Egee Newsletter Feb 08

Industry Forum Newsletter - Editorial

The European Commission has invested in and

Industry Forum, including Industry Days and the

widely supported the development of Grids for

EGEE’07 Business Track.

both business and scientific research. This major

Outreach to business has focused on the benefits

investment in Grids and related technologies will

of

help generate a vibrant computing sector in

markets and for companies of all sizes. The

Europe, leading to the creation of new skills, new

Industry Day in Greece explored how Grids can

jobs, and new opportunities across the region.

enable SMEs with emphasis both on possible

With much of the ground work in place, the key

applications and the paths to adoption.

question is how best to capitalise on these new

Grid not only plays a key role in enabling the

opportunities by enabling technology transfer from

pharmaceutical industry, but also offers huge

R&D projects into commercial services and

potential

products. This issue’s Special Report is dedicated

opportunities were explored during the Industry

to Knowledge Transfer in the UK, an article written

Day in Bratislava (Slovak Republic) and the

by Alex Efimov from the Science & Technology

Business

Facilities Council (STFC) with a contribution from

concluded with an Industry Day in Paris targeting

Ian Osborne from Intellect UK. The first feature

the financial services sector.

tells the story of Imense Ltd, a small start-up from

Don’t miss our hightlights on EGEE’s Business

Cambridge (UK) and its connections with EGEE,

Associates Programme with six companies now

GridPP & the STFC.

engaged in joint collaboration work with the

Our Year in Review, EGEE on the Road in 2007,

project.

looks at a sample of events supported by the

Grid

technology

for

across

health

Track

within

care

different

vertical

systems.

EGEE’07.

These

The

Stephanie Parker, Chair of EGEE Industry Forum

Feature: The Imense Story Special Report: Technology Transfer – The UK’s Strategy EGEE on the Road in 2007 – Business Track at EGEE’07 Industry Days: Enabling SMEs, Thessaloniki (GR); Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Challenges, Bratislava (SK) New Architectures for Finance, Paris (FR) Highlights on EGEE Business Associates Upcoming Industry Events

   

year

1

EGEE’s Role in Commercial Success Story Grid Technology Helps Find a Picture in a Million

Whether you want the perfect sunset over the

ten-fold return on the initial development

sea or the London skyline by night, you are

funds.’

dependent on people describing images on

Images and video make up over 70% of the

their web pages. Imense Ltd. (formerly

digital data available on the Internet, an

Cambridge Ontology), a high-tech start-up

estimated 15 billion images, but traditional

company based in Cambridge, is focused on

search engines cannot index this information

turning novel research on content-based

directly, relying instead on text descriptions

image retrieval into a commercial success.

entered by hand. Imense’s key innovation is a

Partnership with a group of particle physicists

new form of image retrieval that automatically

enabled the company to test their software

analyses images in terms of their content,

using

Grid.

without the need for human generated

Imense’s software has now been ported to

captions. They have also developed a

GridPP

powerful query language that lets people

EGEE’s

with

massive

Ganga,

computer

a

powerful

job

submission tool co-developed with EGEE,

search for the images they need.

alongside the LCG and gLite backbones. Founded by Dr. David Sinclair and Dr. Chris Town, Imense Ltd now benefits from new investments

to

help

them

become

the

‘Google’ of image searching thanks to their revolutionary technology. Professor Keith Mason, Chief Executive of the Science & Technology Facilities Council Dr David Sinclair explained, ‘We built a

described how this happened, ‘We actively

prototype of our new image analysis and

encourage the researchers we fund to

search technology, but simply were not able

consider the wider applications of the work

to test our software on sufficiently large

they do. In this case, computing problems

numbers of photos. We knew we could

that had to be addressed for particle physics

search tens of thousands of pictures, but

can also be used to solve other challenges

could not afford to try it on hundreds of

with large amounts of data.

