ABSTRACT: In this talk we explore the economics of cloud computing in general and outsourcing your virtual machines in particular. We identify cost trade-offs and postulate the key principles of outsourcing that define when cloud deployment is appropriate and why. We also briefly touch on several main cyber-security aspects that impact the appeal of clouds. We outline and investigate some of the main research challenges on optimizing for these trade-offs. If you come to this talk you are also very likely to find out exactly how many US dollars you need to spend to break your favorite cipher, or send one of your bits over the network. And of course about the rabbits.

BIO: Radu is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Stony Brook University. He remembers when gophers were digging through the Internets and bits were running at slower paces of 512 per second. He is also interested in efficient computing with a touch of cyber-security paranoia, raising rabbits on space ships and sailing catamarans of the Hobie variety.