DEVELOPER TOOLS

SEATTLE-- GLOBAL GRID FORUM -- Platform Computing and the Globus Project today announced that Platform's new "Community Scheduler Framework" (CSF) will be contributed for inclusion in future releases of the Globus Toolkit, a set of software and services that is central to Grid computing. The target for inclusion is Fall 2003. CSF will provide an extensible framework for implementing so-called "meta-schedulers," which can negotiate with heterogeneous workload execution software such as Platform LSF(R), to acquire the right resources to fulfill computing requirements. Organizations can coordinate scheduling needs to meet service-level agreements regardless of where resources are hosted or which local resource management software is used. This results in simplified, efficient use of distributed IT infrastructure and increased cost savings. Platform's OGSI-compliant meta-scheduler will work within the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) that is the basis of Globus Toolkit v3.0 (see http://www.globus.org/toolkit). The CSF alpha version is available at ftp://ftp.platform.com/pub/opensource/gcsf/. By building on popular Web services standards, OGSI-compliant Grid services will facilitate creation of self-contained business functions that operate over the grid, enabling organizations to scale their grid deployments across previously incompatible clusters of resources. The technology will also allow Grid resource management software from multiple vendors to interoperate across an organization and at participating service providers. With CSF, Platform has developed the first prototype implementation of an OGSI-compliant specification called "Agreement-based Grid Service Management (OGSI-Agreement)", a first draft of which was recently submitted for consideration within the Global Grid Forum. This specification will be a framework on which enterprises may dynamically negotiate access to all heterogeneous applications and resources on the Grid in a consistent manner, improving services and reducing costs. "The Globus Project has actively encouraged industry participation, both in terms of contributing open source Grid software and helping to set standards," said Ian Foster, associate division director for mathematics and computer science at Argonne National Laboratory and professor of computer science at the University of Chicago. "Platform Computing is a contributor in both these areas, and we look forward to receiving this contribution from Platform for future inclusion in the Globus Toolkit. We are hopeful that CSF will provide a strong foundation for building both production and experimental meta-schedulers." "With a mind to encouraging innovation through interoperability, Platform is committed to support, drive and contribute to grid standards and software," said Ian Baird, Chief Business Architect, Platform. "The Community Scheduler Framework raises the bar on interoperability, providing customers with the confidence to extend existing grid implementations and enabling them to focus on innovation rather than integration and configuration."