NIST Holds Third Cloud Computing Forum and Workshop, April 7-8

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will host the Cloud Computing Forum and Workshop III on April 7-8, 2011, at its Gaithersburg, Md., campus. Featured speakers include U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, Google's Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf and NIST Director Patrick Gallagher.

Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. Kundra has called upon NIST to help accelerate the federal government's adoption of secure cloud computing practices by leading efforts to develop standards and guidelines in collaboration with standards bodies, the private sector, other government agencies and other stakeholders.

Panel sessions during the forum will feature international cloud computing experts from industry, government, associations and academia. Friday morning's panel topic—"Cloud Innovation: Math and Science"—will explore innovative uses of the cloud and how it can be leveraged in the scientific process. Other topics are:

• "Cloud Computing—Adopters' Long-term View,"
• "Can You Ever Really Trust the Cloud?" and
• "Cloud Computing Standards Panel—Chicken or Egg?"

Working groups that were formed during the NIST Cloud Computing Workshop and Forum in November 2010 will provide progress reports. These working groups cover a range of cloud computing issues.

For more information on the Cloud Computing Forum and Workshop III, and to register.