Alliance Researcher Council: Meeting the Digital Research Infrastructure Needs of the Canadian Research Community - Update on Cloud Computing

This document provides an update and a more detailed review of the priorities on the use of computing clouds, including their storage and services, by the research community. Computing clouds and cloud storage are critical resources used by many researchers. The Alliance offers a community cloud service that is operated by the host sites (McGill University, Simon Fraser University, University of Toronto, University of Victoria and University of Waterloo). Currently, the Alliance does not support the use of commercial computing cloud resources but is considering them as an important service offering in the coming years to the research community. Currently, the use of commercial clouds with the research community is done on an ad hoc basis, funded either by an institution or through grants held by individual researchers.