This EAGER proposal is to test the usability and affordability of a new form of cloud service for providing more cost effective computational resources for certain types of research computations. The cloud service is Google's "Exacycle" cloud using their "Native Client"("NaCl") programming model which can be offered comparatively inexpensively because of its constrained demands on the overall Exacycle system's resources. The usability component of the test will determine the ease with which applications can be ported to the NaCl programming mode. The affordability depends on the application's relative demands for computation, memory, data storage, and data communication. The PI has selected a specific, scientifically important application for this test as representative of applications with suitable system demands. If successful, this new form of service can provide substantial additional computational resources cost-effectively by utilizing otherwise unused capabilities of a very large, commercial cloud.