thousands or millions of images. This made it

The Council’s Knowledge Exchange Service

difficult for Imense to get the investment we

put the two teams together and provided

needed to develop a commercially viable

modest funding to start them off – the new investment attracted by Imense represents a    

2

product. That is where our partnership with

demonstrate that our software can handle

the particle physics Grid came in.’

millions of images, at a time when we were a

Spread across 17 sites, the UK particle

small company and could not supply the

physics Grid (GridPP) has been built to

computing power needed ourselves. This in

analyse the petabytes of data expected from

turn impressed the investors we spoke to,

Europe’s newest particle accelerator, the

and led to funding for our company.’ Imense

Large Hadron Collider, located at CERN,

plans

Switzerland. But its 8000 computers have

technologies from the particle physics domain

also been shared with other researchers,

in its commercial product.

from geophysicists to biologists.

Imense's work with the Cambridge e-Science

Sinclair attended a meeting arranged by

Centre was funded through an STFC mini-

STFC about Grid opportunities for industry,

PIPSS award. PIPSS is a knowledge transfer

and realised that Grid technology could be

scheme that supports the development of

the answer to Imense’s problem. Image

effective, long-term collaborations between

analysis is a naturally parallel process that fits

UK

perfectly with the capabilities of the Grid used

industry.

by STFC scientists to process data in particle

The Imense Demo at the EGEE 3rd User

physics.

Forum showcases the technology and efforts

Professor Andy Parker, Director of the e-

to make it easier to install Grid software like

Science Centre, University of Cambridge led

gLite on commercially owned computing

the particle physics team working with

clusters.

to

use

the

Universities,

open

research

source

bodies

Grid

and

Imense, ‘Our team helped Imense develop Background Information

their software to run on the Grid using a tool called Ganga, and supported them as they

GridPP

analysed three million images. We also dealt

GridPP is a collaboration of twenty UK

with issues such as security and working with

universities and research institutes, building

Grid managers at other universities, who

and operating a computing Grid for particle

were very helpful. It went very smoothly and

physics. It is funded by the STFC, with

was fascinating to see the company start-up

additional associated funding from HEFCE,

process in action.’

SHEFC and the EU.

Imense have now reaped the rewards of their Grid experience, with an investment of more

Alex Efimov, UK CERN Knowledge Exchange

than £500,000 to help them bring a product or

Advisor, STFC, UK

service to market in the coming months. Dr Sinclair says that the Grid played a major role in this, ‘Our work with the Grid has let us    

3

Special Report – The UK’s Strategy for Technology Transfer

If knowledge created by scientists is to be

playing

useful, it has to be applied to the areas of life

delivering technology transfer in their sectors.

where it can make a difference. This is called

The DIUS brings together functions from the

knowledge transfer. The Government’s vision

former Department of Trade and Industry,

is that the UK should be one of the most

including responsibilities for science and

attractive locations in the world for science

innovation, with further and higher education

and innovation, being a key knowledge hub in

and skills, previously part of the Department

the global economy, with a reputation not

for Education and Skills. A key part of the

only for outstanding scientific and technical

Science and Technology Facilities Council

discovery, but also a world leader at turning

(STFC)

that knowledge into new products and

investment in major facilities in the UK and

services.

overseas and peer reviewed funding within

an

important

mission

is

hands-on

to

ensure

role

that

in

its

UK universities, has a positive impact on the UK's economy through innovation. To meet this challenge the STFC will ensure that knowledge

generated

from

its

facilities,

including CERN, research and technology As

major

investors

and

programmes and interactions with universities

postgraduate training, Research Councils

and academic partners will be transferred to

play a key role in achieving this ambition.

the wider economy for enhanced productivity

These

and economic growth.

