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Markus van Dijk/abstract.md

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+# Workshop in a compute cloud: not that obvious
+
+> Markus van Dijk, [SURFsara](http://surfsara.nl)
+
+_Background:_ SURFsara's predecessor SARA was founded in 1971 by the two Amsterdam universities and a mathematical research center. SURFsara is, since 1984, the national supercomputing center for scientific research and education in the Netherlands.
+
+The SURFsara HPC Cloud is in operation for about four years and during that time accommodated several hands-on courses that use Virtual Machines for their students. We also hosted our own workshops teaching the use of the cloud.
+As the name implies, the SURFsara HPC Cloud is set up for High Performance Computing and not primarily for stability. I will talk about what effects that had on these courses.
+
+Our experiences should be useful for both course organizers and cloud providers who expect that a cloud-based solution is ideal.
+Will new technologies like Docker and [fill in your personal favorite] help workshop hosting? I will share my thoughts on that topic with the audience who, no doubt, have their own experience on this matter.