Grids

In recent years there is a lot of attention within both scientific and commercial R&D for socalled GRID or GRIDS. But what are grids? A reasonable attempt for a definition: a grid is a system of computers (in a wide sense, periferals and computerdriven resources are included) coupled through internet technology to achieve a transparently usable larger system with shared resources. In daily use the term GRID is easily used for an almost unlimited amount of initiatives and concepts.

There is an international consortium called Global Grid Forum (GGF), that handles standardisation of gridtechnology and thinks about future uses and other aspects of grids. In the Netherlands there is a national branch of GGF, Gridforum Nederland, where science, the private sector, government and individual experts exchange knowledge on a neutral basis. NCF is one of the founders of Gridforum.nl.

In Europe organisations like CERN are very active (for an overview of European grid initiatives see http://www.arcade-eu.org). In the Netherlands research institutes and organisations like NIKHEF, University of Amsterdam, SARA en KNMI are very active in the grid arena - participating in EU-projects such as DEISA and EGEE as well as BSIK-projecten such as LOFAR and VL-E.

NCF considers it a task to help build a grid infrastructure for the Netherlands. If you are interested, or have ideas on how to help further this goal please contact Peter Michielse.