“3D Cloud” in Life Sciences: An innovative framework for remote 2D/3D visualization and collaboration
Livia Torterolo, Gianluca Papaleo, Silvia Scaglione, Francesco Ruffino, Maurizio Aiello · 2012
A wide range of software has been moving to Cloud platforms, except for 3D applications, which require hardware (access to high-end GPU1) and software (use of libraries for 3D graphics like OpenGL or DirectX) not yet supported. Therefore, we here present an innovative technology, enabling “3D Clouds”, i.e. Clouds able to host 3D applications and provide them “as a service”. Achieving this goal can be very useful in Biomedicine and Life Sciences, where 3D visualization and image analysis play a key role. End users are immediately empowered by taking full advantage of high-end graphics cards, fast I/O performance and large memory nodes hosted in "Public or Private 3D Cloud", rather than waiting for the next upgrade of the graphics workstations. Even if the technology supports a wide range of 3D applications, we here present a case study in molecular modeling field, considering crucial aspects of security and data management.