IAAS-09: Reliably acquire and manage hosted computer systems and/or storage volumes

Executive Summary: 
This use case is identical to IAAS-8 except that the calling application should not have to handle common exceptions.
User Importance Summary: 
Researchers are increasingly using externally hosted ("cloud") virtual machines to extend their computing environments without requiring capital investment. The ability to automate the management and use of such systems is critical to realizing the vision of "programmable infrastructure" and making efficient use of these resources.
Target Communities and Sizes: 
Application developers - O(10) Science gateways - O(10)