Page 236 - How Cloud Computing Is Transforming Business and Why You Cant Afford to Be Left Behind

MANA GEMENT STRATEGIES F O R THE CL OUD R EV OL UTION

The result was several high-resolution images of the impact
captured by amateurs being uploaded to the Citizen Science
Web site hosted by Nebula and put on display there for 30
days. NASA spokespersons said that the impact was not as vis-
ible to earth-based telescopes as had been expected, so the
effort didn’t result in a permanent display of amateur work,

as had been hoped. Nevertheless, specialized instruments
trained on the impact plume confirmed that water was pres-
ent at levels found in the driest of earth’s deserts. The LCROSS
experiment also illustrated to NASA agencies that a resource
for enlisting public participation in projects was available. Sev-
eral groups inside the agency are exploring how Nebula can
help them engage the public in their next project.

So far, many groups inside NASA have made use of Neb-
ula. There have been about 800 requests for use of its com-
puting infrastructure, NASA Ames Research spokespersons
said in an update conversation at the start of 2010. It is in-
tended for use by agencies outside NASA as well. It has been
equipped with the software controls that allow authorized
users from outside the agency to provision themselves with
virtual servers when they need them. One outside federal
agency, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is

a regular user of the Nebula infrastructure, which has charge-
back and billing systems in place to collect fees for the amount
of server time used. The OMB use is apparently a pilot proj-
ect intended to illustrate the availability of Nebula to other
parts of the federal government. Spokespersons say that the
flow of chargeback revenue is helping to fund the ongoing
development of Nebula.

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