Councils

in

support

research

the

excellent

research needed to generate new knowledge, train highly skilled people, and work in partnership with business and a wide range The STFC KITE Club gives a single identity

of users to drive successful exploitation of

to the Council’s technology development and

research outputs. This ultimately delivers

business and partnership activities, providing

benefits for the UK in terms of new goods and services and other less direct benefits. Technology transfer is a process with many

opportunities

to

network,

partnerships,

share

best

identify

new

practices

and

explore enterprise. The Council also supports

layers and one of the many responsibilities of

a wide range of schemes and activities to

the Department for Innovation, Universities

encourage commercialisation and enterprise

and Skills (DIUS) with UK Research Councils

within its research community and facilities.    

4

CLIK is the technology exploitation company

transfer and the movement of staff from the

of the Science and Technology Facilities

Council

Council. Entirely owned by the Council, CLIK

industry, including links to the Technology

successfully manages commercial activities

Development Programme.

through spin-outs, licensing and trading.

PIPSS is a knowledge transfer scheme that

The KITE Club and CLIK work closely on

supports the development of effective, long

various projects, including Grid, with key

term collaborations between UK Universities,

processes for Technology Transfer focusing

CERN,

on:

Observatory),

supported

ESO

academic

groups

(European ESA

to

Southern

(European

Space

• Strategic Partnerships

Agency), UK industry and research sector

• Partnership Brokering

organisations, with the aim of: • Promoting

• Spin-outs • Licensing

development

to

support

its

within

technology the

Council

programme and with other partners.

The STFC has various funding schemes and opportunities

co-ordinated

• Encouraging

technology

researchers

to

become

aware of the possibilities for exploitation.

transfer activities, such as:

• Raising awareness in industry and other

• Discipline Hoppers • Innovative Technology Fund Awards

research sectors of the technological

• DIUS Technology Programme

strengths and opportunities afforded by

• Enterprise Fellowships

the Council's science. • Fostering

• Follow on Fund

collaboration

between

UK

companies and the research community.

• Rainbow Seed Fund • Partnership Schemes • Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

The STFC ensures the UK retains its leading

• Research in Industry Funding One of the most successful frameworks for

place on the world stage by delivering world-

technology

class

transfer

is

a

collaborative

science;

accessing

and

hosting

partnership between industry and academia.

international facilities; developing innovative

However, developing collaboration between

technologies;

an industrial company and an academic

economic impact of its research through

group takes time and resources. The Council

effective knowledge exchange partnerships.

supports a range of schemes and initiatives

More information on STFC funding schemes

to provide for studentships, fellowships and

is available here.

research grants to assist in the development

Alex Efimov leads the brokering work for

of a culture of enterprise and knowledge

STFC’s

and

Knowledge

increasing

the

Exchange

socio-

Service.

Companies wishing to know more should    

5

email Julia Maddock, STFC Press Officer and

coverage and a portfolio of user case studies

Alex Efimov, UK CERN Knowledge Exchange

developed

Advisor, STFC

journalists with the users themselves. The

These webinars are available for download from the website and are proving a very

of Grid computing through a series of user

industry,

oil

&

gas,

creative

financial

popular

media

engaged

of

organisations will see how Grids are adding

user

common

transport

to adoption and best practices. For more info,

adoption

discussions,

application

programming

planning

and

management

applications. This happens in collaboration

email Trust-IT.

with sister KTNs specialising in the area of

Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs)

Intelligent

working with the UK Federation Against

Collaborative R&D Projects which investigate

Software Theft (FAST), to bring the software

government,

supply and monitoring industry together to

academia and industry to learn from each

face this new challenge. Finally, the KTN

other. The Grid Computing Now! KTN was

works closely with the Collaborative R&D

established in 2005 and since then it has built

Projects,

up a registered membership of nearly 1000

from

Academia

edited

industrial-academic

The website contains more details of the KTN and its work.

The KTN provides access to background links,

an

results to the KTN membership and beyond.

and

Government.

useful

usually

initiative, to help highlight their work and

members with about 60% coming from rest

Industrial

software licensing for virtual environments,

Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs) and

for

and

The KTN is also leading the charge on

and Skills (DIUS) also maintains a portfolio of

potential

Transport

Mathematics.

