CERN Accelerating science

Volunteer computing at CERN

Date published: 
Monday, 12 September, 2011
Document type: 
Summer student report
Author(s): 
D. Dorneanu
This report provides an analysis and evaluation of possible sustainable business models for Volunteer Computing, including Volunteer Clouds. The method of analysis included running surveys and having direct interviews with some of the main stakeholders in this domain. We have also used current research documentation and tools in order to compute costs, earnings and measure marketing outreach for different cases. We explore four possible Use Cases in which Volunteer Cloud Computing can achieve the dual purpose of lowering the cost of scientific computing and providing the scientists concerned with a significant outreach opportunity: • Volunteer Cloud Computing for CERN • Volunteer Cloud Computing for Industry • Nonprofit Volunteer Cloud Computing • Commercial Volunteer Cloud Computing. For each Use Case we describe the main benefits for the customers (scientists) and other stakeholders, we formalize the business model using the ‘Business Model Canvas‘ method, and we make a SWOT analysis in order to estimate the likelihood of success of each Use Case.
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