Cloud computing is creating challenges for IT organizations that have a fair amount of manual tasks and processes that are carried out by IT administrators. Cloud providers are looking to maximize the utilization of the cloud resources being provided to cloud customers, in the face of increasingly complex and dynamic workloads. We are interested in papers that highlight methods for automation of IT processes, technologies and toolsets that could be used in managing cloud resources, and how automation can improve productivity and reduce time for provisioning the requested resources.

Technology is available to virtualize the primary computing resources – servers, storage and networks, and these technologies are enjoying increasing adoption by end users. Extensive research is underway to enable effective management of deployments based on virtual technologies. We are looking for papers that highlight management of workloads deployed based on virtual technologies.

For the cloud to truly become the new IT paradigm, it will not be enough to simply move the existing applications into the cloud environment. Inevitably, some new applications will need to be developed, or existing applications will need to be re-developed to fit the cloud, rather than the traditional data centre. We would like to see submissions that address questions of what would be the best products, languages, tools, and techniques for developing new Cloud-based applications, or refactoring existing applications into true cloud-based applications, and why they would be different from (or the same as) traditional application development.

One of top concerns expressed by IT professionals in recent surveys regarding their reluctance to move business critical applications into a cloud environment was security. What are the security issues and solutions involved that can protect corporate data and address attacks from outside, such as from viruses and Trojans, or Denial of Service attacks? Are these issues different for cloud providers from those experienced by traditional outsourcing scenarios? Are there new threats on the horizon that might specifically target a cloud provider? How would you prevent them?

Many IT organizations are looking to utilize cloud-based services to satisfy some fraction of their computing requirements. However, there are a fair amount of challenges to transparently move workloads to the cloud. Among other dependencies, there are significant challenges in the area of network and storage which need to be met through automation. We are looking for papers that highlight ways to facilitate the moving of workloads from datacenters to the cloud and back in a transparent and effortless manner.

At work and at home and everywhere in between, tech-savvy workers and consumers are using the same powerful, widely available tools and applications – from smartphones and iPads to social networks and instant messaging - to stay informed, connected and productive in their professional as well as personal lives. These consumer technologies and tools are bringing down the old artificial barriers around the workplace. We are interested in papers that highlight ways to harness the full power of this new wave of productivity

Be it large, small, or medium sized, every business is now talking about cloud computing. Airports are no different. Fundamentally, airports are like clouds that provide a shared network, shared check-in systems, baggage reservation systems, and other IT infrastructure that is leveraged by all airlines operating in and out of the airport. Airport operators are under constant pressure to maintain a state-of-the-art IT environment, but find themselves year-on-year with shrinking IT budgets. We are interested in papers that explore the various solutions in an airport that can be part of a cloud and intelligibly analyze the tangible and intangible benefits that would accrue by implementing such solutions.