PostDoc/PhD positions in the domain of cloud computing, Rennes, France

The University of Rennes 1 (France) has two open positions for a PhD student
and a postdoctoral researcher in the domain of cloud computing.


Context: Cloud computing systems are currently composed of large numbers of
relatively inexpensive computers, interconnected by standard IP routers and
supported by stock disk drives. However, many demanding applications have
now reached a fundamental limit in their ability to scale out using
traditional machines. Future performance improvements will derive from the
use of high-end specialized equipment in addition to standard hardware: GPUs
of course, but also FPGAs, programmable routers, and advanced storage
technologies. In this context the European project HARNESS investigates: (i)
how cloud providers may offer such extremely heterogeneous hardware to its
users; and (ii) how cloud customers may make use of these heterogeneous
resources to run their applications such that they exhibit the best possible
price-performance tradeoff.


Open PhD student position: Multi-resource optimization for application
hosting in heterogeneous clouds http://www.conpaas.eu/phd-position/

The goal of this thesis is to explore ways to host flexible applications on
heterogeneous cloud systems. An application may be hosted in different ways,
for example by mapping it on an FPGA and a conventional storage system, or
alternatively on a set of normal VMs connected to high-end storage systems
using high-end programmable routers. We will investigate: (i) how to express
the requirements of such flexible applications; (ii) how to predict the
costs and performance they would exhibit in a number of possible
configurations; and (iii) control systems capable of dynamically adjusting
the use of resources according to the needs of the application and the
availability of specialized resources. The work will be based on ConPaaS, an
open-source Platform-as-a-Service environment developed in another project.
The PhD will be supervised by Guillaume Pierre.


Open postdoctoral research position: deployment and dynamic reconfiguration
of cloud applications in heterogeneous clouds.
http://www.conpaas.eu/open-postdoc/

The postdoctoral researcher will investigate the ways to describe flexible
applications capable of executing on a variety of heterogeneous hardware
resources. We envisage component-based architectures where an application
may provide multiple versions of the same component dedicated to different
hardware platforms. The researcher will investigate and build mechanisms to
deploy such applications in heterogeneous clouds, and to dynamically
reconfigure an application while it is executing. For example, an
application may start over a set of conventional virtual machines, but when
load increases it becomes more efficient to dynamically re-deploy it over an
FPGA. The work will be based on ConPaaS, an open-source
Platform-as-a-Service environment developed in another project. This
position implies tight collaboration with other partners of the HARNESS
project, who are in charge of offering access to a variety of heterogeneous
hardware devices.

Note: These two positions are funded by the HARNESS European project. They
will be realized in close collaboration with the other members of the
HARNESS project: Imperial College London, EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland), Zuse
Institute Berlin, SAP (the world leader of e-business solutions), and
Maxeller (an FPGA manufacturer). Note that this consortium is of
exceptionally high quality.


Required qualifications:

* Strong expertise in large-scale distributed systems, Cloud computing
or high-performance computing
* Excellent programming skills in Linux environments
* Good communication and writing skills
* Good command of English
* Knowledge of French is not required for this position.


Start date: November 1st 2012.


Duration: The PhD position is offered for a period of 3 years. The postdoc
position is offered for one year, renewable up to a maximum of
3 years.


Location: Rennes is the capital city of Britanny, in the western part of
France. It is easy to reach thanks to the high-speed train line to Paris.
Rennes is a lively city and a major center for higher education and
research. The thesis will take place within the IRISA research center, which
is internationally recognized for its research in the domain of information
and communication sciences.


Contact: Guillaume Pierre (gpierre@cs.vu.nl). Please send a CV, transcript
of grades, and a description of your past achievements in a domain close to
Cloud computing.


References:

* ConPaaS: a Platform for Hosting Elastic Cloud
Applications. Guillaume Pierre and Corina Stratan. Accepted for
publication in IEEE Internet Computing, 2012 (to appear).

* Resource Provisioning of Web Applications in Heterogeneous
Clouds. Jiang Dejun, Guillaume Pierre and Chi-Hung Chi. In
Proceedings of the WebApps Conference, June 2011.

* Autonomous Resource Provisioning for Multi-Service Web
Applications. Jiang Dejun, Guillaume Pierre and Chi-Hung Chi. In
Proceedings of the International WWW conference, April 2010.