The StratusLab project has just released the first version of its cloud computing distribution, which aims to provide a full cloud solution for grid and cluster computing.

Funded through the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), the two-year StratusLab project aims to integrate ‘cloud computing' technologies into ‘grid' infrastructures. Grids link computers and data that are scattered across the globe to work together for common goals, whilst cloud computing makes software platforms or virtual servers available as a service over the Internet, usually on a commercial basis, and provides a way for organisations to access computing capacity without investing directly in new infrastructure. Linking grid and cloud technologies will result in major benefits for European academic research and is part of the European Commission strategy to develop European computing infrastructures.

The first version of the fully open source StratusLab distribution was released today (November 9, 2010). The release is a technology preview, and not yet production-ready, but it will give system administrators and users a chance to try out the new features of what will become an integrated solution for cloud management, running grid services within the cloud, and accessing cloud resources and services from the Grid.

While the software, which is based on the OpenNebula open-source toolkit for cloud computing management, can be used as an interface for managing cloud sites, it also provides a range of tools and services specifically designed to facilitate integration of cloud and grid technologies. These include automatic configuration of sites and integration with fabric management tools such as the widely used "Quattor" toolkit, easing deployment of clouds within existing infrastructures. The project also maintains a reference installation where potential users can try out the software without having to install and configure it locally, and an appliance repository containing reference machine virtual images for popular operating systems. The repository will eventually store pre-configured virtual machines for grid services allowing StratusLab users to effortlessly install Grid nodes within their StratusLab clouds.

The StratusLab project brings together six organisations, all key players with recognised leadership, proven expertise, experience and skills in grid and cloud computing. This collaboration presents a balanced combination of academic, research and industrial institutes with complementary capabilities. The participating organisations include the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France; DSA-Research at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; the Greek Research and Technology Network S.A., Greece; SixSq Sárl, Switzerland; Telefonica Investigacion y Desarrollo, Spain, and Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

Visit http://www.stratuslab.eu/doku.php?id=release:v0.1 for more information or to download the StratusLab distribution.

About the StratusLab Project
The StratusLab project consists of numerous collaborators from six European research institutions. A website can be accessed via the following address:www.stratuslab.eu. The project is partially funded by the European Commission through the Grant Agreement RI-261552.

About European Union Framework Programme 7
The Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) bundles all research-related EU initiatives together under a common roof playing a crucial role in reaching the goals of growth, competitiveness and employment. The framework programme runs a number of programmes under the headings Cooperation, Ideas, People and Capacities. All specific programmes work together to promote and encourage the creation of European poles of scientific excellence. More information on FP7 can be obtained from http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en.html.