The Department of Innovation, Universities

Ian Osborne, Intellect UK

news

   

in

simulation and modelling techniques for

Talks will guide new users through the steps

information,

these

through the introduction of new computing,

making the best use of available resources.

the

built

interfaces for the Financial Services industry

value: getting more things done quickly and

Industry,

Having

ranging from orchestrating the development

SMEs, large enterprises and public sector

the

resource.

foundations the KTN team are now becoming

services,

pharmaceuticals and more.

further

technical

areas of interest to its membership base.

2008 in London, UK showcases the benefits

the

house

past 18 months which has featured many key

The Business Day taking place on 21 May

from

in

been running a Webinar programme for the

EGEE & STFC Business Day

studies

KTN

KTN also offers technical events and has

Why you need Grid & How to do it!

case

by

6

EGEE’07 Business Track

The

Business

strategy for the spin-off of its technologies to

Track

at

business and industry.

EGEE'07

in

Adoption Case Studies

Budapest

in

One of the EU's goals is to strengthen the

October

2007

"innovation

capacity"

of

SMEs

as

the

took a close look at enabling technology

backbone of the European economy and

transfer and the adoption of OS Grid

increase

technologies by the commercial sector. The

technology based products and services.

Business Track helped EGEE identify new

New

opportunities across vertical markets and a

Europe’s e-infrastructures were highlighted

set of user studies showing companies how

by Kyriakos Baxevanidis from the European

to get on the right path towards adoption.

Commission, Research Infrastructure Unit.

Discussions also brought to light success

Connected with this was the spotlight on

metrics for gauging the industrial impact of

know-how transfer, gauging readiness for the

Grid technologies across different sectors,

commercial

and offered some feasible solutions to

technology chain. Examples of how EGEE is

common barriers.

enabling businesses and start-ups include

EGEE Business Associates

Imense Ltd (UK); HP's Tycoon project; and

Bob Jones, project director of EGEE, opened

the COMETA initiative, which collaborates

the

how

with Oracle and Microsoft, among other

companies can come in and deploy services

companies. The adoption of gLite in one of

on EGEE's Grid infrastructure and easily set

BEinGRID’s Business Experiments for the oil

up applications through tools like the GILDA

and gas industry through the work of

test-bed. Dr Jones also announced three new

CCGVeritas, a leading geophysical company,

Business

was also explored.

Business

Track,

Associates

illustrating

(EBAs):

Avanade,

their

development

opportunities

for

sector

business

and

of

new

through

supporting

the

Excelian and Hitachi (Sophia Antipolis).

Opportunities Across Verticals

Philips’s Research and EBAs Avanade,

Gaming is an industry where technology is

Excelian,

Platform

moving fast with interesting openings for

demonstrated how they are working with

interactive media and media convergence.

EGEE to enhance gLite, tailor it to the

Darkworks, a French SME and partner of the

requirements of future inter-enterprise Grids,

Edutain@Grid project, explained why Grid

and

adoption opportunities are ripe and how it can

GridwiseTech,

ensure

compatibility

and

with

other

architectures and tools in support of EGEE’s    

help

7

develop

these

new

products

and

services and bring them to market more

EGEE on solving key issues related to

rapidly. The main survival rule for the

specific project goals. More good news from

telecommunications industry is investment in

EGEE regarded recent improvements to

cutting-edge technologies, which highlights

security with the project providing tried and

new openings for Grid. Exis-IT, Greece,

tested

offered a case study demonstrating why this

applications and security evaluations under

sector offers a good testing ground by

way. Robert Harakaly, leader of EGEE’s

tackling some of the main drivers for

Focus Group offering support for commercial

adoption.

adoption, outlined the Group’s work within the

The

session

on

Pharamecuticals

and

restricted

access

to

data

and

Industry Committee and offered possible

Healthcare showcased the achievements of

solutions to key barriers.

both

silico

Synergies with the SIMDAT project & NESSI

Heath-e-Child

brought further value-add to the Business

projects, bringing tangible benefits in terms of

Track. GRIA, OS middleware developed by IT

speeding up the drug discovery process,

Innovation (UK), is now being widely used by

reducing costs, enhancing the quality of care,

industry to help them exploit the benefits of

and enabling scientists and doctors to use the

the Grid and service-oriented infrastructures

new tools easily and effectively.

for inter-domain collaboration.

