The concept of Cloud computing is tightly related to the virtualization of resources. Using virtualized computing resources, a dynamic, scalable and flexible set of computational services can be obtained. End-users and developers can select, create and configure their own operating system and software in virtual images and thus completely configure the computing resources.

The difference between a standard Cloud solution as provided by commercial vendors and a High Performance Cloud for the academic world is that the applications in the SARA HPC Cloud are very computationally and data intensive. Therefore specialized hardware and software is needed to accommodate this advanced type of usage of virtualization.

SARA expects that the use of Virtual Private Compute Clusters will significantly reduce the time to a solution for its demanding users. Importantly, the ability to fully configure and control the environment where applications are run, will lead to less time spent in porting applications. As an additional service SARA will provide templates for specific applications that academic users can use and adapt to their needs.