Cloud Computing Technology and Science

Abstract

The “Cloud” is a natural evolution of distributed computing and of the widespread adaption of virtualization and SOA. In Cloud Computing, IT-related capabilities and resources are provided as services, via the Internet and on-demand, accessible without requiring detailed knowledge of the underlying technology. By taking advantage of virtualized resources, cloud computing presents an attractive means to address the challenges while realizing the potential of ubiquitous IT services. Consequently, computational scientists are turning their attention to emerging cloud computing technology and science. As such, cloud computing has come to the picture seeking solutions for computing and IT services to be efficient and environmentally friendly. This special issue is in response to the increasing convergence of cloud computing technologies and services, while different approaches exist, challenges and opportunities are numerous in this context. The research papers selected for this special issue represent recent progresses in the field, including works on virtualization, big data intelligence, resource management, services computing architectures and modeling, as well as mobile cloud and applications. This special issue includes seven extended version of the selected papers originally presented at the 4th IEEE International Conference on Cloud Computing Technology and Science (IEEE CloudCom 2012), held at Taipei, Taiwan. The papers selected for this issue not only contribute valuable insights and results but also have particular relevance to the emerging and cloud computing technologies. All of them present high quality results for tackling problems arising from the ever-growing cloud computing, heterogeneous computing as well as sustainable computing technologies. We believe that this special issue provides novel ideas and state-of-the-art techniques in the field, and stimulates future research in the emerging and cloud computing community.