The main goal of the M2DC project is to push the boundaries of the current Cloud and HPC efficiency by means of modular heterogeneous micro-server architectures and re-configurable hardware that will cost-effectively tackle any kind of computation problem with the minimal use of resources.
The idea is to provide use cases in the form of turnkey appliances based on a microserver system enabling to build use-case driven, modular, high-density data centres which can be easily configured, produced, installed and maintained. Such platform would allow setting up appliances that combine x86, ARM, GPU and FPGA architectures to run relevant applications in a cost-effective and energy-efficient way. Thus, the main M2DC goal is to deliver a new class of appliances with the following properties:
Low cost - taking into account the whole appliance lifecycle and the Total Cost of Ownership optimization; Low power and energy efficient - dramatically reducing power usage and heat dissipation while meeting Quality of Service for key and emerging application; Dependable by design - delivering built-in reliability and security by integrating fast and efficient monitoring and management functions; Versatile and scalable - easy to customize and update software and hardware to specific application types and large scales by seamless inclusion of heterogeneous and highly parallel computing resources; Easy to use and integrate with data centre ecosystem - easy provisioning, monitoring and management by modern Data Centre Infrastructure Management, cloud and HPC software; Applicable to variety of real-life applications - facilitating application and middleware programming, deployment, and optimization in order to use M2DC appliances for various important real-life applications.
XLAB’s main contributions to the project are its solutions from the field of cloud computing and computer security solutions (WP6). As a dissemination and exploitation leader, XLAB will design and execute the communication and dissemination, and manage the IPR and business development of the project (WP7). Other contributions to the project include: Analyzing and designing the infrastructure and application requirements; Providing IDS solution that will be integrated with the M2DC platform (network traffic analysis and malicious attacks detection); Integration of the middleware with the cloud management systems and hardware platform; and Analyzing and benchmarking the system for the integrated appliances (WP1, WP3, WP4, WP5).