EGEE's

Docking

on

WISDOM Malaria)

(Wide

and

in

Challenges Ahead Top-level challenges for industrial groups, such as collaboration, Grid on heterogeneous environments, dynamic VOs, security, trust,

The SIMDAT presentations showed how

SLA,

GRIA's

Grid

licensing,

networking

issues

specific

focus

requirements

session.

infrastructure

NICE, one of the first companies to join the

adoption and how GRIA is being used to

EBA programme, played a key role in this

support extended enterprise collaboration

session,

some

and service provision in different sectors.

technical barriers and highlighting obstacles

Presentations were made by BAE Systems,

like the human factors associated with uptake

ElsagDatamat, MSC Software, and NEC

of new IT and the transition to new business

Europe.

models.

Innovation showed how GRIA has been

The MathWorks Inc. is keyed to tackling

developed to address barriers to adoption by

some of the major licensing barriers like

focusing on governance policies and the

global

value exchange.

licensing

how

and

to

tackle

academic

versus

commercial communities, and is working with    

8

A

is

final

ensured

industrial

(firewalls, etc.), were explored in the final

showing

has

on

suited

for

presentation

that

the

commercial

from

IT

The talk by the technology platform NESSI, or Networked European Services & Software Initiative, highlighted how the enlargement of the EU and the changing nature of trade with the rest of the world places a strong

eInfrastructures

emphasis on a multicultural approach to

ecosystem that NESSI is determined to

business. Additionally, tangible and intangible

create. The resultant self-sustained network

assets

could

resulting

from

EU-funded

R&D

operate

could

in

be

a

part

of

cost-effective

the

way

projects must reach industry and be used by

producing even profit and following a kaizen

companies.

approach

NESSI can connect eInfrastructures with

European Commission.

without

industrial users. Companies can contribute to the

sustainability

of

the

EGEE Industry Forum Sy Holsinger, Trust-IT Services Ltd.

different ways and use them to improve

Stephanie Parker, Trust-IT Services Ltd.

and

eInfrastructures

umbrella

in

performance,

of

the

gain

efficiency,

effectiveness and competitive advantage.

Paris showcases new Architectures for Finance: EGEE Industry Day The Paris Industry Day in November 2007

the potential for innovation, making them a

put the spotlight on

strategic challenge for the sector.

new architectures for

The Industry Day was jointly supported by

financial

BEinGRID and EGEE-II and organised by

services,

bringing together 110

Europlace,

players

Competitivity Cluster, and Ecole Centrale

from

the

the

Finance

Innovation

Paris (ECP).

sector to explore the convergence of Grid, virtualisation,

web

services

and

service

oriented architectures, major issues for both EGEE-II

business and science. The

event

illustrated

by

Gabriel

Zaquine, BT France, leader of the Industry

architectures can help lay the foundations for

Task Force. Zaquine’s talk illustrated how

flexible

EGEE is attracting interest from numerous

oriented

these

represented

new

service

how

was

infrastructures,

bringing significant advantages and increasing

business

sectors,

outlining

the

support

mechanisms designed both to facilitate ‘win   

9

win’ collaborative work with the project and

The

foster adoption of its Grid technology. Two

Management in Finance (BE11) tackles a

EGEE Business Associates, Excelian and

Grid solution in the financial sector. Financial

Platform Computing, shared their expertise

institutions face computational time and

with

resource challenges in the risk analysis of

the

audience.

