Cloud Computing Roundtable

Hosted by the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI)

May 29-30, 2011
Four Seasons Hotel
Doha, Qatar

Roundtable Chairs:

Simon Ponsford and Mohamed Hefeeda, Senior Scientists, QCRI

Local Organization Chair:

Nada Al-Olaqi, Events Coordinator, QCRI

Aims of the Roundtable

The goal of the roundtable was to discuss and identify open research challenges in the cloud computing research area. The roundtable included internationally recognized experts from academia and industry who are actively conducting research in cloud computing or working with cutting-edge technologies for building and managing cloud computing infrastructures and services.

The roundtable consisted of several sessions; each focused on a single topic. The sessions were mostly open discussion. To get the discussion started, a small panel of 3-4 experts presented short talks for 7-10 minutes each. This was followed by 45 minutes of discussion. The last 15 minutes of the session were allocated for the panel to summarize the discussion and come up with the most important 2-5 challenges that need to be addressed by the research community. The summary was 2-6 slides, and was presented and discussed in the last session on the second day.

The round table covered various research topics, including:

• Cloud Infrastructure (networking, storage, datacenter design, and energy efficiency)
• Virtualization Technologies
• Security and Data Privacy
• Cloud and Large-Scale Applications
• Utility Computing (economics, business, and political issues, service provisioning)

The Final Report of the Cloud Computing Roundtable is here.

Presentations

Session 1—Opening and Keynote Speech: Slides

Session 2—Energy-efficient Cloud Computing: Slides

Session 3—eScience Applications in the Cloud: Slides

Session 4—Summary of Day One: Slides

Session 5—Programming Models and Tools: Slides

Session 6—Challenges in Cloud Storage: Slides

Session 7—Virtualization and Security: Slides

Session 8—Legal and Business Challenges: Slides

Session 9—Summary of Main Challenges in Cloud Computing: Slides

Attendees of the Cloud Computing Roundtable sponsored by QCRI in Doha, Qatar.

Roundtable Agenda

(Printable version.)

Arrival Day (28 May 2011)

19:00-21:00 Reception and Dinner in Four Seasons Hotel

Day 1 (29 May 2011)

8:15	Breakfast
9:00	S1: Opening Session9:00 Simon Ponsford and Mohamed Hefeeda: Roundtable Overview9:15 Ahmed Elmagarmid: QCRI Vision9:40 Dr. Abdelali Haoudi: Introduction of Keynote Speaker9:45 Keynote: Lord Rupert Redesdale, Datacenter Legislation and Data Pollution
10:30	Break
11:00	S2: Energy-efficient Cloud Computing11:00 Panel Talks: Doug Terry (chair), Salim Hariri, SeifHaridi, Tony Fares11:30 Open Discussion12:15 Identifying Research Challenges in Energy Efficiency	S3: Cloud Applications11:00 Panel Talks: Bill Howe (chair), Julio Lopez, MathewBridges, Othmane Bouhali11:30: Open Discussion12:15 Identifying Research Challenges in Cloud Applications
12:30	Lunch
14:00	S4: Summary of Day 114:00 Panel: Bill Howe (chair), Doug Terry14:20 Open Discussion
15:00	Break (get ready for the tour)
15:30	Tour of the Museum of Islamic Art
18:00	Bay Cruise
19:00	Dinner at the Pearl

Day 2 (30 May 2011)

8:15	Breakfast
9:00	S5: Programming Models and Tools9:00 Panel Talks: Jimmy Lin (chair), Grzegorz Malewicz,Mohammad Hammoud9:30 Open Discussion10:15 Identifying Research Challenges in ProgrammingModels and Tools	S6: Cloud Storage and File Systems9:00 Panel Talks: Keith Jackson (chair), Michael Abd El-Malek,Hidemoto Nakadam9:30: Open Discussion10:15 Identifying Research Challenges in Storage and FileSystems
10:30	Break
11:00	S7: Virtualization and Security11:00 Panel Talks: Dongyan Xu (chair), Rich Wellner,Manish Parshar, Peter Pietzuch11:30 Open Discussion12:15 Identifying Research Challenges in Virtualizationand Security	S8: Legal and Business Challenges11:00 Panel Talks: Marwan Mahmoud (chair), Fadi Nasser,Yacine Messaoui11:30: Open Discussion12:15 Identifying Research Challenges Preventing Governmentsand Businesses from Moving to Clouds
12:30	Lunch
14:00	S9: Summary of Main Challenges in Cloud Computing14:00 Panel Talks: Doug Terry (chair), Jimmy Lin, Dongyan Xu, Bill Howe, Keith Jackson, Marwan Mahmoud14:45 Open Discussion15:30 Identifying Top Ten Research Challenges in Cloud Computing
16:00	Break
18:00	Dinner and Tour of Souq Waqif

Participants

Matthew Bridges, In-Pocket Development, USA

Michael Abd El-Malek, Google

Seif Haridi, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

Salim Hariri, University of Arizona, USA

Bill Howe, University of Washington, USA

Ihab Ilyas, University of Waterloo

Keith Jackson, Berkeley National Laboratory, USA

Jimmy Lin, University of Maryland, USA

Julio Lopez, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Grzegorz Malewicz, Google, Japan

Hidemoto Nakada, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan

Manish Parashar, Rutgers University, USA

Peter Pietzuch, Imperial College London, UK

Lord Rupert Redesdale, House of Lords, UK

Doug Terry, Microsoft Research, USA

Rich Wellner, Object Environments, USA

Dongyan Xu, Purdue University, USA

Local

Samreen Anjum, Mohammad Hammoud, Manoj Reddy—Carnegie Mellon University Qatar

Saeed Bawazir, Aljazeera

Othmane Bouhali, Texas A&M University Qatar

Khaldoun El-Sidawi, Qatar Petroleum

Tony Fares, Qatar Solar Technology

Dr. Abdelali Haoudi, Qatar Foundation

Marwan Mahmoud Maarouf, ictQatar

Yacine Messaoui, Aljazeera

Fadi Nasser, Meeza, Qatar

Lolwa A. Al-Maadid, Kareem Darwish, Ahmed Elmargarmid, Nada Al-Olaqi, Abdellatif Saoudi, Bradley Steffens, William Yip, Maged Zereba—QCRI

QCRI was founded in 2010 by Qatar Foundation. QCRI is a national lab employing scientists and industry experts from around the World. Currently, it has several research groups working in the areas of cloud and high-performance computing, social networking, and Arabic language technologies.

Qatar Foundation (QF) is non-profit organization supporting Qatar on its journey from carbon-based economy to knowledge-based economy. Founded in 1995 by His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Amir of Qatar, QF is chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. QF carries out its mission through three strategic pillars: education, science and research, and community development.