EU initiative BonFIRE is planning to open its multi-site cloud infrastructure to European researchers and SMEs for testing and experimentation of cloud-based applications and services.

The infrastructure, which will be available on a free-to-use basis for the next 12 months, requests for access will be evaluated in a simple application process.

BonFIRE operates across six European cloud sites, with controlled networking between some of the sites, academics and businesses can test several cloud scenarios.

The EU initiative provides access to large-scale virtualised compute, storage, and networking resources, with enhanced control and observation for detailed experimentation.

In addition, it also allows users to evaluate the effects of converged service and network infrastructures, assess the socio-economic impact of new cloud services and to combine cloud computing and data storage with novel networking scenarios.

BonFIRE is targeted at developers in the pre-production testing phase and organisations that are undertaking collaborative research.

ATOS BonFIRE project director Josep Martrat said by making BonFIRE’s test bed available, the EU is encouraging European SMEs to launch new cloud services and become a part of a multi-billion euro market without having to invest in capital infrastructure.

"Commercial testing services are rare and they cannot offer the detailed level of analysis that BonFIRE offers, enabling businesses to perfect the performance prior to launch," Martrat said.

EU had launched BonFIRE in 2010 to help researchers and SMEs develop cloud applications by providing an ideal platform for cloud experiments.