1. Cloud computing
• I use “cloud computing” to mean:
– Virtual machines,
– running Somewhere Else,
– with configurable resources,
– some of which can be made persistent.
Other definition: more abstract compute resources,
including disk and CPU; see e.g. picloud. This is less
useful for me than VMs, because data.

2. My uses for cloud computing
(Most important first)
• Teaching computation & Web development.
– Standardized environment, no surprises!
– Teaching grants available.
• Testing and benchmarking software
– Completely configurable environment.
– Shareable.
• Reproducible papers and publishing data
– “Here’s exactly what I ran, and how.”
– “Here’s my data.”
• Doing new science
– I need 20 computers, stat!
– Sharing big data sets with students.

3. Cloud computing providers
We have used, in some cases extensively:
• Amazon – most advanced/configurable/complex
• Rackspace – seeking partners
• iPlant – academic/free, but resource limited
We have not used:
• Google Compute Engine?
• MS Azure?