The Ecole des Mines de Nantes, and more precisely the Ascola team, has been developping a sofware called Entropy under the LGPL open source license since 2006. This software is an auomonomic framework aiming to manipulate virtual machines in data centers. In the cloud computing terminology, Entropy is IaaS solution. The first application for Entropy is energy management of data and computation centers. Depending on the workload of a center, our solution makes it possible to decrease the direct power consumption (the consumption of the servers) from 20 to 50%. This software is currently used by some of our R&D partners such as Orange Labs, Bull or the Direction Général des Finances Public (DGFiP), but also by some partners acting as "clients" such as the two software engineering companies Devoteam and Logica. ENtropy is also one of the three components of the CloudWare initiative led by the OW2 open source consortium in the field of Cloud Computing. Thanks to these proofs of concept, the core of the sofwtare is now mature and some of our partners plan to use it in production provided that a strong support can be ensured by a compagny. Beyond these partners and following the price "prix de la croissance numerique" awarded at end of 2009, we have benn contacted by other companies which are interested in our solution and by capital risker (Chausson Finance) and a business angel (M. Brandsma). There are economic interests for companies (reduction of the power costs) but also tachnical interest (flexibility) and the fact that the software is open source is a actually appreciated. For capital riskers, the software is at the heart of a current issue : the increase in the number od data centers and the will to reduce the carbon footprint of companies. Our numerous meetings allowed us to determine more clearly what the needs of the users of our solution would be. We also began to work on th development of our software product and to think about patenting with the help of Atlanpole. However it is necessary, so as to persuade some future clients, to carry out several scientific, technical, financial and commercial actions in the next 18 months. The aim of the project is to carry out some commercial studies (market research, status of the future compagny, intellectual property), to complete the core of our technological solution (graphic interface, packaging), to develop convincing demonstrators (with comprativ benchmarks) and to consolidate our scientific work-in-progress (thermal load balancing). At the end of the project, the objectif will be to create a new compagny so as to be able to sell some support on our solution and some new software components.

Several particle physics experiments plan to use large area (> 0.1 m²) Micromegas (MM) gaseous detectors in high particle flux. CEA Saclay thus develops such detectors for the CLAS12 (Jefferson Lab, USA) and COMPASS 2 (CERN, Geneva) spectrometers, to detect particles scattered in a beam-target interaction, with excellent spatial resolutions (< 100 µm) and an efficiency better than 95% in a highly radiative environment. MM detectors will also be used for the upgrade of the LHC experiments at CERN, and later with a future linear collider, with applications for a hadronic calorimeter (DHCAL) currently under studies at the LAPP Annecy. In parallel, the Subatech laboratory at Nantes investigates a use of Micromegas for a large area cryogenic Compton telescope using liquid Xenon for the detection material, with medical applications. These various utilizations require developing large area MM working in environments in which discharge rates could be high for standard detectors. These applications will also need some specific constraints, like low material budget for CLAS12 and COMPASS 2, operation in cryogenic conditions for the Compton telescope, and high reliability in small available space for DHCAL. A reliable solution for the manufacturing of large area MM will also be required. The Ciréa company (Cholet), which builds large area printed circuit boards (PCB), is eager to get the knowledge for the manufacturing of “bulk” MM, i.e. with monolithic board and mesh. Besides, its PCB skills will be crucial for some developments related to the current project. Preliminary studies have already been performed to identify solutions for discharge problems in MM detectors that could limit their efficiency and life time, and affect the readout electronics. These studies showed that an additional pre-amplifying GEM foil decreases the discharge probability by a factor of 10 to 100. Another promising solution is based on buried resistors under resistive pads. Therefore, this project plans to adapt solutions for the discharge rate reduction to large area MM with the lightest possible materials, as well as an industrialization of the detector production. This will require an R&D phase in collaboration with the industrial partner to optimize the fabrication process. During this phase, a transfer of knowledge to the Ciréa company for the production of “bulk” detectors will take place. In particular, studies will be performed with Subatech on the application of “bulk” MM for the photo-detection in a cryogenic environment. In parallel, a theoretical model of MM and its readout electronics, including a protection circuit against discharges, will be developed by the LAPP to better understand the role of such a circuit on discharge effects. This model will be tuned by comparing it with real detectors, and will be further used to optimize the protection scheme of the electronics. An integration of this protection, either to the electronics through a dedicated chip, either to the detector with buried components, will be studied. Detection areas receiving the highest particle flux will be equipped with pixels readout to limit the electronic occupancy and to maintain their detection efficiency. The project will be scheduled in several phases: - definition and design of a common prototype to test the various technological solutions and to compare with the model - production and tests of large area prototypes to validate solutions for discharge reduction, in the specific environments: studies in intense hadron beams, in cryogenic conditions for a Compton telescope, or in high magnetic field - collaboration with Ciréa to optimize the fabrication process for light detectors while transferring the technology on detectors - specific R&D done with Ciréa on the production of detectors with integrated resistors and/or protection circuit, and with segmented micro-meshes to decrease the discharge impact - production and tests of prototypes and pre-serials with Ciréa