The Grainger College of Engineering
Coordinated Science Laboratory

Hybrid Cloud

Hybrid Cloud

As demand for flexible and scalable IT infrastructure grows, hybrid clouds—blending private servers with public cloud services—have become essential across the computing stack.

At the IBM-Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute within CSL, researchers are advancing hybrid cloud platforms optimized for AI. Their work focuses on three core areas:

  • Understanding emerging needs to guide the future of hybrid cloud technologies.

  • Developing intelligent, secure automation to streamline management while ensuring performance and scalability.

  • Innovating hardware and infrastructure—from specialized processors to advanced virtualization.

These efforts aim to create high-performing, resilient systems that support AI and other transformative technologies. By pushing hybrid cloud innovation, CSL is helping shape a computing future that is smarter, more secure, and ready for next-generation applications.

FEATURED RESEARCH:

Tackle the Toughest Challenges

Hybrid cloud systems must be fundamentally re-architected to handle the scale, complexity, and resource demands of emerging AI workloads, especially foundation models and generative AI. Future research will span applications, platforms, and hardware -- from natural-language system interfaces and cross-layer automation to new accelerators and quantum processors -- while extending seamlessly to the edge. The goal is to achieve massive gains in efficiency, affordability, and adaptability, enabling sustainable, scalable AI infrastructures that drive both scientific discovery and societal impact.