Abstract for: Open Source Cloud Computing: Practical Solutions For Your Online Presence. North Country Technology Symposium. May 25, 2011

1. Open Source Cloud Computing: Practical Solutions For Your Online Presence
When businesses want to create an online presence or expand in order to meet the growing
needs of their customers, it can be difficult to gauge the IT investment needed. However, by
using free and open source virtualization technologies and an Internet cloud-based service
provider, the IT investment can scale proportionally with increased customer demand. This
presentation will discuss a practical approach to set up or expand an IT infrastructure that meets
the needs of growing demand without a large upfront cost.
An overview of technologies such as the Xen Cloud Platform, OpenStack, Amazon Web
Services, Rackspace Cloud, and other virtualization, storage, and cloud options will be covered.
Todd Deshane is a postdoctoral researcher at Clarkson University. He is also a telecommuting
consultant for various companies and is a technology evangelist for Xen.org. Todd obtained a
Ph.D. in Engineering Science (2010), M.S. in Computer Science (2004), and a B.S. in Software
Engineering (2003) from Clarkson University. His research interests include virtualization,
computer security, open source software, information technology, and human-computer
interaction.