Cloud computing is the technology behind many popular web services, such as Gmail and Twitter. As opposed to traditional server technologies that only use one server, a cloud uses many, both real and virtualized, as one unit. The advantage is that it is scalable, meaning that a user only uses as much as he needs, and that it is (usually) redundant, meaning that if one server goes down, the others can pick up the slack.

“As one of the world’s leading providers of computing resources to advance science, the Department of Energy has a vested interest in exploring new options for meeting the overwhelming demand for computing time,” said Michael Strayer, associate director of DOE’s Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research.

Magellan, as the project is called, will be powered by thousands of Intel Nehalem CPUs, and possibly solutions from companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.

The DOE hopes that cloud computing’s commercial success will carry over into scientific research.

Let’s just hope the DOE’s data doesn’t get sidekicked, shall we?