Gilles

Tourpe

from

Business

Experiment

investment

Computing

particular

financial algorithms, which use stock market

reference to integrating data, computation

and trading desk data, impose real-time

and the politics involved.

processing constraints which are a major

Grid

2.0,

with

These

Risk

Platform Computing outlined Fabric-based -

portfolios.

in

real-time

challenge for the Grid.

Dr Adam Vile, Excelian, centred his talk on ‘Data

Caching:

Dealing

with

data

Opening addresses by Edouard-François De

-

Overcoming the challenges of large scale

Lencquesaing,

data

time

Saguez, ECP, set the scene for expert-led

environments’. Vile said ‘Excelian are keen to

talks with the morning session dedicated to

support events like the Paris Industry Day

new architectures, which was co-chaired by

which represent a coming together of industry

Eric Horesnyi, from BT and Prof. Saguez.

and research in order to share experiences of

Talks were delivered by ATOS Origin (Spain);

Grid and related technologies. Exploring

Microsoft;

common challenges across both the finance

DATASYNAPSE;

and research communities will, I am sure,

GRIDTRUST.

lead to mutual empathy, key discoveries on

The afternoon session focused on finance

both sides and hopefully future collaborations

applications and was co-chaired by Jérôme

that will be of mutual benefit’.

Brun, ATOS Origin Paris and Edouard-

Santi Ristol, ATOS Origin (Spain), highlighted

François

the goals of the BEinGRID project and its

Presentaitons were made by BNP-Paribas;

range of business experiments with the Grid.

ING and Reuters.

distribution

in

near

real

services for financial institutions and the of

gLite

in

Portfolio

Management.

   

AXA;

de

SUN

and

Christian

Microsystems;

GRIDSYSTEMS

Lencquesaing,

and

t

Europlace.

Hélène Huard, Ecole Centrale Paris

Italo Epicoco, SPACI, discussed on-line Grid

implementation

Europlace,

10

Grids Enabling SMEs – EGEE Industry Day  

EGEE

&

drammatically

reduce

costs

and

solve

SEEGRID2 joined

scalability issues. Top tips to businesses

forces

with

included exploiting unused computational

Technolopolis Business Park SA & Innovation

capacity for Grid applications and focusing on

Pole in Thessaloniki, Macedonia (Greece) in

specific bottlenecks in order to generate

September 2007 to explore Grid adoption by

signficant business value. Specific examples

SMEs and pinpoint potential Grid-supported

focused on the telecommunications industry

business applications by asssessing the

with a case study on improved billing

market strengths of the ICT landscape.

systems,

Kyriakos

provide a great test bed for Grid applications.

Baxevanidis,

Research

demonstrating

how

operators

Infrastructure Unit, EC, emphasised the

Vendor perspectives came from Microsoft

potential of Grids for SMEs, the backbone of

and other players, highlighting alternative

Europe’s

know-how

trends for Grid adoption with players citing

across the EU and new products and

Cloud computing, Web 2.0 and how Amazon

services that could lead to business growth.

is selling unused infrastructure while keeping

Services that could be offered by open

complete control of resources.

architecture

platforms

The

software,

software

economy,

faciliating

include

legacy

Industry

Day

concluded

with

an

interoperability,

interactive panel discussion that underscored

functionality, and environmental applications

the importance of a ‘hands-on’ approach,

for crisis management. Research challenges

focus on tangible benefits through user

for business Grid applications were also

studies

evaluated with players from both communities

solutions to technical and non-technical

offering suggestions on driving forward future

barriers, and circulating training feasibility

technological developments.

surveys to potential beneficiaries from the

Business leaders are most interested in the

commercial sector.

across

verticals,

showcasing

tangible benefits, such as reducing costs, RoI, offering better services and products rather than the technicalities involved. The talk

by

Exis-IT

representative,

Kotrotsos,

highlighted

adoption

of

Grid

how

Serafim

even

technology

partial

Dr Eng Fotis Karayannis, GRNET

can

Ognjen Prnjat, SEEGRID

   

