, and I would think this will be a very useful resource for institutions as we move more towards Software as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service offerings.