Newbie: Is this type of networking possible?

[bcell]

Hi,

I'm programming full time for some 9 years now, but I'm a newbie when it comes to Networking and cloud computing, so I have a few simple questions.

We are looking into working on a project that would have a windows client app send some data to our server which would then forward this data to "Workers" for them to crunch this data. I'd like the server to be running 24/7 but the "Workers" should be virtual computers (instances) that load up only when needed (by the server) and run those tasks, return data, and then shut down. I'd like to forward the costs of this cloud computing to the clients, so it's crucial that the instances can load up and shut down when needed.
I know enough about networking to make a computer (instance) automatically connect to the server when it starts up.

Questions:

• Is there a cloud service out there that could possibly offer this and is this even possible?
• What do i google to find out more info? I know i tried.
• What is the approximate cost for 1 instance for 1 hour with a Core2Duo processor or similar and 512MB RAM?
• Will i simply need to install HD images onto each instance and then they will load up and do what they need to automatically, or how do i "program" each instance?

Thanks!

 

[office politics]

i would look into amazon's ec2 servers. afaik, they only charge you for the resources you actually use.

the startup shutdown is possible with Wake on lan and windows shutdown commands. i would look into how to use grid computing to accomplish this.