11

Grids for Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Challenges: EGEE Industry Day  

Medical Imaging, Bio-

speed it up and reduce costs. WISDOM is

informatics, and Drug

now ready to address industrial requirements

Discovery are major

with plans to broaden tests to other diseases.

users of the EGEE infrastructure, highlighting the benefits of applications and initiatives

supported

by

EGEE’s

Grid

technology. Medical Imaging enables ‘virtual biopsies’

for

cancer

invasive

surgical

diagnosis

procedures,

avoiding improving

quality-of-lie for patients and helping reduce the cost of medical treatment. Bio-informatics

The Health-e-Child project offered another

applications range from portals enabling

success

users in areas like protein sequence analysis

technology. The Health-e-Child Grid-based

and management of biological data. EGEE’s

biomedical platform for paediatrics provides

drug

has

tools that improve the quality of care and

Grid-

reduce its costs while hiding the complexity of

discovery

demonstrated

project,

the

WISDOM,

advantages

of

story

conected

with

EGEE’s

enabled virtual screening for neglected and

Grid from the end-users.

emerging diseases like malaria and the bird

According to the 451 GARS Report, hospitals

flu.

are natural adopters of the Grid because of

The Industry Day in Bratislava in Spetember

their need to share data and tackle specific

2007 explored the increasing interest in Grids

challenges around storage and medical

in the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare

images. The Grid could ultimately provide the

sector,

current

backbone for electronic health records and

achievements with particular reference to the

new medical infrastructures. Attendants at the

sucess of WISDOM through a talk and live

industry Day included representatives from

demo.

healthcare as well as government decision-

showcasing

EGEE’s

the

makers. Representatives from the Slovak

challenges posed by neglected diseases,

Ministry of Health and National Health

which lack R&D, and emerging diseases,

Information Centre outlined the country’s e-

which require very rapid response time.

Health strategy and challenges regarding

WISDOM has demonstrated that in silico drug

Electronic Health Records (EHR), such as

discovery opens up new perspectives to

developing a commonly agreed information

WISDOM

has

successfully

faced

   

12

model for recording patient data and the need

The Industry Day was hosted by EGEE

for internationally accepted standards.

partner,

The

interactive

discussion

offered

Institute

of

Informatics,

Slovak

Academy of Science and supported by the

pharmaceutical and biomedical companies,

Ministry of Health.

medical researchers, informatics and policy-

Jolana Sebestyenova,

makers an opportunity to evaluate new tools

Slovak Academy of Science

and

technologies

and

explore

future

collaborations with the project.

Highlights on EGEE Business Associates  

New EGEE Business Associates in 2007

network.

Excelian

will

assist

EGEE

in

assesing the challenges facing businesses Avanade

brings

Technologies

to

expertise fully

on

exploit

gLite

.Net

today and help shape EGEE’s technologies

on

and market strategy to ensure that they are

Windows machines, a critical factor for any

more

enterprise ready software, bringing significant

challenges. Excelian is working with EGEE to

market

Avanade’s

create new opportunities for the project to

adoption of gLite is expected to increase

grow and develop valuable tools and skills

gLite visibility on real-case mission-critical

and define a winning market exploitation

projects outside the academic community.

strategy for outreach to different vertical

The

markets by ensuring interaction between

openings

for

EGEE-Avanade

EGEE.

collaboration

will

additionally enhance gLite’s evaluation by

relevant

to

business

needs

and

EGEE & key decision-makers.

companies as gLite standards move in the right

direction

towards

interoperability

challenges and through the integration of .Net

Hitachi

Sophia

Antipolis

Support into gLite.

