North Carolina State University and IBM Extend Access to Educational Resources to the World Through Cloud Computing

Market Wire, October, 2008

IBM and NC State collaborated to establish the VCL in 2004. Since then IBM has also assisted in expanding the VCL with technical support from IBM BladeCenter development teams in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina, as well as through sustained funding from the IBM RTP Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) and IBM corporate university relations -- with several other corporations, and active support from The University of North Carolina General Administration and the state legislature.

The IBM WebSphere Technology Institute also assisted NC State in launching the VCL Apache incubator project. Through support from RTP CAS and the Academic Initiative, the VCL allows North Carolina faculty to create and deliver advanced educational material in support of programs that are preparing their students for the 21st century workforce. Through fellowships, grants and technical collaborations, IBM is supporting local faculty who are applying VCL in support of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) outreach programs to North Carolina K-12 students and teachers.

As part of its Cloud Computing Initiative, IBM has built 13 cloud computing centers around the world, many of which partner with universities and other organizations. In addition, IBM is working with a number of universities to help future computer scientists gain the skills they need to build cloud applications.

IBM and NC State will be showcasing the VCL capabilities at Educause 2008 in Orlando, Florida, October 28-31, and at Supercomputing 2008 in Austin, Texas, November 15-21, 2008.

Schools can download the VCL appliance at http://ibiblio.org/vclvm , or for more information on how to join the Virtual Computing Initiative, please visit http://vcl.ncsu.edu or http://blade.org .

For more information on IBM Cloud Computing, please visit www.ibm.com/cloud .

Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine

Media Contacts: Hanna Smigala IBM Systems Group (914) 766-4439 smigala@us.ibm.com Tim Willeford IBM University Relations (914) 766-3389 twilleford@us.ibm.com Nate DeGraff NC State University (919) 515-3848 nate_degraff@ncsu.edu