Researchers Gain Free Access to Microsoft Cloud Resources

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 10/01/10

Scientists in Japan will be gaining free access to cloud computing resources in a joint grant program set up between Microsoft and Japan's National Institute of Informatics. The initiative is part of a project being promoted by the institute to encourage researchers to explore the use of the cloud for supporting data retrieval from new kinds of information systems that require high performance computing.

Microsoft will be donating access to its cloud computing and storage service, Windows Azure, to researchers participating in a project called the "New IT Infrastructure for the Information-Explosion Era." Microsoft staff will provide cloud-oriented expertise and work with grant recipients in the use of common tools, applications, and data collections that can be shared with the broad academic community.

The latest partnership mirrors one announced earlier in 2010 by Microsoft with the National Science Foundation. In that agreement, the company began providing individual researchers and teams of researchers with cloud computing resources by way of an application process managed by the NSF.

"It is essential that future academic research should form strong 'symbiotic style' relationships with other academic areas," said Masao Sakauchi, director general at the institute. "Cloud computing is a powerful tool that allows researchers to collaborate and share computing resources and research results necessary for this type of collaborative research. I appreciate that Microsoft has given us a valuable opportunity to prove this vision."

"Cloud computing can transform how research is conducted, accelerating scientific exploration, discovery and results," said Dan Reed, corporate vice president for technology strategy and policy and director of the eXtreme Computing Group in Microsoft Research. "These grants will also help researchers explore rich and diverse multidisciplinary data sets on a large scale."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • data professionals in a meeting

    Data Fluency as a Strategic Imperative

    As an institution's highest level of data capabilities, data fluency taps into the agency of technical experts who work together with top-level institutional leadership on issues of strategic importance.

  • stylized AI code and a neural network symbol, paired with glitching code and a red warning triangle

    New Anthropic AI Models Demonstrate Coding Prowess, Behavior Risks

    Anthropic has released Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4, its most advanced artificial intelligence models to date, boasting a significant leap in autonomous coding capabilities while simultaneously revealing troubling tendencies toward self-preservation that include attempted blackmail.

  • university building with classical architecture is partially overlaid by a glowing digital brain graphic

    NSF Invests $100 Million in National AI Research Institutes

    The National Science Foundation has announced a $100 million investment in National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes, part of a broader White House strategy to maintain American leadership as competition with China intensifies.

  • black analog alarm clock sits in front of a digital background featuring a glowing padlock symbol and cybersecurity icons

    The Clock Is Ticking: Higher Education's Big Push Toward CMMC Compliance

    With the United States Department of Defense's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0 framework entering Phase II on Dec. 16, 2025, institutions must develop a cybersecurity posture that's resilient, defensible, and flexible enough to keep up with an evolving threat landscape.