(HSAL),

France

is

Laboratory

engaging

in

joint

collaboration work with EGEE to integrate Excelian

is

a

high-profile

gLite

commercial

data

management

with

INCA

organisation with in-house expertise of Grid

middleware, enabling contribution to the

and HPC; complete understanding of the

scientific

community

and

bringing

in

financial

valuable

mechanism

for

handling

huge

services

sector;

and

existing

amounts of data. Additionally, the EBA

relations with commercial vendors and client    

a

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programme will assist Hitachi in its direct

targeted

knowledge

interaction with organisations dealing with

exchanges.

and

experience

huge data quantities on a daily basis through

EGEE Business Associate Snapshot NICE, EGEE 3rd User Forum, ClermontFerrand (France), 12 February 2008 -

GridwiseTech is a Grid consulting firm,

Demo/Poster on the EnginFrame-GENIUS

providing portals to the EGEE infrastructure

Grid

that integrates EGEE products with the IT

showing how the EnginFrame Grid portal

infrastructure

enterprises.

enables a user to interact with files on the UI,

GridwiseTech work with EGEE on joint

submit & monitor jobs to the Grid and

dissemination to the commercial sector to

manage data and job output inside the VO

increase uptake of EGEE technologies and

belongs to.

of

major

Portal

and

VOMS

Proxy

creation

played a key role in the adoption of gLite by Philips Research through the installation of a cluster connected to DutchGrid to understand

Platform Computing, a leading systems

and investigate the technology with access

infrastructure software company, is working

via gLite and UNICORE.

with EGEE to improve the gLite interface and

GridwiseTech Whitepaper,

recently

published

Implementing

a

a

exploitation of advanced LSF features, co-

High

ordinate

testing

efforts

and

improved

Performance Service Oriented Architecture,

documentation.

provides

when

expected to lead to significant enhancements

integrating an SOA with Objectivity/DB, as an

of the capabilities for EGEE, users, new user

example of data management system.

groups, resource providers, and compute-

unbiased

expert

advice

and

Collaboration

data-centres.

Joint

work

collaboration

is

is

expected to bring standards-based LSF-CE NICE develops its EnginFrame and GENIUS

leading to EGEE performance boost; new job

Grid Portal to make them compatible with the

types and policies.

EGEE middleware gLite and has always been

If you would like to work with the EGEE

a strong supporter of the EGEE project. The

project on technical issues, please contact

EnginFrame Grid portal tackles the problems

Stephanie Parker, Trust-IT Services Ltd.

& requirements for a particular operating system running on the client. The user can therefore

interact

with

the

Grid

from

everywhere and with everything: a Java compliant web browser is only required.    

14

Upcoming Events with Business Focus

February SIMDAT Training Workshops on Industrial Adoption of Grids - GRIA SOA Workshop, IT Innovation Centre, Southampton, 5 February 2008. Workshop focus: use of Grids by business. Workshop is free but places are limited. 3rd EGEE User Forum, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 11-14 February 2008 Demo Session on 12/02/2008 features Imense Ltd; NICE; EGEE Bio-informatics programme; WISDOM, Health-e-Child.

OGF22, Cambridge, MA, 25-29 February 2008 - Programme Highlights

March Global Reseach Library GRL2020, Tirrenia, Pisa, Italy, 26-27 March 2008

May SIMDAT Training Workshops on Industrial Adoption of Grids - GRIA SOA Workshop, IT Innovation Centre, Southampton, 13 May 2008.

EGEE Business Day, London, UK, 21 May 2008 supported by the STFC Why you need Grid & How to do it! Creative Media, Energy, Financial Services, Pharmaceuticals

Platform Global Conference 2008, Santa Clara, California – May 19-21, 2008

PGC08 brings together Platform customers, high performance computing enthusiasts, business partners, media and analysts from around the world. Electronics, Automotive, Aerospace, Oil and Gas, Life Sciences, Financial Services, Government and Education.

June OGF23, Barcelona, Spain, 2-6 June 2008 BEinGRID Industry Event, 3-5 June 2008 within OGF23

   

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