International expansion for grid computing group

By Stuart Finlayson

The Globus Project, an organisation comprised of scientists from around the globe who create grid software to link multiple computers and storage systems, has changed its official name and recruited additional Board members following an international expansion.

The Project has been renamed the Globus Alliance following the addition of key partners from the University of Edinburgh and the Swedish Centre for Parallel Computers. A Globus spokesperson said the Scottish researchers have expertise in databases running on grids, while their Swedish counterparts will focus on security aspects.

Grid computing – like email before it – first emerged in academia as a method of sharing computing equipment across organisations and regions. Globus, with help from the likes of IBM, is redeveloping its Globus Toolkit grid management software to use web services standards with the purpose of making the technology more suitable for business use.

The Globus Toolkit provides key enabling software and services that let people share computing power, databases, and other tools securely online across corporate, institutional, and geographic boundaries without sacrificing local autonomy. It has been deployed broadly worldwide for both science and industry and has developed a strong community of contributors and users.

It is thought that the Toolkit can become central to the utility computing vision of companies such as IBM, HP and Sun, the aim of which is to unify disparate systems, thus lowering costs and increasing reliability.

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