European Grid Infrastructure
Encyclopedia
The European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) refers to a series of efforts to provide access to high-performance computing
resources across Europe using grid computing
techniques. The EGI links centres in different European countries to support international research in many scientific disciplines. Following a series of research projects such as DataGrid and Enabling Grids for E-sciencE, the EGI.eu organization was formed in 2010 to sustain the services of the EGI.
In the early 21st century, Grid computing
became popular for scientific disciplines such as high-energy physics, bioinformatics
to share and combine the power of computers and sophisticated, often unique, scientific instruments in a process known as e-Science
.
In addition to their scientific value, on the 30 May 2008 The EU Competitiveness Council promoted "the essential role of e-infrastructures as an integrating mechanism between Member States
, regions as well as different scientific disciplines, also contributing to overcoming digital divide
s."
series.
Fabrizio Gagliardi was project manager of DataGrid and its budget was about 12 million Euro
, with the full project named "Research and Technological Development for an International Data Grid".
A major motivation behind the concept was the massive data requirements of the Large Hadron Collider
project of the Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire
(CERN).
through the Directorate-General for Information Society and Media, led by the information technology division of CERN.
This 24-month project of the Sixth Framework Programme had a cost of over 46 million Euro. The consortium included 70 institutions in 27 countries.
The LHC Computing Grid
continued to be a major application of EGEE technology..
By 1 April 2006 the "in Europe" was dropped from the project name, but the acronym was kept as EGEE-II for Enabling Grids for E-sciencE. This two-year phase cost about 52.6 million Euro.
The new name reflected a more global extent, such as a cluster of computers at the Institute Of Microelectronic Systems
in Malaysia.
By 2007 the EGI was supported by 36 countries.
A middleware
software package known as gLite
was developed for EGEE.
A third two-year project phase was called EGEE-III, running from 2008 to 2010.
On 30 April 2010 the EGEE project ended.
By 2009 the governance model evolved towards a European Grid Initiative (EGI), building upon National Grid Initiatives (NGIs).
infrastructure on grid enabled technology) was funded from 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2007, and developed software called gCube somehow related to the EGEE technology.
This project cost more than 8.9 million Euro.
Follow-on projects called distributed collaboratories infrastructure on grid enabled technology 4 science (D4SCIENCE) cost about 3.9 million Euro through the end of 2009, and 5.4 million Euro until September 2011.
A project on Business Experiments in GRID (BEinGRID) ran from 1 June 2006, through November 2009, with a cost estimated 23.6 million Euro.
The project published 25 case studies.
One participant observed in 2008 "a reluctant and slow take-off of Grid technology by the industry."
's 7th Framework Programme in order to: evaluate requirements and use cases, identify processes and mechanisms for establishment, define the structure, and initiate the organization.
The study was directed by Dieter Kranzmüller, and cost about 3.9 million Euro.
In October 2008 site selection for EGI was begun.
Participants included 37 national projects.
, the Netherlands at the Science Park Amsterdam
.
The EGI.eu foundation was officially formed on 8 February 2010 in Amsterdam.
The name change included using infrastructure
as the third word for the acronym, to reflect the transition from a series of short-term research projects to a more sustainable service.
National Grid Initiatives (NGI) support scientific disciplines for computational resources within individual countries.
The EGI is governed by a Council of representatives from each member NGI, which controls an executive that manages the international collaboration between NGI, so that individual researchers can share and combine computing resources in international collaborative research projects.
The governance model of the EGI coordinating the collaboration of National Grid Initiatives uses general policies of co-operation and subsidiarity
adopted in the European Research Area
.
A 32 million Euro project named the EGI-Integrated Sustainable Pan-European Infrastructure for Research in Europe (EGI.INSPIRE) was funded in September 2010 under direction of Steven Newhouse.
A 1.5 million Euro project called e-ScienceTalk was funded in 2010 for 33 months to support websites and publications covering the EGI.
It followed an earlier programme known as GridTalk that was funded from 2008 to 2010.
High-performance computing
High-performance computing uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Today, computer systems approaching the teraflops-region are counted as HPC-computers.-Overview:...
resources across Europe using grid computing
Grid computing
Grid computing is a term referring to the combination of computer resources from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal. The grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involve a large number of files...
techniques. The EGI links centres in different European countries to support international research in many scientific disciplines. Following a series of research projects such as DataGrid and Enabling Grids for E-sciencE, the EGI.eu organization was formed in 2010 to sustain the services of the EGI.
Purpose
Science has become increasingly based on open collaboration between researchers across the world. It uses high-capacity computing to model complex systems and to process experimental results.In the early 21st century, Grid computing
Grid computing
Grid computing is a term referring to the combination of computer resources from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal. The grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involve a large number of files...
became popular for scientific disciplines such as high-energy physics, bioinformatics
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...
to share and combine the power of computers and sophisticated, often unique, scientific instruments in a process known as e-Science
E-Science
E-Science is computationally intensive science that is carried out in highly distributed network environments, or science that uses immense data sets that require grid computing; the term sometimes includes technologies that enable distributed collaboration, such as the Access Grid...
.
In addition to their scientific value, on the 30 May 2008 The EU Competitiveness Council promoted "the essential role of e-infrastructures as an integrating mechanism between Member States
Member State of the European Union
A member state of the European Union is a state that is party to treaties of the European Union and has thereby undertaken the privileges and obligations that EU membership entails. Unlike membership of an international organisation, being an EU member state places a country under binding laws in...
