Globus Alliance
Encyclopedia
The Globus Alliance is an international association dedicated to developing fundamental technologies needed to build grid computing
infrastructures. The Globus Alliance was officially established in September 2003, however it was created out of the previous Globus Project that had been established in 1995.
A grid is a persistent environment that enables software applications to integrate instruments, displays, computational, and information resources that are managed by diverse organizations in widespread locations. Grids are currently in use at many research institutions and are being used to study subjects such as cosmology
and high energy physics.
through the open source Globus Toolkit
. As a grid middleware
component, it provides a standard platform for services to build upon, but grid computing also needs other components, and many other tools operate to support a successful Grid environment.
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...
infrastructures. The Globus Alliance was officially established in September 2003, however it was created out of the previous Globus Project that had been established in 1995.
A grid is a persistent environment that enables software applications to integrate instruments, displays, computational, and information resources that are managed by diverse organizations in widespread locations. Grids are currently in use at many research institutions and are being used to study subjects such as cosmology
Physical cosmology
Physical cosmology, as a branch of astronomy, is the study of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. For most of human history, it was a branch of metaphysics and religion...
and high energy physics.
Globus Toolkit
The Globus Alliance implements some of the standards developed at the Open Grid Forum (OGF)Open Grid Forum
The Open Grid Forum is a community of users, developers, and vendors for standardization of grid computing. It was formed in 2006 in a merger of the Global Grid Forum and the Enterprise Grid Alliance. The OGSA, OGSI, and JSDL standards were created by the OGF...
through the open source Globus Toolkit
Globus Toolkit
The Globus Toolkit, currently at version 5, is an open source toolkit for building computing grids developed and provided by the Globus Alliance.-Standards implementation:The Globus Toolkit is an implementation of the following standards:...
. As a grid 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...
component, it provides a standard platform for services to build upon, but grid computing also needs other components, and many other tools operate to support a successful Grid environment.
Current members of the core Globus Alliance team
- Argonne National LaboratoryArgonne National LaboratoryArgonne National Laboratory is the first science and engineering research national laboratory in the United States, receiving this designation on July 1, 1946. It is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the Midwest...
, University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890... - EPCC, University of EdinburghUniversity of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
- National Center for Supercomputing ApplicationsNational Center for Supercomputing ApplicationsThe National Center for Supercomputing Applications is an American state-federal partnership to develop and deploy national-scale cyberinfrastructure that advances science and engineering. NCSA operates as a unit of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but it provides high-performance...
(NCSA) - Northern Illinois UniversityNorthern Illinois UniversityNorthern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...
, High Performance Computing Laboratory - Royal Institute of TechnologyRoyal Institute of TechnologyThe Royal Institute of Technology is a university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH was founded in 1827 as Sweden's first polytechnic and is one of Scandinavia's largest institutions of higher education in technology. KTH accounts for one-third of Sweden’s technical research and engineering education...
, SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... - Univa Corporation
- University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, Information Sciences InstituteInformation Sciences InstituteThe Information Sciences Institute is a research and development unit of the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering which focuses on computer and communications technology and information processing...