A Minimum-Cost Flow Model for Workload Optimization on Cloud Infrastructure

Recent technology advancements in the areas of compute, storage and networking, along with the increased demand for organizations to cut costs while remaining responsive to increasing service demands have led to the growth in the adoption of cloud computing services. Cloud services provide the promise of improved agility, resiliency, scalability and a lowered Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). This research introduces a framework for minimizing cost and maximizing resource utilization by using an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) approach to optimize the assignment of workloads to servers on Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure. The model is based on the classical minimum-cost flow model, known as the assignment model.Comment: 2017 IEEE 10th International Conference on Cloud Computin

New England Overview: A Guide to Large-Scale Energy Infrastructure Issues in 2015

The report outlines how regional electricity and natural gas infrastructure decisions are made. It examines the current proposals to expand electricity transmission lines and natural gas pipelines into New England, as solutions to electricity and gas price and reliability issues, and briefly discusses the major implications of both

Large Scale Deployment of Renewables for Electricity Generation

Comparisons of resource assessments suggest resource constraints are not an obstacle to the large-scale deployment of renewable energy technologies. Economic analysis identifies barriers to the adoption of renewable energy sources resulting from market structure, competition in an uneven playing field and various non-market place barriers. However, even if these barriers are removed, the problem of ‘technology lock-out’ remains. The key policy response is strategic deployment coupled with increased R&D support to accelerate the pace of improvement through market experience. The paper suggests significant contributions from various technologies, but does not assess their optimal or maximal market share

Take-or-Pay Contracts for Renewables Deployment

Renewables require support policies to deliver the European 20% target. We discuss the requirements for least cost development and efficient operation and quantify how different schemes (i) allow for the development of a renewable energy technology portfolio; (ii) reduce rent transfers to infra-marginal technologies or better than marginal resource bases; and (iii) minimise regulatory risk and thus capital costs for new projects. Long-term take or pay contracts minimise regulatory uncertainty, create appropriate incentives for location and operation, allow for efficient system operation and seem compatible with European state aid. We discuss how property rights legislation protects existing renewables investors, and thus can ensure ongoing investment during a transition towards the new scheme

Money and dynamic credit arrangements with private information

The authors construct a model with private information in which consumers write dynamic contracts with financial intermediaries.Money ; Credit

Delivering services by building and running virtual organisations

Non peer reviewedPostprin

Financial Derivatives Market for Grid Computing

This Master thesis studies the feasibility and properties of a financial derivatives market on Grid computing, a service for sharing computing resources over a network such as the Internet. For the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to perform research with the world's largest and most complex machine, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), Grid computing was developed to handle the information created. In accordance with the mandate of CERN Technology Transfer (TT) group, this thesis is a part of CERN's dissemination of the Grid technology. The thesis gives a brief overview of the use of the Grid technology and where it is heading. IT trend analysts and large-scale IT vendors see this technology as key in transforming the world of IT. They predict that in a matter of years, IT will be bought as a service, instead of a good. Commoditization of IT, delivered as a service, is a paradigm shift that will have a broad impact on all parts of the IT market, as well as on the society as a whole. Political, economic and physical factors advocate a market for standardized computing resources supplied by multiple professional providers, benefiting from economies of scale. We argue for the trade of Virtual Servers as the standardized bundle of computer resources. Continuous trade of homogeneous resources allows for scheduling market efficiency and liquidity, but may entail a risk of erratic, unpredictable prices. We therefor e construct a complete, coherent Grid economy, consisting of both a spot market and a derivatives market. While the spot market is the trading place for the computer resources, the derivatives market aims to disperse the risk among those who are willing to invest in it. Because the Virtual Servers are non-storable assets, normal arbitrage theory cannot be used to price derivatives contracts. We propose to solve this issue by creating storable swap contracts priced by an auction-based market, where we argue that the price process follows a geometric Brownian motion. Taking into account the absence of arbitrage in the swap market and the requirement for a complete market, we offer a theoretical framework for martingale pricing and hedging of derivatives written on swaps

Money and Dynamic Credit Arrangements with Private Information

We construct a model with private information in which consumers write dynamic contracts with financial intermediaries. A role for money arises due to random limited participation of consumers in the financial market. Without defection constraints, a Friedman rule is optimal, the mean and variability of wealth tend to fall in the steady state, and the welfare effects of inflation are very small. With defection constraints, it is optimal to eliminate currency entirely, the variability of wealth tends to rise with inflation, and the welfare effects of inflation are large.97-19

Large Scale Deployment of Renewables for Electricity Generation

Comparisons of resource assessments suggest resource constraints are not an obstacle to the large-scale deployment of renewable energy technologies. Economic analysis identifies barriers to the adoption of renewable energy sources resulting from market structure, competition in an uneven playing field and various non-market place barriers. However, even if these barriers are removed, the problem of ‘technology lock-out’ remains. The key policy response is strategic deployment coupled with increased R&D support to accelerate the pace of improvement through market experience. The paper suggests significant contributions from various technologies, but does not assess their optimal or maximal market share.technology policy, renewable energy, learning externalities, market structure