HP, MIMOS To Collaborate On Cloud Computing Research & Education

KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 (Bernama) -- HP Malaysia and Mimos have formalised their collaboration on the global multi-data centre -- an open source test bed created by HP, Intel Corporation and Yahoo Inc -- called Open Cirrus.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili, they said in a joint statement here Tuesday.

They said Mimos joined Open Cirus as a test bed site to help advance cloud computing research and education.

It would develop a national cloud computing platform to deploy services throughout Malaysia, focusing on enabling services through software, security frameworks and mobile interactivity, as well as testing new cloud tools and methodologies, they added.

Launched in July 2008, the Open Cirrus initiative is aimed at promoting open collaboration among industries, academia and governments by removing the financial and logistical barriers to research in data-intensive, internet-scale computing.

"I am confident that Mimos and HP will be able to elevate research done in Malaysia to a world-class level.

"More importantly, the creation of dynamic cloud services from our collaboration has the potential to enrich, even transform, the everyday lives of the general public in Malaysia," said HP Malaysia managing director T.F. Chong.

Mimos president and chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Wahab Abdullah said the collaboration provides the opportunity to place Malaysia on the cloud computing research community world map.

"Malaysia has made major strides in advancing ICT development in the country with the establishment of MSC Malaysia and the Ministry of Science, Technology and innovation.

"Cloud computing is the next step. With a headstart in our involvement in cloud computing research, Malaysia will be able to reap the benefits as an early adopter," he said.

Besides Malaysia, Open Cirrus has test bed sites in United States, Singapore, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia and South Korea.

The test bed stimulates a real-life, global, internet-scale environment and gives researchers an unprecedented ability to test applications and measure the performance of infrastructure and services built to run on large-scale cloud systems.