Cloud Computing in Virtual Environments

In this paper we present the basis of a new middleware service that provisions clouds for virtual organizations (VOs).This service makes use of a virtual environment\u27s inherent ability to render objects to represent clouds with real clouds. These clouds are created on demand by avatars and tagged to provide a rudimentary semantic that can be used for searching. Clouds are then loaded with an inventory that contains objects and scripts used to access remote resources. Compute resources, sensor networks, and visualization services can be part of the cloud\u27s inventory. Second Life is used to implement this cloud computing service. The authorization mechanism of Second Life and an external database managed by our cloud service is used to restrict access to clouds based on avatar roles and group membership.We argue that this service can be used effectively by a VO to provide a very interactive experience for its members as well as potential collaboration between multiple VOs. Cloud computing takes a very figurative meaning in our work since we literally create clouds in the environment and manage their ownership, access and capabilities. We believe this innovative work brings together grid computing, social networking and virtual environments in a very attractive and understandable way