Grid computing

Abstract: In both e-business and e-science, we often need to integrate services across distributed, heterogeneous, dynamic “virtual organizations” formed from the disparate resources within a single enterprise and/or from external resource sharing and service provider relationships. This integration can be technically challenging because of the need to achieve various qualities of service when running on top of different native platforms. We present an Open Grid Services Architecture that addresses these challenges. Building on concepts and technologies from the Grid and Web services communities, this architecture defines a uniform exposed service semantics (the Grid service); defines standard mechanisms for creating, naming, and discovering transient Grid service instances; provides location transparency and multiple protocol bindings for service instances; and supports integration with underlying native platform facilities. The Open Grid Services Architecture also defines, in terms of Web Services Description Language (WSDL) interfaces and associated conventions, mechanisms required for creating and composing sophisticated distributed systems, including lifetime management, change management, and notification. Service bindings can support reliable invocation, authentication, authorization, and delegation, if required. Our presentation complements an earlier foundational article, “The Anatomy of the Grid,” by describing how Grid mechanisms can implement a service-oriented architecture, explaining how Grid functionality can be incorporated into a Web services framework, and illustrating how our architecture can be applied within commercial computing as a basis for distributed system integration—within and across organizational domains. This is a DRAFT document and continues to be revised. The latest version can be found at http://www.globus.org/research/papers/ogsa.pdf. Please send comments to foster@mcs.anl.gov, carl@isi.edu, jnick@us.ibm.com, tuecke@mcs.anl.gov Physiology of the Grid 2

Abstract: Cloud computing has become another buzzword after Web 2.0. However, there are dozens of different definitions for cloud computing and there seems to be no consensus on what a cloud is. On the other hand, cloud computing is not a completely new concept; it has intricate connection to the relatively new but thirteen-year established grid computing paradigm, and other relevant technologies such as utility computing, cluster computing, and distributed systems in general. This paper strives to compare and contrast cloud computing with grid computing from various angles and give insights into the essential characteristics of both.

Abstract: For 100 years, there has been no change in the basic structure of the electrical power grid. Experiences have shown that the hierarchical, centrally controlled grid of the 20th Century is ill-suited to the needs of the 21st Century. To address the challenges of the existing power grid, the new concept of smart grid has emerged. The smart grid can be considered as a modern electric power grid infrastructure for enhanced efficiency and reliability through automated control, high-power converters, modern communications infrastructure, sensing and metering technologies, and modern energy management techniques based on the optimization of demand, energy and network availability, and so on. While current power systems are based on a solid information and communication infrastructure, the new smart grid needs a different and much more complex one, as its dimension is much larger. This paper addresses critical issues on smart grid technologies primarily in terms of information and communication technology (ICT) issues and opportunities. The main objective of this paper is to provide a contemporary look at the current state of the art in smart grid communications as well as to discuss the still-open research issues in this field. It is expected that this paper will provide a better understanding of the technologies, potential advantages and research challenges of the smart grid and provoke interest among the research community to further explore this promising research area.

Abstract: BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing) is a software system that makes it easy for scientists to create and operate public-resource computing projects. It supports diverse applications, including those with large storage or communication requirements. PC owners can participate in multiple BOINC projects, and can specify how their resources are allocated among these projects. We describe the goals of BOINC, the design issues that we confronted, and our solutions to these problems.