NEWS ADS Lab is a world‑leading research group specialising in the infrastructure that underpins all modern digital systems – the clouds. This year’s workshop brought together more than 100 invited international experts who discussed future solutions. “We are seeing exceptionally rapid development with AI, and this will lead to major changes in the software used to manage the clouds,” says Erik Elmroth, Professor at the Department of computing science and research leader at ADS Lab.
Top experts in cloud tech, infrastructure and automated resource management gathered to share insights and spark new collaborations – with AI, security, and energy taking centre stage.
ImageprivatThe Autonomous Distributed Systems Lab research group at Umeå University focuses on the automated management of clouds and their building blocks, striving to make this technology efficient and secure.
“We develop systems for managing applications and resources, everything from individual servers to large-scale cloud data centres, ensuring that processes run optimally and so that the services running in the cloud are as accessible and reliable as possible, whilst minimising energy consumption,” says Professor Erik Elmroth, who established the successful research group.
Every year, experts from academia and industry are invited to share experiences and develop partnerships. This year’s event, The 19th Cloud Control Workshop, was attended by 30 industry representatives. These included Google, Microsoft, Red Hat, Ericsson, IBM, Databricks, OpenChip, Siemens, and Saab, as well as the Umeå-based company Elastisys.
During those intensive days, the latest developments in autonomous cloud control, distributed systems, and machine learning were discussed.
"The discussions centred on the rapid developments currently taking place, driven by large language models and AI agents,” says Prof. Erik Elmroth.
This is a process that poses challenges to areas central to research into Cloud Control.
"On the one hand, we will see changes in how we build systems, design infrastructure, and develop software. On the other hand, AI applications are placing new demands on what the cloud must deliver."
Nearly forty professors from some of the world’s most prestigious universities – including Harvard, Cambridge, and Carnegie Mellon – were in attendance, alongside representatives from Umeå University, the Royal Institute of Technology, (KTH), and Lund University.
Several participants are also affiliated with WASP, the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Distributed Systems and Software Program – Sweden’s largest research programme, in which Umeå University plays a key role.
"Meeting in this way, alongside the business community and industry, adds a further dimension of knowledge and experience for us,” says Erik Elmroth.
The event also highlighted key issues relating to electricity consumption and security, topics that have only grown in relevance in recent years. “We need to find ways forward and define which types of research problems academia is best placed to solve, and which issues industry should focus on", says Prof. Elmroth.
"For Sweden and the EU, it is also becoming increasingly clear that it is important to continue building our own expertise in this area and not simply rely on a handful of large American companies. Although this was the 19th time the workshop had been organised, several participants remarked that it is now, in fact, more important than ever," says Professor Elmroth.
Planning for the 20th edition is already underway!
The Department of Computing Science at Umeå University has grown at record pace in recent years, with an influx of international top researchers from around the world. This has strengthened not only the research being carried out, but also the content and quality of the education on offer.
In Umeå, students can specialise in distributed systems and cloud services, as well as AI, cyber security, interactive and intelligent environments, and robotics.
The Department is also linked to WASP, Sweden’s largest research programme, and WASP-HS, which focuses on the consequences and effects of AI, as well as eSSENCE and HPC2N, a national center for Scientific and Parallel Computing.
Please contact Erik Elmroth, Professor at the Department of computing science for further information about ADS Lab.
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