, regions as well as different scientific disciplines, also contributing to overcoming digital divide
Digital divide
The Digital Divide refers to inequalities between individuals, households, business, and geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels in access to information and communication technologies and Internet connectivity and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information...
s."
History
The European DataGrid project was first funded in 2001 for three years as one of the Framework Programmes for Research and Technological DevelopmentFramework Programmes for Research and Technological Development
The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 through FP8, are funding programmes created by the European Union in order to support and encourage research in the European Research Area...
series.
Fabrizio Gagliardi was project manager of DataGrid and its budget was about 12 million Euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
, with the full project named "Research and Technological Development for an International Data Grid".
A major motivation behind the concept was the massive data requirements of the Large Hadron Collider
Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature....
project of the Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
(CERN).
EGEE
On 1 April 2004 the Enabling Grids for E-Science in Europe (EGEE) project was funded by the European CommissionEuropean Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
through the Directorate-General for Information Society and Media, led by the information technology division of CERN.
This 24-month project of the Sixth Framework Programme had a cost of over 46 million Euro. The consortium included 70 institutions in 27 countries.
The LHC Computing Grid
LHC Computing Grid
The Worldwide LHC Computing Grid is a computer network designed by CERN to handle the massive amounts of data produced by the Large Hadron Collider .-Description:A design report was published in 2005....
continued to be a major application of EGEE technology..
By 1 April 2006 the "in Europe" was dropped from the project name, but the acronym was kept as EGEE-II for Enabling Grids for E-sciencE. This two-year phase cost about 52.6 million Euro.
The new name reflected a more global extent, such as a cluster of computers at the Institute Of Microelectronic Systems
MIMOS
MIMOS Berhad is a strategic agency under purview of the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation . The agency is led by Dato’ Wahab Abdullah, who was appointed in July 2006, to become the premier applied research centre in frontier technologies; and transform the landscape of the...
in Malaysia.
By 2007 the EGI was supported by 36 countries.
A middleware
Middleware
Middleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...
software package known as gLite
GLite
gLite is a middleware computer software project for grid computing used by the CERN LHC experiments and other scientific domains. It was implemented by collaborative efforts of more than 80 people in 12 different academic and industrial research centers in Europe...
was developed for EGEE.
A third two-year project phase was called EGEE-III, running from 2008 to 2010.
On 30 April 2010 the EGEE project ended.
By 2009 the governance model evolved towards a European Grid Initiative (EGI), building upon National Grid Initiatives (NGIs).
Related projects
A project called Diligent (digital libraryDigital library
A digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital formats and accessible by computers. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks...
infrastructure on grid enabled technology) was funded from 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2007, and developed software called gCube somehow related to the EGEE technology.
This project cost more than 8.9 million Euro.
Follow-on projects called distributed collaboratories infrastructure on grid enabled technology 4 science (D4SCIENCE) cost about 3.9 million Euro through the end of 2009, and 5.4 million Euro until September 2011.
A project on Business Experiments in GRID (BEinGRID) ran from 1 June 2006, through November 2009, with a cost estimated 23.6 million Euro.
The project published 25 case studies.
One participant observed in 2008 "a reluctant and slow take-off of Grid technology by the industry."
Design study
The EGI Design Study (EGI_DS) project was launched in September 2007 and continued until the end of December 2009. The project was partially funded by the European CommissionEuropean Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
's 7th Framework Programme in order to: evaluate requirements and use cases, identify processes and mechanisms for establishment, define the structure, and initiate the organization.
The study was directed by Dieter Kranzmüller, and cost about 3.9 million Euro.
In October 2008 site selection for EGI was begun.
Participants included 37 national projects.
Structure
In March 2009, the policy board of the EGI announced it would be hosted in AmsterdamAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, the Netherlands at the Science Park Amsterdam
Science Park Amsterdam
Science Park Amsterdam is a science park in stadsdeel Oost/Watergraafsmeer in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, with accommodations for science and business and housing. Science Park Amsterdam focusses on IT and life sciences. Among the knowledge-based institutions present at the science park there are...
.
The EGI.eu foundation was officially formed on 8 February 2010 in Amsterdam.
The name change included using infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
as the third word for the acronym, to reflect the transition from a series of short-term research projects to a more sustainable service.
National Grid Initiatives (NGI) support scientific disciplines for computational resources within individual countries.
The EGI is governed by a Council of representatives from each member NGI, which controls an executive that manages the international collaboration between NGI, so that individual researchers can share and combine computing resources in international collaborative research projects.
The governance model of the EGI coordinating the collaboration of National Grid Initiatives uses general policies of co-operation and subsidiarity
Subsidiarity
Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which...
adopted in the European Research Area
European Research Area
The European Research Area is a system of scientific research programmes integrating the scientific resources of the European Union . Since its inception in 2000, the structure has been concentrated on multi-national co-operation in the fields of medical, environmental, industrial and...
.
A 32 million Euro project named the EGI-Integrated Sustainable Pan-European Infrastructure for Research in Europe (EGI.INSPIRE) was funded in September 2010 under direction of Steven Newhouse.
A 1.5 million Euro project called e-ScienceTalk was funded in 2010 for 33 months to support websites and publications covering the EGI.
It followed an earlier programme known as GridTalk that was funded from 2008 to 2010.