INDUSTRY

CHICAGO -- The leading minds of Grid computing will meet at the first GlobusWorld conference in San Diego, January 13-17, 2003. Attendees will benefit from tutorials, talks on experiences and future directions, and demonstrations of the Globus Toolkit (TM), a collection of open-source software and libraries that is transforming the way on-line resources are shared across organizations. The Globus Toolkit (GT) is central to hundreds of Grid deployments for science and engineering worldwide, and it is increasingly important to corporate strategies for overcoming obstacles to collaboration. The Globus Project (TM) is now leading the effort to define the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA), a standard on which next-generation Grid applications will be based. GlobusWorld will highlight current applications of GT 2.2 and the OGSA-based GT3, which is nearing its alpha release. “GlobusWorld offers an unequaled chance for system developers and decision makers to immerse themselves in the technology driving the Grid,” said Ian Foster, associate division director for mathematics and computer science at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and professor of computer science at the University of Chicago. The Globus Project is led by Foster, Carl Kesselman (professor of computer science at the University of Southern California (USC) and director of the USC Information Sciences Institute’s Center for Grid Technologies) and Steve Tuecke (lead architect of the ANL Distributed Systems Laboratory). “This conference is a coming of age for the Globus Toolkit as a de facto standard for the Grid, and a coming out party for the OGSA standards-based GT3 that -- while still in development -- is the subject of intense interest from our user community,” said Kesselman. The event program is at http://www.globusworld.org. The conference will feature a keynote address by Peter Freeman, assistant director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for computer and information science and engineering. NSF is planning a program in "cyberinfrastructure" to serve scientific and engineering research. "Grid computing -- and the software that enables it -- is absolutely essential to building a cyberinfrastructure that will revolutionize science and engineering," said Freeman. "The Globus Toolkit community is at the forefront of these efforts and is to be congratulated and encouraged." Another keynote speaker is Miron Livny, professor of computer science at the University of Wisconsin, who leads development of the popular Condor software. “GlobusWorld will give the scientific community a unique opportunity to ‘take stock’ of the impact that the Globus Toolkit has had so far on their computing infrastructure,” said Livny. “The conference will also set the stage for the next phase of research and development activities to be fueled by the new capabilities offered by the next generation of the Globus Toolkit.” GlobusWorld also boasts speakers from leading IT companies, plus tutorials and workshops by developers and practitioners. IBM, which is the exclusive GlobusWorld “ambassador sponsor,” has committed significant resources to GT-based Grid offerings.